"For God's Sake - Blog!"

So this evening I was sitting here in front of my computer reading MSNBC.Com and I came across an article titled "For God's Sake - Blog!". Being someone who has been know to like to blog, this article immediately caught my attention. Once I began to read it the whole topic engaged me beyond belief. The article was written and distributed by Reuters to whom I must give credit as I wanted to quote the first two paragraphs of this article. The first two paragraphs read as the following: "VATICAN CITY - For god's sake, blog! Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel's message. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communication, the pope who is 82 and known not to love computers or the Internet acknowledged priests must make the most of the "rich menu of options" offered by new technology." There are many different comments to be made about some of these statements by the pope. The first is - I wonder if Benedict truly understand the genie that he might be letting out of the bottle by his desire to have priests begin to use this "rich menu of options". The level of openness and introspection that is intrinsic to the Internet does not typically sit well with the hierarchial nature of the Roman Catholic church. On top of this I don't necessarily see the message that the Roman Catholic Church is teaching is flexible to fit the personal nature of the Internet. The message sent by the Catholic Church is of one monolithic faith with little "personalization" of belief. On the flip side of this you have the "born-agains" who believe that everyone's salvation is driven by their personal "re-birth" in Christ. Therefore, I don't see what the personal messages of priest and other Roman Catholic luminaries as reflecting much other than the standard orthodoxy of the church. (Heck if a priest were to get too personal in his viewpoints about the religion he could get ex-communicated!) I am sure many will say that this viewpoint is driven by the fact that I am a non-religious person. I don't see it that way. I feel that this viewpoint is born of an in-depth understanding of the Roman Catholic Church and a strong opinion about the authoritarian tendencies of the current pontiff. Just a few thoughts on what I perceive to be an interesting subject! We hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Thanks and peace to all! ~J.