Journalists are avid trend watchers by nature.

It’s not that we all want to be. We pretty much have to be. If we weren’t out there trolling for new takes and insights on things, newspapers, television and radio coverage would be dull replays of the day, month or year before, especially when you’re reporting on municipal or county events which follow basically the same calendar every year.

General assignment journalists learn early that they have to come up with new angles – even for old standards like the yearly Polar Bear Race or the 51st annual Barber Shop Quartet Contest – to interest readers and listeners or they’ll subscribe elsewhere.

Many of us learned early on to plunder story ideas from the weeklies which were always rich with articles on local characters. For sheer trend watching, we’d go to the library and spend at least two hours a week catching up on what was new in the periodical section.

Aside from providing a galaxy of book and periodical insights to spark our imagination, libraries also gave us the chance to check out billboard announcements and actually chat quietly with interesting people – reference librarians and library patrons – who were only too happy to share their insight on some idea that might make for an interesting story.

It’s been a few years since I spent a wonderful afternoon soaking up information in the county library. No need to do it since the Internet highway opened up. Still, I miss the people I used to meet and chat with, the really wonderful brains I used to pick.

Oh, you can do that on the Internet in chat rooms and with instant messaging but it isn’t the same as gleaning information in a face to face kind of setting.

A fine opportunity to have some face time with people who do spend time trending on the Internet happened March 24 when nearly 700 religious education teachers from around the diocese gathered at Holy Cross High School, Delran, for a diocesan Catechetical Conference entitled Embracing the New Moment.

It became clear pretty quickly that the Internet was going to figure in the day’s workshops and keynote address. The first paragraph explaining what the keynote address would focus on pretty much summed it up: As catechists, we are called to read the signs of the times in order to program the Good News today.

Keynote speaker Carole M. Eipers, D.Min., promised to focus on what is new in catechesis, in those we catechize and what this moment calls us to be and do.

Dr. Eipers, vice president and executive director of catechetics for William H. Sadlier, Inc. who has been in parish ministries for over 20 years as a teacher, director of religious education, youth minister and pastoral associate, served for nine years as the director of Office of Catechesis for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

She enthusiastically announced that this very fluid, media savvy society in which we live is a “new moment to witness to the Lord” and she pronounced pop culture an important factor in that witness. She asked the hundreds present in the huge auditorium to embrace the “new moment” by reading the signs of the times.

In comments after her speech, she focused on the need to share the Good News through understanding. “You cannot evangelize people if you don’t understand them and know what is familiar to them.”

This was the theme presenter Therese Boucher honed in on in her workhop, Using the Internet for Catechetical Preparation.

In a concise, fast moving and compelling presentation, which pointed out the dangers of the Internet where misinformation, urban legends and dangerous images abound, Boucher encouraged the catechists to become masters of the medium so they can navigate it well themselves and use it as an evangelizing tool.

She talked about the Internet as a way of enhancing knowledge and as a means of communication between young people and families, parishes, learning communities and other spiritual seekers.

It’s a portal, she pointed out, for prayer, support – including e-mail for the elderly, chat and dialogue and, she noted, it’s important for us all – as much as we enjoy face to face contact – to become fluent in Internet because, quite simply, it is the sign of the times, especially for young people.

She noted that young people gather around the media the way we used to gather around campfires. They prefer multimedia discourse. She encouraged everyone to be aware of their interests and use them to reach out as an evangelist.

“In the past, education was linear,” Boucher said. “Today, young people jump around a topic. Using the Internet for learning is like being in an ocean hit by wave after wave… It’s a very current ministry and a major tool of communication for young people who want to be on the cutting edge of the community.”

A great list of Internet resources is available at Boucher’s site: www.christkey.com