PARTENIA is difficult to find even in the most comprehensive of gazeteers. For those interested in its physical whereabouts, we can inform you that it is, or more precisely was, in Algeria situated on the slopes of the Atlas mountains an ancient Christian diocese which ceased to exist in practice with the advent of Islam in North Africa. It was to this near mythical see that Bishop Jacques Gaillot was appointed by the Vatican after he had been removed, because of his liberal views, from the bishopric of Evreux in France.
Bishop Gaillot, you see, went a step further than those who wanted to see married priests and women priests in the Roman Catholic Church he even advanced liberal views on homosexual relationships. On January 13th 1995, Bishop Gaillot kept an appointment with Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, the prefect of the Vatican's congregation of Bishops to whom Bishop Comiskey of Ferns was later summoned.
Bishop Gaillot was told that his term of office at Evreux would come to an end in 24 hours and that he would be made bishop of the "titular" (non existent) see of Partenia.
What, you may well ask, has all this got to do with computers, Computimes, the Internet and the World Wide Web? Well, on January 13th of this year, the first anniversary of his banishment to the non existent diocese, Bishop Gaillot cocked a snook at the Vatican and turned Partenia into the church's first "virtual diocese."
Partenia has come to life and can be reached at http://www.partenia.fr/; Dr Gaillot's face beams out from the home page, which also gives a relief map of the region of Algeria around the city of Oran showing the exact location of where the mythical diocese was once located.
The original site was in French but in the past week an English language version has become available through a button which shows the flag, not of the UK, but of that other great rebellious area in the church the United States of America.
The home pages includes links to the history of Dr Gaillot's dismissal as Bishop of Eveux, his valedictory address to his flock in France which attracted thousands of believers and non believers to the town's great cathedral, JPEG pictures of his" meeting with a grim faced John Paul II a press release issued by the Vatican following that meeting, and what is believed to be the first ever "virtual pastoral letter from a bishop of a "virtual diocese".
There appears to be a possible clash between the Vatican press release which says that Pope John Paul II reminded Bishop Caillot "in a brotherly way" that a Bishop must be a "faithful witness" to the Church and its teachings, and Bishop Gaillot's message which rejoices in the opportunity provided by the Web for freedom of discussion with his "virtual flock".
To go to the internet, he says is "a magnificent venture which" is To go on the Internet he says, let myself be welcomed by all women and men whose faces I do not know ... Partenia is a place of freedom where we can meet one another and speak to each other as if we were in the market place," he writes. The home page contains a button to allow people to communicate with Bishop Gaillot in his Partenian reincarnation and this is surely something that will put the fear of God, so to speak, into the corridors of the Vatican itself. A bishop whose interpretations of his church's doctrine have been unorthodox to say the least, was sidetracked to a non existent diocese but can now reach an audience numbering in the tens of millions.
If a Roman Catholic has difficulties on matters of faith and morals Bishop Gaillot is now available for advice and that advice is unlikely to be in perfect harmony with the views of the Pope.
In the interests of scrupulous balance you can now get to the Pope's own Home Page at http://www.vatican.va/ which includes links to encyclicals and "messages from the Holy Father". The Vatican page is, n&surprisingly, very strong on icons but communication appears to be one way only from the top down.
Catholics seeking the latest statistics on churchgoing and services in England and Wales can now turn to the Web. Official information from the Catholic Church in England and Wales has been placed on a Web site, including details of local bishops and information on dioceses.
Cardinal Hume said yesterday I welcome the development of an official Internet site for our Catholic community in England and Wales. Church teaching encourages us to make the best use of new means of social communication."
