Category: Internet

Typepad seems to be having a bug that is preventing the comments pages from working right. I’ve created a help ticket, and hopefully they’ll have it resolved soon. I’ll let y’all know. Sorry for the inconvenience.

A reader writes:

Given all you cover here (blog) and Catholic Answers, what works best to keep you keep from running dry?

Hm. I haven’t really thought of it in those terms. I assume that the reader is asking this to try to figure out what works for me so that he can apply similar techniques himself, so I’ll try to answer from that angle.

Usually the problem is not running out of things to say. I’m constantly on the lookout for new material on my own, and many folks write in with questions or send links. The problem is more like not having the time needed to say all of the things I could. I have to force myself not to blog more than I do because I need to spend time on other things (like having a life).

That said, there are some things that help keep me going. One is the feedback I get in the combox and via e-mail. That tells me that I’m making a connection with the readers and that they’re interested (whether they agree or not) with what I have to say. If nobody was interested in what I was saying, I’d get disappointed and quit.

The links that I get from other blogs and seeing my blog doing well in the rankings also show interest in the work I’m doing, and that’s positive reinforcement as well.

Beyond that, it’s just trying to maintain a healthy curiosity about all kinds of things and keeping an eye out for good material

If I had to summarize, I’d suggest these points:

1) Pace yourself. Figure out how much time one could afford to spend and then don’t exceed it.

2) Look for what kind of positive reinforcement you can get and take satisfaction in it.

3) Stay curious about things. Always try to be learning something new.

4) Keep on the lookout for good material. Always be pre-planning what you’re going to do next.

Hope these help!

Since JimmyAkin.Org is my most active site these days, not much attention has been paid to JimmyAkin.Com of late. For time reasons and for technical reasons that I won’t go into, I haven’t been able to update it for some time. (Think: Years.)

I’ve left the files up there, warts and all, figuring that they’d do more good than harm, but I’m frankly embarrassed by the state of the site and would very much like to get the files moved to a location where I can more easily manage and update them.

But I need help.

I may need a little css help, but what I mainly need is assistance in getting the files transferred from the current JimmyAkin.Com site to the new site.

This will not involve doing real html coding. It will mostly just be copying and pasting text from the current files into a web form.

So I’m asking for volunteers!

If you’d be interested in helping out with the project, please e-mail me or let me know your interest and e-mail address in the combox.

I’m not asking for long-term commitments, just what time people feel they can affort to volunteer. I also don’t think it’ll take that long to get the site converted to the new location once we start.

Hopefully, a number of folks will be interested in helping out and we’ll be able to debut the new, revised, and updatable JimmyAkin.Com very soon!

Thanks much, folks!

Today will be a blog day off, so go out and cook some burgers and dogs and set off some illegal fireworks or something.

Have fun!

Sorry to international readers, but I do need breaks from this stuff and may as well take them when everyone else (here) is.

A reader writes:

Would you please consider having a weekly prayer intentions post?  Your blog is so well visited that it could only be a good thing couldn’t it?  The com box could be open for visitors to leave their own intentions and prayer requests.  I know it’s none of my business what you do with your blog, just thought I’d offer the suggestion 🙂

I’m open to doing this. I don’t know if weekly is the right frequency, though if I did I’d probably do it as the final post on Fridays (like this one, for example) so that the intentions folks posted would be on people’s minds going into the weekend and Sunday.

I’d hesitate to do this too frequently, because others have established prayer ministries, and what I’m doing here is different, but prayer is an important part of the Christian life, and my blog is a pretty diverse place, so I’d like to hear what readers think about this idea and how often it should be done.

Feel free to change your handle if you feel the need to do so to give your opinion (though let’s not have a dozen different anonymous commenters, okay?).

If we do do it, I’d encourage folks to be careful what private information they reveal about themselves. They might want to change their handles–particularly if they’re using their real names as handles–when they post prayer requests.

So whadda y’all think?

I’m going to be largely offline this week as I’m putting my computer back into the shop. (They didn’t fix the problem last time, unfortunately).

In anticipation of the new repair effort, I do, however, have material scheduled to go up each day until the computer should be repaired, so the blog won’t be inactive in the interim.

My co-bloggers are, of course, welcome to toss in anything they may have on their minds to make up the difference.

Thanks, folks, and have a great rest of the week!

Sorry, folks, but I need a blog day off.

Have fun with the recent posts and archives!

A few weeks ago John Allen sat down for pizza with

SOME YOUNG CATHOLICS IN THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS.

