Virtual Catholicism

University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Master's Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Winter 2017 Virtual Catholicism Andrew Bills University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis Recommended Citation Bills, Andrew, "Virtual Catholicism" (2017). Master's Theses and Capstones. 933. https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/933 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VIRTUAL CATHOLICISM BY ANDY BILLS Communication BA, University of New Hampshire, 2009 THESIS Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Liberal Studies December 2017 i Thesis Committee Page This thesis has been examined and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Liberals Studies by: Thesis Director, Kevin Healey, Assistant Professor in Communication Joseph Terry, Lecturer in Communication Catherine Peebles, Principal Lecturer and Director of the MALS Graduate Program On 12/5/17 Original approval signatures are on file with the University of New Hampshire Graduate School ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………...v ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 I. ANCIENT CHURCH/ DIGITAL MAKOVER ............................................. 5 Faiths in Flux ............................................................................................ 8 Making Sense of Religion and Technology… ........................................ 14 Digital Religion: A Brief Introduction .................................................... 15 Religious Social-Shaping of Technology……………………………….21 II. RELIGIOUS REFLECTION ON TECHNOLOGY .................................... 25 History: Centralization and Social Opportunity ..................................... 28 Core Beliefs: Good Works, Social Justice & Faith in Human Reason .... 36 Negotiation & Communal Framing: Patterns of Reconfiguration & Conditional Acceptance .............................................................................................. 41 III. STREAMING CATHOLICISM…………………………………………...51 Communication Reform .......................................................................... 54 Best in Class Digital Engagement… ....................................................... 57 Messages of Mercy & Good Works … ................................................... 63 Declining Numbers of Catholics .............................................................. 65 Relationship Between Physical & Virtual Spaces………………………66 Future Church/ Virtual Church………………………………………….72 iii CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 81 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................... 84 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I want to kindly thank the members of my thesis committee: Kevin Healey, Joseph Terry and Catherine Peebles. I specifically thank Kevin Healey for taking on the role of my thesis advisor, for reading my countless revisions, and for continuing to challenge me with helpful and constructive criticism. I thank Joseph Terry for his excellent insight into digital and global media and ensuring my work is line with scholarship on the subject. I thank Catherine Peebles for believing in this project and pushing me to the finish line even with my many stops and starts. I also wanted to thank Tama Andrews for remaining flexible during my year of research and writing. Without the assistance of these individuals, this project would have not been possible. In addition to my thesis committee, I’d like to thank Heidi Campbell for introducing me to the concept of “Digital Religion” through her many books and scholarly journals. Her work set the stage and tone for my curiosity into the subject and helped me navigate the complex and interdisciplinary fields of where religion and technology meet. I thank my good friend Steve Messa for always offering an ear and sound advice throughout my research and writing process. I thank my beautiful fiancé Kerry McOsker for putting up with and encouraging my long research and writing sessions over the course of the last year. I thank my father for always being a great soundboard for my ideas and a champion of my academic goals. Lastly, I’d like to thank my mother and grandmother for encouraging me to have the confidence to be the first member of my family to pursue a Master’s degree. v ABSTRACT VIRTUAL CATHOLICISM by Andy Bills University of New Hampshire, December 2017 The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church and arguably the largest and oldest organized religious institution in the world. Christians have been building, restructuring and growing their religious faith for two millennia, passing their traditions down from generation to generation. The Roman Catholic tradition can be viewed as the original centrally organized Christian church. Catholicism survived the fall of the Roman Empire, centuries of bloody religious wars, and the age of Enlightenment, which ushered in a steep rise of scientific progress and awareness. Despite this, the Catholic Church has managed to remain a spiritual leader among the various major global religions. The Church currently finds itself navigating a complex social landscape that relies heavily on digitally interactive computer networks to connect people all over the world. When most people think of the Catholic Church, they don’t think of technological innovation. However, the last decade has shown the world a seemingly different face of the Catholic Church. The unorthodox election of Pope Francis and the rise of his media celebrity in recent years has been covered extensively by the global media, often portraying him as a revolutionary figure standing out amongst the backdrop of a much more conservative and outdated Church. This is more evident considering the rise of his media celebrity, amplified by his popularity on digital social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Francis ‘enthusiasm and proficiency with new forms of social media are often at the vi heart of his coverage, helping drive the narrative that Francis’ leadership and technical prowess have been the impetus for the Church’s digital technological progress. This is true to an extent. Francis’ popularity with Catholics and non-Catholics alike gives the Church more legitimacy as it attempts to establish a more credible digital presence. However, it can be argued that the Catholic Church has had a long history with new media adoption and utilization, long before the rise of the Internet. A re-examination of the Church’s historical views, negotiations and inevitable use of new forms of media technology is essential in forming a well-rounded understanding of the Church’s present-day relationship with digital and social communication technology. By building on the work of scholars who have studied the intersection between religion and new media technology, as well as the history of the Catholic Church, I shed light on the Church’s “theory of communication,” which has been carefully cultivated since the days of the printing press. Specifically, I focus on the work of associate professor of Communication at Texas A&M University, Heidi Campbell, whose scholarship provides a framework for understanding how religious communities make sense of new forms of media. In this thesis, I apply Campbell’s critical framework to the Catholic Church’s longstanding and complex relationship with new forms of media. In doing so, I use Campbell’s model to allow for a more thorough look into the Catholic Church’s willingness and apprehension regarding the adoption of new media technologies. I argue that, despite Francis’ seemingly radical adoption of and prowess on popular social media platforms, his actions and words regarding new media technology are closely aligned with past decisions made by even the most conservative of Popes, dating back to the days of the Gutenberg press. Further, I argue that the Church will eventually allow for the adoption of digitally immersive technologies (like virtual and mixed reality) for people to participate in important aspects of Church life, like the vii Holy Mass and observation of the Sacraments. vii i INTRODUCTION As a former Catholic, a scholar of the Protestant Reformation and an avid science fiction enthusiast, my interest in how religious communities respond to new media and digital technologies was unavoidable. As I witnessed the dramatic evolution of technology’s role in modern society, I often wondered about the impact on the world’s biggest organized religions. Following my curiosity, I started down a path of research which led me to the interdisciplinary field of study known as “digital religion,” the intersection between new media, digital culture and religion. Throughout this journey, my Catholic roots influenced the way I digested the research, acting as an anchor and guiding my thinking

Load more