{"id":57028,"date":"2014-11-03T06:30:21","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T12:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=57028"},"modified":"2014-11-03T18:55:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T00:55:10","slug":"social-media-family-pope-franics-speaking-covenant-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/social-media-family-pope-franics-speaking-covenant-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"New Media and the Family: Pope Francis speaking on Covenant Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>

photo courtesy of the Schoenstatt Movement of Austin (on facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

Just moments after the Pope\u2019s audience with the Schoenstatt Movement in Rome, his words were reverberating in twitter and in blogs. Which words? The Pope\u2019s strong words about the state of marriage today. These clear and straightforward words were picked up quickly and passed on. The world of the media heard them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarriage has never been so attacked as it is today,\u201d and \u201cthe family is bludgeoned from all sides\u201d are some of the tag lines that were passed around twitter (@kathysamira, @newsva_en, @mattswaim, @nmlusa, @CatholicNewsSvc, @CNAlive, @LOsservatoreUSA, and many more tweeted along these lines) and it was also the title of several blog posts such as at news.va<\/a> and CatholicCulture.org<\/a>, and here at CatholicVote.or<\/a>g.<\/p>\n

Were the rest of the Pope\u2019s words also heard? I have my doubts. Of the positive message from the Pope, of what he said we must due to heal the difficult situation of families today, of the Pope\u2019s hope and call to us, I did not see any tweets or posts that day. Not even one. And some even took his message to the next lower level of calling out against the secular media as if in a taunt, as in the John White\u2019s CatholicVote.org article linked above.<\/p>\n

I think we must respond to this. I think we must discipline ourselves as Catholic media to not just jump for the negative, not just jump for the polemic, but to really take in the whole of what is said. It really does require discipline. Human nature ramified and multiplied across social networks can cause negativity to spread like a plague. But our vision must go beyond, must be higher, must be supernatural<\/em>. Yes, this is difficult. I can empathize with John White seeing that perhaps there is also pain and frustration behind his words. As Catholic new media, we are called to overcome our anger and frustration by offering it to God by spending time in prayer with Him before we write, before we react. Only then can we transmit more than emotions, only then can we transmit more than intellectualisms, only then can we fulfill our mission in Catholic media, which is to transcend and truly transmit heart and soul.<\/em><\/p>\n

What else did Pope Francis say?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

So what did Pope Francis say, in the totality of his message? Now, over a week later, some people are beginning to write about the full story (see Marge Fenelon\u2019s blog<\/a>\u00a0and also here <\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Along with his strong clear words on the state of the family today, he urged us to \u201caccompa\u00f1ar\u201d the suffering. This means to \u201cgo with them,\u201d to really walk with them, as Pope Francis said, \u201cbody to body.\u201d*** This means to give our time to others! Pope Francis even said, to \u201cwaste time\u201d with them, that Christ was the first to teach us how to \u201cwaste time\u201d on others. What a beautiful phrase! Is not time our most precious gift from God? More than money, it is our time that we must steward; it is our time that the world asks of us. Time means presence, and presence, being there<\/em>, means sacrifice and an extension of the self. It means a decision, because we decide to be with them<\/em> instead of with another or on our own or sitting at home and comfortable. And nothing grows, nothing heals, without sacrifice. And patience, Pope Francis said! Truly wasting time, with patience \u2013 that is what helps the suffering.<\/p>\n

Reconciliation and a Covenant Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Pope also offered us the antidote to how our culture tends toward conflict and encourages a provisional or \u201cthrow-away\u201d relationship with each other and with the world: he tells us to create a culture of bonds, a culture of covenant and of solidarity. With these words, the Pope spoke right to our hearts, for creating a “covenant culture<\/a>”\u00a0is one of the core\u00a0aims of the Schoenstatt spirituality, one of the treasures that the Schoenstatt Movement wants to offer to the Church and to the world. We cannot heal and renew our world without healing and renewing our relationships, our bonds with each other, our bond with Christ. Immediately Pope Francis drew the connection to the renewal of the \u201cnew Covenant\u201d in Christ through the celebration of the Eucharist, in which the renewal is not only in an imitative way, but in a way that \u201cvery deep, very real, and very profound.\u201d Pope Francis also spoke of how essential it is to never forget that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is also a renewal of the covenant with God, that \u201ccarries us to holiness with this culture of encounter, of solidarity, or the creation of bonds.\u201d<\/p>\n

