Fr. Bob’s Corner

I remember when the Fax Machine was the big new controversial event in business, and the parish. No need to mail out documents, just fax them. I think we got our first fax machine in our Diocese in the mid 80’s. Well twenty-five year’s later there is a new kid on the block – the global block – and it is taking over in ways the fax generation couldn’t even imagine. John Allen, the Catholic columnist, puts it this way: “The Internet is both the leading symbol of the globalized world as well as one of its primary drivers. In 1995, according to the Web site “Internet World Stats,” there were 16 million Internet users in the world, representing .04 percent of the global population; as of June 2007, there were 1.13 billion users, or 17.2 percent of the world, remarkable growth in little more than a decade. According to the Worldwide Online Population Forecast, by 2011 roughly 1.8 billion people will be logging on, representing 22 percent of the global population – almost one-quarter of all people on earth.”

Technorati Tags: Internet,global,impact,power

I often get the question, how many people visit frbobscorner.com. I thought I would show you this graph that is compiled by sitemeter. It’s not a lot when compared to traffic on the popular big sites, but enough to motivate me to continue posting.

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New media are not just instruments for communicating, but they are having a huge impact on culture — on the way people interact and think, Pope Benedict XVI said.

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Years ago I was a huge fan of Marshall McLuhan (Media is the Message), and Theilard DeChardin who wrote about Cosmic Consciousness (Noosphere). As I watched this Video by Professor Michael Wesch from Kansas State Univ., I couldn’t help but think of these two men. If you have High Speed and an hour of time,  and are interested in exploring the Digital Age, specifically You Tube, then here is the video for you.

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On February 26th Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fr. Thomas Rosica (Basilian Priest) as a as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Speaking to CNA, the priest said that he sees this as the Pope entrusting a special responsibility to the Church in Canada.

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The National Catholic Register did a story on video as a means of evangelization:

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CBS is about to launch a new reality TV show called, ‘Kid’s Nation’. When I read in the New York Times what these children endured and the medical services they required after their 40 day ordeal I was shocked-outraged…. It would appear that even our children have become a commodity to be marketed and sold. If you would like to read this article click this link to the New York Times. (You will need to set up a free account to read (email and password only), but once you do there is free access to many of their news items.)

Only master film makers with a Hollywood connection are capable of creating such a convincing deception as, The Lost Tomb of Jesus. (I saw it last night on Vision TV. I thought this specialty channel was supposed to be an honest ally in our search for God in this modern world, but I guess I was mistaken.)

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Irresponsible reporting on religion is dangerous
Submitted by John L Allen Jr… on February 23, 2007 - 9:40am.
–>Posted on Feb 23, 2007 09:40am CST.
All Things Catholic by John L. Allen, Jr.

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The ‘ Catholic Insider’ takes a look at how the internet is used for relious purposes in the United States.

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Is someone looking over your shoulder? If you’re on the internet, you can pretty well bet that someone is trying to see what you are doing, and where you are going. Infact, people get paid to discover your internet habits, so that you can be sent adds, pop-ups, and all sorts of annoying things. In fact, your computer can be come so cluttered with this stuff that it slows down to an absolute turtle crawl. If, however, you go on the offensive and install two wonderful free programs on your computer, you can defend yourself. Go to the following links: SPYBOT SEARCH AND DESTROY ,and ADAWARE. Download these two programs, and update and run once a week. You’ll be astounded by what you find. Note: You still need your anti-virus program (from time to time I’ll post other tech suggestions).