Jesuit Telegraph

[Dave Monroe]

   "'Speaking as Postmaster-General,' Dr. Franklin
will later amplify, back in Philadelphia, '-- I see
our greatest problem as Time,-- never anything, but
Time.  For any message to reach its recipient, we must
reckon in a fix'd delay,-- months by ship, days over
Land,-- whilst via the Jesuit Telegraph, they enjoy
their d---'d Marvel of instant communication,'--
far-reaching and free of error, thanks to giant
balloons sent to great Altitudes, Mirrors of para-(not
to mention dia-)bolickal perfection, beams of light
focused to hitherto unimagined intensities ..." (M&D,
Ch. 28, p. 287)

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications, The
Church and Internet ...

INTRODUCTION

1. The Church's interest in the Internet is a
particular expression of her longstanding interest in
the media of social communication. Seeing the media as
an outcome of the historical scientific process by
which humankind "advances further and further in the
discovery of the resources and values contained in the
whole of creation", the Church often has declared her
conviction that they are, in the words of the Second
Vatican Council, "marvellous technical inventions"
that already do much to meet human needs and may yet
do even more.

Thus the Church has taken a fundamentally positive
approach to the media. Even when condemning serious
abuses, documents of this Pontifical Council for
Social Communications have been at pains to make it
clear that "a merely censorious attitude on the part
of the Church...is neither sufficient nor
appropriate".

[...]

2. As the Church understands it, the history of human
communication is something like a long journey,
bringing humanity "from the pride-driven project of
Babel and the collapse into confusion and mutual
incomprehension to which it gave rise (cf. Gen
11:1-9), to Pentecost and the gift of tongues: a
restoration of communication, centered on Jesus,
through the action of the Holy Spirit". In the life,
death, and resurrection of Christ, "communication
among men found its highest ideal and supreme example
in God who had become man and brother".

The modern media of social communication are cultural
factors that play a role in this story. As the Second
Vatican Council remarks, "although we must be careful
to distinguish earthly progress clearly from the
increase of the kingdom of Christ", nevertheless "such
progress is of vital concern to the kingdom of God,
insofar as it can contribute to the better ordering of
human society". Considering the media of social
communication in this light, we see that they
"contribute greatly to the enlargement and enrichment
of men's minds and to the propagation and
consolidation of the kingdom of God".

Today this applies in a special way to the Internet,
which is helping bring about revolutionary changes in
commerce, education, politics, journalism, the
relationship of nation to nation and culture to
culture—changes not just in how people communicate but
in how they understand their lives. In a companion
document, Ethics in Internet, we discuss these matters
in their ethical dimension. Here we consider the
Internet's implications for religion and especially
for the Catholic Church....

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_20020228_church-internet_en.html

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