"A prominent Polish priest said young priests are using the Internet to plagiarize homilies for Masses.

"Owners of Internet sermon websites have noticed increased use on Saturday nights, suggesting some priests are trying to rescue themselves at the last moment by finding a text to read out at the next day's Mass. This separates the priest from his congregation and poses a serious communication problem," said Father Wieslaw Przyczyna, to Catholic News Service.

College professors have noted a similar, desperation-induced spike in hits to Wikipedia somewhere around midnight the evening before research papers are due.

But like professors lamenting Wikipedia’s satanic influence, Przyczyna’s concern is with the stupefying effects of mass-produced insight:

“The homilies are often unreal and don't deal with issues affecting the lives of the real congregations standing before the pulpit. Priests should speak to people as they really are, not as virtual people," Przyczyna said.

There are many reasons why so many homilies are frequently and flagrantly out of touch. Overworked priests may simply be too busy to spend much time preparing theological exegesis every seven days. They may hesitate to speak truth for fear of alienating people. On the other hand, they may also estrange people by blasting their truths without an intricate understanding of the challenges of modern family life.

Homilies need to express truths about what we must be in the world and why we must be that way. Most importantly, they need to help us understand how to get there.

I, for one, have heard too many theological and moral platitudes shouted from holy men without the necessary insight into how to accomplish these sweeping changes.

. . . but there I go again bringing Sen. Clinton into this post.

I am not happy to read about plagiarizing priests. But I happen to think that clergymen are correct to go online for their cultural insight –after all, they must meet their flock where they are –and their flock thrives on Facebook and YouTube, Flickr and MySpace, dwelling as IP addresses remotely connected to reality.

Przyczyna leads us to important questions for this technology age: In what ways is the internet unreal? How does the internet separate human beings from one another? Are they limits to virtual reality in a religious context?

And is it a sin to cite Wikipedia?

What say ye, anonymous internet friends?