In another part of the audience, he spoke of reconciliation and asking for forgiveness as \u201c a beautiful thing.\u201d In speaking of the Movement and the Church\u2019s mission to go out, Pope Francis said, \u201cI mean to go out, to go out of ourselves. A Church or a Movement, a community closed in on itself gets sick\u2026A Movement, a Church that goes out will make mistakes. But it is so beautiful to ask for forgiveness when one has erred. So don\u2019t be afraid. Go out in mission!\u201d Pope Francis also highlighted asking for pardon when we don\u2019t live up to being living witnessing of our faith: \u201cIt is evident that we all get lazy [at times], that we all have weaknesses, that we all have problems and don\u2019t always give a good testimony,\u201d he says, and then he emphasized our \u201ccapacity to be humbled within, the capacity to ask for forgiveness when our testimony isn\u2019t what it should be.\u201d Reconciliation and humility are essential parts of creating a culture of long-lasting bonds, of firm and free relationships, a culture that is rooted in the eternal instead of in that which passes away.<\/p>\n

I think this call to a covenant culture must be a part of how we approach social media and new media as Catholics. With our words, spoken, written or tweeted, we are called to create bonds, to bridge the gaps, to foster reconciliation and humility, and thus work towards the renewal of the world in Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

Renewing the Church<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I will close with what Pope Francis said about this renewal, and here he also mentions the media. \u201cRenewal of the Church,\u201d Pope Francis said,<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thinks of a great revolution, no? Someone over here says \u2018the revolutionary Pope,\u2019 all those stories, no? But this is perhaps one of the most ancient phrases of ecclesiology\u2026The Church has to be renewed continuously. This is from the first centuries of the Church. And they fought for it\u2026the saints did the same, I mean those who carry the Church forward are the saints. They are those who are capable of renewing the holiness\u00a0[of the Church], and renewing through their own holiness, to renew the Church, no? They are the ones who carry the Church forward. So first, as the first favor I want to ask of you, as help, is holiness. Holiness. Don\u2019t fear a life of holiness. This is what it means to renew the Church. Renewing the Church is not principally [about] making one change here, another change there\u2026that\u2019s not renewal, no? Right here, it\u2019s public so I can say it, the Curia has to be renewed, the Curia is being renewed, the Vatican Bank must be renewed. All of these are renewals from the outside. That\u2019s what the newspapers are saying. It\u2019s curious. Not one (newspaper) speaks about the renewal of the heart. They don\u2019t understand anything of what renewing the Church is. [Renewing the Church] is holiness. To renew the heart of each one.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pope Francis closed the audience with these words, just before the final blessing:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is what you all desire, right? That in this world of broken connections, (\u201cdesencuentros\u201d), of defamations, calumnies, destruction from what we say, all of this, you all carry this culture of encounter forward, renewing the covenant. And of course no one can be educated on his\/her own. They need the Mother to educate them. Thus I commend all of you to the Mother so that she continues to help you walk forward in the renewal of the covenant.<\/strong> Thank you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

May we respond to the Pope’s call, and help him to forge a culture of covenant, that lasts! Amen!<\/p>\n

