Web: I'm friends with a Bishop on Facebook

When I first heard the rumor that the new bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas had a profile on super-popular social networking site Facebook, I had to follow up on it to see if it was true.

Lo and behold, as of yesterday, I'm the Most Reverend Anthony Basil Taylor's friend ... on Facebook, that is {photo}.

Luckily, I wasn't tempted to ask him based on his profile picture if he was an Anglican Bishop, as the blogger at St. Monica's Kneeler harrowingly recounts.

Now, in all probability, the profile is administered by someone in the diocesan offices.

So, with that proviso in mind, let's take a look at the bishop's online Facebook profile. It includes, notably:

• A yahoo email address
• 388 friends (as of this posting)
• The "Help Fight Global Warming! Together we can make a Difference" application
• Someone left him a "bumper sticker" saying "Who's Awesome? You're Awesome!"
• The "We're Catholic" and "Send Catholic Gifts" applications
• He posts his weekly homilies, in English and Spanish
• He's part of one cause: "The Social Reign of Christ the King", and one blog network: "Immaculate Heart of Mary's Hermitage Report."
• He has 38 wallposts (he's got some catching up to do - I have 2100+)

I especially got a kick out of his Education & Work background....

I must quibble. "Employer" should be "Jesus Christ", "Holy Spirit" or, I guess, "Pope Benedict XVI."

But "Position: Bishop"? Okay, he's got me good there.

... welcome to the New Evangelization (?).

Catholic Facebook Drama

At least this time it's a minor one. Damien Thompson writes:

I accepted a Facebook friend request yesterday, and suddenly I noticed a familiar name in my new friend’s list – Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor! I wouldn’t presume to add myself as a friend of His Eminence, but I did post a nice message on his wall.

Back came the response (see above): “You do not have permission to write on this wall.”

That’s not very welcoming is it? Particularly when you consider what I’d written: “Many thanks, Your Eminence, for your tireless efforts to implement the Holy Father’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.”

Who could object to that?

Of course, someone other than the Cardinal might have created the page.

While we're on the topic of Facebook, some folks in Lafayette, LA formed a group called "Facebook - stop removing Fr. from priests' names!":

Facebook is randomly removing the "Fr." prefix from priests' names and the "Sr." prefix from sisters' names but haven't done so for "Rev." and "Dr." Signup to join this group and we'll petition Facebook to reconsider what seems to be this anti-Catholic and more generally anti-Religious action.

I would say, however, that mosts the priests I'm friends with on Facebook do have their "Fr." titles retained.

Latin version of Vatican website unveiled!

Well, at least a small step has been taken.

Ph/t: Rorate Caeli.

"Optime!" :-)

AmericanPapist: too hot for China

Dom posted this link to a page that lets you see what websites are being blocked by the Chinese government. His fine blog is blocked, as is mine (see below). I remember having at least one active reader from China, but I have not seen him post in the comment boxes for several months. Perhaps he can no longer access these pages.

I'd imagine many, many Catholic blogs are blocked. The Chinese government also blocks websites like Google, Facebook, CNN, etc. It appears that the Vatican website is still unblocked, however, because I gave it a try. You're welcome to test websites yourself here.

Fr. Z recently had a good post commenting on this Sandro Magister article which discusses the real state of the underground Church in China. We need to continue keeping all the Christians of China in our prayers.

Update: Some of my industrious readers are casting doubts on the diagnosis that this blog is being blocked by Chinese firewalls. It would be very helpful if a Chinese reader could notify me if they can access these pages. Obviously, however, I'm not recommending that anyone do anything that could be personally dangerous or foolish. Thank you!