B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/\",\"name\":\"B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"B16 says, ‘Thou shalt blog’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'","description":"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'","og_description":"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/","og_site_name":"Terry Mattingly","article_published_time":"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00","author":"tmatt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tmatt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/","name":"B16 says, 'Thou shalt blog'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00","dateModified":"2010-02-01T12:15:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1"},"description":"When Eunice Kennedy Shriver died, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley candidly reminded his Archdiocese of Boston flock that this was one Kennedy who was","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"B16 says, ‘Thou shalt blog’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/","name":"Terry Mattingly","description":"On Religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1","name":"tmatt","description":"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Universal Syndicate.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/author\/tmatt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1801,"date":"2010-02-01T08:15:47","date_gmt":"2010-02-01T12:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=1801"},"modified":"2010-02-01T08:15:47","modified_gmt":"2010-02-01T12:15:47","slug":"b16-says-thou-shalt-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2010\/02\/b16-says-thou-shalt-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"B16 says, ‘Thou shalt blog’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cShe was preeminently pro-life, against abortion and there to protect and underscore the dignity of every person,\u201d noted O\u2019Malley, praising the founder of the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n

When Sen. Edward Kennedy died soon after that, the cardinal strongly defended his own decision to preside at his funeral \u2014 despite the senator\u2019s public stands against church church\u2019s teachings on abortion and sexuality. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe must show those who do not share our belief about life that we care about them,\u201d O\u2019Malley argued. \u201cWe will stop the practice of abortion by changing the law, and we will be successful in changing the law if we change people\u2019s hearts. We will not change hearts by turning away from people in their time of need and when they are experiencing grief and loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cardinal didn\u2019t deliver these highly personal messages from the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Instead, he posted them on \u201cCardinal Sean\u2019s Blog<\/a>\u201d at BostonCatholic.org \u2014 his own multimedia journal.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Malley isn\u2019t alone. A few other bishops and priests have made the jump into cyberspace. However, there will be many more bloggers wearing Roman collars if Pope Benedict XVI has his way. In a message addressed straight to priests \u2014 bypassing the offices of many cautious bishops \u2014 the pope has urged them to start spreading and defending the faith online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul\u2019s exclamation: \u2018Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel,\u2019 \u201d said the pope, in a message released on Jan. 24<\/a>, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spread of multimedia communications and its rich \u2018menu of options\u2019 might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled,\u201d argued Benedict, whose online presence has risen with the birth of Pope2You.net<\/a> and the Vatican YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different \u2018voices\u2019 provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tech-savvy Catholics, it\u2019s stunning news that the 82-year-old Benedict used the word \u201cblog\u201d in the first place, noted Rocco Palmo, the Philadelphia-based scribe whose \u201c Whispers in the Loggia<\/a>\u201d weblog is a global hot spot for Vatican news and gossip. The tone of this papal message, he added, is relentlessly positive \u2014 a striking departure from the Vatican\u2019s many downbeat messages about media in the past.<\/p>\n

The bottom line, noted Palmo, via email, is that \u201cagainst the backdrop of the widespread American experience of mass closings of parishes, declines in attendance, etc., we\u2019re learning that one thing that helps folks want to keep staying close is when \u2026 the church realizes that one hour on Sunday just isn\u2019t enough, that people are looking for something to help keep them connected and inspired through the week. So I think Benedict is calling priests to see that they have a crucial role in that, and to see this not as some sort of hobby or personal indulgence, but a vitally important extension of their ministry. Anything that bears fruit to that end lifts all boats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catholic leaders will, however, need to be careful when working in this chaotic, even deceptive, online world. <\/p>\n

After all, some early reports about Benedict\u2019s message about digital media mentioned that Vatican officials marked the occasion by opening an official Twitter feed \u2014 @vatican_va \u2014 complete with the Vatican coat of arms.<\/p>\n

It was a fake. Catholic News Service soon established that the Vatican has not taken up tweeting \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole episode has prompted some Vatican media people to remark, \u2018It wasn\u2019t us \u2014 but it should have been us,\u2019 \u201d noted John Thavis, the CNS bureau chief in Rome. \u201cSo don\u2019t be surprised to see a real Vatican Twitter feed in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"