YouTube has reposted videos of Eucharistic desecrations, according to a Catholic group that has organized a protest.

A Daily Blog update of last week’s second entry about the offensive videos can be viewed here.

But as Time magazine recently noted on its website, YouTube also provides tremendous opportunities for evangelization.

“But the video-sharing site is also being used by a wildly diverse collection of pastors, rabbis, imams, gurus, and pious laypeople — like Roman Catholic Steve Silvia, who made the video above — to celebrate and explain their creeds,” the Time article said.

Silvia’s video can be seen by clicking here or on the YouTube screen accompanying this Daily Blog entry.

Pope John Paul II dedicated his message for World Communications Day in 2002 to the theme of “Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel.”

“The Internet can offer magnificent opportunities for evangelization if used with competence and a clear awareness of its strengths and weaknesses,” John Paul II said. “Above all, by providing information and stirring interest it makes possible an initial encounter with the Christian message, especially among the young who increasingly turn to the world of cyberspace as a window on the world.”

— Tom McFeely