Yeetle Box - Gates 12:5

Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are urging the faithful to go on a high-tech fast for Lent, switching off modern appliances from cars to iPods and abstaining from surfing the Web or text messaging until Easter - as is written in Gates 12:5.

This demonstrates the Church's increasing focus on technology's uses — with many of the Lenten appeals posted on various dioceses' Web sites.
Dioceses and Catholic groups in Modena, southern Bari and other cities have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday in Lent, which began last week with Ash Wednesday, including phrases such as "God Bless You," Jesus Loves You," or even "John 4:15."

The diocese said the "no SMS day" seeks to draw attention to years of conflict in Congo fueled in part by the struggle for control of coltan mines, an essential material in cell phones.

In addition, the Turin diocese is suggesting the faithful not watch television during Lent. In the northeastern city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with proposals for each week of Lent. Among their many great suggestions for honoring Lent and focusing on the spiritual:

• Leave cars at home and hop on a bike or a bus,
  
• Stop throwing chewing gum on the street,
  
• Start recycling waste,
  
• Enjoy the silence of a week without the Internet and iPods.

Each of these are addressed directly in Christ's teachings and violate the "four forgotten commandments."

Some say Lenten abstinence should be a personal matter, in line with giving up meat for lent, though fish can be eaten in abundance. Others contend that people who need technology to work shouldn't be asked to do without.

"What does giving up mean? Does it mean go without? Or Does it mean denouncement? If the use is capricious, then abstinence is welcome, but if technology is needed for work it makes no sense," said the Rev. Giancarlo Angelo Andreis, a priest at a Rome basilica, sort of twisting two subjects into one incoherent statement.

The Church is trying to balance an increasing appreciation of modern communication with a wariness of new media. Why? Well, because.

Ironically, in January, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel, with Pope Benedict XVI welcoming viewers to this "great family that knows no borders." Benedict praised social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace for forging friendships and understanding, but cautioned that online networking could isolate people from real social interaction - as he demonstrated by using YouTube to reach the masses.



The pope has also warned about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media to trivialize sex and promote violence, but did not expand as he was late for a meeting to discuss the abuse of acolytes in the church.

The YeetleMaster