Never Alone

During my last blog post, I didn't really reference social media or my topic.  This post should be more relevant and the goal is to give a sort of skeleton of my paper.  This post will include excerpts from iDisorder by Larry Rosen, The Courage to be Catholic by George Weigel, Roman Catholicism in America by Chester Gillis, and You Are Not a Gadget by Jaron Lanier, as well as a few online sources, all of which may be found below.

The first source of Catholic media I ever came across was LifeTeen.  This is essentially a website for Catholic high-schoolers containing blogs written about young adults to help teenagers figure out their faith in terms and stories they will understand.  Since last year, I have been a youth minister at my parish and volunteer for hours a week to prepare students for Confirmation.  Over these two years, I have noticed that the teens' favorite speaker consistently is Mart Hart.  He is the Vice President of LifeTeen, self proclaimed "Bible Geek," and may use social media better than any other contemporary Evangelist.  His twitter ranges from anecdotes about his family (most recently, his 5 year old daughter discovering that he couldn't breastfeed his son) to reminders to pray often.

Still, many Catholics seem to fear social media.  The presence of Catholics on various networking sites is feeble and, in some instances, nonexistent, though this has improved in the past few years.  There is a strong Catholic community on both Tumblr and Facebook.  There are many Catholics on Twitter, including nine accounts for the Pope (all in different languages).  There are some relatively popular Christians on YouTube, but few Catholics, if any.  The reason Social Media is so addictive is that it invokes a sense of community, something Catholicism is known for.

I want to explore this more, but I think the connection between Catholicism and Social Media is the sense of community invoked by both.  The reason everyone freaks out when Facebook changes is because something comfortable to them - the place where they feel that they belong - is suddenly different.  The same is true of the church.  In Roman Catholicism in America, a therapist remarks that "the reason people stay has little to do with the organization of the church and more to do with ritual and spiritual aspects...The Catholic tradition is familiar [and] comfortable."

I'm excited about this paper, I think.  I know it will be possible to write, but I'm slightly concerned about organizing my thoughts down to a single thesis.

Works Consulted

Gillis, Chester. Roman Catholicism in America. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. Print.

Cornwell, John. Breaking Faith: The Pope, the People, and the Fate of Catholicism. New York: Viking Compass, 2001. Print

Hart, Mark. (LT_TheBibleGeek) "My 5 yr old had this epiphany while watching my wife breastfeed:

'So Daddy, your nipples don't do anything? At all? Ever ask God why not?'" 10 Nov 2013, 9:24 PM. Tweet.

Lanier, Jaron. You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto. New York: Alfred A. Knoph, 2010. Print.

Rosen, Larry D., Nancy A. Cheever, and L. Mark. Carrier, iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print

Weigel, George. The Courage to be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church. New York: Basic, 2002. Print.

Fun fact:

The patron saint of the Internet is Isidore of Seville.