The recent publication, Virtue in Virtual Spaces (2024), makes a bold proposition. Authors Louisa Conwill, Megan Levis and Walter Scheirer argue that Catholic Social Tradition offers a road map for reimagining the internet as a force for good in the world. Focusing on social technologies (the internet) and dedicated to the patron saints of the Internet (the late Blessed Carlo Acutis and Marshall McLuhan), this concise read turns much of what we assume about the internet on its head. But it also serves as an intuitive primer for anyone puzzling through how to enact Catholic Social Tradition (CST) in our daily lives and institutions. Indeed, they offer one of the most cogent historical overviews available.

Building on the work of virtue ethicists like Alasdair McIntyre and Shannon Vallor, the authors introduce a “think, build, do” framework that foregrounds both the ethical foundations of technology (think) and the resultant activities that follow. Technology development has then both a foundation and a telos that is situated in the cultivation of virtue.  Chapter five in the book provides a detailed set of cases from Catholic Twitter to the Buy Nothing movement which allow the reader to see precisely how the internet might be developed and deployed in pro-social and indeed virtuous ways.

Understanding how the cultivation of virtue and technology development can be mutually reinforcing and together illuminate the common good will surely be a top priority for all of us in the years to come. And this trio will be ones to watch for interdisciplinary wisdom and guidance.  Indeed, their new work already further develops this framework for computer scientists. They propose an approach for translating virtue-based principles to design patterns that can be used to develop tech in alignment with the virtues of Catholic Social Teaching.