Digital Contraception

I wonder if I should just stop there, with that phrase - "digital contraception" - attached to this image, and allow us time to ponder this picture?

In this crowd of "popearazzi", (if I might coin a phrase,) an older woman, face radiant like Moses on the mountain, gazes without obstruction on Pope Francis, who appears to be looking at her. She's not touching him but is clearly touched. The younger woman, hand actually grasping the Shepherd's hand, holds in her other hand a smartphone, through whose 3 x 5 screen she stares at a pixelated image of the actual man five feet away from her. Granted, she too is touched. Both are joyful and smiling, but there is something sociologically intriguing about this image. Which of these two is having an actual, personal encounter? A 'communion of persons' for only a fleeting moment?

I think we all know where this is going. And you may have strong feelings about it.

Some history. Facebook launched 11 years ago this year. YouTube is just 10, and Twitter is 9 years old. The first iPhone debuted only 8 years ago. What a decade it's been. The digital revolution is in full swing. A tsunami of smartphones brimming with social-sharing apps has washed over nearly every continent and seems to be omnipresent, popping up even in the most remote of Third World villages. It's important we talk about its effect on us as persons, called to interpersonal relationships. I hope to do this in a circumscribed manner. So let's shift gears for a few paragraphs and then we'll return to this pregnant phrase, pardon the pun, of "digital contraception."

Decades before the digital revolution, in fact, shortly after the sexual revolution of the late 60's, the Theology of the Body debuted. It's a biblical and philosophical reflection on the human person by St. John Paul II; a glorious life-giving vision of the potential of human love. It speaks of how our sexual complementarity as created by God is meant to be a fruitful sign, imaging the gratuitous gift-giving nature of God Himself, Who lavished on creation from the very beginning a design of communion and complementarity that, when embraced, is creative and efficacious on many levels. It's an extensive catechesis on the human person as imago dei, a being fully realized in relationship, in family, for God in His deepest essence, as St. John Paul II wrote, "is not a solitude. God is a family."

Those who have reflected upon this beautiful teaching of the Holy Father, who have opened their hearts, minds, and bodies to its life-giving truth, can certainly attest to this fruitfulness in their own lives. When one receives the teaching, which in essence is Christianity itself, the gospel "reloaded", then the walls come tumbling down. Illusions are blown away. Misconceptions about who God is and who we are get a proverbial facelift and our faith is lifted! One finally sees within one's masculinity or femininity, not a confused and solitary shuffling around for meaning and purpose that we must construe by ourselves, but a divine dance. A holy communion. A divine romance.

Circling back... Today, the life-giving joy that flows from living the theology of the body shines all the more brighter as we live and move and breathe in this increasingly suffocating, contraceptive culture. When I speak of contraception and of a contraceptive mentality in the present culture, it isn't merely the biological block. It isn't merely latex or a pill that is the issue. That exterior contraception is really the manifestation of a deeper interior contraception. An emotional contraception. A kind of spiritual contraception that holds back the heart and soul of one person from another. We see it everywhere. We struggle with it at multiple levels. In our frenetic activism we've failed as receivers. We've neglected to become that naked heart to the real and raw encounters of everyday life.

In his beautiful reflections on our common home, Laudato Si, Pope Francis wrote "We were not meant to be inundated by cement, asphalt, glass and metal, and deprived of physical contact with nature." (Laudato Si, 44) Can we add our little gadgets to this list?

Pope Francis advised us that "the accumulation of constant novelties exalts a superficiality which pulls us in one direction. It becomes difficult to pause and recover depth in life... a constant flood of new products coexists with a tedious monotony. Let us refuse to resign ourselves to this, and continue to wonder about the purpose and meaning of everything." (Laudato Si, 113)

These naked hearts, open to encounters with the real world of persons and signs and wonders often feel as though they are the person who escaped from Plato's dark cave of self-inverted shadows and they've seen the light. They return to the cave changed. They try to express what they've seen and heard and touched with their hands but everyone in the cave is touching screens. 

The walls of smartphones that we've seen in the photos and videos of the recent visit of Pope Francis are certainly not intrinsically evil, or even sinful, but they sure seem strange. In a certain sense, these phone walls can be just as much a block to the life-giving call of humanity to love as other forms of contraception. I think you all know what I'm talking about. You all have experienced it in your own lives, in restaurants, movie theaters, workplaces, sidewalks and even busy streets.

