Schiltz: Who are we talking to, and should they listen?

Next up is Lisa Schiltz, whose paper is called "'You Talkin' to Me?'  Who Are We Talking to?  And Why Should They Listen to Us?"  If Rob was looking at the current landscape, and John was reminding us about the past, Lisa's focus is on the future and, in particular, the future of faculty scholarship in Catholic Legal Theory.

During the past 10 years, three big things have happened:  The collapse of the legal market and its effects on law schools' priorities and budgets; the explosion of the Internet (smartphones, text, social media, etc.) as the primary mode of communication; and a change of the relationship between the Church and the world (one that is marked by, Lisa suggests, a loss of confidence -- and of interest -- in the enterprise of bringing the thought of, say, John Paul II to bear on contemporary issues, questions, and debates).  These three things have caused, or contributed to, something of a retreat from the Catholic Legal Theory project.

However, as Lisa reminds us, one thing that has not changed is the responsibility -- one that the Compendium characterizes as "urgent" -- that Catholic legal scholars and law teachers -- as called lay people in the Church -- have to and in the world.  So, with this responsibility in view . . . what and how should we think about the three changes mentioned earlier?  First, we should be good stewards, and appreciative of those who make possible our scholarly work, and not self-indulgent.  Next, what about blogging, and blogging (etc) as opposed to (and in competition with) traditional legal scholarship?  (She draws from Carr's, The Shallows:  What the Internet Is Doing to Our Minds and talks a bit about the way our means and modes of expression and communication are changing what and how we think.  As she does, I feel sheepish about live-blogging.  And yet . . . .)