Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Nancy Piccione

Revenge of the Nerds: How Geekiness can Strengthen the Family

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Yesterday I posted the first half (read that here) of my column that appears in this weekend’s edition of The Catholic Post.  Today is Part 2 of this.

 GeekPriest: Confessions of a New Media Pioneer has much to share about what’s positive about the Internet and connecting online.

But as we can see from the news, or even from our own interactions online (exhibit A in three words? Facebook during elections) or trying to parenting children in the digital age, it’s not all sunshine and roses.

Parents and kids can find it difficult to strike a good balance between being super-connected online, sometimes to the detriment of those around us, or to becoming a neo-Luddite, forbidding all tech altogether. There are myriad books and articles about this topic, but few are worthwhile.

In the last few years, I had two go-to books on this subject:

*Talking Back to Facebook: The Common Sense Guide to Raising Kids in the Digital Age by James P. Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media. As Steyer writes: ”Both the perils and possibilities of this rapidly evolving digital age needed to be explained in pretty simple terms for the average family.”

*The other is Plugged-In Parenting: How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids with Love, Not War by Bob Waliszewski. This book, by the director of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In Online, offers a realistic and practical challenge to parents of faith to be involved in their kids’ media choices.

But now I highly recommend a new book, The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair, as a must-read.

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The Big Disconnect is not just great as information, but also as a springboard for discussion in families about technology’s promise and limits for healthy individuals and families. Steiner-Adair is a psychologist and professional, so it’s full of the latest research, along with many individual stories and case studies, showing the pitfalls of technology, especially for younger users, and what families can do about it.

In particular, she offers sobering and graphic evidence of the wide online prevalence of both bullying and porn, and life-damaging consequences of these for young people.

The finest chapter of The Big Disconnect is “The Sustainable Family: Turning Tech into an Ally for Closeness, Creativity, and Community.” Rather than a “one size fits all” approach for a family tech policy, “The Sustainable Family” offers healthy principles for considering how to be mindful and proactive.

Consider this great quote, which in many ways sums up the chapter, and the book, and can apply not just to families, but to individuals within a faith community:

“Tech can be a tool that strengthens family connection, or it can dilute family connection. When family members ‘fly solo’ too much and spend time too much time pursuing their singular lives online with their out-of-family social networks, family cohesion erodes. Family ties loosen. Today’s family must develop a relationship with technology without losing sight of the primacy of family relationships, because it is in protecting and cultivating these relationships that we make a family sustainable.”

It’s a tall order for families, especially parents, but for Steiner-Adair, it’s worth the effort for the health of the family and its individual members, as well as the wider society.

That is the end of my print column, but I’ve been discovering, via what people share on Facebook and elsewhere, even more sobering realities about online life.  Here are just a few for parents, especially:

“Friends Without Benefits” from Vanity Fair — corrosive, misogynistic teen culture online.  “Social media is destroying our lives.” “Then why don’t you get off it?” “Because then we would have no life.”

“Porn is the Most Pernicious Threat Facing Children Today” this is unbelievably depressing. 

And just so I’m not leaving things completely hopeless, here is an interesting take on “How Tech is Not Ruining Your Mind” .  Love the discussion of “cognitive diversity” and how adults, along with kids, should not spend all their time on screens.

I don’t care if I sound like an oldster when I say that so much of this truly makes me grieve for many young people and the culture.  But it also increases my desire to pray for their spiritual, physical and emotional safety and well-being. What I like so much about The Big Disconnect is that it didn’t leave me depressed, but hopeful about making a difference.

What about you? Are you hopeful or depressed about the state of culture and online life?

Revenge of the Nerds: How Geekiness can Strengthen Faith (Part 1)

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Following is the first part of my book page column that appears in this weekend’s edition of The Catholic Post.  Since it was a longer review, and I cover other books, I split it into two posts–stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow: “How geekiness can strengthen the family.”

The Screwtape Letters is C.S. Lewis’ classic book of what I like to call “epistolary apologetics,” “letters” from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his apprentice nephew demon Wormwood.

Everything is twisted in the book, so “the Enemy” is God and the advice is all backwards from what would make people truly happy. One letter has Screwtape cautioning Wormwood to avoid letting his subject have any real, natural interests or pleasures, because:

“There is a sort of innocence and humility and self-forgetfulness about them which I distrust. The man who truly and disinterestedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring twopence what other people say about it, is by that very fact forearmed against some of our subtlest modes of attack. You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favor of the “best” people, the “right” food, the “important” books. I have known a human defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions.”

