By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
A follower on my Facebook page recently messaged me about a sordid situation arising from an association based on a Facebook “friendship.” She “friended” a man who then used her account to gain access to her daughter. What started out as a hope to meet someone who may become a real friend ended in inappropriate contact with a minor. Subsequent interaction made clear that the person in question may have been using more than one identity and a false identification photo for the purpose of deceiving and manipulating vulnerable individuals.
Many of you, sadly, have similar stories to report, along with a resulting feeling of disillusion with the Internet, a wonderful resource that has provided benefits to humanity in many ways.
The positive response to my advice published in answer to the Facebook user’s request demonstrates a felt need on the part of many to improve the skills needed to better apply Catholic moral teaching. Protecting chastity, whether emotional or sexual, and peace of soul, which our Catholic custom calls “custody of the eyes,” are necessary while negotiating the “Internet continent.”
Avoiding the near occasions of sin always plays a role in sincere contrition following upon sacramental Confession. This is implied by our sorrow for sin, necessary for the reception of absolution in sacramental Confession. Such avoidance includes custody of our various faculties of sense. Because of the abundant use of images on the Internet, in particular as ID photos, custody of the eyes must come into play.
Custody of the eyes is a protection of the heart, intellect, and the will based on awareness of the false glory of the world and of the sometimes misleading nature of appearances. Under the usual circumstances in daily life this means engaging our freedom in cooperation with grace to protect our state of life, in keeping with our vocation.
Married couples, for example, who become aware at the edge of their consciousness that someone they have seen may lead them in a direction contrary to their marriage vows can simply avoid looking at such a person in a lingering way. This is part of the effort to avoid engaging emotions or thoughts contrary to marital chastity.
“Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: Either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy. ‘Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2339).
With the advent of the Internet, we are presented with a new opportunity for knowledge and self-improvement as well as engagement with others in a new world of social networks. These involve the use of photographs and other images as tools for communication. Thus there arises a new moral environment with questions and challenges in regard to interaction with others and the possibility of manipulation of identity and subsequent deception.
The most egregious case of a sinful use of images is pornography, but that is not the only way that images can be misused for deception or manipulation of others.
No matter what one’s vocation, emotional chastity must be guarded as the gateway to chastity of the body. Governing our passions and gaining self-mastery are ongoing disciplines for all of us. This means that those who choose to use social media with individuals they do not know outside of the Internet, must constantly monitor their emotional states during their time online. If at any time they find themselves responding to such interaction with emotions or affections engaged, it is time for a checkup.
An inappropriate response to mere images without further reference is a danger sign. If such happens, then we must stop and reassert the fact that we are dealing only with an image which may not faithfully represent the person using it. It is common sense that one cannot emotionally or volitionally engage with an image and the mere restating of this fact can serve as a bracing wind of truth which brings us back from the edge of doing or saying something that may bring regrettable or lasting damage.
When you befriend someone in reality, you can see the real person and make judgments, such as whether a continued friendship will be beneficial or not to your salvation. But on social media, such a judgment is impossible due to the fact that images can be manipulated, falsified, or stolen.
Given this stark fact, we must protect ourselves from potential moral danger either by assuming all images are not truly faithful to reality or by friending only those people that we know. Thus a firm resolution and a resulting commitment to act are necessary.
Only fools judge the whole based only on the most superficial aspects of the person. It is precisely the most superficial aspect of humanity that is usually accessible on social media. The preeminence of images in social media can easily be altered and thus their veracity cannot be verified except in the old-fashioned way by meeting the individual in question.
Failing that, there is always the option of preserving peace of heart of mind and soul, as well as a state of grace, by forgoing social networks altogether.
Salvation first.
Thank you for reading, and may Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever.
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(Follow me on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism. I blog occasionally at APriestLife.blogspot.com and mcitl.blogspot.com. You can email me at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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