Children should use the social media to their own benefit, Archbishop Paul Cremona told an 11-year-old girl who celebrated her birthday yesterday – just like him.
“I wish a happy birthday to all the children who celebrate their birthday with me. I urge you and all children to use the social media in a beneficial way,” Mgr Cremona told the girl in his first Facebook chat, which he held on his 67th birthday.
The message he shared with the girl was also extended to the Church. He said it was important for the Church to reach out to people using the social media.
This echoes the message of Pope Benedict XVI who, on Thursday, put Church leaders on notice, saying social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter were not a virtual world they could ignore but rather a very real world they must engage if they wanted to spread the Faith to the next generation.
Mgr Cremona said he was encouraged to take the leap by the fact that the Pope recently launched his Twitter presence, adding he would take it “step by step” before venturing there.
Sitting in his office at his residence in Attard, Mgr Cremona shared a few words with journalists present before spending an hour communicating over Facebook.
“This is a new world for me. It’s the first time I’m communicating with my brothers out there using Facebook. God told us to spread his Word. In the past, they used to do that on foot but now there is the social media,” he said.
As he sat at his laptop, with a recent picture of him with the Pope in the background, he noted that apart, from celebrating his birthday yesterday, today he would be marking his sixth anniversary since he was appointed Archbishop.
Over the past months, he had suffered from exhaustion and many people prayed for him. God had given him the strength to continue his work.
Following a crash course in using Facebook, he moved on to answering some of the people who participated in the live chat on The Church in Malta Facebook page.
Hundreds of people took the opportunity to wish him a happy birthday or ask for his blessing and some voiced concerns or asked questions.
He thanked them for their wishes and, when things got complex, urged them to send him an e-mail.
One woman reminded him that he had celebrated her marriage. He was thankful for the memory and told her marriage was God’s calling.
A Seminarian, studying to become a priest, asked for guidance on how to use the social media and Mgr Cremona replied that the Pope had described it as a way to spread God’s word.
In one of his final comments he wrote: “I’ll do my best to be more present on Facebook” signing off: “+Pawlu”, using the bishop’s symbol before his name.