Count me firmly in the “tripe and onions” category. Whether it’s Jane Austen reading jags, pilgrimages to children’s literature sites, or my well-known and longtime love affair with dark chocolate, I embrace my nerdy obsessions and want to convert you, too.

So I might be a little suspicious of people who don’t have passionate interests, even if they aren’t my interests. (But seriously, how can you not love Pride & Prejudice?).

No surprise, then, that I loved GeekPriest: Confessions of a New Media Pioneer by Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, a Dutch parish priest with an international social media reach.

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This book is a kind of spiritual/cultural memoir about how Fr. Vonhogen’s religious vocation grew up around, and because of, his own geeky interests. It’s also how he has become a social media pioneer, spreading the Gospel by connecting his passions for computers, popular culture and faith in a natural, approachable way.

GeekPriest can seem light in tone, since it’s making connections between things like Star Wars, Disney or even The Biggest Loser, and living a healthy, well-balanced life. So readers looking for the next St. Augustine’s Confessions might be disappointed.

What GeekPriest does offer is a realistic and deceptively deep look at where good pop culture intersects with our faith. Fr. Vonhogen is not writing just another “here’s why Star Wars is a Jesus archetype” story. Instead, he shares how his struggles through a breakdown and other reverses led to a more mature balance, faith and priestly life.  His honesty and ability to synthesize so well helps this book rise above the common.

I would recommend GeekPriest to teens and young adult readers, and not just because I kept “losing” my review copy of this book as teens and tweens at our house kept wandering off to read a chapter here and there.

I’d also recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about “the new evangelization,” or using modern methods and modern ways to share the Truth. Fr. Vonhogen’s an expert and an example to many, no doubt. GeekPriest offers a challenge to anyone with geeky interests: how are you going to connect this to your faith, and begin a journey to share that with others?

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I’m not sure if this is the right sort of aside to share here, but I want to share two things about Fr. Roderick.  

First  is that I have never met him.  The two times I have made plans to go to the U.S.-based Catholic New Media conferences that he has organized, (even to the point of flights and hotel reservations), family needs required canceling at the last moment.  And even though I’m an avid podcast listener, I have yet to subscribe to any of Father’s many podcasts, something one of my sisters, a fan, found really funny.  So I don’t actually know Fr. Roderick, but feel a genuine kinship with his ideas and love of new media.  And now I promise to subscribe to at least one of his podcast series.

Second is that when I was searching for an image of the book to plug in here to this review, here’s what came back on my Google image search:

GreekPriestBe sure to stop back tomorrow for Part 2 of my geeky book column this month!

 

Twitterature (September 2013)

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Linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy for her round-up of short, Twitter-style reviews of recent reads.

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Grown-up reads:

 

Unknown-1The Big Disconnect: Protecting Childhood and Family Relationships in the Digital Age by Catherine Steiner-Adair.

A sober must-read about digital age’s effect on families. Excellent advice based on research for parents can create a family culture that promotes intentional togetherness rather than just “giving in” to our digital age and all its distractions.  She’s very explicit about the wide availability of porn to kids and terrible consequences of that. “The Sustainable Family” chapter is worth price of book.  #highlyrecommended

Among-the-Janeites-Deborah-Yaffe-Cover-199x300Among the Janeites: A Journey Through the World of Jane Austen Fandom by Deborah Yaffe.

You must allow me to tell you how ardently I love and admire this literary “memoir” of sorts.  Deborah Yaffe is a kindred spirit to me, similar in age, temperament, and obsession about Jane Austen before Jane was cool. She’s convinced me to do what my husband has long encouraged: join JASNA and attend a convention. #JaneAustenForever

Books my children and I have been reading, either together or apart:

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Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

We got this from the library after beach vacation, where young cousins were reading and loving. I’m generally not a fan of sci fi anyway, but I found this truly horrible & hard to get through.   Graphically and psychologically violent. #degustibusIguess 

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The One and Only Ivan By Katherine Applegate.

