Last year, as is fairly well-known, the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, at their Low Week meeting, discussed the phenomenon of Catholic blogging. Since then, the Tablet newspaper launched an attack on my parish because one of our four weekend precept Masses and one of our six weekday Masses is said in the extraordinary form. From the vast correspondence sent to me, much of it including copies of perfectly well-balanced and reasonable letters sent to the editor of the Tablet (and not published), I hazard a guess that the subsequent correspondence published on the letters page was far from a fair reflection of the correspondence received.
Be that as it may, the Catholic blogosphere responded with great generosity, enabling me to pay for our new rose vestments in full with some money left over to save up for some silver candlesticks for our Lady altar.A further consequence of this debacle was that bloggers around the world were left in little doubt about the character of the Tablet. Whereas many people before had rather ignored it as a possibly slightly highbrow English weekly, they now took a closer look and realised, from various articles and snippets that were published and fisked around the web, that it is the English voice of dissent from Rome; dissent that began with a conscious editorial decision at the time of the publication of Humanae Vitae in 1968 and has continued ever since.
Almost overnight, the Tablet's position as a leading opinion former was compromised by the democratic and rather scary freedom of ordinary Catholics to write on the internet without editorial censorship. It is no surprise, then, that the Tablet has chosen to launch a blanket attack on Catholic blogging during the two weeks leading up to the Low Week meeting. After all, it would be very much in their interests if the Bishops were to go along with the idea that blogs are rather bad and dangerous.
Last week, the "Letter from Rome" questioned how "ordained ministers" have time to "feed a blog" rather than visit the housebound or those in hospital or prison. It is amusing that the use of the liberal Catholic cipher "ordained ministers" (as opposed to "priests" or "clergy") raises the question about "lay ministers". In the spirit of collaborative ministry, should blogging lay ministers not also be using the wee small hours to visit the housebound? Come to that, what was St Thomas Aquinas doing, spending his time writing about essence and existence? The thirteenth century was a period of global warming - surely the Angelic Doctor should have been devoting his energies to saving the planet?This week, the editorial "Voices from the Lower Depths" is a broadside against blogging generally. Ostensibly tut-tutting about the role of blogs in the McBride scandal, the Tablet could not resist lashing out against Catholic bloggers: "often right-wing, polemical and vituperative". Worst of all, as the leader bemoans, their targets "often seem to include the Tablet."
When you have picked yourself up from the floor and dried your eyes, you might take the opportunity to post one or other of the following in the combox here or on your own blog:
- a polite explanation of why the Tablet should not be sold in our Cathedrals or parish Churches (with examples and quotations)
- an account of the work done by Catholic blogs in supporting Pope Benedict (with links)
- a list of the ways that Catholic blogs have helped ordinary Catholics to grow in their faith (with links or personal testimonies)
OTHER COMMENTS:
Holy Smoke: The Tablet hits out at Right-wing bloggers 'from the lower depths'
"The most revealing detail of all, however, is that the Tablet has to explain to its readers what the word blog means"
The Sensible Bond: The Tablet's world of evil Catholic blogdom
"Wait a minute, Tablet, what on earth are you saying about the community of British Catholic blogs on the net?"
That the bones you have crushed may thrill: In Defence of Priestly Bloggers
"The Tablet would rather that the 'liberal' voice was the only voice heard, and that the 'voices crying out in the wilderness' were banished into exile forever."
Mulier Fortis: The Latest Stupid Comment From The Suppository... and The Suppository's Attempts At Comedy...
"The only "conspiracy with the bishops" is the one which allows The Suppository to call itself a Catholic publication despite consistently attacking the Holy Father and continuing to dissent from Catholic teaching in matters regarding marriage, sexuality and contraception (among other things) without being called to account by those Bishops"
Catholic Mom of 10 Journey: "Losing the Plot!" In Defence of Priestly Bloggers
"Do all bloggers need a psychiatrist? Well I'm ahead of the game already having one! Do all editors need one too? Do editors of the Tablet need one? What do you think?"