***Please note that all the translations of the Pope words are my own, translated from Spanish. I tend to favor translating the meaning of the words rather than the literal word for word translation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just moments after the Pope\u2019s audience with the Schoenstatt Movement in Rome, his words were reverberating in twitter and in blogs. Which words? The Pope\u2019s strong words about the state of marriage today. These clear and straightforward words were picked up quickly and passed on. The world of the media heard them. \u201cMarriage has never… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[90,92],"tags":[2524,2553,2555,2554,2197,2556,1321,2890,2557,81,257,1505,1973,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-57028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-faith-blog","7":"category-news","8":"tag-100-year-anniversary-of-schoenstatt","9":"tag-catholic-culture","10":"tag-covenant-culture","11":"tag-covenant-of-love","12":"tag-culture-of-death","13":"tag-definition-of-marriage","14":"tag-divorce","15":"tag-family","16":"tag-family-synod","17":"tag-marriage","18":"tag-new-evangelization","19":"tag-pope-francis","20":"tag-schoenstatt","21":"tag-social-media-2","22":"entry","23":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54664,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/called-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":0},"title":"Called to Life","author":"Rachel","date":"October 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I really can't\u00a0write about anything other than the crazy huge party that happened all over the world this past weekend! The Schoenstatt Movement celebrated 100 years since it's foundation, on October 18th, 1914, when\u00a0a group of boys and Fr Joseph Kentenich sealed the original Covenant of Love\u00a0with the Blessed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Blessed Mother in procession to the Original Shrine in Schoenstatt Germany (photo courtesy of the Schoenstatt Movement of Austin https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SchoenstattAustin).","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1504398_362108780614825_3284416051048114015_o-550x366.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1504398_362108780614825_3284416051048114015_o-550x366.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/1504398_362108780614825_3284416051048114015_o-550x366.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":152263,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/something-greater-than-ourselves\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":1},"title":"Something Greater Than Ourselves","author":"Rachel","date":"September 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"In a little less than 2 weeks, on October 11, Bishop Joe Vasquez will celebrate Mass at the Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Schoenstatt, in honor of the Feast of Our Lady of Schoenstatt, and to give thanks for the first year anniversary of the Shrine. What might inspire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Homepage-3-e1425572889342","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Homepage-3-e1425572889342-550x326.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Homepage-3-e1425572889342-550x326.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Homepage-3-e1425572889342-550x326.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":303730,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/303730\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":2},"title":"Therese of Lisieux & The Marian Jubilee of Mercy","author":"Rachel","date":"October 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It's possible that St Therese of Lisieux is one of those saints of whom we hear so often that we think, well, we already know that story - next! Yet\u00a0I think we often only capture her \"slogan\" of childlikeness, and in skipping over it, we miss the profound and prophetic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image taken from littleflower.org, no image credit information available","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/writing1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":121445,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/the-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":3},"title":"The Heart","author":"Rachel","date":"June 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend the wisdom of the Church invited us\u00a0to experience a beautiful truth - the unity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Church led us into this discovery of this union by celebrating the Solemnity of the\u00a0Most\u00a0Sacred Heart on Friday that leads\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"My three-in-one heart Calligraphy doodle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_8095-550x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_8095-550x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/IMG_8095-550x440.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":435344,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/catholicconvo-eyes-texan\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":4},"title":"#CatholicConvo Through the Eyes of an Texan","author":"Rachel","date":"July 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \"Uplifting, motivating, challenging, community, transformative.\" That's how Theresa Prudhomme, a mid 20s young professional\u00a0from Katy, describes her experience of #CatholicConvo in 5 words or less. \u00a0The weekend before last, while we were all firing up the grill and making July 4th plans, Theresa joined thousands of lay leaders, religious,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/atxcatholic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/convocation-logo-final-470w.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1395983,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/a-small-christmas-poem\/","url_meta":{"origin":57028,"position":5},"title":"A “Small” Christmas Poem","author":"Rachel","date":"December 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On instagram @rachelisag Merry Christmas dear readers! May you be drawn this Christmas into the humility and smallness of the Christ Child - for our world is hungry for hearts that are uncomplicated and open, humble and warm. Let us make a home for others in our hearts this Christmas,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57028\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}