Author and homeschool mom Melissa Wiley recommended this book, or I would have passed it by, suspecting an agenda. Once I got into the story, I cried openly. Good book. Good tears. #kidslovedittoo

Thanks to Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy for hosting!  I really enjoy getting to see what everyone is reading, as well as (briefly, thank goodness!) summarize what I’m reading.

Another 9/11 Anniversary and books to ponder

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Tomorrow marks the 12th anniversary of 9/11.   Do you commemorate this sad anniversary?  Do you remember where you were on the day? I do (and wrote about it for my column on the 10th anniversary of 9/11), and I think most people have total recall of that moment and day.

As usual, I’ve got some book suggestions for helping to both remember and to process 9/11.  And as if often true for tough topics, children’s books can be a great choice.

The primary book that I reviewed for the 10th anniversary was a children’s book about the events of 9/11, He Said Yes:  The Story of Father Mychal Judge, by author Kelly Ann Lynch.   It wasn’t entirely intentional to focus on a children’s book, but as I argue, sometimes “just a kid’s book” can be more insightful and meaningful than books for adults.

hsycoverAt the time of the 10th anniversary, I listened to a radio interview with a American studies professor discussing the “art of 9/11,” focusing exclusively on novels, movies and songs for adults that have come out of the tragedy, and their meaning, and how they have helped us heal (or not) after 9/11.

It was a fascinating interview; yet I found myself thinking about how much more do children need help in processing and understanding difficult events like what happened on 9/11.

I was a volunteer in the library of our local Catholic grade school, and I was fortunate to get a chance to read He Said Yes with different grades of kids, and we talked about what happened that day.

This book ended up being a great way for kids who were unaware of 9/11 to learn about it gently, as 9/11 images were all over the news, and the students are bound to be confronted with it.  Learning about the heroism of Father Judge and others will give, I hope, some framework for understanding beyond the images.

Some of the kids asked me, “Is that a true story?” so we talked about how Father Judge is the listed as the first official fatality on that day.

I was surprised that every single time I read it, I choked up on the last pages of the book, when author Lynch quotes John 15:13, “When Father Mychal ran to the towers, he was following in the footsteps of Jesus, who told his disciples, “No one has grater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Two other excellent children’s books to help the young and not-so-young explore 9/11:

coverThe Little Chapel That Stood by A.B. Curtis is a beautifully illustrated and lyrical poem-book about Old St. Paul’s Church, which survived the attacks at Ground Zero, and became a place of refuge for firefighters and others.

If you can, reading an actual copy of The Little Chapel That Stood makes for great reading with small children; the book itself is handsome and a nice size.  (I finally did break down and buy a copy of the book after a visit to the 9/11 memorial this summer).

If you can’t locate a copy of the book, please consider reading it online on the author’s website.

If you do, remember that this book needs to be read out loud for full effect.  Be prepared to choke up a little if you do read it out loud, when you read many lines, especially about how the firefighters hung up their shoes on the fence of the church:

“Oh what gallant men we did lose, who never came back to get their shoes!”

[The interesting Catholic trivia connection to Old St. Paul’s, an Episcopal Church, is that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born canonized saint, was married to her husband, William Seton, in St. Paul’s, on January 25, 1774.]

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Fireboat:  The Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey by Maira Kalman, is another great book about the great and small heroism around 9/11.

This book, too, shows how ordinary people worked to stop the fires at the Twin Towers with a previously retired and restored 1930s-era fireboat.  The illustrations are a kind of modern folk-art, and the text is delightful in conveying such difficult themes.

Do you know of any other 9/11 books for children or adults?  How are you discussing 9/11 with your children?

Here are some links to my prior writings on 9/11 books:

Here is my column on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Here is a Q&A with Kelly Lynch, author of He Said Yes.

That summer, I happened to discover QR codes, and became obsessed with making my own that could go in the print edition of The Catholic Post.  I did eventually make one, that would lead readers to a prayer for 9/11.  You can read about that here.

Finally, I wanted to share a few photos and reflections from the 9/11 Memorial Site.  Our family had the opportunity while in New York City last summer to visit the site and some related areas nearby.

IMG_1234Here is a photo of the interior of St. Paul’s Church, the “Little Chapel that Stood.”  Much of the church is given over to displays on 9/11.  It was quite moving–this was a bed that had been used (among dozens of others) to house workers in the days after 9/11.

