Putting all this research and analysis together

Over the past few weeks, I have been examining the Catholic faith through memes from an insider source. At first, I didn't have a lot of focus and was unsure which aspect of Catholicism I wanted to look into and critique. My sample of memes come from an insider perspective of a Catholic meme facebook page. I took memes that were mostly understandable from an outside perspective with a few that would only be understood by those within the faith. Honestly, I picked memes I thought were funny and at least semi-relatable. I didn't want anything too obscure or specific. I focused on general topics and easy to understand concepts. As the weeks progressed, my focus turned to Catholic authority, really the stereotype that Catholics view themselves as the superior faith even within the Christian sphere. 

Stereotypes: Catholics are arrogant, know-it-alls that out rituals over actual faith. Looking specifically at confession, they have many steps they say are necessary to live a genuine Christian life. It's their way or its the wrong way.

How it relates: Many of their insider memes outsiders down and view them as "holier", better then them for either living a better life or performing the rituals they believe you are supposed to. By presenting these ideas through an online source of memes, it makes a serious discussion, laughable. It takes an important point and dilutes it.   

Because Catholicism is a fairly rigid belief system, it has a plethora of offline standards and basis for actions. They have many acts and rituals that they apply to their daily lives and should permeate into everything. 

There are many sources that research and contemplate Catholic authority, I will be analyzing and using them to decide how accurate this stereotype is, especially for the difference between online and offline religion portrayals. 

The online religion definitely can challenge that by its tendency to joke about the serious. 

Online-Offline connection:

Breaking-away- holiness vs joking about the confess ritual. As I stated above, offline this is a serious issue of belittling and frustrating others while online, its all a joke for no one to take personally. Online they can joke about aspects of Catholicism, like confession; they make jokes about before, during, and after confession.

This meme a good portrayal of the joking side of the Catholic stereotype. This obviously isn't supposed to be taken seriously. Because there are so many holidays around Christmas, it can be difficult to be completely P.C. with those who have different beliefs. This plays on not being

 P.C. at all and trying to be funny instead and hopefully not offensive. 

I feel like this meme falls into the Catholic authority stereotype because it is literally pointing fingers at past mistakes. The top picture of this meme is referring to the Israelites roaming through the desert for 40 years before they came to the Promise Land. Here, they wanted something physical to worship so while Moses was on the mountain talking to God, Aaron created a golden calf that they worshipped. This blatantly goes against what the Lord told them about idolatry.
This meme pokes fun at this mistake, like they tend to do in their memes for those they feel are less then them.

Authority and how the world wide web influences its potency

This meme is a parody of people's' attempt to navigate a secular world while adhering to religious beliefs. Within in the Catholic faith, they believe that their worldview of Catholicism should affect every area of their lives. With the introduction of the internet and social media, they pose problems by compromising believers. If you really believe, you cannot just stop acting like it the second you leave mass even if it's just so easy to do. This image can be viewed as both a seriousness for the necessity to avoid areas that could cause you to sin and fall away and a silly representation of a rigid idea. This meme would be more impactful if the creator cold find a way to put potential pitfalls on the lasers to give examples especially because those outside the faith have no idea what they may be. 

 For those who do not watch Parks and Rec, this is a character, Ron Swanson. He knows a lot about a lot, especially in terms of fixing and creating useful things. Here, he is fixing his friend's house, while a Halloween party is going on, and when he shops for parts, when someone tries to help him. He responds with the above quote: "I know more than you".
Practising Catholics should find this meme amusing while those outside the faith especially in similar religions on the Protestant side might find it slightly annoying.  Not that Catholics necessarily know more or less, but because they have more practices and rituals that go allowing with their faith, they might view that as "knowing more". This comes out through their view as an authority of belief and how that plays out in a daily sense. People (Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, etc) don't come door-to-door like they used to. They email, comment, or post about wanting to invite others into their faith. Catholics have to fight within the same realm which is turning ever more from reality to virtual reality.

In light of Aguilar et.al’s work describe in detail which Internet meme GENRES AND religion FRAMES are evidenced in your sample?
Religious Spoof Memes; Memes utilizing the playful frame - Top meme (lasers)
Implicit Religious Memes; Memes utilizing the Religious Trope frame - Bottom meme (Ron)
(Aguilar, p. 8-20)

What specific religious issues/actors/community are being undermined or affirmed? What does this tell us about how the authority of this religious group is being interpreted? (Provide concrete evidence to support these claims)
The top meme is affirming their authority because it is showing how hard they work to hold themselves to a higher standard. Upon further investigation, this belief is backed up by their sacred text, the Bible. An understanding that they are sinful creatures, but striving to be better is always the goal.
The bottom meme is undermining their authority. Initially, you'd say it affirms is because it shows that they "know more than you". But it is arrogant and rude to others both inside and outside the faith, since Protestantism has many similarities in beliefs. In a Huffington Post article, they mention how the Catholic church views itself above others and is therefore unquestionable in authority and leadership.

How might aspects of religious authority discussed in this week’s readings and in the class lecture, inform the way someone would read your collection religious internet memes or understand the influence their messages may have within digital culture?
I feel Catholicism is a religion best practiced in "real life". That is doesn't necessarily translate well into the digital media, including memes. The Catholic church has been around for 2000+ years. It has survived through many, many ages, but memes and the digital age are proving to be a very difficult hurdle. Even those more lax and social media-savvy Catholics, are showing how hard it is to know what you believe, articulate it well, and be relatable. Catholic memes should be viewed with a grain of salt, knowing that the Catholic faith and church are so much bigger.