Anglican Samizdat: The right-wing blog conspiracy
"It’s rather quaint observing an establishment antediluvian attempt to explain the dangers of a burgeoning technological trend"
35 comments:
In all honesty, Father, I've learned more about Catholicism from blogs than perhaps from any other source (including 14 years of Catholic schools). My wife learned almost everything about Catholicism from websites and blogs prior to her conversion. Catholic blogs not only provide up-to-date news and photographs of His Holiness and various episcopal happenings, they provide access to precisely the sort of things that print media do not. In this regard I would point to two critical factors.
First is the simple matter of vocabulary and linguistic education. Print journalism faces hard bottom-line realities, and journalists are trained to maximize the accessibility of their copy by writing at about a sixth-grade reading level. Least-common-denominators are fantastic for reaching a wide audience, but abysmal if you really want to learn something. So you're never going to learn all of our fantastic Catholic vocabulary reading a newspaper. I had a fairly good education growing up, but I know what the words zuchetto, thurible, camerlengo, biretta, and cappa magna mean; my parents don't. I first saw all these words (and countless others) used on blogs, written by people who were concerned with speaking accurately and precisely, not with ensuring that every semi-literate person on the planet could understand them without picking up a dictionary.
The second ties into the first: blogs' ability to serve as gateways to more information. Again, this is a feature of the web broadly speaking (and not one anyone needs to explain to you personally): links and blogrolls, combined with non-blog utilities like dictionaries, databases, and encyclopedias provide access to a nearly limitless supply of information. It's not just that the information is there, either---it is literally effortless to access.
I say all that as someone who really enjoys print media. I love books and thoroughly enjoy newspapers and am skeptical of efforts to bring about the demise of both. But in terms of simply providing information, print periodicals don't hold a candle to what's available online, especially in the blogosphere.
LEft wing creeps have ruined modern society. They preach "openess, diversity, tolerance" as if they were "faith, hope and charity." In truth, they only agree with "openess, diversity, tolerance" in so much as you agree with them.
All sweetness and light, until you shine the light of truth on them, calling then on their lies and deceit, then they show themselves to be the vipers they are. If it weren't for the Catholic blogging community, I LITERALLY would not have known about the Moto Proprio for MONTHS after the fact. Though the bishop here in San Diego, eventually gave over a parish to the TLM, he was the one who also has tried to put other priests in a container, claiming that Rome allowed all sorts of caveats re the Latin Mass, re: what constituted a stable community, ad infinitum.
These people can not admit that their lack of catechisis has FAILED the average Catholic family and single people. It wasn't the NO Mass that did us in as much as the lack of catechisis from strong teaching about what the faith believes AND HOW TO DEFEND IT (I actually had my pastor at one point tell me that he would have no truck teaching any sort of apologetics to those teens to be confirmed.)
They refuse to teach Humanae Vitae, thinking it "Backward and inconvenient" - and Catholic society has gone to hell in a handbasket by having the faith watered down because "it's too hard" or "not modern." The road to hell wll be paved with the skulls of these people.
I'm a recent convert, and am interested in learning more about Catholicism- online blogs aren't exactly a guided learning experience, but they give me a starting point, and the collective years of experience for all those I read. I regularly follow yours, Fr. Z's, American Papist, the Curt Jester, and a few others that have proved invaluable to my education so far.
I possibly have a skewed view of the Tablet, since all I know of it revolves around the current/most recent debacle- however, I'm a strong believer in one's character being expressed by their actions, and recent actions have shown a sad and startling lack of charity and openness.
One looks forward to the day when the new incumbent at Westminster will be in a position to ban the sale of this sad rag from the Cathedral. It has given him good reason to do so, but maybe come May 22nd they will realise which side their bread is buttered on!
Forgive my clear lack of education, but what does vituperative mean?
Sometimes, I feel that some of the musings from the "lower depths" do not notice that their own explanations are sometimes no clearer that those of the Bitter Pill!
