{"id":30906,"date":"2015-08-02T10:45:36","date_gmt":"2015-08-02T15:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=30906"},"modified":"2015-08-02T10:54:30","modified_gmt":"2015-08-02T15:54:30","slug":"damian-thompson-on-the-changing-catholic-blogosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2015\/08\/02\/damian-thompson-on-the-changing-catholic-blogosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Damian Thompson on the Changing Catholic Blogosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember Damian Thompson? His description at The Telegraph <\/em>notes that he was once described by The Church Times<\/em> as a “blood-crazed ferret<\/a>.” \u00a0Be that as it may, what he says about \u201cThe Rise and Fall of the Catholic Blogosphere<\/a>\u201d is quite interesting\u00a0\u2013 especially because Damian means the rise of fall of the right-leaning Catholic blogosphere. I share his perception on many points.<\/p>\n

To be sure, Damian is unnecessarily snarky (for example, about peace and justice). He has a habit of sneering at the (allegedly) liberal hierarchy and Catholic establishment in England and elsewhere, at least as he imagines it to be. If I recall correctly, he has taken a few swipes at the Pray Tell<\/em> crowd too.<\/p>\n

But now this. It is interesting to read observations from Damian such as the following:<\/p>\n

Young, devout Catholics are, paradoxically, both more conservative theologically than their predecessors and more tech-savvy than liberal believers, possibly because the latter tend to be older.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And this:<\/p>\n

The internet is a mighty instrument in the hands of conservative and traditionalist Catholics. They have used it to disrupt the power structure envisaged by enthusiasts for the Second Vatican Council\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Damian says that \u201cthe Catholic blogosphere\u201d<\/p>\n

reached its heyday during the reign of Benedict XVI, when it was dominated by supporters of his liturgical reforms\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And that for such as these, it was<\/p>\n

Payback time!\u00a0 \u2026 Many were traditionalist Catholics thrilled by the opportunity to settle scores after years of being ignored by control-freak trendy priests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After many, many hours moderating the commbox at Pray Tell,<\/em> I appreciate Damian\u2019s honesty about the reality online, back in the days of Benedict XVI:<\/p>\n

\u2026The problem was that the conversations kept turning nasty.<\/p>\n

You have no idea what manner of nastiness came pouring in to\u00a0Pray Tell,<\/em>\u00a0what rage and outrage. And even in its milder form, there was no mistaking that a tiny extremist segment was way, way over-represented in the commbox. I did my best to keep an even hand (deleting extremism on both ends and, yes, banning people from both ends), but I\u2019m sure I didn\u2019t always get it right.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is one of the tragedies of Pope Benedict\u2019s papacy that he was so badly misrepresented by liturgical folks far to the right of him who claimed to speak and act at his inspiration. What was it about him, or his liturgical style, that so fired up this lot of people??<\/p>\n

Now this is Damian speaking, not me:<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was just as well that the election of Pope Francis took the wind out of our sails.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I observe that the commbox here has calmed down dramatically since that day on March 13, 2013, when the man in simple white appeared on the loggia of St. Peter\u2019s. I find it quite amazing how much Pope Francis has changed the tone of discussion here for the better. Pray Tell <\/em>still gets a commenting crowd that is not representative of the entire Catholic Church, and there are still plenty of folks criticizing a liturgical reform that they don\u2019t really understand. But pretty much gone is the sense of some that it is their mission to attack and demean what most of the Catholic Church has done with the liturgy for these last 50 years. And for that I am deeply grateful to Pope Francis.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m thinking about all this because in Collegeville we have a two-day task force starting tomorrow on the future of Pray Tell.<\/em> We\u2019re bringing in some outside experts and some inside experts and the folks on the editorial board and dreaming about where to go next with this thing. Who know, maybe we’ll tack a bit right-ward, now that we’re feeling less defensive and under siege? Or maybe not!\u00a0I look forward to a stimulating discussion.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still time to respond to our survey<\/a>, if you haven\u2019t yet. Do so in the next twelve hours or so, and we\u2019ll notice the most recent responses to come in.<\/p>\n

And do go read Damian\u2019s piece. His thoughts on the right-wing blogosphere are what drew my attention, but you\u2019ll want to read his laudatory remarks about bishop-elect Robert Barron, and why he thinks various forms of social media will be important to the coming synod.<\/p>\n

BTW, I’m flying out of London just now, and a good friend there thinks he should arrange for me to have tea with Damian the next time I’m in London. I’m sure that would be most interesting.<\/p>\n

Say a prayer for Pray Tell,<\/em> woudja? And for everyone who blogs about church and liturgy, whatever label you might attach to them.<\/p>\n

awr<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Say a prayer for Pray Tell,<\/i> woudja? 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