Saint Isidore of Seville is the patron saint of the internet. Why would St John Paul choose this man who died in 636 and who has never been formally canonised as a saint for this role? Continue reading
Posts Tagged ‘Internet’
Big brother is here, his name is Facebook
Thursday, February 8th, 2018
In his book 1984, George Orwell detailed a dystopian world wherein a person or persona called “Big Brother” saw everything that people did and where the central government pushed its agenda through propaganda, spying, monitoring, and thought controls. That book was published in 1949. It is now 2017, and while we do not exactly have Read more
The death of reading is threatening the soul
Thursday, July 27th, 2017
I am going through a personal crisis. I used to love reading. I am writing this blog in my office, surrounded by 27 tall bookcases laden with 5,000 books. Over the years I have read them, marked them up, and recorded the annotations in a computer database for potential references in my writing. To a Read more
Extreme internet use linked to mental illness in teens
Thursday, July 6th, 2017
More than one-third of 15-year-old children in the UK could be classified as ‘extreme internet users’, or those who are online for more than six hours daily outside of school. A report from UK think-tank Education Policy Institute (EPI) states that children in the UK have a higher rate of extreme usage (37.8 percent of all UK Read more
Archbishop Chong urges school teachers to use visual media
Thursday, June 15th, 2017
The archbishop of Suva, Peter Chong, has called on Catholic teachers to be creative in their teaching skills so students can enjoy learning. He said one of the effective ways to teach children today was to make use of visual media. “That is the culture we are living today. The children of today are ‘screen Read more
The online culture of wrath
Friday, October 7th, 2016
Not long ago Time magazine ran a cover story about Internet trolling with the alarming but not inaccurate cover blurb “We’re losing the Internet to the culture of hate.” Trolling and other antisocial behaviors are widespread online. They can even be found in devout Catholic circles, though outright trollery and the “culture of hate” are Read more
Condolence in a digital age
Friday, October 7th, 2016
How do we comfort others in this digital age? Is a text message or emoji enough? When, pray tell, should we actually use the phone to call? Or…talk face-to-face?! A recent NY Times commentary, “The Art of Condolence” by author Bruce Feiler, wades into these choppy waters of shifting cultural expectations. Penned after Feiler’s own mighty Read more
Babies soon may be baptised on Skype
Tuesday, May 24th, 2016The Church of Scotland is considering online baptisms and communions to help reverse a decline in membership. The plans are due to be presented to delegates at the Church’s annual gathering on The Mound in Edinburgh next week. It is hoped the plans will start a debate about how to engage more with parishioners while also Read more
Vatican PR aide decries Catholics who spout online hate
Friday, May 20th, 2016
A Vatican communication aide has chided Catholics for turning the Internet into a cesspool of vitriol in the name of defending the faith. Fr Thomas Rosica told a World Communications Day event in New York that sometimes Catholic conversation online is more “culture of death” than “culture of life”. “Many of my non-Christian and non-believing Read more
Exposing kids to porn is child abuse, Aussie bishops say
Friday, April 15th, 2016Exposure to pornography harms children so much that it should be considered child abuse, Australia’s Catholic bishops have said. A commission of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference gave a statement to a senate committee in their nation last month. The committee was making an inquiry into the harm of Internet pornography. “Children have a right Read more