For some this makes no sense. How can someone call himself Catholic and associate himself with such groups as Anonymous and LulzSec? But Anonymous and LulzSec are not the whole picture when it comes to hackers.
The term “hacker” was invented in the 1960s by a group of students at MIT, and they defined a hacker as “a person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and stretching their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary."(Jargon File) It was only during the 1980s, after a wave of crimes due to stolen, lost, or corrupted computer data was labeled by the media as the work of “hackers” that the term morphed into its currently narrow definition of “computer criminal.” Since some of those who initially came up with the term “hacker” are still alive and most are still a force in the computing community, I prefer to stick with the original definition.
All hackers are united in the belief that information-sharing is a powerful positive good, and that it is an ethical duty of hackers to share their expertise by writing open-source code and facilitating access to information and to computer resources wherever possible. (Jargon File)
As a Catholic, I know my faith is a powerful positive good, and it is my duty to share my faith through good example and good works and should facilitate the means for everyone to grow in that faith whenever possible.
So, with this in mind, I call myself a Catholic hacker. If you wish further information concerning the hacker culture, I highly recommend the book Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. If you wish for a more updated version you can find it on Amazon.
On a more specific note, this blog will be focused more on my interest in technology as well as my Catholic faith and the highly interesting intersection of the two.