It's the old story - ageing revolutionary establishment seeking to crush grass-roots "reactionary" deviation.
It's unfortunate that Traddie-come-Lately Damian Thompson's scabrous hooliganism hands them such a big stick to beat you with.
Can. 211
All the Christian faithful have the duty and right to work so that the divine message of salvation more and more reaches all people in every age and in every land.
Can. 225 §1.
Since, like all the Christian faithful, lay persons are designated by God for the apostolate through baptism and confirmation, they are bound by the general obligation and possess the right as individuals, or joined in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation is made known and accepted by all persons everywhere in the world. This obligation is even more compelling in those circumstances in which only through them can people hear the gospel and know Christ.
Can. 227
The lay Christian faithful have the right to have recognized that freedom which all citizens have in the affairs of the earthly city. When using that same freedom, however, they are to take care that their actions are imbued with the spirit of the gospel and are to heed the doctrine set forth by the magisterium of the Church. In matters of opinion, moreover, they are to avoid setting forth their own opinion as the doctrine of the Church.
Seems as though Canon Law gives full support to the concept of blogging by both priests and laity ... as long as it is in full accord with the Magisterium!
Not being a bitter pill reader myself and never likely to be so, do you or any of your readers know of an authoritative source listing the dissenting articles with dates.
Is anyone capable of compiling such a list or as Damien is a regular reader, being a journalistic and having access to all sorts of resources, does he have a tablet table of transgressions?
I emailed the Tablet - letters section - explained that I bin any Tablets lying around as I regard them as dangerous. Also, I said I hoped that the economic downturn will claim them, as it has the lads mags.
Dominie
Father,
I must have missed something. What is the 'Mcbride scandal'?
Are there any 'liberal' Catholic blogs, I mean, as well followed as yours and one or two others? If so does the Tablet want to suppress them too?
Thanks for the rallying call. Will do something about it during Low Week. For the recod, yellow and white blogging colours must be nailed to the Oasis mast.
Happy, holy Eastertide,
J
Dear Father, Like the Labour Government, the left/liberal 'establishment' in the Church does not understand theInternet, and it fears what it does not understand. It is like the invention of the printing press. Something has changed, and changed profoundly. Ordinary Catholics, who the Pill and its readers claim to represent, now have a voice, and it is noy a voice of dissent. As a seminarian, I find I have to keep some of my views to myself (though less so, I expect, than when you were in Seminary). The existance of blogs like yours is a big comfort to me, and many others, and gives us hope and courage for the future.
I once heard a blog poo-pooer call it "internet graffiti". Naturally, took that as a badge of honor for my blog name. Uncle Di once defended graffiti as the little guy against the monolith and recalls going into a public bathroom with a condom-vending machine and noting that someone had scribbled on it, "My dad says these don't work." That to me is more devastating than 100 hours of anti-contraception catechesis.
So blog on! When the "legitimate" media outlets QQ, you know you are doing something right.
Done, Father, here.
The Tablet is 'yesterday's news'. They have been an irrelevant voice in matters Catholic for many years and now in their final days are making sad, desperate attempts at trying to cook-up some news in an attempt to drum up some business.
It's all backfired big-time thanks to some really poor journalism and even worse 'leadership' from the editorial board. Do I feel sorry for them? WOT??? For taking pot shots at the Holy Father and Fr Tim - not in the least!!!
The sooner their dissenting chirping fades from the scene the better. The Church needs Catholics with a CAPITAL 'C'!, ready to uphold the Truth, defend our Holy Father, run against the secular tide of modernism and relativism, speak out against the moral bankruptcy shown by so many of our leaders, report on liturgical abuse etc.... etc...
The Tabletista whingers are dinosaurs from a bygone age who have done little else than grease the slide of dissent and heresy for the last forty years. Frankly good riddance the whole bunch of them.
New Technology Rules!