Dozens of times per day, people hold up a very thin wall in front of faces. A 3 x 5 screen that aids us remarkably in communicating with others, yet too often hinders the communion with the real flesh and blood right in front of us.

Again, Pope Francis' insights here are spot on. In the Joy of the Gospel, he wrote that some people "want their interpersonal relationships provided by sophisticated equipment, by screens and systems which can be turned on and off on command. Meanwhile, the Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction. True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by becoming flesh, summoned us to the revolution of tenderness." (Evangelii Guadium, 88)

During the recent visit of Pope Francis to the United States, watching video and looking at photographs from the various places he went, I was struck again by this reality of "digital contraception". I fall into the same struggle, I wrestle as much I'm sure as anyone with the wonder of these little gadgets but it leaves me wondering. Many of us touch these screens so many more times a day then we touch other people's hands and little heads of children, and blades of grass and the bark of trees. Our touchscreens have left us out of touch with the very real world we've been placed in by God. I think we need once again to possess our possessions rather than have our possessions possess us. Let's all make a promise to be more present, to be more of that naked heart who can really receive the other person in front of us. For as C.S. Lewis once wrote,

"Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses." 

____________________________

Originally posted here for the TOB Institute

A Techno-Fast for Lent!

"Hi, my name is Bill, and I'm a technoholic."

"Hiiii Biiiill...."

I grab my cell phone between 6 and 12 times an hour to send or receive a text, e-mail, update/check Facebook, or to micro-blog through Twitter.

I have ten pages of apps on my iPhone, from the Mass readings to the Church Fathers, CNN to Craig's List, and games galore. I listen to music on the way to work, at school, and on occasional walks around campus. At home, Apple TV allows us to stream our music and photos over the television, and surf YouTube as well. I have taken well over 10,000 pictures since I got the iPhone nearly three years ago. I love to blog, and listen to podcasts. And I need to let it go.

A man is enslaved to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself.

- George MacDonald

Let me say straight away that it is good. The wonders we have created by our hands... amazing! But what is the one thing necessary in this life? What is the summum bonum that the saints and mystics have pointed to and that to which the dying man reaches while lying in his bed at the end of his days? Tools of communication, or a deeper Communion?

At the end of the day, it's all about relationships, isn't it? And as much as these tools can help facilitate communication and convenience (trust me, I am their biggest fan) they cannot replace the warm face before me, my wife and son, the students I am privileged to guide, the person on the street, the cashier at the grocery store. Flesh and blood, immortal souls each with their own story. Fr. Benedict Groeschel once said "Forget the TV... give me a person any day. People interest me!"

I was talking to a good friend today who, coincidentally, is also fasting from technology for Lent. We're excited about this 40 Day Dare. "It's all about silence this Lent for me" he said.

God speaks in silence. Silence is His native tongue. The world, the stars, the flowers move in silence. I have opened myself up to too much noise. I feel myself slipping sometimes, reaching into my pocket for that phone, checking it incessantly, like the Ring.... the Precious!

"I feel like butter scraped over too much bread.... I need a holiday! I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains!"

- Bilbo Baggins, Lord of the Rings

Can you become possessed by your possessions? Can the device made to serve you become your master? The mystics say that slavery is to give yourself to anything less than God. To make anything other than God your god is to become a slave to that thing. So I'm signing off for awhile, to "front only the essential facts of life." My plan is to drink the coffee slowly and attentively, to read Louis de Montfort, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross. To spend more time before the Tabernacle than a computer screen. To give time to God and family and others, not in splintered, fragmented bytes but in a whole-hearted, long and loving gaze.

So into the desert we go! Off the grid for 40 days! See you on the other side!

Lord of the Ringtones

Are we addicted to our gadgets? Have iPods become our igods? I was struck by this article on a few levels... and I'm not gonna lie, at first glance, we were nervousss, preciousss... that they wanted to take it from usss, preciousss!

The main point addressed was captured here: So, the answer seems simple: Like the One Ring, mobile electronic devices are too powerful for mere mortals to wield without corruption. They inevitably lead to disturbance, disruption, and disaster. Or do they? ... On the spiritual side, anyone can reference prayers, sacred texts (in the traditional sense), and fellowship with co-believers anytime, anywhere. (One of us spent the Jewish holiday of Purim tracking the reading of the scroll of Esther on his iPhone, complete with special noise-making software. The other enjoyed Lenten prayers using this iPhone app.)

