Sr Mary Ann Walsh - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:03:59 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Sr Mary Ann Walsh - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 "Because I said so" doesn't cut it in social media https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/10/14/because-i-said-so-doesnt-cut-it-in-social-media/ Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:30:27 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=13422

"Because I said so" doesn't cut it in social media, a fact regretted by parents and leaders who for ages have resorted to the phrase when exasperated with the petulant "But …" and plaintive "Why?" "The social media phenomenon offers both challenge and opportunity for the church. Social media reaches people - millions are on Read more

"Because I said so" doesn't cut it in social media... Read more]]> "Because I said so" doesn't cut it in social media, a fact regretted by parents and leaders who for ages have resorted to the phrase when exasperated with the petulant "But …" and plaintive "Why?"

"The social media phenomenon offers both challenge and opportunity for the church. Social media reaches people - millions are on Facebook and Twitter every day. The church cannot ignore them. They are interactive, however, and don't work when conversations are one-way. They involve dialogue, something not always welcomed by clergy, teachers and other leaders," says Sr Mary Ann Walsh.

Read Sister Mary Ann's blog

Sister Mary Ann Walsh is Director of Media Relations, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; she is a Sister of Mercy.

"Because I said so" doesn't cut it in social media]]> 13422 Once a Catholic.... https://cathnews.co.nz/2011/07/19/once-a-catholic/ Mon, 18 Jul 2011 19:00:07 +0000 http://cathnews.co.nz/?p=7639 Sr. Mary Ann Walsh over at the USCCB blog takes a good long look at Bill Keller's remarks about Catholicism. The Catholic Church doesn't totally give up anyone. Even if you're excommunicated, it expects you to attend Mass each week, though not to participate in the sacraments. James Joyce in Finnegan's Wake defined the Catholic Church Read more

Once a Catholic….... Read more]]> Sr. Mary Ann Walsh over at the USCCB blog takes a good long look at Bill Keller's remarks about Catholicism.

The Catholic Church doesn't totally give up anyone. Even if you're excommunicated, it expects you to attend Mass each week, though not to participate in the sacraments. James Joyce in Finnegan's Wake defined the Catholic Church as "here comes everybody," giving a blunt, yet poetic expression to a Church with room for all.

One also suspects this hold comes from something more. Is it based in the image of Mother Church, emphasis on "mother," who loves her children and doesn't give up on them even when they don't deserve it or don't merit the affection, except for the accident of birth or in the Church, of baptism?

Is it the lifelong impact of prayers and other rituals, such as guardian angels to protect you, the Blessed Virgin to care for you, the rosary to guide your prayer, the Eucharist to sustain you, the soaring cathedrals to amaze you? Is it rooted in emotion laden events such as First Communion Day celebrations of purity and innocence or the deep comfort in a funeral Mass imbued with the conviction that we'll meet again in heaven? Is it a wish to connect to a parent's or grandparent's Catholicism that provided a moral compass in facing life's many challenges?

Is it grace? Is it this inexplicable gift of God's presence, recognized not enough to stop us daily in our tracks, but sensed on occasion to make us pause at God's creation, the gift of human life, the message in Louie Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World"?

Whatever it is, this Catholicism, this grace, is real, and because of it Bill Keller and others, be they lapsed, collapsed, befuddled or bemused, are part of it. They are family, even if they no longer come by for dinner.

Continue reading Once a Catholic

Once a Catholic….]]> 7639