ENTER THE CATHOLIC BLOGOSPHERE & THE ORDINARY CATHOLIC BLOGGERS WHO SO DEEPLY LOVE THEIR FAITH AND THEIR LORD THAT THEY ARE NOT PREPARED TO SIT BACK ANY LONGER AND SEE THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS TRAMPLED UNDERFOOT!
NO-ONE CAN STOP THIS RIGHTEOUS TIDAL WAVE AS IS PROVEN BY THE COUNTLESS MILLIONS WHO PICK UP THEIR 'KEYBOARDS' AND POST OR COMMENT ON CATHOLIC NEWS AND EVENTS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE OR IN THEIR OWN BACK-YARD.
IF YOU WANT TO CHECK THE 'REAL CATHOLIC PULSE' BEATING ACROSS THE WORLD THEN YOU ARE BUT A COUPLE OF CLICKS AWAY VIA THE INTERNET AND CATHOLIC BLOGS!
DEO GRATIAS!
Jane - the McBride scandal is a recent political scandal in the UK. Basically he was an advisor to the Prime Minister who sent round some emails proposing to smear senior Tories with scurrilous allegations. He has quit but the fallout for the government has been quite severe.
If you do a google news search on "Damian McBride" you will find plenty of articles on it.
The blogs are a get source of good Catholic teaching and evangelization, what a joy it is to put people under no obligation when helping them to deepen their faith and increase their relationship with Christ. With today’s anti catholic agenda all around us the teachings of Jesus need to be taken into the world to counter the immorality and abuses that are going on, it is the inaction within our schools and in many of our parishes that is leading to this destructive ignorance among Catholics.
The good Catholic blogs are a beacon of hope, many bring to our attention and stand up against the evils that we witness. We need to stand up with sufficient effort as one people clergy, religious and laity, and this we can do through the blogs. Thank God that there are priests with unique talents and skills humbly assisting eachother aswell as guiding their flock. I am aware that these Priests have very little free time, so they stay up late to tell us the truth and open our eyes to the love of God and the deceipt of the devil. Where else can we read so much about the beauty and events in our Church. Newspapers have always had an element of artistic license and the tablet just prints garbage. I remember when I first started my M.A. at the Maryvale Institute 1993 and thought that The Tablet would help increase my knowledge and aid in my research . How wrong could I be?. By the time the second issue arrived I was appalled, no way could I allow such rubbish into my home and accessible to my children. I immediately cancelled my subscription.
Thank you Father Tim, and other good priests for using your gifts, talents, compassion, wisdom, knowledge and time generously for the benefit of the faith of others. Thank you for keeping our faith alive. Thank you for showing us that we are not alone as followers of the Risen Christ.
"The Lord has the right to be glorified by us at every moment, so if we waste time we are robbing God of his glory."
Saint Josemaria Escriva
So Blog on you are not wasting time, and we your readers love it!!!
Thanks Father,
Thanks! Will do.
Perhaps you thought my second question was rhetorical tongue-in-cheek' so when I do my defence of Catholic blogs I will assume that the Tablet's editorial refers to the orthodox pro-Benedict Catholic blogosphere.
J
The 'vituperative arts' were made famous by Auberon Waugh and they essentially mean bitterly offensive. Interestingly, Waugh was a bitter critic of the late Derek Worlock whose influence continues to dominate the British hierarchy: CMOC & VIN are both protegees.
I fear that Holy Smoke is a 3rd rate imitation of good quality vituperative writing. The jokes are often lame and Thompson made a complete fool of himself over the Westminster succession story.
Colmcille..you mean they don't sell the Tablet at St Chads? (Btw my dad's name is Colm after Colmcille!)
Jane asked...
"Are there any 'liberal' Catholic blogs"
My guess is that there aren't many - for the simple reason that they cannot proclaim the truth; they know it; and they know what they say won't stand up to scrutinty. So they don't/can't blog.
The truly Catholic blogs we're all familiar with proclaim only the truth and so cannot be argued with, except polemically or critically, like the dross that emanates from the Bitter Pill and its ageing followers.
