Facebook as a monastic place? The new use of internet by Catholic monks

Authors

• Isabelle Jonveaux University of Graz

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67435

Keywords:

Internet, Digital media, Social media, Media and religion, Facebook (Electronic resource), Catholic Church -- Customs and practices, Monks, Nuns, Christianity, Monasticism and religious orders, Evangelistic work, Catholic Church -- Missions

Abstract

Although Catholic monasteries are theoretically out of the world, monks and nuns more and more use the internet, both for religious and non-religious reasons. While society at large often takes it for granted that monks are out of modernity, monastic communities have been adopted media from relatively early on, and we cannot say that they have come late to its use. The internet can offer monasteries a lot of advantages because it allows monks to be in the world without going out of the cloister. Nevertheless, the introduction of this new media in monasteries also raises a lot of questions about the potential contradictions it poses with other aspects of monastic life. The paper seeks to research the use of the medium by monks and nuns even in their daily lives, and  attempts especially to investigate the potential changes it brings to monastic life.