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 Fr
Antonio Spadaro is a Jesuit, a Licentiate in Fundamental Theology and he
has a diploma in Social Communications, a Ph.D. in Theology from the
Pontifical Gregorian University, and then he completed the training in
the United States. He deals with literary criticism, new communication
technologies and their impact on the way we live and think. She founded
a cultural project known as Bombacarta, and is editor of a series of
poetry. Since September 2011 is editor of La Civiltà Cattolica, as well
as a consultant in December 2011 by the Pontifical Council for Culture
and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. His networking is
linked not only to the presence in social networks also to the care of a
personal website and two blogs, one dedicated to American writer
Flannery O'Connor and one focusing on CyberTeologia. Important topics on
which we asked him a few questions.
The theme of the Pope's message for World
Communications Day 2012 approaches silence to the Word that "if
integrated each other, they acquire value and meaning to communication."
Are you agree with this statement?
"Certainly, I agree. It is suffice to say that even the grammar makes us
understand how a sentence would not make sense without full stop and
comma, which are in fact an expression of silence. On the other hand,
this is a very important point, do not turn in praise of silence end in
itself. As if today there was a need to be silent. The Pope makes it
clear that it would be a sterile silence closed on itself, it would be
dumbness and not silence. Silence is always oriented to the word. The
silence is radically communication. So, this integration outlined by the
Pope seems to me important intuition into this time."
In this scenery, how does the technology at the service of communication
place?
"I would say the first thing that usually the technology is perceived as
something cold and not very human, almost in net opposition. It really
is not true. The same Benedict XVI in his encyclical "Caritas in
Veritate" clearly states that technology is an expression of human
freedom. So it has to do with his spirituality and his morality. It is
the place in which man expresses his desires and his needs. In the end,
we are always very impressed by the changes, especially technological.
In reality, these are just formal novelty and features which give
expression to the desires that man has always had. We should look at
what moves the technology, what really makes this. In my view, then it
can be said without fear of contradiction that the technology is
spiritual. That is, it is the expression of man's spirituality. So, the
technology is at the service of communication in the sense that it gives
a shape to the need for communication that man has always had."
What is religious men and women’s task, always in terms of communication
and evangelization?
"The first task, to me, is of radical kind. That is regarded as the time
of the network and with the advent of the Internet, the environment that
is created is not a medium or means of evangelization. One must be very
careful to consider the network, better the digital environment, as a
means of evangelization. So, the first task of a believer, especially
of religious men and women oriented in a pastoral sense, is not to
imagine that the network can become a sort of hammer, nail, tool kit for
a more effective evangelization. You enter into this network, you live
in this environment , you testify to your faith, everyone with his
attitudes and feelings. Web, today, more and more is in fact a social
network. That is a place where messages start through relationships. So,
the way that once existed in pure transmission - broadcasting - has no
value. Today, a message passes if it is shared by several people. These
are, in my opinion, the main challenges for religious men and women
committed to the network."
Social networks can be useful in this scenery? And how take they
advantage of integration between silence and speech?
"They are not useful as a means, but as a place to live with all the
contradictions, risks and dangers that are there. As, on the other hand,
in life. I would say that they place in this scenery giving a shape to
the transmission of subjects. Which is not pure transmission of the
message, but instead is sharing this within an environment, as is the
case of social networks. The integration between silence and speech is
something very delicate. Because, as I pointed out before, in the social
network if something is not shown or told, in fact, is not shared. You
have to be careful not to fall into the dynamics of too said or to be
very explicit. Even in the social network should live dimension of
reticence, of allusion, of symbology. Especially when we are speaking of
the announcement of the Gospel. So, propaganda is not enough to achieve
the goal. The Pope himself, in his message for the World Day of Social
Communications last year, made it clear that you do not make propaganda
of the Gospel as if it were an ideological message. We must live
consistently this environment. And then, also live the dimension of
silence as reticence, of the quiet return, of the request, of the doubt,
of the question as Christian wisdom has accustomed us. I would say that
the Gospel’s passage that can make as an icon for this attitude is that
of the disciples of Emmaus, when Jesus is very secretive and makes that
from the hearts of the disciples his presence emerge."
You said to the microphones of Vatican Radio
that "today the great challenge for the Church is not to learn how to
use the web, but to live and think well at the time of the network."
What does entail? And how should animate the daily lives of religious
men and women?
"The real burning question today is not how to use the network, but how
to live well at the time of the network. In the sense that now the
network is a dimension of our existence, a part of our life is in the
network, a part of our ability to think is on the network, then our
relationships and our contacts are in the digital environment. This
means that it is not detached from the world or, worse, an alienation of
ordinary life. So, we should not consider the digital environment as
abstract than the ordinary flow of our lives. It is on the contrary an
integral part of our lives.
This implies specific issues, central to the religious
life. One of these is formation. It is clear that young people are used
to living with these means by mobile phones. All this poses challenges
to religious life. We are accustomed to thinking that the entry into
religious life involves a departure from the previous life, a virtuous
detachment that allows us to take the wisdom of a religious order, a
congregation that has the typical relationships of a community. How to
ensure that people living in digital environments can enter into
religious life in a serious way? Simply unplugging contacts, the
so-called wire? Apart from the novitiate which is a very special time,
then how to educate people to live the network? These are all questions
that represent challenges for the religious life. In my view, can not be
solved simply by unplugging the wires, because this might be an
alienation, nowadays. We must find wiser ways that call into question
the person and his presence in social networks.
Another big challenge is that the network, as a living
environment, allows the charisma to live on the web through forms of
presence that can also be those blogs. How can a charisma express
adequately in a network? This is the question that arises from this
observation. And another question is that we are all on the net, so more
charisma participate in the digital environment. Hence the question
should be how to promote mutual understanding between religious and
different charismas in order to a greater communion. These are in my
opinion the most exciting challenges in this moment."
The network can be seen as a means of
evangelization?
"Absolutely not. Because it is an environment, as I said
before."
In silence we capture -the message for the
World Day of Social Communications says- the most authentic moments of
communication between those who love each other. We have to reclaim the
value of silence even in the family, inspired by the famous phrase of
the Fellini film "La voce della luna" which states that "if there was a
little more of silence, if we all did a little more of silence, perhaps
something we could understand"?
"I think that the size of the silence is neither dumbness nor isolation.
On the contrary, I think that this size is communicative. The silence
has meaning if it helps to live better human relationships. Clearly,
those family are essential for a person. In the family there is a
radical sharing of life, where everything from the words ending with
gestures and moods are in communion. Sometimes silence is more
expressive than words. The silence in the family, as it is understood by
the Pope, might be the level that exceeds the word and its
overabundance. We have the communicative silence when the word is not
able to express up at the bottom of the subjects, leaving space for the
expressive silence".
Note. For reasons beyond our
control, the interview is published with considerable delay in relation
to the time in which the questions were posed to the speaker.
(Direction).
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