Why do you read this blog? Having had a break from blogging for the best part of a month, I have been pondering why I bother to blog at all. His Hermeneuticalness kindly assured me that it was a good thing for me to continue, as it was an apostolate - bringing the Catholic Faith into the wider arena of the blogosphere.I understood the need for priests (such as Fr. Zuhlsdorf, Fr. Ray Blake and Fr. Michael Brown) and religious to blog about the Faith, but have often felt that I, as a lay woman without any real theological training, was less "necessary" as a Catholic blogger. Necessary is the wrong word, of course, because no Catholic blogger is "necessary," but indulge me.
I am genuinely puzzled - it appears that people still check my blog regularly to see whether I have written anything new. I am an ordinary, middle-aged (*sobs*) lay Catholic woman with traditional leanings. I have taught RE in the past and have been a catechist for many years, but I don't have any formal training in theology, though I have studied it informally. I love the Holy Father, and I want to help to promote the truths of the Catholic Faith. I really am intrigued... why do people bother to check this blog?
This isn't just idle introspection and navel-gazing. Honestly!
Please, tell me why you read this blog...
...Is it the cat posts?
I really need to know, because I am wondering whether I should continue to have cat posts on this blog, mixed in with everything else, or whether I should ditch the cat posts (and possibly start up a dedicated cat-themed blog for the exploits of the Monsignori.) Personally I think the cat posts are part of the whole Mulier Fortis ensemble... and, after all, my kittes are definitely traddy Cat-holics. They proved this beyond any shadow of doubt when they shredded The Tablet and left the Catholic Herald unscathed...
UPDATE: I see that I need to be more explicit. I am very humbled by the supportive comments, but I am NOT going to give up blogging! I want to know whether the cat posts intrude into what is, presumably, a catholic apologetics blog... or whether my readers view the blog as a bit of a mish-mash, with cats and Catholicism intertwined...
24 comments:
I read your blog because I find what you have to say interesting Mac, from the Magisterium, to teaching, to politics and the cats!
If blogging gives you pleasure & fulfillment then you should continue and not worry too much about the content. Your loyal friends & readers will carry on peeking to see what you are up to regardless.
As for the cats - think of St Francis or Gerard Manley Hopkins. All reflect the Lord's Glory!
I always think, when I write on my own blog or read the blog of another lay Catholic, that I am getting to see how another person particularizes the universality of our Faith. Lord that sounds saccharine, but the Church provides such an expansive roof that there's room for scores of different approaches. Some people are more Franciscan while others are more Ignatian, would I suppose be a more succinct way of phrasing it.
You don't typically get that in the blog of a priest. Or, at any rate, I don't see it nearly as much.
I like it because I'm a single middle-aged lay Catholic woman with no formal theological training either. Plus I'm OK with the cat thing ...
I should have added that I stand with Philippa on the cat thing.
The appeal of your blog is the personal touch. It's faith in action, so to speak. And that, I think, appeals to people. It does to me, at least. The person behind the blog is just as important as the content, and that makes it different from, say, a theological treatise of some sort.
So, yes, by all means do continue with the cat posts, the stories of life in the parish and whatever else comes across your path. It's a glimpse into the daily life of a sound Catholic and that is an inspiration.
Ditto to all the above; with bells on!! Please keep it up.
It's a fun read and you'll never know what you'll find. :-D
When I get through this next period of hell for the next few weeks I expect I will start contributing to my own again too. Right now it would read like the Perils of Pauline.
Mac, do not even think of getting rid of the cat posts. They are the best bit. Maybe you could persuade Fr Tim that a second collection for the Cat Protection League should be taken instead of one for communications, youth, diocese, etc. God bless. fr Steven Fisher
Reasons I read your blog: 1) cats; 2)information on your parish and the TLM; 3)gleanings from your spiritual viewpoint and your travels; 4)because I do not want to be one of handful of traditional women blogging-we need all the trad blogs we can muster...