Hmmmm... read on!

Nerd Alert - iPhone Update 2.0!

I know.... I know. It's beyond cool.
Learn more here.

"With the iPhone 2.0 Software Update, your iPhone will do even more. Extend its capabilities with innovative applications you download directly from the new App Store. Get push email, calendar, and contacts from your Microsoft Exchange server at work. And use great new features in Mail, Contacts, and other applications. Free in the next update."

Did they say free?

Techno-Catholics - Evangelizing with New Media

I had a great conversation this morning with Greg Willits, the host of the first-ever Catholic New Media Celebration, to be held in Atlanta, GA on Sunday, June 22. He's the Chief Operations Officer of the Star Quest Production Network (www.sqpn.com). Greg, along with his wife Jennifer, also created the popular "That Catholic Show" video series and also co-hosts the award-winning Rosary Army Catholic Podcast. These are incredible vehicles for bringing the life of faith into the lives we live in the culture today. There's something for everyone in the work of SQPN! Listen to our podcast interview here. And watch a sample of a That Catholic Show Episode below! Registration for the Catholic New Media Celebration is free, as well as for the Eucharistic Congress preceding it in Atlanta. Check out the resource websites below for more info...

RESOURCES:
www.celebration.sqpn.com

www.rosaryarmy.com
www.thatcatholicshow.sqpn.com
www.sqpn.com

Bringing Up Geeks - An Interview with Marybeth Hicks

In one of my favorite interviews to date, I spoke with Marybeth Hicks, who artfully and passionately stated her mission to "uncool" America. How? By raising up GEEKS - Genuine, Enthusiastic, Empowered Kids! Listen in as she demystifies the consumer culture and teaches us how to build a real human culture, where persons are more important than possessions, and character is nobler than cash. The podcast of my interview with Marybeth is here. The book is set for release this summer, but visit her website now! About Marybeth Hicks (from the website) Marybeth Hicks began her career in the White House where she scribed special correspondence and talking points for President Ronald Reagan. Today, her writing has shifted to focus on the most important job in the world—being a parent. Author and speaker Marybeth Hicks is the weekly family columnist for The Washington Times, the general interest daily newspaper located in the nation's capital known across the country as “America’s newspaper.” Marybeth’s column “Then again…” appears on the cover of the Family Times section and explores issues and experiences that affect families and shape communities. Marybeth Hicks is also the author of two parenting books. Bringing up Geeks: How to Protect Your Kid’s Childhood in a Grow-up-too-fast World (Penguin/Berkley), slated for a July, 2008 release, includes a foreword by child advocate Dr. Kimberly Thompson, founder of Harvard’s Kids Risk project.

New Year's Resolution #2 - No False Gods

Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
- Wisdom 13:3

We're moving through Exodus in my biblical studies class (yes, I like to move slowly through the beginning of the Bible, everything happens in Genesis and Exodus anyway. The rest of the Old Testament right up to Malachi is just a vicious circle... until Jesus breaks in!).

So... presently we're looking at the idolatrous practices of Egypt, and Israel's addiction to false gods too. After all, it was the very air they breathed for 400 years, and the moment they are out of Egypt and left alone for a few weeks, they go and build a Golden Calf (aka, a tribute to the Egyptian cult of Apis, which is basically an obsession over sex, power, and wealth for the ancients). Israel falls right back into Egypt!

I like to tell my students how refreshing it is, how ennobling, that we can all look back and laugh at those silly ancients, worshiping frogs and the Nile River and bulls and sheep and stuff. Ha! We've certainly learned from their mistakes, eh what? My how we've progressed! No false idols here, no sirree. No physical wrappings or trappings enshrining strength or virility, control, power or sex for us moderns. As the old Virginia Slims ad used to say, "You've come a long way baby!"

Right...

I'm not gonna lie to you. I have my addictions, my own list of idols. I love my Mac, my ipod. I look at my cell phone about 124 times a day. That's why they call it a "crack"berry. I wonder if I could go a day without the internet, how 'bout a week? Yes yes, I know, it's a part of life now. My work is IN the internet. It's a tool, a platform for teaching, for information, etc. etc.

All true.

I'm not saying the iPhone, the internet, Blackberries, Blueberries, ipods, whatever are BAD. Don't you know me? And guess what... for ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and yes, our dear Israel, the stuff they slipped into wasn't bad in and off itself either: the beauty of the stars, the paragon of animals, their strength and virility, their power and cunning, the life-giving waters of the Nile; these really did bring them life after all.... and yet.

