By Christine Williams, 

Anchor Correspondent

CAPE COD — Those who seek to bring the Catholic faith to young people must first speak their language. Teens today tweet on Twitter, friend on Facebook and text on their cell phones. To those unfamiliar with these forms of communication, the jargon alone is confusing.

“Our mission is the proclamation of the Gospel and the building up of the kingdom, and in order to do that we need to engage people and speak in a language they understand,” said Father David Frederici, chaplain at Cape Cod Community College. “It’s too important not to use these means to get this message out.”

With the ability to send text messages on social networking sites and with cell phones, youth and young adults are e-mailing less frequently. As these new forms of technology take prominence in young people’s world, those who seek to catechize them must adapt, he said.

In 2009, the Pew Internet and American life project conducted a study that found that 93 percent of teens use the Internet with 63 percent doing so daily. Game consoles, iPods or MP3 players, cell phone and computers are owned by two-thirds or more of teens. The study also discovered that teens communicate more often with cell phones and social networking sites than in person with their friends outside of school.

A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, released in January 2010, found that eight- to 18-year-olds use media for more 7.5 hours daily, an increase of more than an hour from five years ago.

Father Frederici quickly discovered the importance of technology after he started ministering to the students at Cape Cod Community College at the request of Bishop George Coleman.

Now he has accounts on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter as well as a website for young adults at youngadultfaith.com. He posts videos on the website YouTube and links them to his Facebook account. Podcasts — digital recordings — of his homilies can be found on his website and on iTunes, an online music store. He has looked into Livestream, an Internet site that provides live broadcasts. And this coming Lent, he will be leading an online Bible study for the second year.

Father Frederici also has a Blackberry, a cross between a cell phone and a PDA, and receives his Facebook messages on it. On one occasion, someone requesting an emergency visit to the hospital contacted him by Facebook and his pager.

“The Facebook message got to me quicker than the pager message,” said Father Frederici, who is also chaplain at Cape Cod Hospital.

The benefits of technology include reaching a large number of people quickly and even the opportunity to reach the un-churched. These forms of communication have their pitfalls too. Facebook applies the term friends to two people who have no real relationship. Faith groups who use such means of communication need to make sure that new technology leads to live connection with others. It is not a substitute for face-to-face interaction, he said.

“We need that human contact and human relations because that’s where we experience the love of God,” he said.

As young people increasingly use technology at the expense of personal interaction, technology becomes a way to reach out and find them, said Crystal-Lynn Medeiros, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Diocese of Fall River.

“Young people today, they’re not at CYO centers. They’re not in parish youth groups for the most part. The only way we can reach them is through technology,” she said.

When utilizing technology, Catholic ministries need to have policies in place to ensure the media are used safely and appropriately. Young people need to be taught that there are repercussions to their online activity, especially if they are youth group leaders.

“This generation is very good at compartmentalizing their lives,” Medeiros said. “If they’re going to be involved in their parish and lead by example, they have to take that example and thread it through the rest of their lives, including technology.”

Currently there are no widespread Church policies on using technology to communicate with youth. The topic is on the agenda for the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry’s membership meeting in Los Angeles from January 27-30.

Last year, the Archdiocese of Baltimore came up with recommendations for the use of technology in youth and young adult ministry. They note that while the desire people have to communicate has not changed, the possible venues have expanded “exponentially” in recent years. Since the Internet and social networks are not going away, young people must learn to use them safely and responsibly, the document said.

“Parishes and schools should do everything possible to inform, support and encourage parental engagement with young people in regards to technology. As always, we seek a partnership with parents in the faith formation of their young people.”

The use of technology to promote the Catholic faith is widespread. Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston posts weekly on his blog. Pope Benedict XVI has his own YouTube channel. CatholicTV has podcasts and videos on their website. Even organizations like Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Citizenship and The Anchor are on Facebook.

Users of Facebook have many options for Catholic personalization of their individual pages. They can become fans of Catholic chant, a religious leader or a diocese. There are applications, such as “Pope Quotes” which posts words from the Chair of Peter on their page. They can join groups for Catholics, different ministries or even random groups like “You might be a hardcore Catholic if…”

That last group, designed for Catholics who are serious about their faith, lists certain Catholic attributes, including “You have a favorite religious order,” “You think Scott Hahn writes the coolest books” and “You would rather get your picture with the pope then with a huge celebrity.”

Lauren Goldberg, a senior studying psychology, theology and youth ministry at Benedictine College in Kansas, said she and a friend started the group when she was a senior in high school. In the last four years, the group has attracted 30,000 members.

“We never really planned for it to get this big,” she said. “I think it’s awesome that we have this many members, and it really surprised me.”

Goldberg said the Facebook group has become a place where Catholics and non-Catholics can post questions about the faith. It also gathers young people who are enthusiastic about being Catholic.

“If they can hear the Gospel in their teen years, that can form the foundations for the rest of their lives,” she said. “It’s very important for them to see people who are excited and committed and to feel that solidarity.”