My Interesting Readership From Around the Globe

My son played a joke on me, he's quite a character. Knowing I have a lot of Russian readers of my blog (why that is, is a mystery to me), he pretended to be a Russian Christian blogger who wrote to me. He made up the name Igor and he had Igor write saying,  that I was taking too many Russian readers away from him and he wanted me to teach him how to blog better. It was really hysterical and he went so far as to make up a gmail e-mail account,  so it was quite believable. I was suspicious of the email and didn't respond to it, and eventually my son admitted his practical joke.
But anyhow my friends and I got a big laugh out of it. Igor and his brother Vladimir also sent me flowers for Valentine's Day, the flowers were very nice, the message was also funny.
I'm flattered that anyone in Russia would read my blog, and the reality is after my U.S. readers (the largest amount of readers, which is expected) the next highest amount of readers of my blog come from Russia.
This is very ironic to me, since I grew up during the Cold War.  Now it's evident how close the world has become through the internet. It really can be a tool for promoting understanding, tolerance and world peace if it was used for that purpose and intentionally used for good.
Since my son taught me how to look at stats on my blog and see how many people read my blog and from which countries, I find it fascinating to see readers connect from all over the world. I certainly do not have a huge following but it's enough to keep me blogging and besides I also blog to prevent Alzheimer's, that dreaded disease. Also, past blog entries are read a lot which is nice too.
So as I mentally prepare for Holy Week, the Passion account is difficult for me to hear, I will enter into this sacred time, this most holiest of weeks, hoping and praying I grow spiritually from it.
I hope God is pleased with my attempts to evangelize, to stay faithful and to write about how enriching a faith life is.
NJA

Creativity/ Catholic Missionaries Needed

In January, my blog-Brooklyn-Born-Believer was a year old. I remember a year ago, when a fellow employee where I worked, helped me get the blog going. When I mentioned to him that I enjoyed reading his blog and I would like to blog, in the future, he said, "It's easy to start a blog, I'll show you how to do it....now." I wasn't too sure that I wanted to start a blog at that moment in life. But I put my concerns aside, after all I would be sharing my deep faith and that's important to me. Before long I was on my way. Well, it was easy enough to get the blog started, it's quite another story keeping it up. It takes effort generating new ideas for topics and work to keep it current and interesting and though I love to write, it's a time commitment and involves effort. 

When Pope Benedict recently suggested that more priests should blog (some already do), I thought to myself, that's a nice idea, but will they have time for it. Interestingly, the blogger who helped me get started recently closed his blog down, just saying he was going on to do other things. The comments that people left on his blog were interesting. People were sad to see his blog end, he obviously had many readers who liked his work. But more importantly they appreciated all the work he had put into his blog. I wish Patrick McNamara the best, in whatever he is going on to. 

On another note, in a recent AOL News article I read on the internet titled, "After Quake Evangelicals Find Opportunity," by Emily Schmall, it mentions a quote by an evangelical Christian pastor, Gersan Valcin, who has a congregation in a middle- class suburb of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, "For a Christian, this is the best time to be alive. Out of tragedy, there is opportunity." So as the evangelicals see an opportunity to bolster faith and congregations in Haiti, while encouraging people to believe in God, God's mercy and the goodness of human beings, the Catholic Church has the opportunity to do the same. I'm sure they are but as mentioned in the article, the Church has been severely damaged (literally) with the "once-majestic Notre Dame Cathedral in ruins and parishioners continue to mourn the loss of the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, Joseph Miot. 

Tim Dale, from Austin, Texas is part of an evangelical congregation in Texas that helps to finance Gersan Valcin's work in Haiti. He is quoted as saying, "Churches are kind of the infrastructure for getting the message out and getting things done....Evangelism underlies the mission of mercy." 

As an evangelizer for Christ, Gersan Valcin is seizing the moment, as he should. Likewise, it is a good opportunity for Catholic missionaries and religious orders to expand their programs and outreach in Haiti. It is my hope, that the Haitian people deepen their faith as they rebuild their small country, and they continue to move forward with hope, courage and a deep belief in God's abiding presence. 

NJA

Blogging Burnout

According to a New York Times article, Blogs Falling In An Empty Forest by Douglas Quenqua, keeping a blog current, interesting and read by others is not that easy. No kidding. Setting up a blog is easy enough but maintaining it is another story. What happens when you get bloggers block? And you have to be creative, well-informed and keep up with current events. There are advantages to "self-publishing," and putting your ideas "out there, " but there are disadvantages too. It's no wonder that according to Technorati, in a 2008 study of blogs, it is estimated that since 2002, 133 million blogs were started. "Of those, only 7.4 million have been updated in the last 120 days. The rest are essentially abandoned. " 

Richard Jalichandra who is the chief executive of Technorati, said "that at any given time there are 7 million to 10 million active blogs on the Internet, but it's probably between 50,000 and 100,000 blogs that are generating most of the page views." That's still a lot of blogs being read. I like reading blogs and if I wasn't writing one and doing everything else I do, I would read more of them. But I do read some blogs everyday, it's become like reading the newspaper for me, I fit it in somewhere in my day. 

Some writers are trying to keep up blogs so that they can get a book deal someday. 

I wonder what motivates Catholic bloggers? Some Catholic bloggers are obviously evangelizing, keeping Catholics up-to-date and informed on Catholic news and opinions. It is helpful. 

Why do bloggers stop blogging? A variety of reasons.  Some just get tired of telling their stories and then they just write, "The End." Others find new platforms  such as Facebook. I would imagine others just get "Blogging Burnout." 

NJA

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.   Abraham Lincoln

The world belongs to the energetic.  Ralph Waldo Emerson