About this site

reetings and welcome! Prompted by my friends in the Fourth Estate, I started this site as a way to compile all the interesting Catholic-related bits of news and information I was encountering on the web. As an "educator in the faith," I also was looking for an outlet for my own Church-related projects and writings. Thus was born this compendium of all aspects of "Catholicana" (as in "Americana").

While there are plenty of other Catholic blogs out there, I find many to be either excessively rigid, narrowly opinionated, or loquaciously edited. My hope here is to combine my love of our faith with the high standards of journalism I learned and practiced when in the newspaper business. And, as "catholic" means "universal," I hope to draw on more of our faith life than just controversial memes or holier-than-thou debates.

So, here's to posts that will be pithy, varied, and as editorially neutral as possible (disclosure: I "cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame"), with helpful background, insightful analysis and the occasional opinion piece thrown in for good measure -- to "stir the crock-pot" as a friend would say. While Paul doesn't mention bloggers in 1 Corinthians 12, I hope to draw on the grace and aid of the Spirit all the same.

"Give light and the people will find their own way"
-- Scripps newspapers' motto.

"For faith casts a new light on everything."
-- Gaudium et Spes (11)

What will you find here? Well, if it has something to do with Catholicism, even if that connection seems remote or tenuous, it's eligible for inclusion. Vatican news, local profiles, Catholic education, politics, sports, entertainment, etc. are all fair game.

What won't you find here? I profess to be neither left nor right -- politically, culturally or liturgically. So, if you're looking for screeds either way, I'm afraid this site will disappoint. Likewise, while I'll try to be as comprehensive as possible, you won't find links to every single story concerning sexual abuse accusations, separatist movements, today's papal audience, or the Catholic League's press release of the week. Nonetheless, when newsworthy, you may see these topics pop up. (Regarding clerical sexual abuse articles, may I suggest the Abuse Tracker, a project that was previously coordinated by the National Catholic Reporter and the Poynter Institute.)

A note about posting frequency: As I have a full-time apostolate, house obediences, and other responsibilities, please understand that there may be periods of inactivity from time to time. I apologize in advance and thank you for your patience and continued readership.

Thanks for joining me in this corner of the web. As always, if you have any thoughts, comments, queries or suggestions, feel free to e-mail them to the name of this blog @ gmail.com (obfuscated to confuse the spambots).

In Holy Cross,

—Mike