The Effect of Virtual Reality on Sacramental Reality and Spiritual Life
Abstract
The ongoing pandemic is increasing the use of remote means of communication. Online ministry, already very present in the pastoral fabric of the Church, is growing. This continues to raise questions for Christian theology. We can use the Covid-19 experience in the Catholic Community in Hong Kong to raise questions and fuel new thinking for pastoral ministry. Ministering online raises the question of effectiveness, necessitates prioritizing community-centric actions, obliges us to reconsider intra-ecclesiastical relations, and exposes latent individualism and the fragility of the sacramental bond of belonging to the Body of Christ that is the Church. It is also instructive with regard to instincts for spiritual survival on the one hand, and vulnerability on the other. To make room for such novelty, focusing on the ongoing conversion of hearts is key, together with seeking the theological value of real communion conveyed by the virtual Eucharist Mass.
References
Aetatis Novae, instruction pastorale du Conseil pontifical pour les communications sociales; guide pour la meilleure intégration des communications sociales dans la paroisse et dans le diocèse, Vatican, 17 mars 1992.
Benoît XVI, Message pour la journée de médias et communication, Vatican 2008.
Brunor (Bruno Rabourdin), Indices pensables, série de onze bandes dessinées, Brunor Editions, Paris 2009-2020.
Chauvet, Louis-Marie, Symbole et sacrement, une relecture sacramentelle de l’existence chrétienne, Cogitatio Fidei, no. 144, Les Editions du CERF, Paris 2008.
Claire, Lucques, L’absence ardente, visages de Rilke, La Renaissance, 1977.
Concile Vatican II, Décret sur les moyens de communication sociale, 4 décembre 1963.
Donath, Judith S., Identity and Deception in the Virtual Community, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA United States 1996.
Ethique de l’Internet, Conseil Pontifical pour les communications sociales, 28 février 2002.
François, La joie de l’Evangile (EG), exhortation apostolique, Mame Editions 2013.
Hervieu-Léger, Danièle, Catholicisme, la fin d’un monde, Bayard, Paris 2003.
Kasper, Walter, Diverse and United, I communicate therefore I am, The Vatican publishing House LEV 2020.
Kurowski, Rémy, “Internet, Lieu d’Église virtuel”, in : Cahier de l'Atelier n° 549, avril-juin 2011, et La Documentation catholique n° 2475, 2 octobre 2011, p. 834-838.
Kurowski, Rémy, L’ecclésialité au défi du Covid-2019, l’expérience de Hong Kong, version électronique site de Rémy Kurowski.
La Croix–mercredi 19 août 2020, Religion 13.
Schmidt, Katherine G., Virtual Communion, Theology of the Internet and Catholic Imagination. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, Lanham–Boulder–NewYork–London 2020. Dissertation Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Dayton, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology by Katherine G. Schmidt, Dayton, Ohio December 2016.
Pie XI, Divini illius Magistri, encyclique, 31 décembre 1939.
The New York Times, 5 May 2020.
Ward, Graham, “Between virtue and Virtuality”, Theology Today 59 no. 1(2002).
Copyright (c) 2020 Roczniki Teologiczne
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