PS but only do it if God wants you to do it
Well, Mac, it may even be that we read your blog because we genuinely like you and the way you share your life and ideas with us. Just a thought :-)
Yup. Cats. in Domino.
I very much hope you will persevere with your blog. I visit it regularly and enjoy it. You are part of the rich Catholic tapestry; long may you continue!
I read your blog because I too have "Traditional Leanings",but unlike you have not the opportunity to indulge them.I love your photographs of the Mass,and news of the happenings in your parish.I love your sane comments about the great issues of the day,and I greatly enjoy your catposts.Your blog has been a help to me during my return to the Church,as have other traditional type blogs.It helps me to feel less alone in my beliefs.
Mac, I simply like reading you because you are one of the good guy(esse)s. Blogs are better than Facebook because we really encounter the person who has the space to express him or herself fully. I find it pastorally useful to read the real thoughts of an intelligent laywoman: it helps me to moderate my homilies accordingly; the fact that you teach science points me in particular directions. Now I'm not expressing myself very well, but you have a positive effect on my ministry, and that would be diminished if you gave up. Clearly I do not feed you as the other blogging priests you name, but that is not the point. Others have said that merely to have helped one soul is enough for a lifetime. Blogs are one way, and a way that, expressing something only once in one post, may help a multitude of people.
Sorry, that was inarticulate, but I hope you get the message. Keep blogging: I'll keep reading.
I love your blog as it's very homely, down to earth, funny, profound, and had nice photos! (Oh, and it's also really nice to be able to read the thoughts of someone else who views Catholicism in the same way as I do.)
But I can also relate to the way you are feeling as I often feel exactly the same about my blog...
There isn't a week that goes by that I don't think I should just pack it in. I definitely don't see my blog as an apostolate, but it rather as a blog that happens to be written by a slightly traddie Catholic -- and not a very good one at that! Like, you, Mac, I often wonder why people read my blog, and get very concerned if people take it too seriously.
But please keep blogging, you do have an important role to play in the blogosphere and mixing the leaven of our faith with normal day-to-day things is the best sort of apostolate!
"I love the Holy Father, and I want to help to promote the truths of the Catholic Faith. "
You`ve already given the reasons to continue
Please do continue
It`s good to read a religious blog which does not contain sanctimonious "crap" unlike some
It`s just you and the cats. That`s how you make the faith interesting
I read your blog because (a) I share your traditionalist view of Catholicism (b) there are often interesting posts, and (c) because it often gives a slighly different 'angle' on some of the issues that also appear in the priestly blogs of His Hermeneuticalness, Fr Ray Blake and others.
While I'm not really a 'cat person', I do find many of the cat posts very amusing, and would certainly miss them: every blog should have its own touches of individuality and quirkiness to make it worth reading.
Please keep blogging.
As one of traditional bent, who lives in an area where absolutely nothing of that sort is available, I enjoy the glimpses into life in a parish which combines both traditional and contemporary successfully. I love the occasional female slant on events His Hermeneuticalness has also written about. I love that it is an English blog with touches of the British sense of humour (my husband was English).
And as a life-long feline fan, I delight in the updates on the Monsignori.
In short, please, please, keep the "mish-mash". I would not love having to check two different blogs to find out what you and the cats are up to.
Leonardo sketched Virgin and Child with a cat and the Pope is a noted feline fan, so you're on safe ground!
Keep blogging and keep the cat in!
I'm more of a dog person myself, but we've always had multiple cats in the house. For some reason I've always thought of cats as a more catholic pet then dogs - not quite sure why that may be.
I read your blog because I agree with much of what you say and it is always good to feel a sense of community - even if virtual; I also read your blog because I learn from it.
So please keep up the good work!
Keep the cat posts!!!!
I'm another one of those single, middle aged, catholic women (with no theological training.) I find your take on things interesting. The cat posts are a bonus.
Please keep up the cat posts! Very enjoyable, and one's life is not all sort of neatly compartmentalized, is it? So I do not find the intermingling jarring at all
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