Korea has come a long way but when it comes to the internet the Catholic presence has probably been weakened because of the algorithms used. This is the way the word Catholic will be used in the search engines. From personal experience, which may be far from the reality, the sympathetic use of the word Catholic in searches has been greatly neutralized from what it was ten years ago. Not surprising but good to know. However, websites are accessed by addresses which is not haphazard and that is where we should put our interest.
The other media are doing well and growing in Korea. Just recently the Vatican has launched its Korean service (www.vaticannews.va/ko.html). The Vatican News is the official online news portal of the Vatican.
The Korean branch of the Vatican Broadcasting has been providing Korean language service since 2015 but only available through the Vatican Radio website. Recently with the addition of the Korean language to the other 33 languages offered it is now possible to access articles in Korean. Currently, about 80 percent of the original articles are available in Korean.
Search for 'Vatican News' on any smartphone and you will have the website appear. The menu gives you four categories: Pope, Vatican, Church, and World, select Korean as your language and you have a new vehicle to the Catholic world of news for the Korean speaking.
The Vatican, which communicated the news with the Vatican Radio website, launched the Vatican News, to "spread the gospel using new media" a few years ago. For those interested in the website in English for the Korean Bishops'Conference, you can access it at (http://english.cbck.or.kr/).
Some dioceses have developed a smartphone-friendly internet platform so parishes can easily establish an internet presence for their parishes. Many parishes have their own homepages, the beginning is easy the continued development and search for interesting, profitable learning experiences is difficult.
One diocese has designed the platform so anybody with a basic knowledge of web pages, blogging and e-mail can easily manage the parish homepage. Surprising how little the study of the internet as a means of evangelization has failed to gain the attention of church leaders.
Catholics, at least in theory, should have a similar understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Sadly, we pick and choose, forgetting that faith is something given and our lives are not our own. Not easily experienced in the 21st century.
Using cyberspace for the good of others and in search of what is the One, the Good, the True and the Beautiful are all attributes of Being and of God. In search of these we are in search of God whether we realize it or not.
