Gaudete et exsultate: Catholics Online

Christians too can be caught up in networks of verbal violence through the internet and the various forums of digital communication. Even in Catholic media, limits can be overstepped, defamation and slander can become commonplace, and all ethical standards and respect for the good name of others can be abandoned. The result is a dangerous dichotomy, since things can be said there that would be unacceptable in public discourse, and people look to compensate for their own discontent by lashing out at others. It is striking that at times, in claiming to uphold the other commandments, they completely ignore the eighth, which forbids bearing false witness or lying, and ruthlessly vilify others. Here we see how the unguarded tongue, set on fire by hell, sets all things ablaze (cf. Jas 3:6). (115)

I quote that section of James often enough with penitents; the tongue is a small organ but it gets us in all kinds of big trouble.

I first came online back in 1993 when I was a senior in college. Before long I discovered the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and its Catholic channels, as well as a Catholic listserv for which I promptly signed up. I was very innocent in those days, having been a Catholic for only about a year and with most of my knowledge of the Church having come from books, and I wasn't sure what to make of what I found, which was a lot of arguing and fighting. That's not to say that I didn't jump in myself when I knew that I was right about something ... because I had looked it up, thank you very much. I still have some of that attitude in me and it continues to get me in trouble. (More on that in the planned final post on Gaudete et exsultate, tentatively titled 'examination of conscience.')

Updated Comment Policy

Comments on this blog are moderated. When you leave a comment, I receive a notification and choose whether or not to publish it. I have never had much trouble with having to reject comments and I publish almost all that are submitted. Sometimes when I reject a comment I myself leave a comment in its place to explain my decision.

Laudato Si': An Admonition to the Online

Furthermore, when media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. In this context, the great sages of the past run the risk of going unheard amid the noise and distractions of an information overload. Efforts need to be made to help these media become sources of new cultural progress for humanity and not a threat to our deepest riches. True wisdom, as the fruit of self-examination, dialogue and generous encounter between persons, is not acquired by a mere accumulation of data which eventually leads to overload and confusion, a sort of mental pollution. Real relationships with others, with all the challenges they entail, now tend to be replaced by a type of internet communication which enables us to choose or eliminate relationships at whim, thus giving rise to a new type of contrived emotion which has more to do with devices and displays than with other people and with nature. Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections. Yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences. For this reason, we should be concerned that, alongside the exciting possibilities offered by these media, a deep and melancholic dissatisfaction with interpersonal relations, or a harmful sense of isolation, can also arise. (47)

Why Twitter Is Franciscan

From the Rule, chapter IX, section 3:

Moneo quoque et exhortor eosdem fratres, ut in praedicatione, quam faciunt, sint examinata et casta eorum eloquia (cf. psalm 11:7 and 17:31, Vulgate), ad utilitatem et aedificationem populi, annuntiando eis vitia et virtutes, poenam et gloriam cum brevitate sermonis; quia verbum abbreviatum fecit Dominus super terram. (cf. Romans 9:28, Vulgate) 

"I warn and exhort the brothers that in the preaching that they do, their words be considered and chaste, for the usefulness and edification of the people, announcing to them vices and virtues, punishment and glory with a brief word [e.g. 140 characters]; for the Lord made a short word on earth."

The One Mediator

Yesterday someone challenged me on Twitter with regard to devotion to the saints, asserting that such amounted to necromancy. In the course of things she or he adduced 1 Timothy 2:5,

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Kittehs

I guess a Catholic blog is supposed to be an enterprise of the New Evangelization, using new means to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a world once-evangelized but grown confused and forgetful. But one can't be in the world and totally not of it, as it were, and one can't be online and not be, at least to some degree, bedazzled and rendered subject to the internet's beguilings. So, after, seven years of blogging I surrender to the internets, and present to you a post of kitten pictures.

Thoughts and Decisions about my Online Self

Recently I've made some decisions about my online self, mostly around levels of privacy. It's not that I've had any trouble, thank God, but that I want to clear some distraction and also better appreciate folks with whom I'm connected.

So here's my sense of it:

The blog. I've been blogging here at a minor friar for almost six years. It's become part of the fabric of my daily life, ongoing reflection, and even my prayer. It serves a lot of purposes for me, and on the balance it seems like a salutary project, so I keep going. Of course it's eminently public. There are a few hundred visitors each day. Anyone may leave comments, and I do my best to publish all of them. I only reject out of hand comments that are spammy, overly rude, or vulgar. I'm very grateful for all of the friends I have made through blogging, and for the chance to link to other fine and interesting blogs.

