Portrait of Simone Fayet in Holy Communion, Odilon Redon
2020 has been a difficult year for all of us with great upheavals in the daily life of nearly everyone. For university students and educators this is no less true with the total shift to online and blended-learning models of education. For many, both students and educators alike, this has been seen as a hinderance and impediment to learning due to the lack of embodied interaction. Whilst remote learning poses challenges for teachers in terms of how to best facilitate the learning of the students, it also poses a challenge of how to foster community and genuine connection in the classroom. Students are simultaneously presented with the dual challenge of adapting to a different learning environment, as well as isolation from their peers.
Although the shift to online-learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for all involved in the education sector, it poses a particular challenge to those of us involved in Catholic education due to the Catholic theological commitment to sacramental encounter and connection. This is necessarily both embodied and spiritual, which elicits a unique challenge when it comes to fostering Catholic spiritual and pastoral formation remotely. At the heart of Church life lies the importance of eucharistic encounter, in which we receive the Body of Christ and are also absorbed as members into it. Likewise, the Catholic social tradition teaches that human interconnectedness, the necessary right to associate, form community, and the inherent social nature of the human person are all vital to the full flourishing of the individual and must not be neglected. In a tradition that emphasises so heavily the importance of the ‘real presence’, fostering genuine community remotely is an exceptionally problematic task.
Though society was becoming increasingly reliant on technology even before COVID, at the present moment, it has become an absolute necessity for all parts of life. It is no surprise then that Pope Francis has devoted part of his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, directly to its usage. His approach, however, is mostly pessimistic, though the Church’s cautious approach towards technology is not without good reason. At the heart of Catholic social teaching lies the dignity and sanctity of the human person, and the basis of the Church’s social teaching rests upon protecting this from abuse; it is from this foundation that the use of technology is critiqued or verified. Fratelli Tutti emphasises the dangers involved in digital communication such as the invasion of privacy, voyeurism that leaves us desensitised to the suffering of others, the spread of misinformation, increased disrespect and hatred for others facilitated by distance, to name but a few (no. 42-50). Francis also speaks of what he terms the “illusion of communication”. He reminds us that all too often “[d]igital relationships… have the appearance of sociability. Yet they do not really build community” (no. 43) and that “[d]igital connectivity is not enough to build bridges. It is not capable of uniting humanity” (no. 42).
I must admit that the prospect of teaching entirely online is one that filled me with fear and trepidation. I worried about how the content could be presented in a way that kept students engaged, how I would be able to deal with, and overcome, my lack of technological insight; and, most of all, how I would be able to really connect with the students in an online environment devoid of the normal styles of communication. Furthermore, due to the nature of my teaching, which is focused around Catholic spiritual and vocational formation, I was doubly hesitant as to how this would translate in the digital context. Primarily, Catholic education is focused on forming the whole person, rather than simply imparting knowledge - which seemed like an incredibly daunting task given the lack of any human interaction whatsoever. However, whilst the first few weeks were definitely challenging, to my utmost surprise, I have been able to witness, due in no small part to the dedication of my students, how an online classroom environment is possible of fostering a sense of connection and community. Is there a way then that a Catholic envisioning of technology can help us to utilize it in promoting genuine human connection?
Following the example of Blessed Carlo Acutis, I believe, could provide us with a way in which digital communication could be used at the service of the Catholic educational mission. Carlo Acutis was an Italian teenager who died in 2006 at the age of 15, and who was beatified by Pope Francis in October of this year. (Indeed, it seems incredibly timely that his beatification has occurred in the midst of this pandemic in which we have been forced to confront our relationship with technology). Acutis is already being dubbed the “patron saint of the internet” due to his dedication, as stated by Cardinal Vallini, in using the “internet in service of the Gospel, to reach as many people as possible”. Pope Francis praised him as an example for how young people can use “communications technology to transmit the Gospel” in his 2019 Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Christus Vivit (no. 105).
Acutis was known for both his passion for computer programming and his devotion to the Eucharist. At the age of just eleven, Acutis set himself the task of cataloguing every approved eucharistic miracle, a project that would take him two years. He developed a website that took the form of an online museum to share this catalogue. However, for Acutis this was much more than some archival deposit. Following the example of Blessed James Alberione, who founded the religious institutes that make up the Pauline Family, Acutis aimed to use modern media communications as a tool of evangelization. Here, Acutis wanted to share his own experiences of encountering the Eucharist which he referred to as “my road to heaven”. From the time of his first communion, Acutis attended Mass daily, also often spending time in Eucharistic adoration. He deeply believed that if people knew and understood the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist then they would be drawn to the Church. The internet was his means of communicating this message.
What can be seen in the example of Carlo Acutis is the eucharistic potential of digital communication in spreading the Gospel message globally, when born from both a passion for computer technology and eucharistic zeal. Acutis used his gifts of computer expertise at the service of the Church, and of others. This serves as an example to all of us in how we can, and should, use technology in a way that serves the person and their spiritual dimension, rather than in ways which demean this. It challenges us to contemplate our use of technology and asks how it can be used in the pursuit of holiness. There have been a multitude of comments that reflect on how ‘normal’ Acutis was, and how staggering it was that he lived such a holy life through his daily life as a millennial teenager. In the universal call to holiness, however, this is exactly what we are asked to do. We are asked to live out this call in each of our daily lives in an incarnational and eucharistic way. What this requires is a not renunciation of the world, but a conversion in the way in which we approach it. As Acutis himself wrote, “Sadness is looking at oneself, happiness is looking at God. Conversion is nothing but a movement of the eyes”. This is indeed the same when it comes to our use of technology.
Throughout lockdown, we have already seen how the live streaming of the Mass has demonstrated such a use of technology that looks towards God. Indeed, several reports have suggested that Mass attendance has soared due to the increased accessibility. Whilst online attendance will never replace the reception of the sacrament, this shows the importance, need, and effectivity of spiritual communion. How this can be captured in the sphere of Catholic education is of increasing importance. The example of Acutis is particularly illuminating in exploring ways in which online, remote-learning can be harnessed to further encounter and community, providing hopeful ways in which technology can be salvaged from its dehumanizing potentials by revitalizing our thinking on technology through a eucharistic lens. As COVID seems to be with us for some time yet, the need to refresh our thinking on the use of technology is more crucial than ever, especially for those involved in education which sees no signs of returning to the classroom setting anytime soon. If we can engage successfully in online spiritual communion, we should at least feel hopeful about the creation of online spiritual communities.
Anna Blackman is a Lecturer in Catholic Religious Education at the University of Glasgow