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On The Net
'On the Net' is a monthly column in the paper version of The Tablet. The articles are written by Lavinia Byrne.
An eye on the Pope
Lavinia Byrne HAS THE internet risen to the challenge of providing up-todate information on the state of the Pope's health? The official news sources at vatican.va, which relies on the Osservatore Romano, take reticence to a new level. Their work is supplemented or possibly undermined by sites such the Anvil Trust's ekklesia.co.uk which works in co-operation with the Make-Poverty History movement. The site makes a bold claim: "If you are a journalist (or anyone) looking for a Christian comment, briefing or perspective then you have come to the right place. Ekklesia has an extensive networkof associates who can give expert advice and public comment in a whole range of areas from education to foreign policy, from ecology and religious liberty to criminal justice. Ekklesia also provides a daily news syndication and briefing service that distributes news right around the world." The news service at catholicnews.com has journalists on the ground in Rome so their reports are highly informative, with extensive quotations from the Holy See's most senior press spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. Feed his name into the search engine at cwnews.com and 14 hits emerge; feed it in to the Vatican's and the most recent hit is dated March 2003. Catholic World News describes itself as "an independent Catholic news service staffed by lay Catholic journalists, dedicated to providing accurate world news, written from a distinctively Catholic perspective [by] correspondents all around the world". This site operates at two levels, one for random visitors and one for subscribers. At indcatholicnews.com information is available free, though subscribers are welcomed: "ICN is updated throughout the day, as stories come in. If you would like the news e-mailed directly to your mailbox, contact: info@indcatholicnews.com". Archaeologists have claimed that the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang on the Silk Road arethe most complete collection of Buddhist art in the world. A programme called Digitising Dunhuang on Radio 4 last week described the astonishing haul of treasures from the Dunhuang Library Cave in northwest China, since it was stumbled upon by a Taoist priest on 22 June 1900. His discovery revealed that the cave, sealed for 850 years, was the repository for treasures that have since ended up in London, Beijing, Paris, St Petersburg and Berlin. At idp.bl.uk/ art historians and librarians have created a virtual attempt to interpret the Dunhuang collection as a seamless garment, rather than lone items scattered over several continents. This is internet indexing at its most sophisticated and religious art at its most sublime. This year has been designated National Volunteers Year in the United Kingdom. If you would like to galvanise yourself into action ukselfhelp.info lists the telephone numbers of more than 760 UK self-help groups and 600 hyperlinks, including agencies set up to help abducted children and their parents. The self-help ethos also gets a goodairing at findsupport.co.uk.
To end on a seasonal note, with the feast of St Valentine approaching, here is a highly individual website identified by a reader. At praiseofglory.com, variously described by its author as "A Catholic page for lovers" or as a garden where you can browse and pick and choose to your taste, there are some real gems hidden away beneath the slightly eccentric presentation. An example: an interpretation of St Bernard's First Sermon on the Circumcision or a painfully simple latefifteenth century Bavarian carved wooden Pietà. The website is itself a work of love.
Please send your suggestions to lavinia@byrne.name if you wish to have a site considered for review or have suggestions for other Tablet readers. Read Tablet articles about the internet.  |
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