I read a number of blogs, most of them connected with Catholicism which post on a variety of issues related to living our faith.
Some blogs receive many comments, some just a few and some blogs do not allow comments. Many bloggers respond to their readers' comments now and then but for the most part they let their readers have at it on their own. I'd like to be able to do that here but I can't for several reasons.
Many readers ask me to answer questions posed in the comboxes and those questions run the gamut from spiritual direction to interpreting church teaching to settling combox disputes. It's not that spiritual direction, teaching and arbitration are beyond me: my life includes these ministries on a regular basis. But to try to respond to anonymous questions and comments is something I find increasingly difficult to accomplish in a forum such as this. I do not have the time to craft the lengthy responses some questions, comments and requests require and deserve.
It's also not unusual for commentors to ask me to comment on other readers' comments! If the comments in question have to do with simple subjects, there's no problem, but the issues at stake here are often far from simple.
Recently I posted some reflections on a wedding at which I had presided. My reflection centered on "hopes and prayers, wishes and dreams." I was reflecting as a Catholic priest on the Catholic wedding of a Catholic man and woman in a Catholic church. Seems rather tame, no? But the combox took a sharp turn and developed into a string of 22 comments, most of which debated gay marriage. I'm not surprised when readers look for my reaction to comments and pose questions for me to answer. But the issues and questions are often far from simple and require time I don't have and a venue this blog can't offer.
Another problem is that if I leave any provocative comments unattended, some readers believe I'm being less than faithful to my work as a priest.
The bottom line is that I need to hold myself generally responsible for the contents of this blog and, just shy of a year into this venture, I see clearly that there are limitations on what I can do.
I'm looking forward to my second year on this page but I will be making some changes. At least for the time being, I will leave the comboxes open but that may change, too. In the meantime, I will judiciously moderate comments. My goal is to publish a source of spirituality and growth in faith for as wide a readership as possible.
Please bear with me as I continue to offer this page as responsibly as I can.
-ConcordPastor
I'd like to share some of my experiences with comments on blogs as a blogger. Wheelie Catholic is my second blog, so I've been blogging for about four or five years now and currently write several blogs, all of which I moderate comments on. I didn't at first, but in order to keep the tone in hand and also so that people with different POV feel free to share, I felt it was best. I do it with a very light hand. Comment moderation has often kept me from having to disrupt what I'm doing at work to rush in to manage what can become an inappropriate discussion, where people sometimes pick on each other. That, to me, is not helpful to any discussion.
ReplyDeleteI read your blog daily and hope you know how much your blog enriches the spiritual life of many of us out in the blogosphere. Thanks.
Great post about and modeling integrity in the blogosphere. FWIW, I think you should remove the comments box altogether.
ReplyDeleteYour blog is rapidly becoming one of the finer spiritual resources in the blogosphere. It never looked to me if you intended it to be a virtual parish or a forum for debate, although you occasionally encourage readers to comment.
There's plenty of precedent for a blog such as yours to remove comments entirely. See, for example, Whispers in the Loggia.
You could continue the occasional poll for interactivity. You could also set up a link to a separate mailbox for email from your blog.
I offer these comments to support your pastoral ministry on and off line. May God continue to bless you as you bless the People of God.
Meredith Gould
It's only recently that I discovered your blog and it has become a daily "must have," immensely important and helpful to me, as it has to many others. IMHO, you are certainly meeting and even exceeding your goal of providing "a source of spirituality and growth in faith for as wide a readership as possible." That's what is important so the comments can be or not be, but please just keep nurturing us! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteCookie
Very nicely put. (We should not be surprised!) You carry a special burden blogging in your position and thus I pray for your continued discernment in this matter. God will finish the work He started in you via your initial decision to start this blog.
ReplyDeletePlease know, as others have noted, that your writings here are making strides for the kingdom far beyond what you might observe or imagine. (One story came to me just last week and I'm already observing its positive ripple effects in another Christian community.)
For my own part, having 'done' several blogs now, I smile and take some direction from evangelical blogger LaShawn Barber. Her only slightly tongue-in-cheek policy can be found here. (You may need to tone it down a bit to fit your style... but then who ever said pastors aren't entitled to be firm and make hard judgments in the interest of good ministry?)
In my own combox, I amended the header to the short-and-sweet admonition: "Be Nice!" It works better than I initially thought.
I understand. As a priest and pastor you want to speak for the church. Sometimes the issues are just too complicated for a com-box discussion. Please accept my apologies if my post was the provocative comment you mention. I too read your blog daily and I'm enriched by it. I for one hope you don't close the com-boxes although I would still be a regular reader because of the excellent spiritual content of your blog.
ReplyDeletethanks
Anne
Anne: I wasn't referring to any one comment in particular, nor was I being critical of comments I characterized as provocative. Provocative comments stimulate discussion.
ReplyDeleteAnd keep in mind that provocation comes from both the left and the right! :-)
I would be saddened to see the combox closed. As you state, provocation can be a good thing. On more than one occasion over the past year it has been helpful to learn that others feel similar and to reflect upon divergent points of view. We are all on this journey together and finding community along the road, be it in a physical parish, or via various websites is a valuable part of the process.
ReplyDeleteAn entry in this combox refers to the notion of a "virtual parish". For lack of a better term, I use your website (and one or two others) in that capacity because I am actually physically remote from a Catholic Church.
I have been an almost daily reader over the past year and feel the positive changes as a result. Just yesterday I was searching for a posting I recollected from last autumn to share with a friend struggling with a deep, personal loss. This blog offered up words of wisdom and provided a balm for a friend's wound.
I do understand the sense of responsibility you rightly feel for the messages and comments posted on this site. It will be worth the wait if you screen and post comments to the blog as your schedule allows.
Keep on bloggin"!
I read this post earlier today and have been thinking that I should apologize for perhaps being the one who was the tipping point in your decision potentially to eliminate comments. I have been commenting as Anonymous for a long time and sometimes I do provoke from the "left." Today, I just had a chance to read Bishop Thomas Gumbleton's homily for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (posted June 19.) I recommend it to your readership. I receive it via NCR e-mail alert, but one can Google Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and come to an NCR site that has archives of his "The Peace Pulpit." This particular homily included a number of recent events and the way they were dealt with by priests and bishops. Bishop Gumbleton lets us know how Jesus might have dealt with these issues. "He was a person who was filled with compassion, nurturing, life-sustaining love. His attempt was to go out and bring back, as he said, 'the lost sheep of Israel.' Don't condemn them, don't push them away because they've fallen short. Draw them back."...."Go, bring them back. I love them."...."That's the way our church should be."...."If we can become that kind of inclusive community and inclusive people, the reign of God will be very much closer than it's been before."
ReplyDeleteBishop Gumbleton is so full of goodness. I wish more bishops would emulate him.
Rosemary
*sniff* I would miss it if I couldn't put my own little tangential teases into the comments on your blog entries. It provides a way for me to stay connected to one of the few remaining positive RC connections I have. I know that theoretically I'm still connected if I just read and drop you an occasional email, but this feels like I'm still participating with you in something.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of connections and being provocative, I am so far out of the loop these days that I had to hear about Sunday's ordinations on WBZ radio! The times they've been a-changin' or I'm getting old or something. As Cardinal Newman said, "To live is to change; to be perfect is to change often," so I guess it's OK. :-)
As you can see, Concord Pastor, it would be a mistake to eliminate comment on this blog. We all, who comment, would very much miss it. :-)
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