I miss the give-and-take world of theological inquiry I often found in a number of periodicals that have become too expensive for my budget or can only be reached by a long trip to a library–or are going out-of-print. At the same time, it’s hard to find theological inquiry in the official Catholic press. But you can’t stop people from thinking and I’m wondering if we are taking our thinking to the world of blogs.
I find I’m looking these days at the blogs from America Magazine and Commonweal as almost required reading. Today in America’s blog James Martin, SJ, writes about whether we should baptize children whose parents are not very interested in the church, and Austen Ivereigh has one on church marriage. Both hot pastoral topics. The blogs, written by people from different specialties and interests, cover a wide range of topics, from health care to Christian unity to religious toys for Christmas. They’re often followed by comments from readers pro and con. Welcome to the interactive world!
The church is healthy, not only when it prays and acts justly, but when it thinks. Is the church thinking making its way to blogworld?
The Victor's Place 
I’ve tried…
here…
to open a dialogue…
three word replies…
one word…
Are Catholics ready for the immediacy of the new technology?
Some
are stuck in lecture mode
with a controlled Q and A
at the end.
Given no real opportunity to simply practice talking about our faith…
we endure hours of listening.
I’m not talking about engaging in apologetics…
… just simply talking about our faith.
Some
still require adults
to raise their hands
to be officially recognized
or
to be officially ignored
Adult education as experienced in countless corporations ‘graduated’ to conversational exchanges decades ago…
Attend a parish workshop, often led by elementary school educators…. its embarrassing.
Some
just want applause
affirmation
agreement
so… they provide
conversation stoppers
rather than
conversation openers
in the topics they select to post about
Adult education has so matured
that often to attend a Catholic conference
or workshop is to be treated like a petulant
8th grader
being advised
Do not try this at home
WE are the professionals.
I harken here to a workshop on Liturgy of the Hours attended few years ago… no one could have left encouraged by the ‘lecturer’ to be One in the Praying Voice of the Church.
How does all that translate to blogs?
We have not been prepared for the Internet…
We are built for endurance…. not speed.
We are the slow twitch muscles built for endurance… the ultra-marathons of centuries
Speedee responders… we aren’t and we usually get into trouble when we speak faster than our homework would allow.
minus the metaphor…
The internet is perhaps then
too immediate for Catholics
we seem to prefer to ponder a topic for decades… even centuries! In private, among a preapproved council with designated speakers and listeners.
The Internet is so fast…
and public…
that it doesn’t allow us the usual checks and balances of editorial review boards and privacy.
Consider the recent posting by the Vatican of their favorite music that included a rap song that clearly had been reviewed by someone who couldn’t hear the lyrics…
embarrassment yet again for boldly going where we need not go at all.
… try this one for example…
is it All, or for the many…. ?
it has once again reappeared as a topic going into the new translation of the Roman Missal.
For those too young to remember the discussion from the last time around…
they are also too young to remember
the consequences
for 6 million Jews.
They were not killed by space aliens beaming on to the planet to do their evil deeds….
The defense at Nuremberg was —
just following orders
and an individuals willingness to override
their personal conscience…
THIS posting is a huge risk… it would be quite enough for a private reading… over the top for ‘general public consumption’… Is it a case of a Jonah having it on with Nineveh. Or is it when a Nineveh becomes a Jerusalem…
As soon as I press ‘enter’… its out there on a huge scale seemingly forever. Unlike the hand full who once subscribed to Commonweal or had access through a library and Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature… everything is a shout, nothing is a whisper on the Internet…
Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore…
Amen
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Yes, you are right. It’s a risky business and it calls for humility. Not the humility that shuns or shrinks, but accepts the earthiness of it all and then finds it challenging and even enjoyable.
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Dear Fr. Victor…
Here… is an example of the New Media in discourse…
The language is non-verbal…
The topic could be how New Media would approach The Book of Job…
There is no applying the Socratic method… No Lectio Divina … and how do we get the Beatitudes, Love one another as you have been loved and love your neighbor as your self.
The only ‘clue’ offered is in the title Animator vs the Animation… all played out with a generic line drawing stick figure.
http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf
This is part of today’s vernacular… nonverbal communication. It is America’s principle form of export of our values and priorities…
And while the Church is in reflection… the rapid responders are for better or worse filling the void.
It is like in the days of the invention of the printing press — except anyone with an opinion, a passion or a pretext and a few hundred dollars has their own global printing and global distribution system.
No Nihil Obstat… No Imprimatur… no consumer protection agency… no guides for sifting the gold from the garbage … no accountability to ‘your’ Bishop or conference of Bishops… Who is it then that ‘speaks’ for the Church? while the Church is in reflection…
Press send… and within seconds we begin impacting the quality of eternity for millions of people…
In humility and awed by the responsibility, I am inclined more than ever to go back to paper, pen and postage stamps…
Amen
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Fr. Victor…
… consider this… a Catholic e-church…
http://www.ecatholic2000.com/index2.html
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