Saint Benedict: 1,500 year ahead of his time.

In the midst of summer, just seven days after Independence Day and four days prior to Bastille Day, the church celebrates the feast of Saint Benedict. The 220 years since American independence and the 207 years following the French Revolution are but brief moments of democratic experiment alongside the more than 1,500 years of Benedictine tradition, a more long-term model of democracy. Benedict's democratic and hospitable presence now imbues cyberspace.

Next time, or the first time, you surf the net, call up http://www.osb.org/osb on your screen. (Your kids or friendly librarian are good guides in cyberspace should you need one.) An array of information awaits you, from e-mail listings of monks to home pages of various monasteries, from the Rule of Benedict to a catalog of Benedictine schools. The most advanced and artistic Benedictine home page belongs to the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in New Mexico. Try visiting http://www.technet.nm.org/pax.html both for visual delight and for a marvelous explanation of cyberspace as a contemporary continuation of the classical Benedictine tradition. My own favorite Benedictine discovery on the World Wide Web lists their congregations of men and women in North America. This resource, more than a roster, reveals the genealogical heritage of each monastery--its ancestors and its descendants. Quite the family tree!

Catholicism has patron saints for just about everything. How about cyberspace? Might Benedict get the assignment? There are good reasons to suspect so: his spiritual sons and daughters have a long tradition of collecting, preserving, illuminating, and sharing information. The library is an integral part of every Benedictine household. Biblical texts central to their lives and the life of the church are made more sacred as they pray with them in their communal Liturgy of the Hours. Other texts are made sacred by Benedict's progeny as they read and study them. Not a bad set of credentials for a patron to inspire and guide trips through the texts in cyberspace. As we celebrate these July feasts--Independence Day, Benedicts Day, and Bastille Day--let's log on for Benedict as Patron Saint of Cyberspace.

"Odds and Ends" columnist, Peter Gilmour, is a faculty member of the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago. He can be reached in cyberspace at [e-mail]