"My confession..." Part 1

I've been playing with a borrowed Apple ipad and exploring it how it can enhance teaching. I've enjoyed the personal applications as well (book readers, recipe files, games, and educational tools like the NASA app.) Whatever your interest, as the guys from Apple would say "there's an app for that." Yes, I know a few reps and they do say that.

Now as tech blogger EnGadget writes: "Are you a sinner? There is an app for that." You might have seen the news story about the Catholic church's Confession app? For my non-Catholic readers, Confession, or more specifically the Sacrament of Penance, is a ritual of confessing one's sins before God, and seeking forgiveness, pardon and restoration. In the Roman Catholic tradition, the priest hears confessions and grants absolution. Though most protestant Christian groups do not believe in confession to a priest, it is noteworthy that the New Testament does direct believers to "confess your sins to each other and prayer for each other." Confession and restoration are important themes in the Bible so this app might be a natural.

The iTunes blurb: "Designed to be used in the confessional, this app is the perfect aid for every penitent. With a personalized examination of conscience for each user, password protected profiles, and a step-by-step guide to the sacrament, this app invites Catholics to prayerfully prepare for and participate in the Rite of Penance." Whoa there confessors! It is not a short cut out of the confessional. The Vatican stresses it is an aid to confession, and not a substitute for confession. The creators got a little ahead of themselves here, but it has become immensely popular since its debut over a month ago. It is the only religion app in the Top 10 of iTunes. And like all things religious, it has also caused controversy.

What do I think about this? Is this just another depersonalizing of faith? The creators argue that it is helping people reconnect with the church. Is it making practicing your faith easy? Should it be easy? Is it another manifestation of worship online.

Well, one way to find out: tomorrow I taking this app for a test run, and you can join me in the cyber confessional....

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Before the Internet?

It wasn't so long ago I using telnet on dialup to access the library catalogue. Can you remember back pre-internet? We phoned people, even wrote letters...on paper...with stamps! No email. No Youtube. Not even google. This week Egypt went back to the pre-Internet days when the government pulled the plug of internet and cell networks to quell protests. In Canada we have the CRTC decision which might mean the end of unlimited internet downloads. Just when iTunes and Netflix started having more to watch than cable. Coincidence?

Life is become entangled with the internet these days. I've been thinking of the churches that have enthusiastically adopted technology. New forms of church have been created that exist because of the internet. What would happen if the internet went away?

It would hard to go back, but as the people of Egypt quickly discovered there are other ways to spread the message. And churches have been very adept at using media to communicate long before the internet. Back in the 1940s Billy Graham's radio program "Hour of Decision", in the 1950s he moved to television and film. Film has long been important to communicate faith. In Mediating Religion there is an interesting essay that described the Roman Catholic church's congress on film in 1928, and notes the first papal encyclical Vigilanti Cura on cinema and social communication was issued in 1936! Though email is supplanting it, many churches still have the phone prayer chain to spread announcements to their members faster than any shampoo commercial! It never ceased to amaze me how fast news spread in my country pastorates; we'd have a church meeting in one village, and before I arrived in the next village everyone seemed to know what happened at the meeting. Beat that twitter!

I wouldn't want to give up the internet; but the world wouldn't end either.

Enjoy this Today show clip from 1994: "What is the internet anyway?"

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Dream, dream, dream...(What I want to be when I grow up.)

Let's face it, we all have to pay the bills (bobs, visas and BMOs). But what would I do if I was free of that obligation. What would a theologian / librarian / sociologist of religion do if he could do anything? I think I would build a Christian Resource Centre. Say what?! What the heck is that?

Well let's build one together.

I envision it has part of a local church, but open to the wider community: individuals, churches and organizations.

• It will have a library with resources for faith building, and christian living: books and DVDs on topics like ethics, parenting, dealing with divorce and grief; materials for theological and Bible study, for personal growth and for small groups.
  
• It will have a reference desk where visitors can get knowledgeable assistance to find resources to meet their spiritual information needs.
  
• It will have meeting space where workshops and seminars are held. Places for learning and teaching, directed by qualified instructors.
  
• The resource centre will use current technologies to reach out to its clients. People can browse the collection online, access full text christian literature and resources, and engage in online courses.
  
• The resource centre staff will guide you in finding the book, video, website that meets your need. We can even help you order than book online, if you'd like.

Sometimes churches need to do original research. They need to do locate community demographics, design and assess programs, or create and analyze surveys or focus groups. I see a resource centre offering those kinds of information skills.

Also a comfy chair to curl up in, and a rocker for someone else...that sounds familiar! So there is one of my dreams. Until then, time to get back to work.

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Beyond Belief: Prayer as Communication

It is -12 degrees celsius outside, but I'm already planning for the summer. Conference season is coming soon and I have a few choices to make: CSIR conference at Kent State, CAIS at the Learneds in Freddie, or CLA in Halifax. I did send off one conference paper proposal; a paper on prayer as communication in information seeking. Prayer in the Christian tradition (Catholic and Protestant) is personal and relational; God hears our prayers and He responds.

So what does this have to do with information seeking? Canadian sociologist Reg Bibby has proposed that “…many Canadians…in the course of coping with life and death, reach out to a higher power – because it seems like the appropriate thing to do. Prayer seems to be our default mode.” (2002, Restless God, 158) We seek solace, encouragement, forgiveness and answers. So how does an information scientist investigate prayer? He cannot listen it on prayer's answer. She cannot empirically verify divine leading. Yet prayer is real to those praying. As real as reading books. As real as searching the internet. As real as talking to friends. Praying can be information seeking.

How then do we investigate prayer? By taking a sociological viewpoint; listening to our informants, and taking their experiences at face value. It doesn't mean that the researcher has to believe in prayer (I personally do). It means I will respect the beliefs of those who pray, and the answers they receive. Lots and lots of interesting information to consider! In the meantime I did discover the researcher's prayer. ;-)

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