The three traditional practices of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Today, some people also give up a vice of theirs, and thus, the Roman Catholic Church in Italy has asked its followers to give up --- texting. OMG!Lent is the 40-day period following Fat Tuesday and proceeding to Easter. The Roman Catholic church has added a technological twist, by asking that its followers forswear text messaging, social-networking Web sites, iPods, cell phones, computer games, and all sorts of tech trappings on Fridays, and more days if possible.
Generally people give up things like meat, alcohol, and the like. This is probaby going to prove far more difficult.
In a statement, the Modena diocese said:
"It's a small way to remember the importance of concrete and not virtual relationships. It's an instrument to remind us that our actions and lifestyles have consequences in distant countries."This might stem from the Pope's recent warning to Roman Catholic youth to not substitute "virtual friendship" for real human relationships. On his YouTube site in January, Pope Benedict XVI warned in his Message for the 43rd World Day of Social Communications:
If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development.
2 comments:
As both a technology director and a life-long lay minister in the R.C. Church, I initially looked on this suggestion warily. But, I've actually come to believe it's not such a bad idea. While you're right that some people try to give up vices in Lent, the real sense of fast and abstinence is to give up something "life-sustaining" (just temporarily) to enable one to focus on those things that really transcend the here and now. I don't think the Italian bishop who originally suggested this was intimating that SMS and virtual interactions are evil; but rather that they are good and have a place in life. But it's not a bad idea to take one day a week for six weeks and remember that some things are a little more important than even those "goods." I give him credit for taking a practice that seems out-dated and, in fact, often devoid of it's original meaning (my own daughter thinks Lenten Fridays are just a good excuse for a trip to Red Lobster--which spends more money than the hamburger we give up!), and brings that practice into the modern world. I'm sure there will be people who will try to put a spin on this as indicating that technology is bad, etc., but that's where people like me come in and try to bridge the gap between an ancient faith that still brings hope and love to billions, and modern technology which, after all, is the product of the genius that God built into human kind. The question always comes down to realize that technology is often a "neutral" reality; the key distinction is HOW one uses that technology.
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