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In the spirit of
St. George, I present a few things Net-loving traditional Catholics can do
to bring a little sunlight to our situation. We can either sit around and
talk amongst ourselves, or we can also slay a few dragons. I say, let's use
the grace given to us in Confirmation, live up to our promises to be true
soldiers of Christ, and defend traditional Catholicism! Bring the Protestants
to the Church, teach the pagan, and explain to neo-Catholics how our
post-conciliar hierarchs' presentation of the Church's teachings are false.
Focusing on the "conservative Catholics" is the most important thing we can
do in this regard! Below are a few ideas...
I. Wikipedia
This, I think,
is extremely important: Wikipedia is -- get this -- an encyclopedia that
is written by visitors to the
Wikipedia website. It
may sound ridiculous, but the results, over time, aren't as wild as
you might think, though one must read the associated "Talk Page" for
controversial entries to get the whole story.
Now, Wikipedia is fast becoming a much-used source of information, especially
for students -- and Wikipedia entries get very high-ranking returns at places
like Google. For ex., as of this writing, if you type "Catholicism" into
Google's search engine,
Wikipedia's entry on the topic is the seventh return.
This means that if someone goes to Google to do a little research about
"Catholicism," chances are good that what he will learn is what appears at
Wikipedia.
What this means is that we have an opportunity here to try to ensure that
the accurate information about traditional Catholic practices are
available. When all these high school students and college kids cramming
to get papers done use Google to learn about "Catholicism" or "Vatican II"
or "Traditional Catholics," we can have some input into what they learn to
ensure balance. Finally! So get to it.
Make sure any writing you do there is fair, reasonable, balanced, organized,
well-written, and that it reflects well on the honesty, integrity and
intelligence of traditional Catholics. Read
Wikipedia's Policy and Guidelines, and their basic
instructions --
how
to actually add or edit articles. Or click here
for my quick, one-minute guide to Wiki that will turn you into an editor
very quickly.
Some existing entries you might be interested in:
II. Message Boards
We all know what
message boards are, no explanation needed. But let's focus on popular,
high-traffic ones that center on religion, especially ones set up for Catholics,
or for Catholic-Protestant dialogue. I beg all to remain charitable above
all, to lose the ego, and avoid name-calling and flame wars. If you're prone
to that sort of thing (as I am), sometimes you just might want to post
information, leave, and let others hash it all out. Use URLs to great
traditional Catholic websites in your sig lines, and remember that for every
person you might "talk" to one-on-one, there might be a hundred reading your
posts.
A few boards to try:
Catholic Answers Forum
Steve
Ray's message board
Planet
Envoy Envoy Magazine's forum
OneRock
PhatMass Phorum
slick, nice-looking neo-con site for young Catholics
Christian
Forums: Catholic
Christian Forums: Interdenominational
BeliefNet Catholic Discussion Boards
Free
Republic home of the "Freepers." A widely-read, mostly politically-oriented
site (very neo-con), but with
forums
for religion.
III. Pal Talk
Pal Talk is a free
program that allows you talk in voice and/or text to others in chat rooms
that are organized by topic (e.g., Social Issues, Religion, Judaism,
Christianity, etc.). You can make your own room in any given category and
then keep it public or lock it with a password that you give out only to
those you want to enter. If you open your own room, you have the power to
silence people if they are disruptive, or to ban them entirely. If you don't
want to open your own room, you can go into the public rooms of others and
talk or debate. All you need is a microphone and the PalTalk program, which
you can
download
here after registering.
Now, get a few traditionalists together, have them download the program,
open up a room, and wait for people to wander in with their questions about
traditional Catholicism. Have the answers for them! Be prepared for the
evangelical fundamentalists who might throw verses at you; have the verses
to throw back. I have an apologist's "cheat sheet" (13 pages, Microsoft Word
document) you can download that has quickie
Scripture references so that when they yell out "Ephesians 2:8-9!" you'll
know to yell "James 2:24!" I made it for personal use, and then added a few
explanatory notes for a friend, so it's nothing fancy, but you're welcome
to it.
IV. EWTN's Expert Forums
I know, I know..
But once in a while, go check out
EWTN's
Experts, and ask them a question that might make forum readers "go hmmm....."
