Thursday, February 2, 2012

To Blog Or Not To Blog

America did not have a blog when I was hired, and there was some question as to whether we should dip our toes in those waters. Commonweal had recently launched a blog with great success, yet we did not enjoy the same editorial independence. 
The Jesuits who publish America were already a target in the mostly conservative Catholic blogosphere; there was little question that an America blog would quickly become a subject of those other bloggers’ scrutiny. The editorial staff always took great care in crafting its positions, yet blogs by their nature do not always allow for such moderation. 
We began with a compromise: a blog on Scripture and preaching, which built on our popular “Word” column on the Sunday readings. We recruited a roster of biblical scholars and encouraged them to connect their exegesis to contemporary events. The blog slowly built an audience, but we still felt we needed a forum to weigh in on breaking news. 
Eventually we launched “In All Things, a group blog that includes among its contributors the writers Sidney Callahan and Michael Sean Winters. The blog has proved more controversial than our Scripture blog, and has raised questions for some about where the positions of the editors end and those of our bloggers begin. In an environment often marked by vitriol, we have tried to encourage charity, not always to great success. 
Yet for better or worse, blogs are often the place where ideas are thrashed out in today’s twenty-four-hour news cycle, and we want to be part of the conversation. 
Read Maurice "Tim" Reidy's entire piece (here) at Church

4 comments:

Maria said...

“The Lord has willed that we should even rejoice over persecutions because, when persecutions occur then the faith is crowned. God’s soldiers are put to the test and heaven is opened to martyrs. We have not enlisted in an army merely to think of peace and to decline battle, seeing that the Lord, the master of humility, endurance and suffering, has taken the first place in the conflict. He was the first to do what He taught us to do. He was the first to endure for us in order to inspire us to endure for Him.”
--St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage

Taliban Catholics? We thank you.

Anonymous said...

The folks at AMERICA have been quite patient with the sometimes crude "blog hogs" who hover around the site to post the same tired right wing posts.

Maria said...

Right wing posts...oh, yeah, you maean, like the Doctrine of the Faith? Wouldn't want anyone stumbling into the truths of the Faith. I guess you have to be carfeful. Someone might fall for it, huh :O)

Thanks for the comments. Wonder why such manly charity is never accompanied by a signature...

Anonymous said...

Dear "Maria":

"Manly"?? Why "manly"?

-Mr. Anonymous