Pope Urges Priests To Go Forth and Blog 284
Hugh Pickens writes "Pope Benedict XV, whose own presence on the Web has grown in recent years, is urging priests to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and to engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures. 'The spread of multimedia communications and its rich "menu of options" might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web,' but priests are 'challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources,' says the Pope. The message from the Pope, prepared for the World Day of Communications, suggests such possibilities as images, videos, animated features, blogs, and Web sites and adds that young priests should become familiar with new media while still in seminary, though the Pope stresses that the use of new technologies must reflect theological and spiritual principles. Many priests and top prelates already interact with the faithful online, and one of Benedict's advisers has his own Facebook profile. So does the archbishop of Los Angeles. The Pope adds, 'I renew the invitation to make astute use of the unique possibilities offered by modern communications. May the Lord make all of you enthusiastic heralds of the Gospel in the new "agorà" which the current media are opening up.'"
Bad decision (Score:1, Interesting)
Evens the playing field, makes what they preach much more vulnerable if it's not restricted to small community or closed channel of information.
I love it.
Things the Church needs with a LAMP server. (Score:4, Interesting)
You know what the Catholic Church needs with a LAMP server (or similar)? It some unified website, administered by regional authorities or the Vatican itself, which will provide a good way to find parish locations and mass times for each and every parish in a first-world country where Internet access is common. Then, when I'm on a trip to White Plains and three hours jet-lagged, I can get some idea of when and where I can attend church on a Sunday. Or when I'm back in Silicon Valley and it's a random Holy Day of Obligation in the middle of the week, I can know where to go after work (or possibly before work or over a lunch break). Right now, it's a crapshoot as to whether the church even has a website.
Calendering. Please. Inter-parish calendaring, ideally; I'd love to know everything going on in the Diocese of San Jose at a glance. Bulletins would be nice too, even if they're just .pdfs. Maybe they could coordinate those with what'stheirface, LPI? those liturgical-publishers who seem to put out a lot of those.
If you're looking for gravy, throw in a quick podcast (and computerized transcription) of the homilies. If they can standardize on something, it would be pretty easy to plug into most existing parish sound systems, and reasonably cheap.
Next step out: Get the church behind some sort of free-content/Creative Commons angle with its liturgical music -- not necessarily to the exclusion of all else, mind you, but choir directors shouldn't have to jump through copyright hoops to legally express praise and worship. That, of all things, should be Free.
Re:Religion (Score:3, Interesting)
Nihilism. There you go, at least one.
Just because some ideas are used to control people, it does not mean the ideas are bad or untrue.
No, if some idea is consistently and reliably thorough history used for nefarious purposes, that is what this idea represents and not what it claims to represent.
I did (Score:1, Interesting)
I once talked to a priest about my inability to believe in God. I point blank asked him why is God real but not Santa Claus, Zeus, Apollo, Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. He was cool, as in nice, about it.
Oh, the answer is, in a nutshell, it's all about faith.
The funny thing is, I think many Catholics are really atheists but they practice out of duty and routine - meaning the routine give them comfort in their lives. And if you say the rosary everyday you get into meditation. Whether you're saying "Hail Mary's" and "Our Fathers" or "Om Mani Padme Hum", you're pretty much accomplishing the same thing.
Now, the fire and brimstone and "give a dollar and get a hundred back" Born Again Christians are a bit creepy. Actually, they're not religious; they're superstitious.
Now lets talk about the "which parish" problem (Score:3, Interesting)
If the current Pope is telling priests to go forth and blog
how would the situation of a Church in SecondLife be handled??
(bonus round question are there any real cross and steeple churches with SL locations??)
Personally i would challenge churches to extend their reach into this wilderness
Re:The Pope is right (Score:3, Interesting)
If I were able to sort of "check it out" by reading the priest's blog or whatever, it would make my decision to show up and participate much easier. Either I'll decide that it's just not my thing, or my somewhat renewed interest leads me to actually go.
Seems like a good idea to me. And why stop at just Catholicism? There are at least 5 different churches of varying denominations within a few miles of my house and I don't really know the differences between them. I could hit up a few of the sites and see what they're all about. If nothing else, at least I'll learn something. (And to be honest, they might have a web presence right now and I never thought about it. Time for some googling...)
Re:yes, please do (Score:5, Interesting)
I think we should try and move away from actions in the past. Sure we should forget some of the horrors, but considering most of the ills in this world is caused by people living in intolerance of a bygone age.
Yes the roman Catholic Church did a lot of wrong in the past, but they ARE changing. Remember, current believers who still swear by the 6000 year old earth are NOT catholics (it was a catholic priest who indeed first theorized the Big Bang) .
I am not a catholic myself, I am a Hindu Humanist. But my wife is Roman Catholic. I do occasionally visit a church, and she visits a temple. We have our own beliefs, yet we share ours with each other. We are both scientists, and do rationalize beliefs based on science, and need for humanity, and common sense. Yet we do have a faith.
When we go to church/temple, we are not looked down upon.. never. In fact, we receive a lot of respect for our attitude and reasoned thinking.
And more important we get along JUST fine.