Archive for the ‘Internet’ Category

As word got out that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan, television and the Internet quickly began to feature images of spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and at ground zero in New York.

Just as quickly, blogs and social media pages such as Facebook began to rage with debates: about the morality of bin Laden’s killing and how it was accomplished and about the appropriateness of the celebratory atmosphere. Others questioned the meaning of the “justice” described by President Barack Obama in announcing bin Laden’s death.

In one of the Catholic blog discussions, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, captured some of the more charitable threads of the Internet debate:

“The Christian is not simply in favor of life for the unborn, for the innocent, for those we care for, for our families and friends, for our fellow citizens, for our fellow church members or even for those whom we consider good, but for all.  All life is sacred because God created all life.  This is what lies behind Jesus’s most difficult command: “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” wrote Martin.

“As a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him. And that command comes to us from Jesus, a man who was beaten, tortured and killed. That command comes from a man who knows a great deal about suffering. It also comes from God.”

To read Jesuit Father James Martin’s full blog post on the Christian Response, please visit America Magazine’s In All Things blog.

[Catholic News Service]

As word got out that Osama bin Laden had been killed by a Navy SEAL strike team in Pakistan, television and the Internet quickly began to feature images of spontaneous celebrations outside the White House and at ground zero in New York.

Just as quickly, blogs and social media pages such as Facebook began to rage with debates: about the morality of bin Laden’s killing and how it was accomplished and about the appropriateness of the celebratory atmosphere. Others questioned the meaning of the “justice” described by President Barack Obama in announcing bin Laden’s death.

In one of the Catholic blog discussions, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor of the Jesuit magazine, America, captured some of the more charitable threads of the Internet debate:

“The Christian is not simply in favor of life for the unborn, for the innocent, for those we care for, for our families and friends, for our fellow citizens, for our fellow church members or even for those whom we consider good, but for all.  All life is sacred because God created all life.  This is what lies behind Jesus’s most difficult command: “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” wrote Martin.

“As a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him. And that command comes to us from Jesus, a man who was beaten, tortured and killed. That command comes from a man who knows a great deal about suffering. It also comes from God.”

To read Jesuit Father James Martin’s full blog post on the Christian Response, please visit America Magazine’s In All Things blog.

[Catholic News Service]

Jesuit Father Jim McDermott, a screenwriting student at UCLA, offered one idea on what to give up for Lent this year: Facebook.

“Ah yes, that great and never-ending time suck; for those of us invested in it, how many hours fly by trolling friends, pages, posting, poking, updating, friending, sharing, linking, liking, defriending…In a season in which we want to be released from distractions and open ourselves more fully to the murmurs and the mysteries of our brother Jesus, could there be a better object of our mortifcation?”

For those not ready to give up Facebook for 40 days, Fr. McDermott offers a Facebook-based spiritual exercise to try instead. Read his five-step guide on the Wisconsin Province website.

“No spiritual practice is for everybody. If praying with Facebook helps you see and respond to the face of Christ around you, try doing it once a week,” he wrote.

Jesuit Father Anthony Kuzniewski will give a live online talk titled “Jesuits and the Development of Holy Cross” on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. Eastern.

Fr. Kuzniewski, a professor of history and a renowned Holy Cross historian, will speak about the establishment of the college in 1843 and discuss how the Jesuits and their lay associates built upon that foundation — within the context of promoting educational excellence and service to Church and state.

Kuzniewski will answer questions submitted online at the end of the 15-minute talk.

Click this link to tune into the talk at 7 p.m. on Feb. 8.

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer and curator of the Vatican Observatory’s meteorite collection, will be doing a live chat with the Arizona Daily Star newspaper this Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 2 p.m. Eastern.

The live “cosmic chat” with Br. Consolmagno will give people from all over the world a chance to hear him “make sense of the universe” and ask him questions.

Click this link to go to the chat with Consolmagno on Wednesday.