Here's a personal eye opener.
I read mostly Roman Catholic blogs. This website was able to calculate the top two hundred most subscribed Roman Catholic blogs.
Out of the top ten, I read only one: Patrick Madrid's blog (#7). I've never read any of the other top ten, nor do I think I've ever heard of any of them.
Out of the top twenty, including Madrid, I read only two. The other would be Mark Shea's blog (#15).
Out of the top fifty, I read only four. The next pick up is Jimmy Akin's blog, (#42) and Catholic News Service (#43).
Then after the first fifty, I pick up another three. All in all, that's seven out of two-hundred, and even of those seven, a few I only read occasionally. I looked at the other blogs in the top ten, and frankly, they're a bit dull, at least for my taste.
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2 comments:
You can only read so much. If they're dull, it's their fault!
Have a great Lord's Day tomorrow.
-Tim
James, I think what makes so many of these blogs boring for you is that they are more or less by settled Catholics seeking some measure of knowledge or devotion. It seems as if the blogs that you gravitate to are devoted to some degree to the fact that some motion may occur, or has occurred, and therefore further motion might occur.
It's striking to me that you can watch all of the "good parts" of a baseball game in a replay reel less than two minutes. Just watching all the hits, runs, home runs, great throws and catches, etc., and knowing "what happened" in a game -- we are kind of in that business here.
On the other hand, some people watch baseball games as a "passtime," that is, they're content to be "watchers of baseball games." They're into the strategy, and don't mind to take in the spitting, the crotch-pulling, the annoying "hold-the-runner-on-first" back-and-forth that can be part of the game. Part of just being in that environment.
Looking back on my own experience as a Catholic, it was in large degree "devotional." That is, I could go sit in a dark sanctuary and pray, or go to a retreat, and hear sermons and go through the motions, and just enjoy being part of that environment. I suspect the large percentage of Catholics who frequent that type of blog are just into that type of environment.
Then I started looking into the history and theology, though, and that's where things didn't add up. The calm and peaceful facade of "being Catholic" just glossed over the fact that the the institutional Catholic Church, over time, which started winning the game, is now losing the game, due to bad strategy, bad plays, etc.
History and theology, that's where the "big plays" are. That's where the action is, that's where the runs are scored and outcomes determined.
Catholics who just want to be Catholic and enjoy the ethos of it (the spitting, crotch-pulling, etc.) ignore the fact that "the franchise" is not only losing the game, but headed for a losing season and worse.
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