Computers to save us from modernism?

Gerald cites the “bad old days” of post-V2 Netherlands.

One of the underlying ideas is that the traditional Church approach to divine revelation - magisterial teachings, dogmas, and so forth - is not relevant today or, presumably, for the future. In the place of certainties, some post-V2 theologians, esp. in the Netherlands, “boldly” asserted ambiguities (or, possibly, “I’ll do whatever the h**l I wanna do!”).

Of course, to me, I read all this as analogous to the following: God has two students in a class and asks the first a question. He/she responds, to which the second reacts by saying, “no, that’s not the answer”. The first, then, turns and asks, “ok, what’s the answer”, to which the second replies “that’s not the point.” (The first student looks for an answer, while the second insists all answers are subjective.)

I have a substantial computing background, and an interesting trend I’ve noticed (ok, unempirically, and of course this is something I would *want* to see) is that, given a basic faith in God and His Church, computer-savvy people seem much more at home in the world of traditional Catholic belief: defined dogmas, logic, and so forth. I wonder if the information age may end up being a bit of a saving grace for the Church: sorry, goofy post-V2 wacko Dutch theologians, but your theology is outdated, a relic of a bygone era.

I love saying that, esp. in my parish. :) A lot of people really live in the same world as NPM and lots of mainstream liturgical publications: the reform of post-V2 is ongoing, don’t quench the spirit (Trautman), ya-de-yah. Meanwhile, more and more of us are saying, “um, V2 ended 40 years ago. Let’s live in the Church today, not in 1971.”

And of course, there is grey area. I’ve read *lots* of shaky reasoning in various blogs and forums, going both ways. (i.e. womenpriests.org, and some of what people post on fisheaters.com)