"... If they were struck by their might and energy, let them from these things realize how much more powerful is he who made them. For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen." - Wisdom 13:4-5

How easily I slip into excess. From moderation to undulation, and from seeing the icon (a light-flooded sacrament of a thing), to twisting it into an idol. Into my precioussssss....

Sound dramatic? Well... if I end up spending more time looking at my techno-gadget than I do the person in front of me, or around me, than that ipod has become an igod! Is this a real kick in the pants for you? It is for me! I stink at fasting! LENT IS COMING!! I jokingly said to my students yesterday that I was giving up the internet for Lent...

"Impossible!" they cried in unison.

"It can't be done!" they shouted.

"Is this going to be on the test?"

Poor us, so addicted to electricity, gadgetry, ease and comfortability. It's been called "technolatry" - the new idolatry for the 21st century.

AND NOW THE SMACKDOWN...

St. John of the Cross once wrote "It comes to the same thing whether a bird be held by a slender cord or by a stout one; since, even if it be slender, the bird will be as well held as though it were stout. . . . And thus the soul that has attachment to anything, however much virtue it possess, will not attain to the liberty of divine union."

Ouch. Time for some soul searching and a little more letting go. I just have to turn to my wife Rebecca for inspiration. So grounded is she in the person before her, it astounds me. When I try to show off some new fireworks, bells and whistles I've found on the "Machine"... she just smiles and makes some tea.

Random Stuff I've Been Meaning to Share

1. iPods are amazing.
2. Podcasts are FREE... and amazing.

What's an iPod? Well, officially, an iPod is a portable media player (music, videos, movies, even photos) designed by Apple and about the size of a pack of gum. It was first launched on October 23, 2001. I have a video iPod that now holds EVERYTHING... family photos, music from Springsteen to Mozart, John Cougar to the Crouching Tiger soundtrack! Talks by Peter Kreeft, Bishop Sheen, Scott Hahn, Christoher West, Scripture readings, episodes of Lost, Scrubs, the Office! Gregorian Chant, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Barry Manilow (yes, real men listen to Barry!), U2, Dave Wilcox, Greg Brown, Charlie Brown Christmas Album, Movie sound bytes that make me laugh, and... and.... lots of stuff! Like podcasts....

What's a podcast?
A podcast is like a broadcast, only one that you the listener can actually control. You can pick it, play it, pause it, or peruse it at your leisure. You can listen to a podcast just like you listen to your music on an iPod or Zune or MP3 player, or even on your computer at home (you don't need an iPod to listen to a podcast!)

Podcasts come in boatloads of different shapes and sizes. And a great place to find them is at iTunes, which ANYONE can download for free from Apple (even if you own a PC and not a Mac).
Here are some categories of podcasts:

Arts, Business, Comedy, Education, Games and Hobbies, Government and Organizations, Health, Kids and Family, Music, News and Politics, Religion and Spirituality, Science and Medicine, Society and Culture, Sports and Recreation, Technology, TV and Film.

And here are some of my favorites:

Daily Breakfast, voted the #1 Catholic podcast with Fr. Roderick, a priest of Holland. It's a 30 minute mix of theology and technology, music, movies, TV series, history, health, inspiration and more!

Catholic in a Small Town, a fun, lighthearted podcast from Mac and Katherine, a young Catholic couple from a small town in Georgia, talking about movies, entertainment, family, Catholic Stuff, and parenting.... pretty much everything!

Pray-as-You-Go, a new prayer session is produced (roughly) every day, lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection.

Meditations from Carmel, brought to you from the Order of Carmel Discalced Secular at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis, Missouri. "As Carmelites living in the world, we listen to hear the whisper of God in the silence of our hearts. We seek Him, who we know loves us, and contemplate His wonders."

CoffeeBreak Spanish, aimed at total beginners, learn a wee bit of Spanish with your latte from two Scottish podcasters! How cool is it to learn Spanish with a Scottish accent, I ask ye?

Then there's Fr. Roderick's "Godspeed" video podcasts, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Short Videos of octopus eating sharks and stuff like that. I mean seriously, is this not cool beyond words?

SO... WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PODCASTS?

Share the wealth! Post a comment below!