His observations of them were refreshing (EXCERPTS):

What became clear is that these young people are deeply "intentional" Catholics, meaning that in this day and age, their faith is not something they picked up in the air, but the result of a personal process of thought and decision. They didn’t start out as believers and only later discover that some aspects of church teaching are counter-cultural; they know the broader culture is hostile to some of what the church stands for, and have made a conscious decision to embrace it anyway.

All expressed deep admiration for Pope John Paul II.

Pushing these young Catholics to dig deeper, to look at the church "warts and all," I learned that their frustrations are rarely the ones that journalists and sociologists usually assume they should have — teachings on birth control and homosexuality, for example, or power in the church.

Instead, their major complaint seemed to be with pedagogy and communications.

Religious education and preaching, they said, rarely offers the meaty content that a Catholic needs. Further, they said, even when the church does provide solid content, it rarely does so in an accessible, engaging way.

In other words, these 20-somethings share something of the desire of the Vatican II generation for a more "modern" church — but, unlike Baby Boomers, by "modern" they mean technological sophistication and savvy about engaging the cultural debate, not doctrinal change or structural reform.

So things are looking up for Catholic orthodoxy–at least among this group of young Texans.

But they did have some complaints:

Several expressed frustration, for example, with the limited use made by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops of the Internet.

Maria Fredericks, 19, an honors major, said she had occasionally visited the Vatican Web site, but that it is "difficult to use" and largely offers lengthy texts.

"I want bullet points," she said. "I want easy-to-digest pieces. I want this to be presented in ways that will actually reach people."

When I suggested that putting a couple of them to work for an afternoon would likely produce a much snappier Internet operation for the church, heads nodded aggressively.

And these insightful young Texans are putting their fingers on something we all know: The Vatican website, such as it is . . . well . . . stinks.

I mean, <hyperbole>a lobotomized web designer with one half of his brains left in a glass by his toothbrush in the morning could do better.</hyperbole>

The current site is way too focused on art and dignity and far too little focused on functionality (not to mention having timely updates and translations).

But there’s good news, everyone! According to Zenit, there’s a new Vatican web site in the works:

The Vatican is planning to launch a new Web site this autumn, aimed at bringing together the faithful so they can interact, says Business Week magazine.

The publication in its May 8 issue reported that the Web site will include personal news updates, e-learning programs, and areas set aside for families, young people and parishes.

It quoted Sister Judith Zoebelein, the editorial director of the Internet office of the Holy See, saying: "People will be able to find each other and work together online, and then go back and use what they have learned or done in their own communities" [SOURCE].

Let’s hope that the new site fulfills its promise . . . and what it needs to be!

In the combox down yonder, a reader writes:

I stumbled onto your blog by accident. Read several areas of commentary. Was a bit befuddled as to why there is nothing on the site explaining why you are qualified to answer questions or give advice on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church and its practices and canon law rather than directing one to their local priest or bishop.

So I did a little research and found that you work for Catholic Answers.com, but that still doesn’t answer the question.

Okay! I’ll do what I can to help clarify matters!

Is your advice reviewed by Rome or your local bishop to make sure that it is correct and accurate.

No, there is not enough time for that.

Do you not have a moral obligation as a Catholic to gain prior approval of your commentary by you local bishop in order to make sure you are not misleading other Catholics in giving advice (including interpretation of Canon law) on what is proper and what is not?

I have a moral obligation to make sure that what I say is accurate, and I take that obligation very, very seriously. I would daresay that I take it much more seriously than many do, but I do not have the moral or canonical obligation to get prior approval on everything I write on matters related to the faith.

But I don’t have the moral obligation because to seek prior approval on what I write because if people had this obligation then the work of spreading and explaining the faith would come to a screeching halt. There are only 4,400 Catholic bishops in the world, but there are 6,000,000,000 people who need education in the faith. If bishops were required to pre-approve everything that was written to help evangelize the world then they would not be able to eat or sleep. They would spend all their time reading and pre-approving documents–either that or the number of documents would diminish to a trickle and the project of promoting the Christian faith would come to the screeching halt I mentioned earlier.

In recognition of the pressing need for works that promote the faith, canon law only requires imprimaturs on a handful of highly important works, like translations of Scripture or catechisms. It does not require imprimaturs (granted before or after publication) for ordinary attempts to explain points of Church teaching or law. (You can read the requirements for imprimaturs HERE).