Twitter. The first time I was on Twitter I quit with some drama, having decided it was a distraction. I came back when some circumstances changed in my life and I thought micro-blogging might be fun and worthwhile again. I appreciate Twitter for a lot of reasons, and I use it for an array of purposes, from preaching and devout encouragement all the way to outright silliness. My tweets are set to public. Anyone may follow. Whether or not I follow you back is somewhat arbitrary, so don't take it personally either way. Just because I don't follow you back doesn't mean I don't approve of or like your tweets, and just because I do doesn't necessarily mean I agree with you.

Facebook. I guess by now I would be considered an early adopter. For years I have accepted almost every friend request I received. Lately, however, I began to ask myself why I should bother staying on Facebook. But then I decided that I did appreciate it for certain things, and I edited my list of friends toward this purpose. I don't want to use Facebook for Christian encouragement or to play games. I don't really see it for me as a tool for evangelization, like I sometimes see Twitter and the blog. I basically like Facebook as I way to keep connected and stay grateful for folks I have known in person along the way. You see, I'm really a very shy person, and not likely to stay in touch with people from childhood, college, jobs, earlier assignments, etc., by way of calling or visiting. Facebook lets me stay in touch and keep grateful for all those folks. When I 'unfriended' all the people I didn't really know, I was surprised that so many friends were left. So that's it. Facebook is now a sort of more private place for me, limited to interacting with people I actually know in 'real life' or with whom I have had a significant internet relationship across various social networks.

Google +. I'm not quite sure what to make of Google + yet, though I like it. This doesn't bother me, because I don't think Google + yet knows what to make of itself. It looks like Facebook, more or less, but the way users connect is something closer to Twitter. For now I'm treating it a something in between. That is to say I may share posts with 'extended circles' but I myself will probably only encircle those that I know in person or with whom I have a previous internet relationship.

foursquare. In some ways foursquare is going to be the most private social network of all for me, for obvious reasons.

The Trials of Web Celebrity

I admit it; I enjoy playing foursquare. And I think I'm pretty good at it too; after about a year of playing I have eighteen badges and am currently holding down twenty-four mayorships. I would be even more of a success if someone would invent the Catholic badges I proposed back in this post.

One of pizza shops in my neighborhood has a large LCD monitor that cycles through news headlines, special offers, and best of all, a congratulations to the current mayor on foursquare, paired with a taunt inviting viewers to "check in" in an effort to oust him.

Having recently recovered the mayorship myself, I was up at the counter picking up my gyro when I came up on the display. "That's me!" I announced to the guys working there. Amid various cries of "Aha!" and "You're that guy?" as well as a couple of other less repeatable interjections, I realized that my self-revelation had resolved a minor mystery.

They congratulated me on my mayorship, but made a little request: could I please switch out my profile picture for something less bizarre, thank you very much.

So as soon as the site boots itself up from the casters-up mode it seems to be in this afternoon, I'll switch out my current profile picture:



For this one:



Better?

Retweeted

Twitter is a funny business. Over the past couple of days I've gained about sixty new followers, all because of what is becoming my most successful tweet ever:

"I find it funny that most priests complaining about the new translation are the same ones who change the words we have now."

When I say that this tweet was successful I mean that it has been "retweeted" by others to all of their followers. I often get a retweet or two for pithy assertions and off-beat sayings, but this one has been retweeted fifty times. When one's tweet thus reaches out into Twitter through this retweeting, that's when potential new followers become aware of you.

It was an idle comment, for sure, but one that I meant. Mostly it was about amusement. As I listen to priests complain about how unspeakable, unprayable, unintelligible, exclusive, and unpastoral the new English translation of the Mass is supposed to be, I can't help but notice that the priests who complain the most are the ones who most often need to adjust the liturgical texts we have now. So, on the one hand, if they really like the translation we have had all these years, why do they feel the need to adjust it? On the other hand, what are they worried about, since they will probably 'adjust' the words of the new translation in the same way they have been doing up to now?