We know from the latest available data that the Tablet has an average readership now of about 22,300 per issue - only about 70% of which are in the UK and R of Ireland - the rest are from overseas subscriptions (and therefore possibly largely unsolicited gift subscriptions). Most of the copies sold in the British Isles are through postal subscriptions, so they sell just over 3500 through cathedrals, churches etc each week (throughout the UK and R of Ireland).
This seems insignificant compared to the Catholic Bloggers. Damian Thompson recently boasted through Twitter that he gets about twice as many hits a week as the Independent on Sunday sells copies (where the latter is over 167,000 per week) – a staggering amount under the circumstances if his statement is accurate. When this is added to the very sizeable readership of your own apostolate, and that of Father Blake etc, it is clear that this recent phenomenon is genuinely well worth the consideration of various bishops.
The demographic profile of the Tablet’s readership is also worthy of consideration, where all the available evidence suggests that it is concentrated in just two age bands - the elderly and the very elderly. Further, a good few of these are believed to be non-Catholic. With the current economic downturn, and the Tablet either happily or unwittingly providing sufficient material for the bloggers to feel morally obliged to run an information campaign highlighting severe deficiencies in both their ideology and copy, it seems reasonable to intuit that they should seek to gag the bloggers.
If these issues are raised at the next CBC meeting, a more pertinent question for them to ponder after that of why the readership of this former flagship of the English Catholic establishment failed in every attempt to expand its readership or attract a younger readership, despite the heavy endorsement of so many bishops, is why the Holy Spirit does not appear to be inspiring rebellious liberals to have a successful apostolate through the Internet, in the same way that He has clearly done with faithful Catholics.
I have regular comments on my blog and comments from people I meet at speaking engagements telling me that my blog helped them return to the church, helped them convert to Catholicism, or that my blog is one of the few sources (the others being other blogs and websites) from which they get any solid teaching in the Catholic faith as their parishes and dioceses are full of Catholic softies.
We Catholic priest bloggers are only doing what we have been instructed to do. The Holy Father John Paul II time and again in his writings on the New Evangelisation exhorted Catholics to use the new technologies.
The sooner the stranglehold of liberal complacent Catholic journalism is broken the better.
The blogs, and especially yours, Father, have been an inspiration to so many of us who yearn for a return to Catholic orthodoxy. The Tablet is clearly peeved that the ultra-liberal establishment no longer has a monopoly of communication and that dissent and disobedience are being exposed. They seem to want to censor those who are obedient to the Holy See and the teaching of the Church. The Tablet's future seems to be either as a liberal, modernist Anglican journal, or preferably under new editorial management giving us comment that is both orthodox and intellectually rigorous, loyal to our beloved Holy Father.
Fr. Tim,
Your blog -- and many others -- are a lifeline of spiritual and doctrinal sanity at a time when large parts of the Catholic Church have lost all understanding of the fact that Catholics are called to be signs of contradiction in a world that has lost its moral bearings.
It's been three weeks since my last confession and I have to admit that I looked at the Tablet website today (once). If you think that the following quote breaks the "fair use" rule, please feel free to delete this comment, but on reading the Tablet's latest article on Archbishop Nichols, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the self-deceiving, wishful-thinking liberal outlook which it exemplifies:
"What makes Mgr Nichols the right choice is above all the continuity he represents with previous key leaders of the Catholic Church in these two countries. Like his immediate predecessor, he is heir to the Worlock-Hume partnership that gave Catholicism a more acceptable and friendly face in Britain, and drew it into national life where it gained respect and influence. It has been progressive in social policy, undogmatic but faithful in morality, effective in its ecumenical and inter-faith relations. The hierarchy, thanks to a succession of wise and skilful apostolic nuncios, has values and interests that are broadly shared by the laity."
Let them dream on, but I am very much aware that, in the absence of the Catholic blogs, the Tablet's view is the only version of events that most Catholics would ever get.
