Technology Traps

And Twitter Twits

The beauty of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. But as anyone knows who has regretted sending a 'dear John' email too hastily or wished they were a bit more discreet with their tweets knows, the drawback of the new electronic communication technology is that it is transmitted to the world in lightening speed. So even the most wise, most mature of us need to Face the Facebook reality. There are things you don't need to tell the world and you wish they didn't tell you.
I love Archbishop Dolan from what I know of him-and I saw him in action at a Mass. But he clearly needs a media PR counsellor to give him some blog tips. Like, why rebroadcast all the objectionable material you find all over the New York Times to criticize it and the authors? I actually missed the whole bit about the Franciscan who fathered a child and wish I didn't read it. It just made me madder that the church doesn't have a married priest option and made my point for me. Anyone who would rather that a father disown his children and abandon his lover in service of the altar isn't really following what I hope Jesus would do. It's just beyond scurrilous. How the church could wish anyone go to confession to someone who did that is beyond me. The guy working behind a pizza counter who feeds his kids is holier.
Maureen's disdain was, I thought rather appropriate- and even more so given the fact that so few women are courageous enough to tell it like it is. So my advice to Archbishop Dolan would be, you are doing a fine job there in one of my favorite cities, but roll with the punches a little- and have an open mind about where the grievances are coming from. Try to walk in their shoes- these bemoaning women who want what everyone else does- a little genuine sincere love and people living up to their responsibilities. You don't have to mock them, or deride them or call them blasphemers. No one changed anything wrong without speaking out about it. Now we see only as in a glass dimly, then shall we see face to face. We are not perfect here, we don't have the whole picture. The call is to love not mock, not judge. It only makes people look small when they belittle people who have a genuine beef- the sex scandals in the church are outrageous. Don't minimize or hide from it. Deal with it head on. Have an open mind concerning how the fact that a "married option" in the Roman Rite (like the Byzantine, Eastern Orthodox and all Protestantism worlds) might actually help the situation profoundly. Commission a study. We don't need to know all the dirty laundry-we need to know you are trying to figure out how to make it right going forward.

All the links on this blog just make my point for me. You didn't need to do that.
http://www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042