The Internet is Not a Monster, Basically

We love to vacillate, to flip flop, to take sides, to split things up and think, well, it's got to be either good or evil. Now don't get me wrong, this is most essential in this Land of Confusion, where the windows on the Car of Modernity seem forever to get foggy from the heat and chill and wintry mix of our emotions. To discriminate in this moral sense is KEY! It's HEALTHY and ESSENTIAL, and NECESSARY.... It clears away the fog.

Discrimination between moral good and bad, right and wrong needs to come back in style, really FAST. It's not "all good" all the time. Discrimination in this sense of the word is not a sin. Good grief, it's our drawing the line between sin and the Good!

But let's switch gears...

When it comes to tools, things, inanimate stuff.... well, things are neutral. And you, my self-determining, self-aware friend, are the one who directs the wheel.

EXHIBIT A: THE INTERNET

Some say the Internet is taking us away from each other. It's a big monster with electrical tentacles creeping out of our offices and living rooms and just grabbing us and dragging us out into the sleazy void of cyberspace. But I feel that it can be a bridge to something else. When someone drops an e-mail or once in awhile posts a comment and echoes the words I felt driven to write, well, then there it is. Sympatico, synchronicity, or my favorite way to describe it: the Communion of Saints.

Now, there's a huge difference between communication and COMMUNION. The Internet is Communication, Love is Communion. E-mail, cell phones, blogs, Instant messaging..... these are like the sparks, Communion is the fire. Communication is like preparing the meal, Communion is kicking back with a napkin on your lap and finally consuming the meal.

Communication is the means, Communion the end.

My goal, my deepest desire in writing these words in the wee hours of this Friday morning is that this very blog can be a vehicle for Communion. I hope in perusing its posts and links and "stuff" that something, somewhere provides that spark, that touch of the spirit that turns your head, draws you in, gets you thinking about God, Life, and Everything in Between in a way perhaps you didn't think before. When I read stuff (the good stuff) that's what happens to me. When people pass stuff along my way, that's what reminds me of this human call to Communion.

I think (heck, I know) that there is so much good out there in cyburbia. We just have to use our minds as that divining rod, and sift through the mess. It's a human mess after all. It's our stuff, it's our story. So in the words of Pope John Paul II, "Be not afraid" of technology!

But at the same time, be wary. Like all things that have the potential for good, there is the potential for evil, for manipulation and greed. So remember, the Internet is not a monster, but it's not a fuzzy little kitten either.

"The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? For it is only when his face is seen and his voice heard that the world will know the glad tidings of our redemption. This is the purpose of evangelization. And this is what will make the Internet a genuinely human space, for if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man."

- Pope John Paul II, Message for the 36th World Communications Day

Catholics and the Face of the Internet

My radio guest this week was Brian Barcaro from 4Marks and CatholicMatch.com. Brian is the co-founder of Acolyte, LLC an Internet software development and Management Company. Through is work with Acolyte Brian was also involved with the co-founding of 4marks.com a social networking platform for Catholics as well as CatholicMatch.com the largest online singles community for Catholics.

Our topic was Catholics and Social Networking. We looked at popular websites like Facebook and MySpace, spoke of the advantages and disadvantages of this technology, and also cited Church documents on the use of the internet as a powerful and positive tool for humanity. Brian is available to talk to families and large groups on the pros and cons of today’s technology through the 4Marks website on topics like...

"Understanding a MySpace Culture"
"The Internet & the Church "
"Real Teachers in a Virtual World"
"Does love exist online?"


RESOURCES TO FIND AT 4MARKS.COM

If you are interested in having Brian speak, please contact Dan Flaherty at 888.605.3977x6 or dan@goacolyte.com



CHURCH SOURCES WE CITED

"The Internet causes billions of images to appear on millions of computer monitors around the planet. From this galaxy of sight and sound will the face of Christ emerge and the voice of Christ be heard? For it is only when his face is seen and his voice heard that the world will know the glad tidings of our redemption. This is the purpose of evangelization. And this is what will make the Internet a genuinely human space, for if there is no room for Christ, there is no room for man." - Pope John Paul II, Message for the 36th World Communications Day

“Man’s genius has with God’s help produced marvelous technical inventions from creation, especially in our times. The Church, our mother, is particularly interested in those which directly touch man’s spirit and which have opened up new avenues of easy communication of all kinds of news, of ideas and orientations.” - Pope Paul VI, Inter Mirifica
OTHER SOURCES

The Church and the Internet
Ethics in the Internet, 2002