Dear All Fr. Bloggers,
I firmly believe that your blogs are one of the most important Apostolic Ministries for the 21st Century and beyond.
It is simply impossible to calculate just how many people across the world might just pick up a computer and become 'enlightened' as to the Truth of Jesus Christ - and that's on top of the 'regulars' who learn so much from you.
Please continue to do 'your bit' as the Holy Spirit continues His!
God Bless you all and thank you for all your hard work.
Like most busy working fathers with three kids,I find it hard to keep up with events in the church.That is why Catholic blogs and Catholic websites are invaluable.It also makes you realize how hated our church is throughout the country;the truth is never received well.
Yes Father, I well remember The Tablet’s dismissive treatment of Pope Paul VI and Humanae Vitae in 1968. I have had no time for that publication since then. While they were hardly alone, their action helped to poison the minds of countless Catholics against the Holy Father’s teachings and sabotaged the work of faithful priests trying to adhere to the truth. We are still suffering the effects of that.
Would that we had blogs back then to counter the negative and erroneous slant of The Tablet and its ilk. But, thank God, today we have a counter-balancing medium and the world is not the same. No longer can ‘mainstream’ media such as The Tablet (and here in the US: The National Catholic Reporter, America and Commonweal…) claim the field for their negativity.
Your blogging is an apostolate Father, and an excellent one! We need you and the other priestly and lay Catholic bloggers who hold fast to the Truth and are not swayed by the World.
Keep it up!
I hope that the Tablet doesn't intend to label ME as a right-wing conservative Catholic blogger!
Politically I'm rather left-wing, I'm pretty liberal as I don't mind "civil partnerships" as a legal entity as long as they refrain from using the "m" word, and I cannot see any disloyalty or misuse of time on the part of the priests I know who blog.
On the contrary there are several reasons why Catholicism is strengthened by blogging:
(a) It is a way of communicating with people who ordinarily never talk to clergy or enter a Catholic church.
(b) It is a way to reach out to younger people. Nobody of my generation reads the Tablet. Not a single one. A small few might read a Catholic broadsheet (or an Anglican/Methodist equivalent). Everyone, however, uses the internet.
(c) The very nature of the Internet means that everybody can express their opinion. For the "liberal" Tablet to complain that "reactionary" Catholics are blogging is downright hypocracy: a TRUE liberal (such as myself) would relish the opportunity for such a plethora of different opinions to coexist side by side in cyberspace.
The fact that they censor letters to their editor suggests that they are far less liberal than they might like to think!
(d)Reading blogs if fun! The Tablet reads like a photocopier instruction manual.
Just the view of a seventeen year old who must be very out of touch with the Tablet's oh-so-modern and progressive agenda...
The ability of Catholic blogs to enhance one's Catholic faith can be seen quite clearly. Just refer to the article on the New Liturgical Movement blog, dated 18 April 2009, reference Monasticism. The link is at http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2009/04/monastic-retreat-in-county-waterford.html#50984460074172706
I know of two Catholics who have been encouraged to attend Monastic Retreats by dint of reading Catholic blogs.
Generally speaking, the complete absence of any mention of Monasticism or Monastic Retreats in most Catholic churches these days is a terrible lack of care on our pastors' behalf.
If Catholic blogs fill that yawning gap (which they, patently, do), they should be congratulated.
I, for one, will be going on Retreat as a result ot the NLM blog, mentioned above.
Among many other fantastic positive's for these blogs, the one I would mention personally for me is that when I was doing my dissertation on music in liturgy, at a secular college, I found The Hermeneutic of Continuity a fantastic resource and was able to follow links to various encyclicals etc which really gave me a whole depth of useful information. I even quoted this blog in my dissertation & the Hermeneutic of Continuity appears in my bibliography. I feel that Fr. Tim's wealth of solidly grounded information on this blog really helped me get that first for the dissertation that I wouldn't have got had I not discovered it and gone more in depth from that point in my research. Thank you!
My own small contribution (following your suggestion) can be found here...
