As I have said before, one of the criticisms often levelled at blogs and bloggers is that we are, apparently, all sad, lonely old gits who blog in our pyjamas rather than going out and experiencing "real life."
Speaking as someone who has been writing my own blog for over five years, I think I can safely say that nothing could be further from the truth! I will admit, though, to having (on the very odd occasion) blogged whilst wearing my nightdress...
The past five years have been filled with opportunities resulting directly from my blogging activities. I have made many new friends, and I'm always really astounded when people tell me that they read my blog. I would be inclined to think that they were just being polite, were it not for the gleam of recognition when the blog name gets mentioned: "Ohooooo... so
you're Mulier Fortis! And what are the kitties up to?"
Occasionally I let the blogging slip a bit - because I just don't get on with the touch screen on my iPhone, which makes blogging on the go an unrewarding experience, and I'm often just too tired at the end of the working day... Weekends sometimes feel even busier than weekdays - as Leutgeb
has pointed out, lately there have been so many traddie activities happening at weekends that it's impossible to attend every event, and it's necessary to prioritise. The blogs, however, help to keep everyone informed as to what is happening, and there are plenty of photos and written accounts to enjoy.
The blogs are wonderful tools for evangelisation. It is now almost impossible to be unclear on what the Church
actually teaches on a particular topic - a quick Google search will often reveal all, and, if things are still unclear, there are wonderful priests like
Fr. Ray Blake,
Fr. Tim Finigan and
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf who are only too happy to help instruct and counsel their readers on anything to do with the Catholic Church. And the
really great thing about the blogs is that those of us who wish to try and follow the teachings of Holy Mother Church no longer need to feel that they are in any way odd for wanting to do so. There are plenty of faithful Catholics out there in the big wide world...
I want to give a particular plug to the wonderful
Fr. Ray Blake - his parish is in Brighton, a town with what must be one of the most aggressively pro-LGBT agendas in the country. There was
quite a kerfuffle recently, with gay rights activists threatening to have his blog shut down because they were outraged and offended by Fr. Ray's support for the teaching of the Church on matters of sexual morality. Fr. Ray himself is never rude, inconsiderate or deliberately offensive in his blog posts, but the simple fact that he defends Church teaching is enough to support accusations of homophobia, discrimination, hatred and bigotry.
By-the-by, from what I have read on Fr. Ray's blog, he is just as firmly opposed to heterosexual activity outside marriage, so his views are hardly discriminatory, but that little fact always seems to escape everyone's attention...
Some people, such as the Communications Officer for the Diocese of Middlesbrough, Fr. Derek Turnham, might consider blogging to be
akin to a criminal offence. One can only wonder why they are so afraid of the new media. What is so dreadful about ordinary people being able to voice opinions about the Church? Isn't that what Vatican II was all about? If the views expressed are erroneous, they will be corrected by other bloggers quickly enough...
Very strange...
In the meantime, I promise to make more of an effort to update my blog with greater regularly...
