While I agree with many of your points Matthew, I have to wonder about part of my blog concerning being Catholic.  I talk about Faith, Family, and Food and I have weekly excerpts of the Magnificat publication posted every time I post new for the week. What’s a good way to show Catholicism without being too overbearing or too lukewarm in my mention of it? It’s something that’s on my mind quite a bit as I don’t want to shy away from my Catholic identity nor do I want to pound it into the heads of my future viewers.

John, I think that’s a really good question. And I think it’s something many people struggle with (including me). In fact, I’d like to think about it some more before answering and write a full post on it sometime soon (this week or next week probably). Thanks for the great question…

I’m bombarded lately with people telling me that I need a blog.  The blogs I read, though, seem to have a focus:  they’re about parenting, or technology, or saints, or secret gardens, or politics….  As the quintessential liberal arts grad, I can’t see myself stuck in one realm; so my new blog would have to be called “Potpourri” and would, I’m afraid, appeal to no one.

I just started a blog and love writing on it, I am “blogging for the Faith”.  I think John should be bold about the Faith.  If he is sincere in his love for the Faith, and has true enthusiasm, people will be attacted to it through his blog.  It is a great opportunity to share the Faith that he should not shy away from.  If he is persecuted he will be blessed. He should pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance!

I started my blog about 2 yes after I returned as a way to explain my reasons for reverting to the Catholic faith. My family was not very happy about my return to Rome and I felt the need to articulate it in a way they could understand.
Unfortunately it ended up alienating me further, but I have had the opportunity to share the Catholic faith and express it in a way that evangelicals and other ex-Catholics like me could understand.
In the meantime the blog has gained a readership of catholic reverts, converts and inquirers as well as detractors.
Four years and 1300 posts later I have been told by several that my blog has been helpful in their journey to or back to the Church.
  So, Catholics please don’t worry about being overbearing. Our faith is the Pearl of Great price and the greatest treasure here on earth. Let’s not let others live without at least being presented with the truth about Catholicism and the ability of Jesus to change lives through His church
God bless
ps I just wish a devout Catholic could have beena little overbearing with me when I chose to leave the Church as a young teen becoming an evangelical who never understood who I left
Russ Rentler m.d.
Www.crossed-the-Tiber.blogspot.com

Jill Stanek published some great tips for blogging.  She’s says they’re “pro-life” tips, but they’re very general.

Jill Stanek’s blogging tips:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WdUubI3cAX0J:www.jillstanek.com/pro-life-blogging-tips.html+jill+stanek+blogging+tips&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

I think you should ‘blog if it’s 1998 and you need some handy way of keeping track of all the cool website’s you’ve visited or it’s 2001 and your friends all ‘blog and are asking you why you haven’t started one yet. Seeing as how it’s 2010 now, though, there’s probably other things we should be doing.

After seeing all the comments today, I will wait for Matthew’s post about it for further suggestions.  However, I really liked the feedback, especially Russ and Jackie’s comments. After thinking about it a bit more I think that if I just allow myself to write honestly (without trying to be someone I’m not) my Catholic identity will shine through without any artificial manufacturing of it. Thank you everyone for the very helpful advice.

Great points John amd Matthew.I struggle with that as well. However, not all others do. Some bloggers seek to take over with their views, to listen to themselves talk, as if they are protecting their turf. Example being the blog from a few weeks ago. 700 plus comments. Enough already- at what point does it begin to become unhealthy to ones soul,and others.

Blogging is the pamphleteering of the 21st century.  I’m convinced Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin would have been bloggers, had the technology been available. There’s no more cost effective way to influence the culture especially in areas where secularism runs rampant.  John C., I wouldn’t worry about being too Catholic. Visit us at www.catholicmaine.com.

@Brian S: Thomas Paine, maybe. I doubt Ben Franklin would have had the time to waste.

Seems to me that blogging simply satisfies our human need to speak to others in community.  It substitutes for the day-gone-by parlor, the front porch or other venues that no longer fit into our overly constructed busy lives. It is the place for discussions, both philosophical and practical, about life and living.  If not at home on a blog, young moms converse and share their lives and experiences during their children’s playgroup.  Bible studies or any group study afford opportunities to share thoughts about life and the faith and typically a lot more is talked about than the chapter and verse!

Victor, your comments are both amusing and confusing.  Explain yourself.
Like Matthew, I have found blogging to be a tool by which I can organize my ideas and risk putting them out for people to discuss or not discuss for that matter.  It has helped me to better speak my ideas, write my ideas, and really, think my ideas. 
Karen, I both agree and disagree with you.  Blogging, reading blogs, and commenting on blogs does in some way satisfy “our human need to speak to others in community.”  It is an inadequate substitute for person-to-person physical interaction.  The written word, with all its force and with all its power, is not an adequate substitute for the spoken word.  One can see, hear, smell, touch in one-on-one or group conversation on a porch or parlor.  Body language speaks volumes.  Tone and meter allow for greater effect and help to better communicate one’s ideas.  The spoken word was so important that Plato wrote in dialogue.  Thomas Aquinas wrote in question and answer after the format of his classes.  The printing press and the internet cannot full replace the full force of physical interaction.  Technology tries, look at the new iPhone 4.  Apple wished to revolutionize everything by making this form of communication more available, but it’s still just a substitute.  We all know (other that Jack Black) the substitute never really met the standards set by the original teacher.
reverencedreading.blogspot.com

I’m going to make a blatant pitch here.

re: the conversation on an earlier post here at NCR…A Deeper Look…

I too have a blog and am inviting the gang from “A Deeper Look at the Many Evangelicals Turning Catholic”
to join me there.

2secondsfaster.com

Also, to address this post, I used to moderate at Jill Staneks’ site. 

Her site is focused on Pro Life and it’s awesome.  My own blog is more eclectic.  I share it with another woman and while we are both Catholic and Pro life, we try to talk about EVERYTHING!

We have book clubs, and “series” posts, political posts, religious posts, philosophical posts, humorous posts and personal posts.  Anything goes.  We don’t try to limit ourselves.

We also have a community section where ANY commenter can broach a topic and if we like it we’ll do a post on it.  Plus, we allow some of our readers to post regularly.  They have very different views than we do and it makes for a much more interesting mix of posts.  While the blog itself is a Catholic/Prolife blog, we have guests that are atheist, agnostic, pro choice, young, old, liberal, conservative…and we ALL get along.

I think it really helps to make your guests feel welcome and to allow them to be who they are.  You can disagree all you want on the blog, just do so respectfully.  Attack the idea and not the person and pretty much anything goes.