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A Blog Post About... Blogging, Blah-Blah Blogging

It was not long ago when an interviewer called to talk to me about being a Roman Catholic blogger in the Albany diocese. For someone who always has a lot to say, I must admit to being a bit dumbstruck. The article appears here and includes my real-life friends Mary DeTurris Poust, Deacon Neil Hook and Fr. Richard Vosko. (For the record, with respect to the author of the article, I have corresponded with and interviewed the wonderful James Martin, SJ - but, befriend is a strong word. Deacon Greg Kandra on the other hand is a met-in-person, in regular touch with, beloved and trusted friend of mine. That's us over there!

I thought that my interview my come out all "errr.... ummm... well, you know..."  I think it came out sounding like "blah-blah blogging!" At least that is my fear.

It was not the first time I have been interviewed on the topic and who knows if it will be the last.

Yesterday I was driving to my job at Immaculate Conception and was listening to the Parliamentary hearings from the UK around the phone hacking scandal. One of the members of parliament was talking about how media in general, including social media, needed better standards. (massive understatement!) He then referred to the "blags." It was his accent and I am not mocking, but it caught my attention. He then went on for a few moments about the "blags" and "blaggers." Blah-blah blogging!

The third thing on this circuitous path to a post is this. Earlier in the week I was at my home parish of St. Edward the Confessor, at a meeting with someone from a website design firm and the topic of the parish blog came up. This gentleman implied that blogging was on life support, a soon-to-be thing of the past. It did not make me happy to hear that, but there is some truth to it.

If you are a marketer. If you are a marketer or a news organization or anyone trying only to get quick attention, forget blogging. A 300 word post on your new product or service will be lost in the ad clutter. I did not spend 29 years in the media business for nothing; I get that. If I had a business it would be Twitter and Facebook, all the way.

So what is my long-winded point? (I told you I always have a lot to say!) 

My point is this - I do not think blogging is going away any time soon. At least I hope not.

Blogging, which I have been doing in one form or another since 2007, has helped me to better see and understand the world around me and my own place in it - personally, spiritually and politically.

In the midst of hard core (who remain beloved to me) lefty bloggers, I found my political center. In the midst of a group of passionate Episcopalian bloggers, (who I continue to be in prayerful blogging/Facebook and real-life friendship community with) I discovered the depth of my Catholic faith. In addition I have had great discussions and learned much from Buddhists, Jews, atheists, Lutherans, Evangelicals, Pentacostalists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, humanists and of course, the SBNR people.(Spiritual but not religious.) Without a doubt, I am a better Catholic because of all of this, of that I am certain.

As for my Catholic blogging friends-  we are engaged in discussions, theological and otherwise that are transformational for all of us. And I can promise you, we have many, many disagreements, but what binds us is our common love for the Church and how the Church is in the world!

If you are not familiar with blogging, which is quite different than reading a newspaper or some other static thing,  blogging offers the chance for conversation via the comments. I also think that that is a big plus of using blogging and Facebook together, the opportunity to have a discussion.

That is how we are transformed. That is how community is discovered and built. Both this blog and the parish blog are about gathering community more than anything else.

In the past year this blog and my parish blog have both floundered a bit. Last summer I was very ill and the summer was lost to me. The fall proved to be too busy for a variety of over-committed reasons. Then came January and a new year presented our family with a major challenge when my husband's sister became ill and subsequently died, blogging fell to the bottom of the list. I had no time, I also had so little to say.

As I mentioned the other day, I am trying to find my footing again, but without you - well there is no footing!  It is community and conversation that we are trying to build here, not a one-way-ideological-my-way-or-the-highway-zone.

If you are new, I welcome you and I sincerely hope that you will say something. If you don't want to comment, then please drop me an email and let me know that you are here.

Now, to think of things to write about. If you have ideas, you can put them in the comments to, or if you have questions.

I have to go now... I have a lot of blogs to read!  (This will be cross-posted on The Parish Blog of St. Edward the Confessor)

There Will Be Blog!

Yesterday,the esteemed Mike Leach published a second list of favorite Catholic blogs on his blog, Why Stay Catholic.  Imagine my surprise to find my own name and this little bloggy-blog on the list!

Where is the fainting couch? And could someone bring me a little water and a fan? I was astounded.

I mean, go look at the list... Elizabeth Scalia, Eugene Kennedy and all the bloggers at NCR, Rose Pacatte, FSP,  James Martin, SJ and other bloggers at America, Br. Dan Horan, OFM, Mike Hayes, Deacon Greg Kandra. As I said, which one of these is not like the other? (I have been very lucky to meet Rose, Dan, Mike, and Greg in person.)

In any event, I was gratefully astounded but also feeling the impacts of very little blogging of late... like very little.

I can tell you a bit why but let it suffice to say that the year that spanned from July 2010 to the present moment has been a momentous one and not always in a good way. Something had to go and the blog was left a little more than unattended.

In addition to Mike's kind addition of me to the list, I believe that there will be an article in this week's Evangelist, about Albany Catholic bloggers and that would include me.

Gulp.

As a Roman Catholic whose life is centered on living in a Eucharistic manner, I believe that there must be bread! Hence the name of the blog.

However there must also be blog and I am working on making a comeback. This blog is meant to be a place for spiritual reflections, memoir, thoughts about life and whatever flotsam and jetsam turns up, all expressed through a Catholic and catholic lens.

In the meantime, if you are a regular reader of my irregular posts, welcome back!

And if you are new to this page, I welcome you warmly.

There are things percolating in my heart and mind, there will be more blogging, but it may be a bit quiet as the summer continues.

I hope that you will consider putting me in your Google reader if you use one or perhaps subscribe to the email feed of the blog. If you are on Facebook, please friend me and please "like" the blog's Facebook page.

Thanks all!