Aug 28 2009
Catholic Town Square
For centuries, the Catholic Church was the center of life for many. In fact, it was not uncommon for a town’s Catholic Church to be built on or near the town’s square until the Protestant Revolt either seized the church or relegated it to another part of the town.
Historically, a town square was also a meeting place where both goods and ideas were exchanged. It is the exchange of ideas that I am more interested in.
Until recently, the exchange of ideas in the town square was, for the most part, free and open. This seems to no longer be the case. In fact, there is not an open hostility towards the free expression of religion ideas particularly Christian and especially Catholic ideas.
For a couple of months now, I have exploring ideas for discussion groups on-line. These have ranged from a narrow as a single topic like Distributism to more general like Catholic Moral and Social teaching.
It was my general disgust with the current state of the town square and my disenchantment with other “Catholic Forums” to explore a more general social/discussion group that would emphasize true Catholic teachings and ideas. Essentially, an electronic Catholic Town Square.
I am starting to put my ideas down on “paper” and, hopefully, start the design of an actual site(s). I have not finalized where the site(s) will be (although I have a couple prime ideas in mind). The one will be very easy and will mainly be a “discussion group” and as exposure to the final site to be developed. That will be more expansive and will include not only a discussion forum, but also a true social and informational site.
Saying that. I do not expect or want this “town square” to remain in cyberspace. I fully expect this to, eventually, blossom into actual town squares. That is, to recapture actual town squares for evangelization of people to the Catholic faith.
[...] few days ago, I wrote about creating a “Catholic Town Square“. Since then I have finished the first step in the process by creating a Facebook group [...]