Yup, you read that title right. Today Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter. His English-language account is @pontifex (there are also seven other language accounts) and I’m not gonna lie, I followed him. Along with over a million other people.

Over the years I’ve tried not to post religious or political stuff here or on Facebook. For me, those are both very private things… and I feel everyone has the right to make their own decisions about both. Generally, those discussions lead to nothing but arguments anyway. I respect people who choose differently than me, as long as their decisions don’t impact my right to decide.

All of that said, I’m Catholic and for years have wondered how the church was going to “get hip”. Let’s be honest, the Catholic church hasn’t been “cool” for a long time. If you look at the bulk of the people in your church, most of the time it’s older folks. In my years of singing and directing choirs I’ve constantly wondered what the parish would look like in 25 years because when I looked around I didn’t see people my age.

Back to the Pope. I really like the Twitter idea. I think it’s a cool way to reach out to the younger , technology driven generation. Today he answered questions tagged with #askpontifex. We’ll see where it goes from here, but I think it’s a great way to reach out new and existing members.