Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols apparently is not a big fan of social networking online, as he’s making some news for trashing sites like Facebook and MySpace for creating “transient” friendships. He also throws in some bizarre statement about how these sites lead kids to commit suicide. To be honest, his statements don’t sound all that different than plenty of old luddites who have never bothered to actually use the technology. And his complaints don’t sound all that different complaints heard throughout time by an older generation against what’s popular at the time. As we’ve noted, at various times, people have complained about the nefarious influence of rock ‘n roll, comic books, movies, the telephone, novels, plays, the waltz and chess. In every case, the fear is more from someone not understanding what’s going on, rather than any real fear, and the issue appears to be the same this time around as well.

Reporter Yumi Wilson, though, points out something more important though: despite what this archbishop is saying, the Catholic Church has actually been embracing social media, using text messages and creating its own social network. It also has a strong presence on Facebook and has used it to connect various Catholics to each other. And, she notes, the Vatican has its own YouTube Channel. Apparently, the Catholic Church, itself, doesn’t quite agree with the views of Archbishop Nichols.

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