the pope goes viral.

In a move that I find a bit ridiculous, Roman Catholic bishops in Italy have asked Catholics to go on a technology fast for Lent. (Read the full story here)

A few Catholic groups in Italy have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday during Lent. The diocese in Turin doesn't want its followers to watch television. In the city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with different ideas for each week. These include not driving cars, recycling waste and abandoning both iPods and the Internet for a week.

Interestingly enough, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel in January, available in 4 different languages. Pope Benedict XVI is an advocate of social networking sites for forging friendships and understanding, but also thinks that online networking can isolate people from real social interaction.

I understand the ideas behind this: get rid of some of the noise/clutter in your life, get closer to God and other human beings, but I think it's unrealistic and outdated. The Church itself is using the Internet as a new outlet to bring people together. Much of our world revolves around these means of communication. How does giving up text messaging improve your relationship with a higher being? Also, shouldn't giving something up be your personal decision, not something decreed by the Church?

Personally, I've always struggled with the idea of giving something up for Lent. Most of the people I know give up eating some sort of food. A few members of my study abroad program were discussing giving up swearing, which is another conversation altogether. (Words are arbitrary, John!) To me, it just seems like a sort of micro New Year's resolution. I'm going to give up cookies for 5 weeks to reaffirm my devotion! Slash lose 5 pounds.

Call me a heretic, but I don't believe in a God who would be intensely gratified by me giving up my iPod. Especially since I agree with Sara's fantastic blog post that music is the closest I've ever been to religion.

I don't know.