The Spirituality of Blogging
Cathleen Kaveny has a post below on “The Ethics of Blogging.” It might be complemented by some reflections on the spirituality of blogging. Indeed, the two, ethics and spirituality, seem inseparable.
What is the tone we encounter (and perhaps contribute to) on blogs? Is it divisive, derisive, dismissive? What about an asceticism of comments? Does a pile-on of lengthy comments from the same persons advance a discussion or does it suck all the air from the blog and dissuade others from participating? It’s easy enough to decry the Taliban-tactics of the other. What of the bullying of the partisans?
Recently John Allen published a column regarding young Catholics. I passed it on to a number of my undergrads and asked if it “rang true.” The unanimous response was “Amen!”
Here is some of what Allen wrote:
This new generation seems ideally positioned to address the lamentable tendency in American Catholic life to drive a wedge between the church’s pro-life message and its peace-and-justice commitments. More generally, they can help us find the sane middle between two extremes: What George Weigel correctly calls “Catholicism lite,” meaning a form of the faith sold out to secularism; and what I’ve termed “Taliban Catholicism,” meaning an angry expression of Catholicism that knows only how to excoriate and condemn. Both are real dangers, and the next generation seems well-equipped to steer a middle course, embracing a robust sense of Catholic identity without carrying a chip on their shoulder.
And he quoted one young student:
“Why would I want to join a bunch of people who seem bummed out about the church?” one asked. “What’s the attraction in that?”
The attractiveness desired may be for a spirituality that is manifest in generosity of spirit. Too often mean-spiritedness seems the order of the day on blogs.
Blessed “Beatitudes Sunday.”
Fr. Imbelli –
I find the young people these days to be an exceptionally sweet generation – the random-acts- of-kindness generation. But I fear they have not been taught about cnflict resolution very well and they tend to avoid controversy. So that leaves the older ones to solve thexpeoblems.
But how? Yes, civility is a condition of true communication, but the issues themselves cause pain, not just how we talk about them. The new Mass, for instance, is actually a painful experience for some. The prohibition of contraception has rightly, I think, enfuriated some who have seen their mothers wither both physically and emotionally under the burden of too many children. Civil speech is only a cndition of solvng such problems.
Yes, we need generosity of spirit, but also courage and humility for the difficult process of Church self-criticism, and self-criticism is also not an attractive process. So I fear we have to give up trying to attract those dear young ones who don’t want to and don’t know how to discuss painful issues profitably either.
First a new reformation. Then the return of the young.
I think the difference between these young’uns and my generation is that we’ve “been there and done that.”
We’ve seen the promise of Vatican II, some of the good fruits of this council.
Now we see a pope “hell bent” on rolling back the renewal efforts that were a natural outgrowth of Vatican II. Indeed, B16 has “ticked off” the Muslims, the Jews, the Protestants, and most Catholics. This pontiff with his love for regalia is tone-deaf. He is also fearful (and beware a fearfilled man at the helm).
The world’s bishops charted a new course for the church more than 40 years ago. Paul VI found himself betwixt and between. JPII started the rollback. And now Ratzinger!
When people deeply care, they can get downright angry, and blogs (not all of them) provide a forum for frank expression of such anger. As a friend once reminded me, the opposite of love is indifference. Blogs generally do not attract the indifferent.
If trends described by Davidson and Hoge hold true, we will see an educated and informed laity moving in one direction while the ordained populace, inspired by JPII and B16, moving in the opposite one. Eventually, according to these sociologists, the “expectation gap” will be at its widest.
Then again, perhaps we’ll see an “ultraorthodox” Rome-based sect that will have lost not only folks on the left but a good many people in the middle.
Dear Father Imbelli,
To return to the theme of a spirituality of blogging.
I began blogging shortly before coming to Honduras as a long-term lay missionary. The main purpose was to provide some information for friends and family as well as for the parish in Iowa that is supporting me. I wrote about once or twice a week, trying to give friends an insight into my life and ministry here; I included reflections, quotes that struck me, and, more recently, photos.
When the coup happened in late June I decided that I would try to write each day to let people know what I was seeing and experiencing. I tried not to spread rumors nor to speculate much about the situation. Suddenly, people found my blog.
Writing once a day, usually at night, was a discipline and a way to do a type of daily examen – of my life and the life of the people here in Honduras.
I was also translating documents from church sources and soon decided to set up a separate blog with the translations. I saw this as a way to help people read what church people are saying here so that they can analyze the situation with a few more resources not easily available.
After a few weeks I decided that I would no longer write daily. I knew there were many reading but I decided that if I didn’t have anything to say, it’s better not to write fro the sake of writing.
I continue to write – now about three or four times a week.
