by Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

About the author: The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has its headquarters in Ottawa, Quebec.

One thing is clear: Major change is rapidly approaching in the area of communications, information and entertainment. It will not be long before telephones, television, cable and computers merge into an interactive communications network that will revolutionize our lives. —Claude Marcil and Lise Ravary, Presence, June/July 1994

The revolution of interactive communications is already under way. One hears about it every day. It has various names, including the information highway, the information superhighway, the electronic highway, the global network and Internet. Marshall McLuhan’s “global village” is being constructed through the integration of countless invisible networks that will soon crisscross the planet. Information, education, entertainment, social and health...