Holyinn.org Vision Debate Summarized
Last year there was a short debate as to the direction of the Holy Innocents web site. Generally, the sides were A) stick with the existing web committee who were carefully creating content and updated design and B) create a blog (web log) and let the entire parish build the site: remove the boundaries and see where it goes. There was some miss communication, confusion, and mis-conceptions as to what the latest web technology could do for us so the debate ended with the un-spoken concensus that what we’d stick with option A. What we had was good and it simply needed to be updated a bit. The last salvo of the debate was fired by Henry and summed up the debate perfectly. It’s a brilliant piece and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
So far, option B is winning. Stay tuned for your opportunity to participate.
An email from Henry Meyerding:
I think what we have here is two views of the Internet and society colliding.
On the one hand, we have option A’s approach, which is apostolic: the leader (a few church leaders acting as a committee) decides what the Web site is and what it should contain and the leader makes the Web site that and the parishioners use the Web site or not, as they please.
On the other, we have option B’s approach, which is egalitarian: the Parish is the people, all the people in the Parish, whose Web site this ought to be. We should not arbitrarily constrain or dictate what the Parish Web site is, but let the parishioners participate together in a joint enterprise to make it into whatever serves their needs best. In this way the parishioners will grow as a community through the process of making the Web site and in this process will will all benefit. It is my Web site because it reflects me and my family as part of this Parish.
As option B sees it, the Web site is an opportunity to grow and develop our community and it would be a pity if it was just another collection of impersonal reference pages that did not involve and excite all the Parish: for, of, and by the Parish is better. We should try to get real participation – 30% or even 50% is a good goal, not .002%.
Certainly, option B’s way is the riskier course. We may end up occasionally with incompatible or inaccurate content on the Web site. We could even have it seriously compromised, at times. But that’s the other side of the same coin: you don’t get more without risking more. If it gets broken, we fix it. It should be a labor of love. We should all be involved in making this collective creation that reflects who we and what we are. It is a grand and worthwhile vision.
It is also a lot of work. It is a lot of work for either a few or a little work for many. What kind of a community do we want to build here at Holy Innocents? Do we want to build a passive community that accepts whatever the leadership decides and goes along with what they don’t disagree with largely through apathy, or do we want to work at getting people out of their comfortable chairs and into the parish, working on things together? Option B thinks that our Web site should be a model for our intentions.
Is it realistic to expect major participation? Perhaps not. Most people have become conditioned into being passive and being led. I think it would be a shame if we did not at least ask the Parish which road they want to follow. Maybe the attempt would come to nothing more than having a small group of interested people eventually producing what option A proposes we do from the beginning… it’s happened like that lots of times before. But if it does here at Holy Innocents, I think it will be a loss for us all.
Do we have faith that we can feed the whole parish with just a loaf and a few fish? Do we believe that the church is the people in it? Do we have the courage and the strength and the determination to get people involved in a bigger, better cooperative enterprise? Or do we just do the same old stuff, prettier and with just enough more work to be considered an improvement? Do we have the character and stamina to cede control to the group, or do we need authority and structure to limit our endeavors and keep them reigned into regular, safe mediocrity?
A leader is best when the people barely know that the leader exists,
Not so good when they obey and acclaim their leader,
And worst when they despise and fear their leader.“Fail to honor people and they fail to honor you;”
But of a good leader, who talks little,
When their work is done and their aim is fulfilled,
The people will say, “we did this ourselves.”Lao Tzu
Option A: The Web site was done for you by…
Option B: We did this ourselves….