Lying bullies
Asked about reaction he had received, Archbishop Niederauer expressed concern about the impact of Web logs, or blogs.
"The blogosphere is a kind of dangerous, endless recess in a global schoolyard," he said, "where the bullies with the biggest bullhorns can shout whatever they want."
There is of course some truth in this, but these kind of comments are exactly the type of defensive ones used by people who are forced to react to something. Bloggers almost always are dismissed as always being in the extreme camp - I guess bullies in pajamas seems to be the dominant charge. No thanks is ever given when a some scandalous event is posted on and attention brought to bring it to an end. There have been a large range of reactions to this event with some of them quite uncharitable towards the Archbishop, but the implication that bloggers are just bullies who can shout whatever they want is not exactly charitable either with this implication of lying.
Catholic punditry is a potentially dangerous sport and we must always examine our consciences when we post and to be quite careful about what we say. I know I don't want the first words from Jesus to me upon my death to be "About that blog of yours..." Sometimes it can seem that we can be quite happy reporting on scandals within parishes such as Most Holy Redeemer of the infamous St. Joan of Arc. Though speaking for myself and probably for the majority of Catholic bloggers, I would be quite happy to be reporting on positive changes in these parishes or not posting on them at all.
Jesuit Father Donal Godfrey, one of the Mass concelebrants, said the way the two men were dressed was "disrespectful to religious sisters," but he said he felt "it probably wasn't their intention (to offend.) They knelt in all the right places. They stood in all the right places. Except for the way they were dressed, they weren't doing anything disrespectful."
Fr. Donal Godfrey is normally good for a good laugh. "Except for the way they were dressed" is quite a funny line if you take it that way. Except for mocking the habits of Catholic religious orders and receiving Communion in objectionably grave sin they weren't doing anything disrespectful.
Update: American Papist has some solid commentary on comments made defending MHR and the Archbishops comments on blogs.
Known as 
"Except for the way they were dressed, they weren't doing anything disrespectful."
Aside from the shooting, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
Thus the archbishop wings a shot at the messenger.
2012.
I think the Archbishop has a point, but not, I think, about you, Jeff. I never have had the sense that you post scandalous stories for titillation purposes. But it does seem that there are those out there who do that. It feels wrong, and I also worry about the people who consistently chime in with very hateful comments that basically say, "Go get that Archbishop!" Some will even say, "God will throw those pederastic bishops in hell!!" etc. etc. So I worry about whether blogdom is abetting a number of things including imbalanced, wrathful religion.
But that's nothing compared to the educative good that can and often is done. I think the messages coming out of the Vatican have consistently been "Use the new technologies for good."
Anyways I have also been wondering about another aspect of blogdom, and that is the lack of the editor system. From what I gather there's a fairly strict hierarchical apprenticeship system--fascinating, isn't it, that liberal bias comes out of such a structured environment--where you just don't skip rungs on your way up the ladder. It's step by step. But what I'm thinking is that because of its freedom from the editor system, only bloggers can even possibly be free from the thought control that comes from the rhetorical rules of modern journalism.
So blogging really is a third thing. It's not the diocesan newspaper, which is usually published by the bishop himself, and it's not constrained to a limited range of thought, like anything edited. It has a freedom to it.
I just wish there were a way of making the popularity = success of a blog depend less on sensationalism and quasi-addiction. And frankly I wish people wouldn't play "gotcha" in the middle of the liturgy with their videos. That's not exactly the same as reverence, is it?
"The blogosphere is a kind of dangerous, endless recess in a global schoolyard," he said, "where the bullies with the biggest bullhorns can shout whatever they want."
It sounds like he's been reading Mark Shea.
Brilliant, Rjak.
I try to remain charitable, but shouldn't the pastor, priests, and bishop have mentioned the eternal salvation of the two clowns received our Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity at that altar? Their mode of dress was overt political statement; they stood out like sore thumbs in the congregation.
The fact that that Bishop Niedernauer recently requested this same group to cease their on-MHR-premises fund-raising with Revival Bingo providing winnings of pornographic DVD's and sex toys, seems to indicate that he should have expected something like this at MHR.
Blaming the photographers and bloggers, rather than focusing on pastoring their congregation really seems to indicate a deep-rooted problem.
Dear Blessed Mother, pray for all of us, but especially for the parish under the patronage of your Most Holy Rosary, and others like it that have need of your Son's eternal graces.
Jesus: "About that blog of yours..."
Curt Jester: ((shaking))
Jesus: Just kidding. I thought it was hilarious! Had you going there, didn't I?
Curt Jester: "Haha, thanks!"
Jesus: "No, but really, we need to talk about your blog..."
Curt Jester: ((turns ashen))
Jesus: "Again, I got you again! Haha, I am good, and munificently, at that.