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This is not exactly apropos of 9/11, but I found this memorial marker in St. Paul’s fascinating. Notice that the man here died, “in the midst of his usefulness.” May it be said of all of us.

The memorial itself is on the site of the twin towers.  Some of the entry areas, and the museum, are still under construction, but it’s a fascinating site.  It’s also heavily visited, and we were fortunate that we could get in after a short-ish wait.  Often there is a long wait to go through security for it, and you can order tickets ahead of time.  We were not aware that tickets were even needed.

The memorial itself consists of the footprints of the two towers.  In place of the each tower, there is a square flowing fountain.

IMG_1254IMG_1256Later that day, I had an interesting discussion with one of my brothers-in-law about the memorial, and his strong objections to it (He’s an architect, so he has some expertise and opinions about these sorts of things).

He commented that the falling water at the memorials was “always falling” as if the towers were falling again.  I don’t agree, since I saw the water and the fountains as cleansing and healing for the land there.  It’s just interesting how there can be different perspectives on the same place.

Around the fountains is a framework, listing all those who died on 9/11, not just in the two towers, but also the planes, those at the Pentagon, and the site in Pennsylvania.

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Here is Father Mychal Judge’s name

IMG_1277Here is something I became just a little obsessed with at the memorial.  For some women listed, the wording is “and her unborn child.” (this photo is of “Jennifer Howley and Her Unborn Child.”)

I kept walking around the framework looking for other women who perished in the towers along with their unborn children.  On my casual look I found six total, but there may be more. I was not thinking in a pro-life extremist way, that somehow these lives were more precious because they were so innocent.  Rather, I wondered how the wording happened to be agreed upon, especially in our day and age.

How did these women come to be listed with their unborn children?  Did the families request it?  Were they offered the opportunity to add this on? Was there any controversy about this among the memorial makers?

There is so much political correctness that surrounds abortion, especially in a city like New York.  It’s just intriguing to consider what the backstory on this might be.  More importantly, however, we spent a lot of time that day praying for those who died that day, born and unborn, and that there may be peace in our world.

IMG_1286Are you doing anything to remember the 9/11 anniversary?

 

Q&A with Monsignor Soseman, author of “Reflections from Rome” and Book Signing

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Following is my e-interview with Monsignor Richard Soseman, author of Reflections from Rome: Practical Thoughts on Faith & Family.  Reflections from Rome was the book I reviewed in my September column for The Catholic Post.

As I mentioned in my review, and as regular readers of this blog will recall, Monsignor Soseman and I have been friends for a long time, even pre-dating his friendship with the esteemed Brandon Vogt.  You can read all about that here.  So we had fun here in this interview.  Thank you, Monsignor, for being such a willing interview subject, and for letting me compare your book to eating tapas. Since you’ve spent a lot of time in Spain, I thought you wouldn’t mind.

Local readers will want to know that Monsignor will be doing a book signing at Lagron-Miller Company in Peoria on Saturday, September 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.   Our family will be stopping by!

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Monsignor, tell “Reading Catholic” readers more about yourself and your work.

I am a priest of the Diocese of Peoria, ordained in 1992. Since January, 2008 I have been an Official of the Congregation for the Clergy at the Vatican.

Q. This book grew out of the “Faith” posts that you’ve been sharing on Facebook for some time. How/when did you start doing the Facebook reflections, and how does the book differ from those?

During the Year for Priests (2009-2010), we started an online group called “I Will Offer My Lent for Priests.” The Congregation for the Clergy tries to stress how important it is to pray for the sanctification of priests. For that group, I began to write a daily reflection, and have continued that practice since then.

In the book, then, I have collected and edited articles and essays I have written for various media.

Q. As I wrote in my review, I found your book to be like “tapas” those Spanish appetizer-y dishes. When I saw this quote in the “tapas” wikipedia entry: “The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them.”

Do you think that is a good analogy for what you are trying to accomplish?

I would say it is a good analogy. My hope is that, in reading the short meditations, people will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to discover ways in which they can live more faithfully. Each reflections starts with an image, an example from my family life, from Church history, or an experience I have had in Rome, which then remind us of some element of the spiritual life or some element of faith. So many people have let me know that the examples I make resonate with their own experiences, and have encouraged me to collect them into a book, I was happy to do so. Sometimes what I write about seem to be non sequiturs, sometimes humorous images or contradictions and then all is resolved in the example from the faith.

