Contents, Volume 14 #4

September/October 1996

Dossier

Computers, Catholics and Communication

How religious groups
are helping to shape
cyberspace--and how
cyberspace is shaping us

Leader
A revolution is clearly underway, and we need to assess it in midstream. by Curtis Fahey (p.2)

Connected Minds, New Integration
The director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology asks what happens when we see the planet as a unified whole. An interview with Derrick de Kerckhove by Mary Rose Donnelly (p.6) [Non-table version here]

A Technology Parable by Rick Salutin (p.7)

Oil Lamps, Cold Beer and Computers
I opened a door at Christ in the Desert monastery in New Mexico and found myself faced by a roomful of computers. by Antoine Houdeville (p.8)

Online, Who Do We Say We Are?
Do computer networks represent a rebirth of community, or the last nail in its coffin? by Rae Murphy, Eric Hamovitch and Robert Chodos (p.10)

The Virtual Diocese
Stripped of his diocese in France and made bishop of a patch of desert instead, Jacques Gaillot has gone online. An interview with Jacques Gaillot by Dominique Boisvert (p.13) [Non-table version here]

A Catholic Tour of the World Wide Web
The Internet offers everything from Vatican art treasures to Bible fortune cookies. by Gail van Varseveld (p.17)

Of Hairdryers and Lightning Rods
Are we still able to hear the human voice above the noise of our technology? by Jane Ubertino (p.20)

[Note: Ubertino's article appeared in Compass in handwritten form and has been converted to graphics for the website. If you have a slow connection, you may prefer to click here for the regular HTML version.]

St. Pelagia
The passion and daring of the "beardless recluse" make us question whether there isn't something tepid about the way we live out our own religion. by Louisa Blair (p.22)

Books

Dealing with the Tar Baby that is Canada

Nationalism without Walls by Richard Gwyn.

A Canadian Myth by William Johnson.

On Nationality by David Miller.
Reviewed by Gilbert Drolet (p.24)

Bookshelf Gleanings
A remarkable organization that creates controversy almost everywhere it goes. (p.26)

Features

Letters
Orgone energy, the Syro-Phoenician woman, Christmas feast, Christian division and George Grant's paganism. (p.4)

Points
Of but not in the world, facts and truth, and Chinese rejection slip. (p.5) [Non-table version here]

Testament
The many voices of the Book of R. by Robert Chodos (p.23)

Compass Cryptic by Margaret Visser
Riled corgi, cylindrical kittens and her own Roman Scipio. (p.27)

Colloquy
No-eating as protest and compulsion.

Available in my heart to the poor. by Denise Nadeau (p.28)

Learning to notice God's Heaven. by Virginia Rose Smith (p.29)

Disputatio
St. Ignatius's approach to nature was not just utilitarian. by John English SJ (p.30)

Distractions by Martin Royackers
Perils of the Comfortable Society. (p.31)