So the issues are deeper than translation, or perhaps the deeper issues come to an expression in the problem of translation. The tweet reveals that underneath arguments about what is pastoral or not, prayable or not, are deeper arguments about the nature and purpose of liturgy, the authority of the individual priest with regard to the givens and tradition of divine worship, and even the concept of truth.

As I have been saying for a while, it's the clergy who will have the hardest time with this transition, not the people. Last Saturday when I was visiting with my parents I went to morning Mass at the local parish. Twenty minutes. No general intercessions, no sign of peace. The priest banged through Eucharistic Prayer II from memory, without ever turning the page from the preface. Probably he's been doing that for years. That's exactly the sort of priest for whom the new translation will be a jarring experience.

Catholic Rules For Twitter

Such goes a hash tag with which folks have been having a lot of fun on Twitter in recent days. When I saw it, I couldn't help but think of the ninth chapter of the Rule.

"I also admonish and exhort these brothers that, in their preaching, their words be well chosen and chaste, for the instruction and edification of the people, speaking to them of virtues and vices, punishment and glory in a discourse that is brief, because it was in few words that the Lord preached while on earth." (trans. Armstrong and Brady)

140 characters certainly qualifies, and so it would seem that Twitter would be an eminently appropriate means for a Franciscan to preach. It's also a quote you can use on any friar you know who suffers from temptations to prolixity.

In Defense of Social Justice

In the course of my internet ministry I have noticed something disturbing: sometimes so-called conservative or 'traditionalist'-leaning Catholics dismiss social justice as if it were an error altogether or at least something outside of Christian concern. This is a serious distortion of Christianity and Catholic teaching. Our Lord himself, with the whole prophetic tradition leading up to him, (not to mention the ordinary magisterium of the Church) reveals that social injustice is one of the most serious sins against God's sovereignty, and that the struggle for justice in the world is integral to genuine religion.

I've been reflecting on where this error comes from, and I've arrived at two ideas. First, sometimes folks are distracted by the errors of the 'social justice type' Catholics themselves. For example, sometimes these ignore certain pressing issues of social justice which are not considered such by secular liberals, like abortion or homosexual "marriage" for example, and thus reveal a certain confused assimilation to the world. But if religious conservatives allow such mistakes to make them reject the idea of social justice altogether, they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater and permitting the devil a great victory.

Second, I think there is, among us Catholics at least, a false separation between social justice and evangelization. There is a sense that we have our faith, we celebrate it at the Eucharist, and then we are called to go out into the world and work for justice. This is true as far as it goes, but I think we sometimes forget that the love of God and the Eucharist are themselves the social program par excellence. Yes, goods like a living wage, honest work, and access to health care and education are all things we should work for on behalf of those who need them, but in the end the old cliche holds: Jesus is the answer. In other words, we are good at remembering that we are called to struggle against social injustice, but because the world tells us to keep our religion to ourselves, we conveniently forget that God himself is the remedy for the ills of society.

This second trouble leads to two distortions in our Catholic life. First, if someone encourages others to the devout life, or to return to prayer or the sacraments, or practices the liturgy in such a way that it produces communities of devotion and fervor, this is generally not viewed as a ministry of social justice, when in fact it is so, and preeminently. Helping the greatest number of people to come into the deepest experiential contact with the mystery of Justifying Charity Himself in divine worship makes them into a justifying leaven in the world. On the other hand, if our faith leads us to agitate for social change or to join those who try to compel worldly governments to take better care of the poor, we should not imagine that we have accomplished a great victory if we have not also given people a way to God in Whom they can know the truth about themselves in the world as an alternative to the errors about creation, life, and humanity which are at the root of social problems in the first place. This goes for both the powerful and the poor of this world. It is a failure to properly acknowledge the sovereignty of God that is at the root of social injustice, and to fail to include this in our social works is to only address symptoms rather than the disease itself.

Search Terms

Looking over the referrer log tonight, I see that it's time for another 'search terms' post. Seeing the terms by which folks get to one's blog via search engines can be both amusing and perplexing. Here are some of the recent searches that brought visitors here:

"Order of Friars Minor." Not funny, but I was surprised to discover that this blog had worked it's way on to the first page of Google results for this one.

"Chronically acedic." I admit it; I am.

"Penitenziagite." I know. I need to.

"What is meant by hypertrophy?" It's what Jeremiah had in sympathy for God, according to Eddie Hanker, a teacher I was very fortunate to have at an impressionable moment.

