Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Judging a Book By Its Cover

I had an interesting thought. Is it possible to evaluate the orthodoxy of a diocese by the contents of its website?

Here's the elements of the litmus test:
1. The Bishop's Attire
2. Any Links to Pro-Life Movement?
3. Religious Sisters Look like...well, Religious Sisters
4. Religious Education Section includes the Catechism, The Bible, and a review of religious education materials.
5. Mention of Popular Devotion in the Diocese: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in particular [Thanks, Tess].
6. Discussion of any ministry to homosexuals that is not Courage is a pretty reliable indicator of heterodoxy [Thanks, Zorak].
7. Links to Positive Ecclesial Movements e.g. Marriage Encounter, Cursillo, Regnum Christi, Communion and Liberation, etc.[Thanks, Alicia]
8. Links to Negative Ecclesial Movements e.g. VOTF and Dignity (funny, how their name came up twice) [Thanks again, Alicia].
9. Presence of good religious art on the site [Thanks Alicia]
10. Mention anywhere on the site of assenting and living the Creed, especially the Paschal Mystery. [Thank you, Dev]
11. Public acceptance of "alternative lifestyles" [Thank you, Cornelius and my parish named after you is very nice, btw].

Yes, I know it's superficial, but am I wrong? What else goes into the kettle?
I have added the following comments from the comments box to flesh out the litmus test. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I think the next step is to take this on a test run.

No comments: