What if you could use the Internet without moral qualms, writing on platforms created by Catholics, for Catholics? Then you really would be free to evangelize, using an innovative technology which reflects your beliefs.
The problem is that right now only a few Big Tech companies stationed in California control social media. Most Catholics use it begrudgingly because they promote values which clash with their faith. We are bombarded with liberal-leaning ads, our tweets are censored, and our content is monitored by those who hate the Gospel. Trying to write on such a platform is akin to painting a beautiful picture on a black canvas because their anti-Catholic views have completely coloured their creation.
Most of us simply feel resigned to accept these conglomerates’ control. They have all our personal info and data. They tailor which ads we see and exploit us for their profit. Twitter and Facebook get all the benefits from our writing and interactions on their platforms. If the provider decides to block us, we lose all our contacts, videos, and articles. This situation keeps us in the role of serfs or even slaves with Big tech acting like feudal lords, reaping all the financial benefits from our labour. These companies have poisoned our view of technology but by passively resigning ourselves to such a centralized internet, we have deprived God of His influence in the world of technology.
There is an answer to our moral dilemma. Michael DiStefano and Kailash have discovered a solution by creating a new Catholic email called Fidei.email. They plan to create other Catholic social media platforms. I was not remotely interested in the technology sector before I interviewed them but afterward, I was surprised by joy, the joy of the Lord. I sensed God was not simply blessing their work, but He using them as instruments of His will.
Michael and Kailash are both converts to the Catholic faith, Kalish from Hinduism. They work in the technology sector, building innovative technology products. God chose these tech experts to be His instruments, creating technology for beleaguered Catholics, inspiring us, giving us hope, joy, and confidence to use technology to expand His Kingdom.
As I talked over the phone with these young innovators I was reminded that throughout history, Catholics have been on the cutting edge of innovation in healthcare, science, education, and the arts. Catholic books, paintings, and inventions shone a light into the darkness of ignorance and poverty, leading many to salvation. It was a Catholic goldsmith and inventor, Johannes Gutenberg, who perfected the printing press and produced the first Gutenberg Bible. This innovation had enormous implications for evangelization because sacred manuscripts were no longer preserved and hidden in monasteries. Soon common folk had the opportunity to read scripture, the writings of the saints, and the teaching of the Church. Similarly, the internet has opened Catholic libraries to the world with most converts discovering the Truth through the internet.
Technological innovation is not innately evil just as electricity is not in and of itself evil. Catholics cannot bury their heads in the sand, ignoring modern innovations. Consider the fate of the Amish. They believe electricity and cars as corrupting forces but by isolating themselves from modern technology, they have made themselves completely irrelevant to the modern world. They are quaint but they do not influence society or help others find the Lord. Catholics cannot risk becoming an insular community; we must have the ability to reach out to seekers, using platforms which are faith-based.
The answer to Catholic’s problems with social media is not to continue to cede control of innovation to those who hate the Gospel but to allow God to inspire technology so it becomes an instrument of His will. That is why it is so important that Michael and Kailash are building software products through a Catholic lens, enabling Catholics to be leaders in technology as free men and not slaves to Big Tech.
Kailash explains why it is vital that the faithful use a social media platform which has been created through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God:
The next phase of software products will dramatically enhance the presence of the Catholic Church in our culture. Innovation is a critical part of leading souls to salvation and the new frontier of software technology has the power to allow Catholics to create self-sufficiency unlike any time in history and provide a platform for us to reclaim our fallen culture.
The next wave of innovation will go much further than the content channels for evangelization and education. These changes will allow Catholics to reclaim our culture through self-sufficiency in the digital economy. The Catechism says that “everyone has the right of economic initiative [and] everyone should make legitimate use of his talents to contribute to the abundance that will benefit all and to harvest the just fruits of his labor (CCC 2429).
Because only a few companies control the internet, they have centralized. Michael describes why this centralization is deadly, especially to Catholics:
The consequences of centralization are often not immediately felt. In fact, many would-be centralizers present to the world a benign image in order to win users–for a long time, Google had the slogan “do no evil”, for example. It is only once dominance is established that we begin to feel the effects of the values of a company made manifest through its control. At this point, we often feel that it’s too late, “all the users are there” anyway, so we continue to use the technology begrudgingly, convinced that we must do so in order to reach others. This, of course, only serves to reinforce the dominance and blinds us to the alternative that has been there all along: decentralization.
Kailash and Michael realized that decentralization has the power to free Catholics from servitude to Big Tech. In fact, there already is a decentralized platform– email:
All email service providers, often to their chagrin, are forced to inter-operate with all other email service providers if they wish to be able to exchange messages. With a decentralized technology like email it is far more difficult for a single entity to dictate what can be said on it. If ever a provider tried you could simply switch to another provider at very little inconvenience. If you are removed from Twitter you can no longer tweet and you lose all of your contacts, but if you decide to leave your email provider for another you can still send email and retain your address book.
Catholics are free to seek out an email provider who does not analyze our email in order to target us with advertisements but an email provider who shares our faith. This is why Michael and Kailash created Fidei.email, an email service made by and for Catholics.
Because any email works with any other email, all of your friends don’t have to be using Fidei.email for it to be immediately useful. At the end, who doesn’t delight in opening one’s inbox to find a well-written epistle.
16 thoughts on “Catholic Entrepreneurs Take On Silicon Valley Big Tech”
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Hi Melanie, I’m grateful you interviewed the founder of Fidei.email because I’m searching for more info about this provider before making a decision to use them.
in light of the current “woke” attitudes, programs, etc. that are deliberately demoralizing us, and in light of the CIA spying on Traditional Catholic parishes, I am posing this sincere question. Do you still hold the opinion that “Catholics cannot risk becoming an insular community?”
I admit I had to look up “insular” and I must say I’m rather perplexed that you would use this word to judge those of us who cautiously use technology. Insular synonyms: small-minded, illiberal, narrow, petty, parochial, and provincial. At one time I had several blogs to inform Catholics about the dark sides to “climate hysteria,” “population control,” and other topics that we need to know about. However, you want to talk about “insular,” many such blogs have been removed from the internet by Word Press and others.
I agree with Megan about the Amish. The comment in the article was judgemental & ignorant. I certainly dont agree with the comment, “they are quaint but dont influence society.” I have seen podcasts from Amish people warning us of “Big Ag” attempts to push farmers who produce healthy meat and dairy produce out of the market by forcing the legislators to make bills that make it illegal to grow food without chemical fertilizers. These farmers have been “raided” by federal police weilding guns to seize “evidence” of non compliance.These brave Amish Farmers certainly are noticed and are truly brave and trusting God in this multi tech globalist society taking over the little mans lives & livelihood.
I also believe that wearing clerical garb or habits definitely have an impact on others. Sometimes positive ,sometimes not so positive due to perhaps ignorance or previous experience with someone not giving good example or misusing their trust and abusing the other in ways not appropriate or even criminal that is painful to recall. Clerical garb or habits make a public statement to whom you belong or should be faithful to. Uniforms are acceptable in our society in workplaces & schools etc.
I love the innovative ideas many are coming up with today to get away from the monopolising big tech. I refuse to use Google now as a search engine. I still have gmail unfortunately but dont know how to change over?
Decentralization may become illegal but lets hope the Our Father Prayer is answered soon.
“May His Kingdom Come, His Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven” before that happens.
“Viva Cristo Rey”.
Hi Helen, this is Michael, the co-founder of Fidei. You are entirely right to criticize an uncharitable comment about the Amish. Personally, I greatly respect the Amish and did not intend to denigrate their firm and honorable stance towards modernization at all. We gave this interview a long time ago and so I don’t exactly remember the context but it was probably a crude attempt of ours to use a metaphor to illustrate that we believe that while certain forms of technology can and should be eschewed, others (like email) are largely necessary for participation in today’s society.
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I loved the article and the idea of Catholic-based, decentralized technology. However, the remarks at the expense of the Amish seemed unnecessarily harsh.
Surely the author knows the line attributed to St. Francis, “Preach always and when necessary, use words”? Sometimes, the best preaching is done by example. Think of a priest, in this day and age, wearing his clerics to the airport or grocery store. That takes guts and is a reminder to everyone that God exists. Has he influenced society? Yes; in ways we may never know in this life. How many fallen away Catholics were self-convicted when he walked by? How many young children asked their parents why that guy was wearing “funny clothes”. How many people stopped to remember the church down the road from them when they were growing up? In a word, how many people saw that priest and thought about God? Much societal influencing goes on in this not-in-your-face type of preaching.
Our Lord tells us to take up our cross and follow Him for he is meek and humble of heart. Not all of us are called to be leaders, technology gurus, or writers. Some are called to the simplicity of washing dishes and changing diapers and, in this way, to witness to our families and also to the world about marriage, family, and children. Others are called to the cloister where prayer and Adoration are the focal point of every day. These people may not appear to “influence society or help others find the Lord” as the world thinks of things, but as Catholics, we KNOW it all starts with, and is maintained by prayer and Adoration and that our simple every-day duties can be offered up as prayers. For it isn’t we who change or convert or influence people at all—its God.
I find the Amish not simply “quaint” but actually living their beliefs. It can’t be an easy life and must be full of abuses, big and small, from external entities. Who are we to say “they do not influence society or help others find the Lord” when we can’t possibly see the hearts of those who come into contact with the Amish? Nor can we see the effects of Amish prayer life or the relationships and ways they affect those within their own communities.
I realize the author’s main point is to promote this new Catholic-based platform and to say that we shouldn’t drop technology as simply full of wickedness but rather use technology for good and to further the Kingdom. However, I hope the author might consider removing the Amish swipe and, perhaps instead, fill that paragraph with examples of some spiritual benefits of this technology.
Excellent points
Hi Megan, thank you for rightly criticizing a crude remark we made during our interview. Please see my reply to Helen above for a more nuanced take.
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This sounds like much needed good news! Thank you.
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This sounds like a positive development but to make an analogy whereby Jesus decided
he would only preach to those with ears, avoid the heated controversies by those who
had no love for the message – ie: the encounter with the adulteress – the results would be
a preaching to the choir, a building of more churches without refilling those vacant. The
charge of Catholic censorship would not hold up in court and be labeled hearsay unless an extensive list of specific incidents could be produced. Huddling on a new platform will not spread the gospel and converts, when compared to those who leave or left could not begin to fill a gap caused by stagnant theology that denies integration with other compatible theology.
This is one of the reasons we built an email service: it doesn’t require huddling on a new platform and in fact by its very nature enables the sort of decentralization that prevents such isolation. The email service works just like any other email service in that you are able to send and receive messages from those who use another email provider. An analogy I like to use is that just as it is good to have the option to shop at a Catholic baker we want Catholics to have the ability to utilize a Catholic provider for the tools they use online.
Re: Michael D Well, that part makes more sense. Thanks
Much here I didn’t know. Gutenberg being Catholic is one of them. I’m technologically challenged and don’t understand most of what happens “behind the curtains.” I will investigate the email and sign up.
A wonderful article, as always. Thank you!