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{"id":1009,"date":"2016-01-25T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/will-internet-catholics-listen-to-pope-francis-this-time.html"},"modified":"2016-01-25T05:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-25T05:30:00","slug":"will-internet-catholics-listen-to-pope-francis-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2016\/01\/will-internet-catholics-listen-to-pope-francis-this-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Will Internet Catholics listen to Pope Francis this time?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In this case, Pope Francis echoes what I have heard multiple Church leaders say<\/a>: The Internet is not\u00a0a forum for flagrantly ignoring the Church\u2019s calls for how we are to treat our fellow human beings.\u00a0 Disrespect, insults, slander, name calling, false accusations, defaming the character of others, assuming the worst and judging wrongly those we speak to are wrong.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

One of the byproducts of the Internet world of Catholicism is a new bar added to the Catholic cafeteria.\u00a0 That is a place where our righteousness is based on lofty political and social ideals and theories that we likely could never\u00a0impact.\u00a0 Meanwhile, things like how we treat our fellow believers, if not our fellow human beings, are tossed aside like so many nickels and dimes.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I know I\u2019ve even been mocked and ridiculed on Catholic sites for being polite and not wanting to hurt people or insult them.\u00a0 And when I have pointed to things like the Church\u2019s teachings on how we are to interpret the words of others, or that Raca and Fool are not supposed to be part of our daily allowance of discourse, I\u2019ve been laughed at\u00a0and dismissed in kind. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to be righteous by taking an unwavering stand on our Iranian policies, or what we should think of Putin.\u00a0 What does anyone care what I think about those things?\u00a0 It\u2019s even easy to take a strong stand on Hiroshima, the death penalty, or gun control.\u00a0 I could be murdered.\u00a0 Perhaps wrongly executed.\u00a0 But the numbers are on my side.\u00a0 In any event, it likely matters not if I\u2019m wrong, and if I do things like oppose gun rights and someone else ends up dying because they couldn\u2019t defend himself?\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 In post modern martyrdom, by the degree with which I am prepared to tolerate the suffering and death of others have I declared my righteousness.<\/p>\n

But how do I treat people?\u00a0 How do I react to people?\u00a0 How do I interact with those on the Internet?\u00a0 I can do something about that.\u00a0 It is within my grasp.\u00a0 I can make an immediate difference in how I choose to deal with those who disagree with me.\u00a0 And yet, that simple and obvious fact, that has to this point been spoken about the exact same way by every Church leader I\u2019ve heard discuss it \u2013 including, now, Pope Francis \u2013 is not just ignored, but flagrantly mocked and ridiculed by Catholics who make it their entire business to point out other Catholics who don\u2019t listen to Church teaching.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said on other forums, standing at one bar in the Catholic Cafeteria is a bad place to be when spending all my time accusing others of being Cafeteria Catholics. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"