Good idea, right?
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Everyone felt so empowered after that - some even thinking of it as a vocation or a special call. Maybe it is. But the Holy Father seems to be aware of how all of that is going... adding caution to our wind, as it were.
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI told Catholic bloggers and Facebook and YouTube users Monday to be respectful of others when spreading the Gospel online and not to see their ultimate goal as getting as many online hits as possible.
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Echoing concerns in the U.S. about the need to root out online vitriol, Benedict called for the faithful to adopt a "Christian style presence" online that is responsible, honest and discreet.
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"We must be aware that the truth which we long to share does not derive its worth from its 'popularity' or from the amount of attention it receives," Benedict wrote in his annual message for the church's World Day of Social Communications.
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"The proclamation of the Gospel requires a communication which is at once respectful and sensitive." - Google News
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The Pope urged users of social networks to ask themselves "Who is my 'neighbour' in this new world?" and avoid the danger of always being available online but being "less present to those whom we encounter in our everyday life". - Reuters
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Kudos. As one priest might say, "Why don't you go over to the Vatican website and raise those stats." ;)
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H/T Michael R for the story.
*Zing!* funny last comment. You kill me. (and I don't mean that in a vitriolic rhetoric kind of way...)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that priest will post this story.
ReplyDeleteCome on, with a speech like that, how does Pope Benedict expect to win the Catholic Blogger Award for best post by a priest or bishop this year? Fr. Z he is not!
ReplyDeleteI stopped going to that site. It just rubs me the wrong way. And the commenters rub me all kinds of wrong ways.
ReplyDeleteWow. Honestly, which one of us hasn't thought the same thing? Some may even have been brave enough to say it out loud, getting themselves blocked from the combox in the process. Coincidence or not, my favorite blog written by a priest is being discontinued.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like what the Holy Father said:
"The Pope urged users of social networks to ask themselves "Who is my 'neighbour' in this new world?" and avoid the danger of always being available online but being "less present to those whom we encounter in our everyday life". - Reuters
Makes your post yesterday all the more timely.
Coincidence or not, my favorite blog written by a priest is being discontinued.
ReplyDeleteLittle Way - is that Fr Mildew perchance?
LarryD, no Father S. at Clerical Reform. I don't think I know Fr. Mildew.
ReplyDeleteI check THAT priest's blog almost every day. He irritates me frequently....e.g. effusive congratulations to Cardinal Burke on his elevation to the college of cardinals, but hardly a word on Cardinal Wuerl's same-day elevation. He seems way too interested in right-wing politics. But I think he has a terrific site, and I figure I'm getting the rest of stuff that the liberal and mainstream Catholic sites don't always cover. I usually read the black and ignore the red (his personal commentary)... :) I think if the average person read both his blog and NCR each day, in short order they would end up with a very good idea of what is going on in the Church. Most of Father's stuff is terrific, and I think I owe him an enormous debt -- though he gets prayers from me....not my money. He seems like a very good priest, and like all priests he needs our prayers.
ReplyDelete"Echoing concerns in the U.S. about the need to root out online vitriol, Benedict called for the faithful to adopt a 'Christian style presence' online that is responsible, honest and discreet."
ReplyDeleteControlling communications what was being said and how it was said was back before internet.
In the US, there are people who cry at "vitriol" as soon as anyone loves Torquemada and hates English languaged persecutors of Holy Church.
These two interests have met.
They have made an ecumenic exaction on Pope Benedict XVI, he has given in. A hot time pastorally for Catholic bloggers that do not fit the mould.
Like the jerk whose excommunication or curse makes me miss or add letters so I have to correct myself all the time. I wrote "pastorrally" and had to correct myself. SOME bishop sure hates my blogs.
Stats for last week on my main blog:
ReplyDeleteFrance 53
Pays-Bas 52
Royaume-Uni 17
États-Unis 11
Chine 5
Algérie 5
Irlande 5
Allemagne 4
Israël 4
Italie 4
An anticommunist, not-at-all-islamist and antizionist might find these statistics boding bad for my liberty of speech. Especially since the bishop here is not exactly known for taking courageous stands against hyperecumenism and political correctness.
Michael - very good comment.
ReplyDeleteThat priest is an excellent priest, very solid and faithful. I also think he is intelligent, entertaining, and charming - some people use the word 'brilliant'. Sometimes there can be an attitude that goes along with all of that which some people find annoying at times. A couple of his mentors were like that as well.
Am I crazy or are people now dissing the message as not coming from the Pope?
ReplyDeleteAs would be expected, Terry. The stories at the end of the day sometimes scarcely resemble the ones that were first released. Everyone has to put their own spin on things. Sometimes I think the Pope should just concemn the whole damn internet as the instrument of satan, and make it easier for us to give it up by making it a mortal sin.
ReplyDeleteThose who agree with the message acknowledge it as authentic. Those who do not may be in denial. Either way, I think it was a good message and one that I feel could easily apply to me. I tend to be introverted and somewhat anti-social and sometimes it's just easier for me "talk" to a friend or relative on FB or via email rather than in person. I'm working on it.
ReplyDeleteTerry, you are not crazy.
ReplyDeleteI am against that message. The Pope (unless he be not so, I had sedisvacantist doubts about his predecessor) may well have signed it, but it is PC to the utmost. I Find it easier to believe a psychologist than a theologian could come up with this.
I cite the last comment:
I tend to be introverted and somewhat anti-social and sometimes it's just easier for me "talk" to a friend or relative on FB or via email rather than in person. I'm working on it.
I reflect: is there any serious sin in the thing "The Little Way" is working on?
Not in Catholicism.