"Cute nun." I'm not, but have nothing against the concept.

Catholic Foursquare

So, I have been using/playing with foursquare. What is my justification for introducing such a potential distraction and trifle into my life? Well, I have two; the first is ministerial and the second personal. First, I have always tried to conceive of my internet presence, in part, as a way for people--especially those who might be interested in religious life or discerning a vocation--to have a glimpse into what our life looks like, both inside the heart and in the activities of daily life. The foursquare application does some of this by revealing some of the places, movements, and activities of my days. Second, I have been constantly challenged in my religious life to 'get out more' and to be attentive to visiting confreres and friends. As a game, foursquare encourages me to do some of that stuff.

All that being said, the other day on the bus, having visited the foursquare "venues" St. Mary's Church, El Poblano Cafe, and "Ghetto" (i.e. "Getty") Square, I was thinking about the potential this application might have for Catholics. In playing foursquare, one can earn "badges" for checking in a certain number of times, for checking into a number of similar places, or with a certain number of people, as well as for many other little accomplishments. Several particularly Catholic badges come to mind:

Daily Communicant: That's five check-ins at daily Mass in one week!

Frequent Penitent: That's two check-ins for confession this month. Thanks for your good example!

Adorer: You've checked in at adoration in three different churches!

Triduum: That's all three stations of the Paschal Triduum liturgy for you!

Midnight Mass: You're lucky to still have one!

All Souls: You've checked in to a cemetery on All Souls day or during its octave. The plenary indulgence in available to you.

First Fridays: You've made the nine First Fridays! The Sacred Heart is your refuge!

First Saturdays: You've made the five First Saturdays! You are a devout agent of reparation!

These are just examples. I'm sure readers will come up with several more in the comments. There could also be particular badges for jubilee years, special observances, indulgences, and pilgrimage sites and shrines, etc., as well as ones for charisms, e.g. a certain number of check-ins at churches or institutions of Franciscan inspiration could earn a 'Franciscan' badge, etc.

In the course of using foursquare one may also become the "mayor" of venues by checking in more than any other user. Mayorships can also be usurped by other users. Some businesses offer special deals for foursquare 'mayors,' and so it could be for my Catholic version. For example, a Mass could be offered each month for the intentions of the mayor of a certain church.

So, you devout foursquare API and iPhone and Android app developers, I'll look forward to it. The EULA must include a pledge to resist using the application to indulge any Pelagian tendencies.

Phreaking, Reminiscing, and Googling

I spent much of today in a state of under-productivity due to having to wait around for the phone guy, who never came. I have quite a few irons in the fire with Verizon right now; two old POTS lines that mysteriously ring busy when called, and another account which they have turned over to collection for a phone line I have never been able to find or determine has ever been in service. We should have got rid of all this old cruft when we put in the T-1, but I digress into phreaky rant.

Anyway, in my idleness, I was thinking about Confirmation last night and thought back to my own Confirmation. I was twenty years old and a junior in college. I was appended to the year's crop of ordinary confirmandi at the parish near school. At the time they seemed like kids; there's a big difference between twenty and fourteen. But time softens age gaps, and today I was thinking about how my Confirmation classmates must all be around thirty-two by now. I wondered what had happened to them; if any had become famous or infamous, or entered religious life or the priesthood. I took out the program from that night and googled them. Almost all had Facebook profiles. One was a professor of government somewhere. One had been arrested for some kind of tax problem with his restaurant.

So I prayed for all of us, for the continued grace of the Spirit in our journey, the Confirmation class of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Quaker Hill, Connecticut, December 11th, 1992

Santo Subito

Does this count as a miracle for beatification?

The Little Bird and the Lions

I had a striking dream last night--a very biblical style dream, in fact--and I think it was about Twitter.

I have to say that I'm surprised nobody has called me out on my having resurrected my Twitter account after I quit another micro-blogging service, Plurk, with such a display of fervor some months ago. I had a Twitter account then too, but I synced it with Plurk so the updates were duplicated on Twitter without my having to look at it.

Two things coincided to make my try Twitter again. First came the Holy Father's message for World Communications Day, in which Benedict recommended the use of internet social media to priests as a means of evangelization. Second was the obsolescence of my PDA combined with a need to upgrade my cell phone, which led me together to enter the smartphone world. The possibility of mobile micro-blogging was too much to resist.

