You’re great

Have seen this in so many places. Love it.

Maybe we should have a National Validation Day:-)

Why I read blogs, especially Catholic ones

I first became aware of blogs probably about eight or nine years ago. Some of the first blogs I stumbled across were about Star Trek. Then I came across a Luthern blog, which I think was named something about pirates. Reading this blog was a revelation and one of the reasons that I am still a Christian.

Later I came across Amy Welborn’s Open Book, Disputations and Flos Carmeli. By this time, I  realised, that I had not found any UK Catholic blogs to read.

Over the following year, I gradually found other UK Catholic blogs, often just starting out.

The initial flurry has faded, and many have come and gone. Reading Catholic blogs is important to me – for information that I probably wouldn’t find out any other way, connecting individuals across the world and for broadening my opinions and experience of living out Catholicism.

Reading UK Catholic blogs is even more important, because there are some joys and struggles that are unique to living in these isles – the media attitude to religion, our Bishop’s Conference, our Catholic papers (The Universe, The Herald, The Tablet) and umpteen other things.

But most important, is bringing it home that the Catholic Church is a Body – what affects one part, affects the others, whether we know it or not.

Just three examples of this in the last couple of weeks that have been mentioned on multiple blogs, commented on and prayed about by many:

• The death of Michael Dubruiel – someone I never met, don’t know, but have found myself praying for because I read Charlotte Was Both
• Nancy Pelosi’s meeting with Pope Benedict – someone I would never have heard of or really cared about were it not for the blogosphere. I found myself pleased that the Pope met with her, for her and for the American bloggers I read who have posted about her.
• The Tablet’s unpleasant article about Fr. Tim Finigan’s  – again someone I’ve never met, whose blog I’ve read for years. Again, I find myself praying for Fr. Tim, the parish, and surprisingly, the journalists at The Tablet.

I’m running out of words, so perhaps I’ll close by quoting Pope Benedict as to why this is a good thing:

The desire for connectedness and the instinct for communication that are so obvious in contemporary culture are best understood as modern manifestations of the basic and enduring propensity of humans to reach beyond themselves and to seek communion with others.

and

…the emergence of new digital networks that seek to promote human solidarity, peace and justice, human rights and respect for human life and the good of creation. These networks can facilitate forms of co-operation between people from different geographical and cultural contexts that enable them to deepen their common humanity and their sense of shared responsibility for the good of all.

from New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship, Message for the 43rd World Communications Day.