Networking – Evolution within the Church

It is common in the application of the modern sciences to the events of the world around us to speak of a global evolving ecosystem pointing towards ever greater interdependence. Regrettably, we rarely imagine that the Church in all its bodily and sacramental reality shares in this evolution. As this site explores Jesuits and networking, communication and research, I would strongly invite readers to return to the thought of the Jesuit paleontologist–theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955).
Our models for seeing through global trends has a tendency to devolve into inadequate economic models without grasping the larger organic transformation of a global mind, spirit and the Church’s central place as catalyst for this convergence of thinking and being together. A recent work has attempted to use Teilhard’s notion of planetization – very similar to our contemporary notions of globalization – to see through the ever tightening forces of communication and networking as a biological process that is spiritual. Globalization and Multicultural Ministry – A Teilhardian Vision, Paulist Press, 2013.
The work is primarily an effort at vision, building upon not only Teilhard’s insights but upon the classic 4-fold scriptural hermeneutic that the Church used for its first thirteen centuries. What I am proposing is that the old of ways of reading the Gospel of the world around us is far from being irrelevant. Rather, by modernizing the first stage of the process (literal/historical) through a careful consideration of the findings of today’s physical and social sciences, our capacity to read the world becomes rich with a sense of direction and purpose coupled with a rootedness in our religious tradition.
You might say that in the work Teilhard has been united with the patristic wisdom of Henri de Lubac to offer a sketch for leaders to see the way forward amidst the ever quickening pace that our lives and networking typify. Seeing such patterns has definite implications for the shape of a global morality that takes into account both the signs of the times as illumined by Gaudium et Spes but as also descriptive of the Jesuit charism of taking the best of the sciences and humanities and integrating these into our spirituality of engaging the world for transformation.
Do some exploring with the text and I would enjoy hearing your comments and recommendations.
David John Ayotte, SJ has been a professor of systematic theology at the Gregorian University, Rome and Hekima College, Nairobi.  He has recently been director of development for the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar. Contact: [email protected]
Text:  David Ayotte, Globalization and Multicultural Ministry: A Teilhardian Vision;  Paulist Press, 2013.
Amazon Books:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0809148161/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=4963960849&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5rvbaidcdj_e
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