Verbum Domini part 3 section 3

VERBUM MUNDO
The Word of God and culture (109 onwards)

• God does not reveal himself in the abstract, but by using languages, imagery and expressions that are bound to different cultures

• I wish to reassure all those who are part of the world of culture that they have nothing to fear from openness to God's word, which never destroys true culture but rather is a constant stimulus to seek ever more appropriate, meaningful and humane forms of expression.

• The whole Church expresses her appreciation, esteem and admiration of those artists "enamoured of beauty" who have drawn inspiration from sacred texts. ... Many of them have helped to make somehow perceptiblein time and space, realities that are unseen and eternal.

• Among the new ways of mass communication, nowadays we need to recognize the increased role of the Internet, which represents a new forum for making the Gospel heard. Yet we also need to be aware that the virtual world will never be able to replace the real world, and that evangelization will be able to make use of the virtual world offered by the new media in order to create meaningful relationships only if it is able to offer personal contact which remains indispensable.

• In the world of the Internet which enables millions of images to appear on millions of screens throughout the world, the face of Christ needs to be seen and his voice heard, for "if there is no room for Christ there is no room for man"

• Inculturation is not to be confused with processes of superficial adaptation, much less with a confused syncretism


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Keeping my face off of Facebook has my girls all a Twitter

Article from: MercatorNet
Author: Erin Manning

A mom of three girls, almost in their teens. She keeps control over their use of Internet and e-mail, in a way which I think, is a great help for them to learn the right use of these tools.

They can check and write e-mails, only with her permission. The three have a common e-mail id and is linked to their mom's such that they can read e-mails only once mom has screened them and removed the junk out. They stopped using web-based e-mail because they were getting ads with dubious content, and Erin got tired of having to close the browser every now-and-then just when they were composing or reading an e-mail.

Ms. Manning says: "I know that part of the reason for the excitement is that they see me use the computer to write, to blog, to send email, to communicate. We set examples for our children by our actions, whether we mean to or not--but that’s something to bear in mind, when we consider whether or not a new Internet tool or technology is going to be useful, or a mere distraction."

Thus, she has decided not to join the Social Networking sites such as Facebook. If she doesn't do it, most probably her daughters won't be that much attracted to it, or at least it will be easier for them to stay away from it in spite of the influence from other places. On the other hand, if their mom was part of it...