Are you present in the moments of your life, or do you wander through hours each day distracted and in a “brain fog?” As Sam Guzman at The Catholic Gentleman points out in his article Attention and the Distraction Addiction, “There are two ways to go through life: Mindfully or mindlessly.” Far too many of us are living our lives in a state of voluntary mental exhaustion, overstimulated by the technologies that engulf us.
Grow in Virtue’s Alan Scott is feeling this drain himself and is vowing to give up social media for 30 days. In My Social Media Fast: Why I’m Checking Out for 30 Days, he explains his personal struggle against this common distraction and what he hopes to gain from eschewing it. “It’s odd really, even though social networks are designed to help us connect more with one another, they can actually disconnect us from the true world around us.”
On a joyous note, Bishop Donald Sanborn has recently founded The Roman Catholic Institute, a formally organized group of seminarians, priests, and bishops. “The purpose of this organization is to make explicit the theological, liturgical, and pastoral principles which guide all of our actions.” Bishop Sanborn’s official announcement and details about the institute can be found in the April 2017 Supplement of the Most Holy Trinity Seminary Newsletter.