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''Integration''

One of the first things I believe should find its way into the Ratio is a way to acknowledge an important new reality currently not mentioned in it. While we refer to "means of social communication" and the need to "use them responsibly", we may still be coming out of an era that sees these as tools. The view is still instrumental. There is another reality out there we need to name and deal with. Digital culture as represented by these media is a way of life, and as a way of life (ubiquitous, personal and convergent all help to make up this way of life) it is in competition with other forms of life, including 'Religious life'. A candidate for the latter may have made a decision for everything it stands for, but this does not mean rejecting the former. The question is how to integrate it into Religious Life in such a way that the wholeness, integrity and authenticity of the Religious way of life is not compromised.

Integration is the key. In ''Vita Consecrata'' John Paul II states that formation “must include every aspect of Christian life. It must therefore provide a human, cultural, spiritual and pastoral preparation which pays special attention to the harmonious integration of all its various aspects.” (John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation ''Vita Consecrata'' Rome: Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1996), #65.). Prior to his election as Pope, writing under his own name, Karol Wojtyla, he had made it clear that integration is achieved only through acts of self-possession, self-governance and self-gift (Karol Wojtyla, ''The Acting Person'' (Dordrecht: Holland: D. Reidel, 1979), 191-193.). Personal and convergent media need personal and integrative formation strategies.

In recent times, emphasis in religious life, seminary life too for that matter, has been placed on two tools which are aimed at the kind of integration we are talking about: the 'community project' and the 'personal project of life'. The challenge now is to see that these two actually contain adequate reference to the challenges coming from such things as personal and convergent media, and other similar challenges in this area. The personal project, for example, is not so much about things to do, but involves planning one's life in the short, medium and long term in the light of the charism and mission of the institute to which one belongs. It raises questions of identity: who am I here and now and who am I supposed to be to be faithful to myself as well as to my calling?

These projects will build in reflection processes. I have earlier indicated a possible reflection process for communities (cf. chapter 2). The same is valid for a personal project, as are other questions we have asked along the way in this chapter.

''Virtue''

It was not mere whim that led me to write an earlier book about digital virtues. One approach we can take to formation is to strengthen the candidate's understanding of the virtuous life, bearing in mind virtues that are especially relevant to this scene. The everyday media are not particularly filled with the spirit of God, but the approach is not to ban these media because of it, apart from the fact that one can only with great difficulty and potential damage to personal integrity, 'ban' personal media. We need to bring the concept of the virtuous life to them. There are fine resources within the 'Catholic camp' for understanding virtues. Take ''The Catechism of the Catholic Church'', Section 1, Chapter 1, article 7 on 'The virtues'. One finds here a succinct statement of matters that a formation programme can take up:

* 1834 The human virtues are stable dispositions of the intellect and the will that govern our acts, order our passions, and guide our conduct in accordance with reason and faith. They can be grouped around the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. * 1835 Prudence disposes the practical reason to discern, in every circumstance, our true good and to choose the right means for achieving it. * 1836 Justice consists in the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due. * 1837 Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. * 1838 Temperance moderates the attraction of the pleasures of the senses and provides balance in the use of created goods. * 1839 The moral virtues grow through education, deliberate acts, and perseverance in struggle. Divine grace purifies and elevates them.

Fr Chávez had already pointed to material of this kind in his 2005 Letter to his confreres, telling them that

-> What is required therefore is a formation to a sound spirit of discernment and, more broadly, to a proper understanding of the mass media, the techniques they use and the effect they have on those at whom they are aimed. A fundamental ethical principle needs to be inculcated, that is, that the human person and the human community are the end and measure of the use of the means of social communication. Communication should be made by persons for the benefit of the integral development of other persons.(AGC 390 p. 33)

True of mass media and a fortiori true of personal media.

Education (:nl:)