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."