 Thousands of viewers on the YouTube website regularly click on “gadget,” a video show about tech gizmos hosted by Father Robert R. Ballecer, S.J., of the California Province of the Society of Jesus. As each episode begins, he tells the audience: “It’s time to get your geek on.” And with more than 14 million views of 87 episodes, “gadget” keeps the geeks coming back for more. Read an online interview with Fr. Ballecer below.
How did you decide to create “gadget” and what is the show about? I decided to create “gadget” in my second year at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. But its origins go back much further than that. I had been looking for a way to merge my vocation with my passion for technology since I wrote my integrative seminar in philosophy, a decade earlier. To that end, I created TheTechStop, a website for my random musings about technology and faith. But I quickly found that I wasn’t getting the audience that could justify the time and effort I was pouring into the project. That changed with the popularization of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) during the Web 2.0 boom. IPTV technologies and sites like YouTube made it possible for one person with a relatively simple setup to create high-quality content that can be easily accessed by millions of people around the world. And so “gadget” was born. The show seems to be just about technology: I’ve spent 74 episodes reviewing gizmos and gadgets that I think might be useful for my audience. However, the show is actually about breaking down the preconceived notions that the younger generations may have about a life of faith and the members of the clergy. A long time ago I recognized that the best way to spread the Gospels to young adults is not to “talk about faith” and expect them to follow, but rather to “talk about what is of interest” and to allow my life and actions to spread the Gospels. How does your audience react to the fact that you are both a priest and a techie?  This is one of the greatest joys of doing “gadget”—witnessing that Ah-Ha moment when audience members see that not only is the Church allowing an “uberGeek Priest” to do a show about technology, but that my work is actually being supported by my superiors. This runs so counter to the experience that so many of our young have had of the Church; that it is staid, static, and out of touch with contemporary society. Every time I receive a question online or via e-mail, such as “Why is a Catholic priest talking about tech?” or “How can you possibly be an engineer and a priest?”, I see it as a golden opportunity to educate and communicate.
There is the occasional audience member who is openly hostile to the Church, to Christianity, or to any sort of faith, but for the most part I think it has been a uniquely worthwhile experience to show people that my priesthood and my geekhood are not mutually exclusive. Tell us about the Center for Apostolic Technology. The Center for Apostolic Technology is a not-for-profit organization that is my response to the call to action made in Decree 15 of General Congregation 34 which states: Communication is a powerful tool which must be used in the promotion of justice in our world. But we must also look critically at the authoritarian methods and unjust structures of communication and information organizations themselves. The promotion of justice within communication calls for the coordinated action of Christians and other people of goodwill in several areas.
Quite simply, the Center for Apostolic Technology is born from the Jesuit understanding that if we make the effort to place technology at the disposal of the people, people will be placed at the disposal of the technology. What do you think Ignatius of Loyola would have thought about the Internet? Surprisingly, this is a question that I get quite often. I have often claimed that the Jesuits have always been at the forefront of new social changes such as technology and communications. Decree 15 of GC 34 states: Our Father Ignatius identified the cultural shift of his time: the passage from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Recognizing the values of the emerging culture, with its concern for individuals and their spiritual growth, Ignatius oriented the Society of Jesus towards the future. He knew how to integrate gospel values and traditional cultural values with this new culture.
In light of this, I have no doubt that Ignatius would have seen the Internet as do many of the Jesuits who work in communications: as a paradigm-transforming, cultural shift-initiating, interpersonal relationship-changing force that can and must be utilized by his priests as they work in a world that is increasingly dominated by that force. Ignatius would have wanted us to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into this new culture and to find a balance between the anonymous individualism and alienation enabled by the Internet and the personal invitation to community given to us by our lives of faith. Tell us about your current ministry at the University Catholic Center. The University Catholic Center (UCC) is located just above the campus of the University of Hawaii with about a 50-50 split between permanent community members and university students, faculty, and staff. We run six retreats a year, five different student-based faith groups, a dozen or so service programs, plus all the sacramental and pastoral services that you would expect from a parish. It is an absolute pleasure to work with the students, staff, and permanent community at the UCC. This community is genuinely dedicated to the work of the UCC and it shows in the number of activities they support, the time they invest in their community, and the care that they put into making the UCC feel like a home.
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