The St. Louis Review published a 'Living Our Faith' section on Technology and Faith in their most recent newspaper (Feb. 25th issue), and it highlights the fine line between faith and technology.
Two issues I have been thinking about more than others lately are technology as a distraction, and the distance between the Church and mainstream culture in implementing new tech/media initiatives.
To the first, the article reminds the reader, through the words of seminarian Gregory Carl, "Media and technology have a way ofgrabbing up a lot of your time and drawing attention to itself. In a certain sense, our object is to use this means of communication so that in due time, we can set those things aside and be in communion with Christ. There's almost a kind of dichotomy there."
I have been pondering this dichotomy for quite some time, with special consideration for my current role in the Archdiocese. How can I best be a steward of God's gifts, and a tool of evangelization, but continue to keep my priorities straight, and my attention focused on eternal unity with God?
To the second, I am quite happy to report that my quote in the article doesn't make me cringe (for once), but actually sounds half intelligent! I said "Catholic iPhone app development is going at the same rate as Catholic web devleopment... We have a lot of catching up to do." And I meant it.
Anyways, I plan on continuing both of these threads of thought in future blog posts, both here and on Open Source Catholic. I have enough compiled notes and reflections on both of these topics that I could write short books already. Who knows, maybe I'll get the time someday. For now, I will remain distracted by these glowing technological wonders around me ;-)
The article also mentions a new App to be released by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. More on that to come!