Facebook ... the world is smaller than we think.

Being in touch with the youth, as I am, and being a youth myself (that is, youthful, rather than yoof, note the 'f') I am a member of facebook, the on-line networking site, where one can share photographs, messages and e-mails, Where one can tell the world one's mood by updating the 'status'. In brief, as a priest friend of mine says, an invention to save friends and aquaintences actually speaking to each other.

On this website one can find many different groups to join, some of these are fun, others political, others religious, a whole mish-mash, but it's always interesting to see ones friend's groups, to see their political or religious affliations.

For example, a friend of mine recently joined the group named "I'm a bleeding heart liberal and proud of it". Another friend, from the other side of the politcal perspective joined the group "I support Francisco Franco in the Spanish civil war" (I find this interesting given most members of facebook were born after 1938).

Then we move on to some of the more ecclesiastical groups, for example the fun "pick-up lines for Catholics", including 'you must be the third secret of Fatima' and 'you've got stunning scapular-brown eyes'. As a seminarian my membership of this group is purely academic.

"Bring back the biretta", "liturgical snobs anonymous" and "say the black do the red" are a few of the more popular groups concerned with the extra-ordinary rite, of which there are a plethora. I'm sure many of our readers have heard of the group "everytime a priest says Mass without a maniple God kills a kitten", although I'm not entirely sure He does.

I'd encourage all our readers, who are members of facebook, to join the group "Vocations group" which is, as the name suggests, a group for promoting vocations in the Catholic Church.