My blogging has also become a ministry of communication, of mission, of seeking to let the voices of the poor be heard.
In addition, I have been blessed with some former students who have done missionary work in Guatemala, East Timor, and Uganda and a former student now in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and who have written blogs. Their reflections have inspired me and, many times, humbled me. This type of blogging is, I think, something of great value for our church, making solidarity easier.
John, Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras
Dear John,
many thanks for your reflections. I am sure that your on-the-spot blogging can be a of great help to those seeking some insight into the unfolding situation in Honduras, as well as aiding us to be aware of the condition of many of our fellows in other parts of the world. As such I am sure it is “a ministry of communication.”
As such (and as you indicate, I believe) it also entails a “spirituality” that is quite demanding (your reference to avoiding “rumor” and “speculation”).
I would be enriched by your ongoing thoughts about this ministry, its possibilities and its temptations. You recall my previous post regarding the indispensability of “discernment” with which you agreed.
Thanks again for participating in the discussion and for your own witness.
Father Imbelli:
Though I know your intentions are good, I believe you are proposing something that would result us all masking our honest thoughts (Left and Right) in order to become personifications of the Happy Face mentality – you know, have a nice day, and we can all come together, Pro-Abortion, Pro-Life, hold hands and sing (Yes, you guessed it!) Cumba- whatever. Now I know this is not what you are proposing, but it won’t work. These are grave issues, no matter which side one is on (I know, “There’s only one side, Jesus’ side”, but which side is that again?) Life here in this world is grave, limned with tragedy, sometimes with beauty, and ending with one’s corpse decaying in the earth, until either Salvation or Damnation, and nothing is as serious as that.
John Allen’s piece also includes this
Yet they were equally emphatic that their choice should not be read in terms of left/right dynamics, as if they were choosing a side. In fact, many said their politics don’t really conform to any ideological formation, and in any event they said they resent being boxed into categories they find artificial and restrictive.
What surprised me is not so much the sentiment, which has been thoroughly observed and documented by people much more expert in such matters than I am, but rather the passion. What these young people were telling me is that they often feel pressured by older generations to take sides in internal Catholic divides that they didn’t create, and that they often find distressing.
Interestingly I had just finished reading this poem at New Catholic Times and I wondered if it really fell into the Church as “bummer” or “Taliban” category. Although there may have been 4600 young people there Allen’s experience refers to talking to about 20. I think my experience finds more 20 & 30 somethings reflective of this poem’s sentiment than Allen’s experience.
Our Children No Longer Belong
Author: John Chuchman
Our Children are Spiritual.
They are Good People.
Institutional Church does not speak to them where they are.
Our Children have good values.
They are educated.
They are Leaders
in Universities, in Businesses, in Government,
in the Arts and in the Professions.
Institutional Church does not speak to them where they are.
They demand more of Church than did we or our parents.
They are used to operating in professional environments
that demand Accountability.
Their companies and non-profits
demand Transparency.
They will not offer their time, talent, treasure
to parishes or dioceses
that ignore the notions of
Accountability and Transparency.
Institutional Church does not speak to them where they are.
Our post-Vatican II Children
see no reason why church should operate
on a wholly different plane
than every other significant institution in our society.
Church hierarchy cannot treat our Children as uneducated serfs
in the world’s last major feudal monarchy
and expect them to
Pay, Pray, and Obey.
Though it may have named us,
Institutional Church, as it is now,
can never name our Children.
Thank God.
John Chuchman is an American Catholic commentator on religious affairs. He writes from Michigan.
http://www.torchlake.com/poetman/main.html
Somewhat depressing to find that what is said here echoes my own hesitations about contributing to blogs such as this:
“Why would I want to join a bunch of people who seem bummed out about the church?” one asked. “What’s the attraction in that?”
We want to participate in the conversation about our Church – with emphasis on conversation.
We don’t want to take a “party” line to everything that occurs. We also want to learn, not be browbeaten.
It’s a brave young person of faith who ventures out to engage on on well-established Catholic blogs.
Mr. Schwartz,
It would be contrary to my “good intentions” to suppose that I am advocating “masking our honest thoughts.”
In raising the issue of “spirituality,” I am not intending to support or promote a “Happy Face” mentality. Rather I want to raise the intensely serious issue of the state of our souls.
When I appeal to the imperative of “discernment,” it is because I think there is great need for all of us to examine the modalities of dishonesty to which we are prey, both in our living and our blogging. And to share the fruits of our discernment with one another.
May I suggest as a “spiritual guide” for bloggers and others George Orwell, and, in particular, his essay “Politics and the English Language.” No happy face there, but unrelenting honesty.
[...] The rest is here: dotCommonweal » Blog Archive » The Spirituality of Blogging [...]