(Yes, a shameless plug, I know...)
;-)
What is the Tablet afraid of? If they don't like a particular blog, for whatever reason, they don't have to read it. I don't like the Tablet; I don't read it. Or is it jealous of the success of blogs and the fact they're free? If so, why doesn't it start one of its own? No doubt because of the freely expressed opinions that might attract.
Your blog in particular, Father, is a wonderful resource - very informative and challenging, and always objective and courteous, an oasis of calm and sanity in a hostile world.
Incidentally, re 'Tabula delenda esta' - wouldn't something like 'converted' or 'transformed' (whatever the Latin is) be better?? Cato was a bit of a stiff-necked old bore, after all!
Earlier today Timothy Fischer - former Australian Deputy Prime Minister and now the Australian Ambassador to the Vatican - delivered a lecture at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome on the subject of the media. His lecture was geared to the perceived future roles of current seminarians when we minister in parish situations, and have to release information to the press or field and respond to their enquiries. His basic thesis was that an aggressive free press serves the interests of democracy and if the church can use opportunities well, we should regard the media as our friends.
At that point in the lecture, I thought of The Tablet's dismal and obviously out-of-touch editorial comments last week regarding blogs. I thought of you in particular, Fr. Tim.
There was an opportunity for questions at the end of the lecture, so I raised the issue of The Tablet editorial last week and I specifically asked what are we to make of the phenomenon of the old media trying to undermine the new, with this example of an editorial from a 'Catholic' publication rubbishing parish priests' blogs? Does this kind of attack by the old print media serve the Church or democracy?
I will be diplomatic: this is not the place to report his answer because this was not a public forum, and suffice to say it was a non-contentious reply. But it was necessary to raise the point in the present moment, when Paul Staines - a.k.a. 'Guido Fawkes' - is under attack from The Telegraph (soon to be re-named 'The Labourgraph') and your blog has become a target for The Tablet (long since re-named variously), that we are still being encouraged - as we head into future priestly ministry - to think about dealing with 'the media' in terms of the old Gutenberg press. "How to handle reporters," as if that was the real issue, when it is not. Learning to understand the political and social agendas of the organ-grinders who own the print media would be more practical than ever learning to dance with the monkeys who work for them.
You, Fr Tim, are one of those who have led the way in showing us a different model, taking the new technology and using it for mission. We might not always agree with everything you say (and why would we?) but we can rely on you to present a traditional view that we cannot see elsewhere in the 'Catholic' press. You perform a valuable ministry and in your own time, as is the case with most blog writers, rather than sacrificing time from other duties.
Has the Rector at St John's Seminary ever asked you to give seminars at Wonersh on the use of modern electronic communications in a parish setting? If not, why not ask him, or be modest and ask someone else to ask him! I must say, I did wonder what a different kind of lecture it would have been this morning, if you had been doing it: not as an alternative, of course, but as the other side of the coin.
Here's hoping we might see you here in Rome eventually giving a talk on the subject. Naturally, seminarians don't have any input into how their formation should proceed, and nor should they. (Several thousand pairs of English Catholic eyebrows hit the ceiling and a great cry goes up: "Heaven forbid!") So I'm not suggesting anything but the Holy Spirit might leap in at this point... :-)
Not sure about your post Francis. I think some of what the Tablet writes in yr selection may be true.
Gareth - in the early days of PCs and the internet, I used to give talks to priests from time to time about how technology could help us. I'm always happy to try to help people understand what's available.
In recent years, I have had experience of various official bodies (not necessarily ecclesiastical) wasting opportunities to "get their story out" because of a fear of "reporters". It is part of a risk-averse culture.
I'd be most interested in any notes or further information on the lecture and questions on a strictly "off the record" basis. I'm genuinely interested in what the guy had to say.
Incidentally, I have fond memories of the Australian embassy from my time in Rome. Some of us made friends with a number of the staff there and used to get invites to the "Kangaroo Bar". I wonder if that still exists?
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