But what of the spiritual impact? In my individual case, which is the only one to which I can speak, are the possibilities of serving the glory of God through Twitter worth the risks of distraction? Well, last night I had a dream that suggests to me a cautious 'yes.'


In my dream I was on a neighborhood street. There was a small vehicle something like a chariot. Drawing the chariot was a team of three lions. Driving the chariot was a little tiny bird wearing a little harness that was attached to the back of the chariot with something like a set of leather straps. As I stood there, I was amazed that the little tiny bird could keep three big lions under control as it drove the chariot slowly along. But then something odd happened. The little bird fell into a pothole or some kind of fissure, and was being pulled along under the ground. I watched. Eventually the little bird emerged, all dusty and disheveled from being dragged underground. Then I realized that the bird wasn't moving and was probably dead. Then somebody was screaming from one of the houses and I knew that the lions had escaped their harnesses. I ran away in terror. In fleeing I realized my guilt; I had stood there with morbid curiosity as the bird was dragged underground. I could have helped it, and maybe it wouldn't have died and the lions wouldn't have escaped. Then I woke up.

I think the little bird was the tweeting Twitter bird. The lions, because they became such a danger when they became unbound, were the lion from 1 Peter 5ff., a reading familiar to anyone who prays Night Prayer on Tuesdays: "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devout. Resist him, steadfast in faith."

The little bird was able to tame and manage the big lions. In the same way, micro-blogging done for the glory of God could be a 'mustard seed' planted amidst the confusion and sins of the internet. But if we begin to use such a service for simple or even morbid curiosity--as I indulged when I observed the little bird's misfortune without helping--we can be providing an occasion for the devil's work to be set free through ourselves.

Anyway, that's my interpretation.

Search Terms

Looking over the referrer log, I see that it's time for a 'search terms' post, in order to display some of the curious internet searches that have brought visitors to a minor friar and to answer some questions found therein.

"Capuchin Catholic wedding." Unlikely. Someone is a little unclear on the concept, I think.

"how to become a bishop of a Christian church?" Ordination, I suppose, by some other bishops with a mandate from the Holy See.

"What to do if baptized Novus Ordo." Live it each day!

"How to become a licensed bishop in California." I think the answer would be the same as above. Any California readers care to add anything?

"Carthusians AND holiness." Amen.

"Franciscan priest picture." Here you go:

My Missent Ritual

I have to say that, for me, the tracking of packages is one of the greatest and most enjoyable uses of the internet. It's like taking a virtual journey through places near and far, with a conclusion of sudden reality when whatever it is actually shows up.

I have ordered from Paxbook and watched a package come all the way from the Holy See. It first appears in Rome and then quickly makes its way to Milan. Then it descends into silence for a few days before popping up in Pittsburgh.

I have tracked packages sent via UPS, FedEx, and Deutsche Post (The Dutch book dealer from whom I have found a few treasures seems to wander over the border to do his mailing.)

But the most obscure, mysterious--and in this sense, interesting--package tracking is with items sent via the U.S. Postal Service Media Mail, the former 4th class/Book Rate. The indications can be opaque and the itineraries without obvious logic.

Today I see that my latest package from the great Loome Booksellers, now in its ninth day in the epic journey from Stillwater, Minnesota to the City of Gracious Living, Yonkers, New York, has appeared in Englewood, New Jersey, having taken three days to get there from fifteen or so miles away in Jersey City.

This means that me and my package are probably less than three miles apart at this moment, but who knows how long it will take to get here, especially as the most recent "status" reads "missent."

I can only imagine what "missent" might mean: Perhaps some Jersey Wiccan or Scientologist is poring over the 1955 Rituale Romano-Seraphicum in a state of disappointment.

a minor friar on Wikipedia

I know this is supremely geeky, but I can't resist a visit from Wikipe-tan, in celebration the appearance of this blog in the references of an article on Wikipedia.



This is the article in question, which refers to the recent post on the death of our sometime Capuchin confrere, Pius XIII.

Search Terms

It's really not time for a new 'search terms' post, but two of the recent Google searches that have brought visitors to this blog having been amusing me for days:

spiritual director + creepy. Examples abound, I assure you!

names for brides. Usually they come already bundled with a name, but you never know.