The Pope says: "We must not remain silent before evil. I am thinking of all those Christians who, out of human regard or purely personal convenience, adapt to the prevailing mentality, rather than warning their brothers and sisters against ways of thinking and acting that are contrary to the truth and that do not follow the path of goodness. Christian admonishment, for its part, is never motivated by a spirit of accusation or recrimination. It is always moved by love and mercy, and springs from genuine concern for the good of the other".

The Pope goes on: "Today, in general, we are very sensitive to the idea of charity and caring about the physical and material well-being of others, but almost completely silent about our spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters.

“Rebuke the wise and he will love you for it. Be open with the wise, he grows wiser still, teach the upright, he will gain yet more” (Prov 9:8ff). Christ himself commands us to admonish a brother who is committing a sin (cf. Mt 18:15). The verb used to express fraternal correction - elenchein – is the same used to indicate the prophetic mission of Christians to speak out against a generation indulging in evil (cf. Eph 5:11).

Scripture tells us that even “the upright falls seven times” (Prov 24:16); all of us are weak and imperfect (cf. 1 Jn 1:8). It is a great service, then, to help others and allow them to help us, so that we can be open to the whole truth about ourselves, improve our lives and walk more uprightly in the Lord’s ways." "

And this search for truth is the whole point for true and authentic openness, dialogue and even tolerance!

I think we would both agree that Facebook can be evil in the second manner, and this was the manner I was saying it is not evil. The debate is regarding the first manner.

I am sure there is tons of gossipping on Facebook and I won't consider myself knowledgeable enough to say if it is the "primary" use or what percentage it would be. What Facebook itself does is not gossip (or even directly encourage it) but connect people; it is the people themselves who chose to gossip. You can note a distinct difference here with Grand Theft Auto where the game itself is robbing cars - and more in later editions.

I have heard some tell me that for connecting young adult groups (parish youth groups or similar) it often serves as the best means to organize activities. Several alumni who did not continue from our minor seminary use it to stay in touch as they are spread across the country. My sisters use it to share their photos. These uses, if not abusive, clearly seem good.

Now, the question of giving it value by adding a node according to Metcalfe's Law (I had to check the Wikipedia article I link myself) . You may note that the value is the actual connections not the theoretical connections, so if my actual connections are with other good Catholics, I am increasign the value of the "Cathlic Zone" of facebook (for lack of a better term) by a much greater percentage than I am increasing the overall value. (This judgement is not absolute but relative; the whole question of participation in evil would need a whole article not a paragraph.)

I hope that helps; if not let's continue the conversation.

I would beg to differ. First, I am a technology consultant so, I understand the argument of it's value but, value does not equate to "good". In fact, that argument is called Metcalf's Law: for each additional node on a network the value of that network grows exponentially.

Gossip is evil. Vanity is evil. I would contend that is the primary purpose of Facebook. As my favorite Dominican nun says, "you can let your kids play on the interstate, and justify it because they are "having so much fun" but, that does not make it right".

Perhaps it is because I am getting older. Perhaps I am finally getting the wisdom I was promised at Confirmation but, to me, technology seems to be a trap to draw us away from God, and other people.

The first progressive was Eve. Look how that turned out.