EWTN has a lot of "reach"; a lot of people read this forum! One idea
is to ask an expert about a great traditionalist book, asking if he's read
it and what he thinks, all while giving it a great review but not mentioning
that it would be categorized as "traditionalist."
Note that Fr. Echert there in the "Scripture, Divine Revelation" forum seems
to be relatively traditionalist-leaning, so be nice to him. Well, be nice
to everyone, of course, but be extra nice to him.
Also while you're at EWTN, visit
this page, fill out their survey, and tell them you want
traditional Catholicism.
V. Become an Expert
There are various
websites out there which invite those with expertise in various areas to
answer questions from the general public. Sign up and become one of those
experts! If you don't, the Novus Ordo Catholics will (well, they do!). Some
relevant websites:
All Experts
Abuzz NYTimes readers
answer questions for each other
VI. Use "Comments" Feature at Popular Blogs
If you don't want
to start your own blog, visit high-traffic neo-conservative blogs that allow
visitors to post comments, and speak your mind. When you do, include URLs
to traditional Catholic sites, if applicable to your comments, so readers
can find more information and so that traditional Catholic websites increase
in rank with regard to search engines such as Google (note, I am not
encouraging spamming here, but the simple inclusion of URLs if it
is relevant to do so).
Forget about the radically "progressive" "Catholic" blogs; just stick to
the popular neo-conservative ones. Readers who read the former type of blog
and believe what they're seeing have far to go before a solid argument from
a "trad" will convince them of anything -- but neo-conservatives are at least
trying to do the right thing and can be persuaded with logic from a charitable
soul. Blogs to post to:
Amy Wellborn's Open Book
Mark Shea's Catholic
and Enjoying It!
Envoy
Encore
Patrick Sweeney's
Extreme Catholic
Catholic
Light
VII. Write Reviews
Let the Catholic
voice be heard over the din of the culturally Marxist critics paid by the
owners of the media conglomerates. Traditional Catholics go to movies, we
read books, we hear music -- what do we have to say about what's coming
through the channels of culture? Make yourself heard, especially at websites
like these:
Internet Movie Database
Amazon.com
Some General Tips in evangelizing
Always be charitable,
and try to be pleasant, too. As my Mamma used to say, you catch more flies
with honey than with vinegar. And as St. Francis de Sales wrote:
If you wish to
labor with fruit in the conversion of souls, you must pour the balsam of
sweetness upon the wine of your zeal, that it may not be too fiery, but mild,
soothing, patient, and full of compassion. For the human soul is so constituted
that by rigor it becomes harder, but mildness completely softens it. Besides,
we ought to remember that Jesus Christ came to bless good intentions, and
if we leave them to His control, little by little He will make them fruitful.
Let the true peace
of Christ be reflected in you.
On the other hand, Jesus had to knock over a few moneychangers' tables and
didn't mind calling men "vipers" and such when the case called for it. And
there is this, attributed to St. John Chrysostom by St. Thomas Aquinas:
He who is not angry,
whereas he has cause to be, sins. For unreasonable patience is the hotbed
of many vices, it fosters negligence, and incites not only the wicked but
even the good to do wrong.
Know when you truly
"have cause" to be angry, and when you should be mild, soothing and patient
-- whether the person you're dealing with needs the "balm of sweetness" or
a swift kick in the pants. And if you're dealing with the outright malicious,
know when to shake the dust off your feet and move on, or at least know when
not to get trapped in a go-nowhere, pointless discussion. Don't cast pearls
before swine, and don't take idiocy personally. Remember that, ultimately,
if someone is outside of the Faith, he is to be pitied and prayed for, for
the loss is his.
If you don't know something, say you don't know and don't pretend you do.
Keep your ego chained up in the basement, and just tell the person you will
do your best to find an answer for them.
Define terms that are "iffy" before trying to come to an understanding. Words
and phrases like "born again," "Bible-believing," Tradition," "anti-semitic,"
etc., have to be defined before anything good can come from using them with
various groups.
Define their premises before trying to build your argument. What do
they accept as true? Is that premise true or false? If it's false, disavow
them of it; it if's true, build on it.
Finally, keep a sense of HUMOR!
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