Q. Do you have a favorite reflection shared in the book? I marked probably a dozen, but “Ligonberries” and “Whether, Weather, Wither” were two of my favorites.

Ha! I should have expected a Weather Channel junkie like you to enjoy the latter reflection. Some people who I call “weather junkies” in the essay will change all of their plans based on what they think the weather might do. I encourage people who are living faithful lives not to be to scrupulous or overly concerned about past decisions they have made, but to look forward to living in fidelity into the future. In the former essay, I use a humorous point about Italian language to remind people that we should want to get to know all we can about God, because we love him and as humans we are driven to know all we can about the object of our love.

Q.  Can you talk more about your work at the Vatican and what your office does?

The Congregation for the Clergy assists the Holy Father in supervision of Priests and Deacons throughout the world. The “Year for Priests” was our project, as was the recently revised “Directory for Life and Ministry of Priests.” As an Official, I study the issues assigned to me by the Superiors, and make my recommendations on what action the Congregation might take in the situation, if any.

Q.  What is next for you? Do you plan to write another book?

Over the last several years, I have written prefaces for several books, and will probably continue that work. Also, in Princeville we published the “Princes Prayer Book” for teens, which I continue to hand out to American teenagers who are visiting Rome. I also write essays for a cycling website in season, and have been asked to collect those essays, as well as more reflections on faith.

Finally, I am working on a book on Venerable Fulton J. Sheen. My main work remains, of course, at the Congegation, and I also teach college students a course on St. Paul, and work with liturgy at the Pontifical North American College.

 

Meet a Reader: Gina Vozenilek, MA

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Meet a Reader appears on the book page of The Catholic Post each month, and features a local Catholic who loves and reading.  Each “reader” answers four questions, and I love getting the chance to discover so many great readers and books.  I confessed to Gina–who I’ve enjoyed getting to know over the last year–that I was nervous about editing her answers for space for the print Post since she is such a gifted writer.  Thanks, for being willing, Gina!

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How you know me: Last year we relocated to Peoria from Chicago for my husband John’s job at OSF. We have four children: Mary is a junior at PND, twins Peter and Thomas are eighth graders at St. Vincent de Paul, and Anne is in fifth grade at St. Jude. We are members of St. Jude’s parish in Peoria. This past spring I graduated with my MFA in creative writing from Northwestern, where I also taught medical researchers how to write effectively. I am currently editing my thesis manuscript, a collection of essays on place and identity, into a book proposal. Wish me luck!

Why I love reading: When I was little my father built a window seat in my bedroom, and I would sit there for hours reading. My favorite books were the pale yellow Little House paperbacks. I imagined a kind of overlap between Laura’s world and mine, calling the forest preserve behind the house my “prairie,” for instance. I would get so deeply immersed in my books that my mother would sometimes kick me out of doors to go play. But the wide sky of unincorporated West Chicago seemed so much like Laura’s sky, I didn’t mind; I felt a continuity of experience in and out of the pages. I think this is why I love reading and writing: words form linkages between imaginations and times and places. When we feel a connection to a book—to a character or a setting or even a voice, we discover those common skies.

What I’m reading now:   I’m an essay junkie. Right now I am enjoying Sven Birkerts’ collection called The Other Walk (what that man can do with his childhood memory of a plastic tape dispenser is nothing short of miraculous). For gourmet literary snacks, I love the online site called Brevity, which offers a feast of flash nonfiction in 750 words or fewer. The current issue boasts one of my heroes, Catholic writer Brian Doyle. I’ve just ordered his book called Grace Notes.

My favorite book: I studied medieval literature, so I have a great fondness for Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and works much earlier still. There’s a remarkable Anglo-Saxon poem, “The Dream of the Rood,” a fragment of which is carved on the 8th-century Ruthwell Cross. In a bold experiment with point-of-view, the poet invents a voice for the Cross (the “Rood”) which becomes a character. It speaks as a courageous and faithful retainer, narrating the Crucifixion of his hero-Lord, Christ. I love to think about that poet, thirteen hundred years ago in some candlelit hut or dark monastery somewhere, suddenly inspired to re-imagine that scene on Calvary from a fresh perspective. I suppose my favorite books and poems and essays are the ones that help me see familiar things in a new light.