College students were the first to hit on the Facebook fast. This year, adults — the fastest-growing Facebook demographic group — have taken on the challenge. Now Italian Roman Catholic bishops are onto it. Sort of. They’re urging believers to take a high-tech fast for Lent by switching off iPods and abstaining from instant text messaging.
Paul Griffith, a professor of Catholic theology at Duke Divinity School, said the church doesn’t have a problem with technology as such — only its overuse.
“The concern is that technology like e-mail and the Internet can substitute for genuine human relationships,” Griffith said.
One should give up for Lent that which comes between one and Christ. While Facebook is more likely than a candy bar or soda come between one and Christ, I suspect there are even better choices.