Cell Phone-Less Conversation

Danielle Bean on connecting with people minus cell phone, Facebook, etc.

NCRegister.com blogger Danielle Bean commented recently on New York Times columnist Bob Herbert’s “Tweet Less, Kiss More.”

“In recent months, concern about our overly ‘connected’ culture has been a common theme among columnists in Catholic circles as well as secular ones. We text, we surf, we chat, we tweet. But do we really connect with one another? Are we fostering meaningful human relationships?” Bean asks, then quotes Herbert’s column: We need to reduce the speed limits of our lives. We need to savor the trip. Leave the cell phone at home every once in awhile. Try kissing more and tweeting less. And stop talking so much. Listen.

“Yes, we do need to slow down,” Bean blogged. “And I think there’s no time like summertime to take advantage of opportunities to relax a bit and break away from the routine — especially with our families.

“Some Catholic families I know observe ‘unplugged’ Sundays. They avoid using phones, television, computers or video games on Sundays.”

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis