There's something I want all of my readers to know: many of our modern media sources (and of course, the people who run them) are not well-informed on the teachings of the Catholic Church. Sorry to be the one to break the news. (And hey, and while I'm at it...there is NO Easter Bunny!)
So when the news of the confession iPhone app got out, all sorts of silly reports came out about how the app got an imprimatur and now you could just confess through (or to!) your iPhone, ad nauseum. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out yesterday's post:
http://coffeetalkwithleslie.blogspot.com/2011/02/iconfess-to-my-phone.html
Even a really solid journalist I follow half-jokingly suggested that the developers should go to confession for misleading people with their product. All I can say to that is puh-LEASE. Do you really think that the same faithful Catholic guys who went to the trouble of having a couple priests aid them in the development of the app and asking their local bishop to grant an imprimatur would then deliberately mislead people into believing that their app was a substitute for actual sacramental confession? Somehow, I think it's more likely that the media misinterpreted, than that the developers deliberately misled people or misrepresented their product.
In any case, word reached the Vatican (fun!), who then issued a statement about the new confession app. So check it out! http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/new-confession-app-is-no-substitution-for-the-sacrament-vatican-says/
Peace and all good,
Leslie
P.S. The men in their 20s are tied with the women in their 40s in the age poll...the competition is getting pretty intense! ------------------------------------->
Showing posts with label social communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social communications. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Vatican’s Gonna Make a Kickin’ New Website, Y’all!
Yesterday was the 45th World Day of Social Communications, and Pope Benedict XVI gave an excellent address on the need for a positive Christian presence on social networking sites. He suggested that as we live through this “period of vast cultural transformation,” we are to take up the “task of witnessing to the Gospel in the digital era [which] calls for everyone to be particularly attentive to the aspects of that message which can challenge some of the ways of thinking typical of the web.” Here’s what he goes on to say:
“First of all, 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. We must make it known in its integrity, instead of seeking to make it acceptable or diluting it. It must become daily nourishment and not a fleeting attraction. The truth of the Gospel is not something to be consumed or used superficially; rather it is a gift that calls for a free response. Even when it is proclaimed in the virtual space of the web, the Gospel demands to be incarnated in the real world and linked to the real faces of our brothers and sisters, those with whom we share our daily lives. Direct human relations always remain fundamental for the transmission of the faith!”
Right on, Papa! And he closes his address with a special appeal to the young people:
“I invite young people above all to make good use of their presence in the digital world. I repeat my invitation to them for the next World Youth Day in Madrid, where the new technologies are contributing greatly to the preparations. Through the intercession of their patron Saint Francis de Sales, I pray that God may grant communications workers the capacity always to carry out their work conscientiously and professionally. To all, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing.”
(Speaking of which, the Diocese of San Bernardino has a few more spots available for World Youth Day. Come with us! August 10 – 23, 2011; Toledo and Madrid, Spain; $2400. Let me know if you wanna come!)
If you want, check out the pope’s full address on the Vatican website:
Speaking of the Vatican website (which I personally love to frequent, even though it’s been described by some as clunky and outdated), guess what Archbishop Claudio Celli said? Well, first you could guess who Archbishop Celli is, and then you can guess what he said.
Okay.
Give up?
Be assured that I’ll let y’all know when the site is up and running. I think it will be a great way for the Church to more fully interact with the modern world.
Peace and all good,
Leslie
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Spreading the Good Word - Would Jesus Use the Internet?
Happy Sunday, everyone! In honor of the day of rest, I’ll make this a briefer blog entry than usual – that way, we can all get a little more rest tonight. Enjoy!
This marks my sixth day of blogging, and I want to thank all of you who have joined me thus far for Coffee Talk with Leslie! I am completely new to the world of blogging, so I’m still figuring out all of the features of my new blog. I recently checked out my blog stats, and guess what? In six days of blogging, Coffee Talk with Leslie has received nearly 150 page views from the US, Canada, and Bermuda. Who would have guessed it?
This makes me consider the amazing times we live in with so many means of social communication available to us. Here I am, writing from the comfort of my own home about my reflections on life and insights about Catholicism, and there are dozens of you out there in cyberspace joining me for Coffee Talk even from international locations. Truly, it’s mind-boggling.
It makes me consider a great quote that I read in Communio et Progressio, a pastoral instruction of the Roman Catholic Church, issued in 1971, that was prepared in accordance with the Second Vatican Council’s 1963 decree Inter Mirifica (On the Means of Social Communication). Check it out, and see if you’re as amazed as I was when I first read this:
“While He was on earth Christ revealed Himself as the Perfect Communicator. Through His ‘incarnation’, He utterly identified Himself with those who were to receive His communication and He gave His message not only in words but in the whole manner of His life. He spoke from within, that is to say, from out of the press of His people. He preached the Divine message without fear or compromise. He adjusted to His people's way of talking and to their patterns of thought. And He spoke out of the predicament of their time” (CP 11).
Jesus used all the means of social communications available to him at the time to communicate himself and his message to the people of his time, and we are asked to do the same in our times – to harness the tremendous power of the various media available to us not just to share any news, but to share the Good News! Let’s think of all the ways that we can do the same. The com-box is open, my friends – sound off on how you’d like to spread good news and gospel values this week through use of the various forms of social communication. I look forward to hearing your ideas!
Peace and all good, Coffee-Talkers!
~ Leslie
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