Ignatius Insight has another in its series of weekly articles on Catholic bloggers. This time they print responses to the question of what value there is in Catholic blogs.
Technically, the question they posed (though they don’t print it in the article) was "What can a Catholic blog do that others can’t?"
Your humble blogger has the lead answer this week.
GET THE STORY.
What I’ll be interested to see is if they print the opening of my answer to next week’s question ("What criticisms of blogs are most valid?"). It was distinctly off-the-wall.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
Jimmy,
I agree heartily with your answer to the blog question and your comment on the evangelization effect of Catholic blogging. I started reading your blog before I started the RCIA process last fall in converting from a Baptist to a Catholic. I had checked out your link from Catholic Answers web page as I listened to C. A. on a regular basis for the past two years. Your comments, answers to questions and general information on the Catholic Christian faith were very helpful to me in this transition to be Catholic. I thank you for the help your blog has given me in this journey. By the way, I will be received into the Church this Sunday, Corpus Christi, with confirmation and first communion.
Welcome home, buddy! Glad that I could be of service.
Incidentally, Corpus Christi is particularly meaningful to me since that is where (not when) I was born.
Blogging about being a Catholic and blogging about my faith allows me to do more than just go to Church on Sunday. It allows me to give my perspective on what I feel is valuable to me and to the Catholic faith.
Last year at this time I did nothing more than go to Church every week. Now I’m into the Bible, into the Papacy, and in touch with the Church as I never have been before. I’ve gotten to share my thoughts with my computer and anyone who happens to stop by and read.
And by reading blogs like Jimmy’s it lets me in on what other Catholics are thinking and it truly feels like a united Church.
Good answer Jimmy. I also appreciated the point raised by several others that St. Blog’s Parish is beginning to serve as a rallying point for orthodox Catholics around the world. After enduring the typical liturgical and homiletic insults at our local parishes, it’s refreshing and extremely important to us to mix and mingle with like-minded Catholics around the world. I don’t think the importance of this is anywhere near as apparent as it will become.