Bob CollinsCatholics are more than willing to give up meat for Lent. How about their smartphones?
In Hartford, Conn., the archdiocese is urging people to abstain from their phones, the Hartford Courant reports.
The campaign is aimed at young people.
“We’re not trying to replace almsgiving and fasting and prayer, but just adding something that perhaps the children can relate to a little more,” Thomas Maynard, administrator at Manchester’s East Catholic High School, said.
Hartford Archbishop Leonard P. Blair used Twitter last week to urge the “phone fast.”
This Lenten season, what “fast” are you prepared to embrace in pursuit of a deeper spiritual life? Join the Archdiocese for #IPhoneFast pic.twitter.com/3mFxIa3vUh
— Archbishop Blair (@ArchbishopBlair) February 22, 2017
“This is just a contemporary new twist to the aspect of fasting,” Blair told the newspaper. “It’s not just about food, but fasting also can have to do with … what we devote our time to. It’s a contemporary way to talk about the spiritual refreshment of Lent.”
“The technology by which we have all these communications and social media and instant communications are all very good and positive things, but I think we all acknowledge that … sometimes it’s good to set those things aside for the sake of some interior silence and recollection, and a chance to put us back in touch with God and one another,” he said.
(h/t: Paul Tosto)
