Vatican wars

by Sr. Rose Pacatte on Sep. 06, 2011

Over the weekend my niece invited family members to join a Facebook word game we could all play. I clicked into "Apps" on my Facebook page and noticed that I had been invited to join more than 50 games, but one really got my attention: Vatican Wars.

It's a "new social game", a fantasy game, where you can become the pope. As a priest and candidate for pope you have to decide what Jesus would say if he were here today based on these issues: abortion, same sex marriage, if priests can marry, birth control and the ordination of women.

I clicked through and saw that I had only two choices: to be a Templar (socially conservative) player or a Crusader (socially liberal). Each team plays together to try to get one of their members elected pope.

I joined the Templars to check out the winning team. You can win cash to build churches -- or give money to charities which earns you stature points. Alas, I didn't care to play for "stature" points. Jesus never really did "stature" very well.

Perhaps the game developers mean well, but I wonder if they realize how they have politicized the Catholic faith into two political camps that could easily be identified as Republican or Democrat and made "stature" a value. Vatican "wars"? This is the ideology of comic books: good vs. evil. Must everything be set in terms of polarization and violence?

The same company developed the Facebook app "Priestville" with 864 monthly users; "Vatican Wars", since it launch in June, has 4,718 monthly users as of today.

Please note, it's boring.

For an explanation of the "Vatican Wars":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOnKrmYpwO8&feature=player_embedded#

To play:
http://vaticanwars.com

" . . .be a Templar (socially

Submitted by charles j scanlon (not verified) on Sep. 06, 2011.

" . . .be a Templar (socially conservative) player or a Crusader (socially liberal). Each team plays together to try to get one of their members elected pope. I joined the Templars to check out the winning team. You can win cash to build churches . . ."

cash to build churches, or wojtylian "cultural" centers . . .

Don't they know the Crusaders ARE the Knights Templar . . .
no difference here . . .
both old time avaricious destroyers of Muslim families in their homes.

"I joined the Templars to check out the winning team."
Sounds like the strategy of all those now "called" to this present, fallen Church . . .

I'll join Saint Benedict in the mountains of Subiaco . . .
off the grid . . .

Saint Francis preaching peace to the Templars and Crusaders, unheard.

BTW, anyone read the new Dardess book yet, from Orbis, "In the Spirit of St. Francis and the Sultan: Catholics and Muslims Working Together for the Common Good?"

another reason to keep off FB and on ncronline.org

so glad the long weekend is over and we can chat again . . .

Hilarious! "If I didn't

Submitted by John Barbieri (not verified) on Sep. 06, 2011.

Hilarious!

"If I didn't laugh, I'd cry." -Abraham Lincoln

Sadly, it shows the lovelessness of the "liberal" vs. "conservative" debate.
There is now such a "win-at-all-costs" mentality that a church that ought to be concerned with love and compassion is being trivialized to the point of irrelevancy.

And Jesus wept.

Being "liberal" on abortion

Submitted by Louis E. (not verified) on Sep. 06, 2011.

Being "liberal" on abortion and "conservative" on homosexuality,I wouldn't (if I were Catholic to begin with) have a side I could join between those two stereotypes.I'm not on Facebook anyway,but how about something where you network with whoever you agree with on whatever issue?

Thank you sister for pointing

Submitted by Charles R. Donaldson (not verified) on Sep. 07, 2011.

Thank you sister for pointing out that one does not have to accept either horn of a dilemma because their are other alternatives. The game maker fell into that trap when he or she designed the game. We often see that in much of the public discussion that goes on in this counrty.

Thank you sister, I wouldn't

Submitted by Nils King Hammer (not verified) on Sep. 08, 2011.

Thank you sister, I wouldn't have believed it if you hadn't told me. Now, for a less boring game you might look at the card game "Credo". It was made by naughty British schoolboys who guarantee that each of the many odd belief cards are completely authentic to the old church. It isn't 2 factions, but as many as will play. They may have been just a bit unfair, since your faction has to promote the beliefs you've been dealt, even if they are painfully embarrassing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credo_%28card_game%29

I'm very glad that I met some of the designers at a Runequest convention. They were very clever, and if they have any political leanings they are not obvious.

Nils K. Hammer

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