"New evangelisation" and copyright

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didymus

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I ran across this article:
newliturgicalmovement.org/2013/07/evangelization-vs-copyright.html

The story, in a nutshell, a Catholic blogger looking to make Pope Francis’s new encyclical as available as possible dowloaded the .pdf, converted it to Kindle, .epub, .mobi. &c and made them available on his blog.
The Vatican and USCCB immediately demanded he take everything down.

Okay, they’re within their rights, but also, IMHO very counter productive. The “official” Church while paying lip service to “the New Evangelisation” has done pretty much bupkus.
Here is what you find on the Vatican website:
vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/new-evangelization/index.htm – it does not even have an e-mail address!

From the USCCB: usccb.org/about/2013-2016-plan-suggested-parish-diocesan-roadmap.cfm – pretty lame, no?

I’ sure many parishes and dioceses have gone ahead with with their own efforts without depending on the USCCB’s “strategic plan” plus many ordinary Catholics in the trenches. With their copyright trolling the US Bishops are hampering the efforts of faithful Catholic bloggers. If you want to have an online Bible group you may not quote from the NAB (rather a blessing, the RSV has a generous permissions policy), they have shutdown a “Catechism in a Year” Flocknote group, &c ad nauseum.

I’m not disputing the Bishops ’ legal rights here (though I think copyright law needs a serious overhaul).
But their policies are at least unwise and counterproductive. The Pope’s writings are up on Vatican in DRM-free .pdf – why not offer it in other formats as well under Creative Commons license?
If a group is discussing the Bible or Catechism online I suspect that will increase rather than decrease sales of hard copies and e-versions.
 
agnes_therese said:
No.

Then start talking to your senators and representative about the changes you’d like to see. Meanwhile, we are all expected to obey the law.
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U.S. copyright law has more twists and turns than a rural mountain-region road. Meanwhile, for purposes of evangelism it would be nice if the Vatican and the USSCB would simply ignore the copyright laws and allow free distribution of the text of the encyclical. (I got my copy from the Vatican website; they have a button for a free .pdf download.)
 
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DaveBj:
Meanwhile, for purposes of evangelism it would be nice if the Vatican and the USSCB would simply ignore the copyright laws and allow free distribution of the text of the encyclical. (I got my copy from the Vatican website; they have a button for a free .pdf download.)

Which IS exactly what you’re asking for – free distribution of the text of the encyclical. Problem solved.
 
The first place I always think to go for an encyclical is the Vatican website (www.vatican.va). Second choice is EWTN. It’s never even occurred to me to go to the USCCB website for an encyclical.

Currently, after going to the Vatican website and clicking on the language you want, a window will automatically pop up that lets you access “Lumen Fideii”. Three options are provided in the window:
**- Leaf through the Encyclical Lumen Fidei -
  • Download PDF -
  • Read the Encyclical Letter on vatican.va -**
    Just click on the option you want. Easy as can be.
Or, for htm, here’s the site address.
vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/encyclicals/index_en.htm
Just click on whichever language you want to read it in.
 
I understand the frustration (I know I would have liked to post the text from the Vatican II documents on my blog to read through the documents in a year). But I also understand the Church’s caution. To let every Average Joe Catholic with a blog and a minimal amount of internet savvy to do this would open up Pandora’s box and it would be very difficult for them to retain control.

Take the aforementioned documents of Vatican II. In reading through them on the Vatican website, I have noticed many typos, missing footnotes, etc. Say I went through and corrected them myself. Now I have placed myself in the position – random layperson that i am – of editing the conciliar documents. Perhaps I could do it correctly. Or maybe I wouldn’t. The Church would have no quality control over my work. Or say I left the errors as is. Then, when the Vatican site goes to correct the text, my errant version of the text remains online. They might send me an email. But maybe I get lazy and don’t check that email address anymore. Maybe something happens to me and no one is around to fix it. Or let’s say I simply copy and paste the text incorrectly and leave off something important.

Sure, there could be personnel in place at the USCCB to monitor the usage. But if the gates were opened to allow people to distribute the Church’s documents on their own terms, they would need a much larger staff to keep an eye on things to ensure that it wasn’t being abused.

All this is just to deal with people who are trying to do things in accordance with Church teaching. Now imagine those who do not. Imagine someone throwing together their own annotated Catechism where the Church text and the blogger’s opinion are difficult to distinguish. Or perhaps someone with a chip on their shoulder just wants to throw in random heretical statements into the text just to cause trouble.

As Agnes Therese said, it’s not as though these documents are unavailable. They’re all freely available on the Vatican website.

All this is not to say that I don’t think you have a point. There are lots of new media outlets the Church can become better at taking advantage of – and I hope they do. But all things considered, I’d rather have a Church that moves slowly than one that is an early adopter.
 
One wonders what will happen to Father Z who created a podcast. In the link he talks about correcting mistakes and removing subheadings.
Father Z:
In reading, I did not read the footnotes, but I did include the intra-textual references, such as Scripture verses. I read the abbreviation “cf.” as “confer”. I did not include the brief sub-headings within each chapter. However, I include the paragraph numbers so that you can quickly find your place in the text.

Please forgive errors. I read pretty much straight through and I had a few interruptions. Furthermore, at a certain point my head was turning to mush!

I also found a couple typos in the text!
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Is that what your talking about Joe 5859
 
I figure it is an accuracy thing. If the only place you can get it is from them, then they have a limited number of typos and such to watch over. The danger of people reading copies that are missing important pieces of text or references is minimized.

Though with the USCCB, perhaps they use it as a real source of revenue.
 
Hi didymus

I agree - it comes across as petty. I’m impressed that the pulishers of the ESV bible (which will form the foundation of the new mass translation in the UK) make their bible available for free on Kindle. It gives the impression of a group who really want to spread the Word (they make money on their well-respected study bible - that strikes me as a thoughtful compromise between evangelism and necessary income).

Sadly it re-enforces the old stereotype of the Catholic Church wanting to control availability of the printed word. I imagine though that it’s probably more just a culture of bureaucracy that certain people’s jobs depend on.

God bless +
 
Michael_Allen said:
Hi didymus
Sadly it re-enforces the old stereotype of the Catholic Church wanting to control availability of the printed word. I imagine though that it’s probably more just a culture of bureaucracy that certain people’s jobs depend on.

God bless +
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By having it available free on the internet? :confused:
 
agnes_therese said:
By having it available free on the internet? :confused:
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By having it available only through “approved” sources.

I may be repeating myself, but in my spiritual journey I have spent time with both Russian and Arab Baptists. Both groups share poems and songs without any mention of copyright or controlling distribution. Reminds me very much of attitudes in the early Church.
 
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