As I said, though I don’t have the moral or canonical obligation to get pre-approval on everything I write (though I do on those things I write that require imprimaturs), I do have the moral obligation to make sure that I am right, and I am very serious about that.

This is one of the reasons I "show my work" by quoting from official Church documents whenever possible and by spelling out the links in my reasoning so that people can see and evaluate it for themselves. I don’t just present my conclusions and say "This is what the Church teaches." I know a lot of people do that, but I strive not to be one of them.

I also strive to make it clear whether what I’m saying is a matter of personal opinion or Church teaching–which is something else I wish others would do more often than is presently the case.

My goal in doing this work is what I call "transparency to the Church." I want to present to people what the Church presents without addition, subtraction, or alteration. I strive to tell people what the authentic Magisterium of the Church has said even when I’m not comfortable with it, and when I’m asked a question that the Magisterium has not addressed, I try to make it clear that the answer I’m giving is not to be confused with official Church teaching.

I’m not perfect, and I’m sure that people can point to examples where I have failed in this regard, but this is the goal that I earnestly pursue.

Given your commentary in posts on canon law, and your view of it, can you point me to a the reference that would allow for a dispensation to allow a priest to not be celibate and participate actively in a parish community life?

I’ve been working toward doing a post on the topic of how a laicized priest can and cannot involve himself in parish life for a while. I already know what the general parameters are, but I’m in the process of procuring a copy of the standard document that is issued to priests when they are laicized that spells these matters out. As soon as I have it and can get it typed in, I’ll post it so that people can see for themselves what the general rules are. (That way they don’t have to take me at my word; they can read the document for themselves.)

I hope to have this done later in the week, though it might stretch into next week. Please stop back by and check.

Would you say your a liberal or conservative Catholic? I can’t understand how people can consider themselves liberal and Catholic.

I don’t know whether you’re using the terms "liberal" and "conservative" in a political or a theological sense, though I suspect the latter. Theologically, I strive to be a scrupulously orthodox Catholic, which you might call conservative.

As for the bunny story, why do you bother to post this kind of trash? Shouldn’t your posts directed at furthering God’s word?

God made us to have a sense of humor and to spend time on things other than theology. He meant us to live full orbed lives and to be interested in many topics. I try to reflect this on my blog by using humor (like the ongoing "The Easter Bunny is EVIL!" joke) and by posting about topics other than religion so that we can marvel together about other aspects of God’s creation and the human spirit (which is part of his creation).

Interested in answers.

I hope these help!

One subject that you raised but didn’t put into the form of a question is my qualifications to do all this.

My academic training is in philosophy, which intersects to a considerable degree with the work I do. I am also an autodidact who has managed to acquire a background in apologetics, biblical studies, theology, liturgy, canon law, and related disciplines.

Because I have learned this material on my own, I do not have an institution such as the Church or a university that has put its seal of approval on me (in areas other than philosophy) and said, "Listen to this guy; he knows what he’s talking about."

In the absence of such a seal of approval, the only defense there is for my answers is making sure that they are right. I can’t rely for my credibility on the fact that someone else has vouched for me.

Since no institution has handed me a reputation for accuracy by putting its seal of approval on me, the only way I can build a reputation for accuracy is by regularly being accurate and showing why my answers are accurate. That’s another of the reasons I "show my work" by backing them up with Church documents and spelling out the reasoning behind the conclusions I offer so that people can evaluate them for themselves.

This means I go to more pains to make sure that I’m right than if I had an institutional seal of approval. If I were a priest, for example, I could often get along by just saying "This is the way it is," and many people wouldn’t challenge me (especially to my face) because I was a priest. Not being a priest, I don’t have that luxury, so I have to go to extra lengths to ensure accuracy since truth is the only defense I have.

Hope this helps, and hope you’ll keep reading!

The blogmistress of Once Upon a Time… (aka my sister) offers an instructive parable for bloggers with a sobering moral:

"If a person starts a blog and begins revealing intimate and private details of his life, he will attract attention. No one asked him to put himself out there, but he did. Eventually, the attention and the demands of the public leave him feeling that he has nothing private left to himself. He is conflicted because he enjoyed the audience that would read his posts gratefully. Over time, there are certain readers who demand more and more, or who may judge him for the way he lives his life and write him to say so. The man doesn’t want to lose his audience, but he sees that the price he paid for giving away his privacy is that the public feels that what he has given away is no longer just his. They are entitled to it also. Eventually, he stops blogging altogether…"

GET THE POST. (Read the whole thing.)