Okay ladies and gents, here’s the deal: yesterday, I turned comments off for a while. You may have noticed that new posts today are accepting comments, while old ones are still locked. The law of gradualism has found its way even to these sterling shores.
So far, so good.
I’m now going to re-open comments on old posts, too. If that isn’t done by the time you read this, it soon will be.
I will remind you again of our comment policy, which is explained here, and found in bare-bones “commandments” form here. (These have been updated as of today.)
I do not have time most days to read all comments carefully. We have too many. I will skim and spot check. If I see a comment that violates the rules, I’m just going to delete it. I’m not going to argue about it in the comment box, so err on the side of caution. I no more want to lecture you than you want to be lectured. Whatever it is that you really think, let prudence be your guide.
This will be a place where those who are questioning but not yet sure what to think will feel welcome. If you need a place to vent beyond that, say a prayer that I find the time to implement my plans to add forums to the site. In contained discussions, I’m willing to give a lot more latitude. In the public forum, everything you say reflects not only on you, but on us as a publication, and the search engines don’t make distinctions. Make your discourse laudatory. Let us be ambassadors of Catholic sanity to a world (and a Church) gone mad.
If any of you have read the rules and agree with them and would like to help as a volunteer moderator, send me an email. If I know you (and if you’re a regular, I’m sure I do) I may knight you.
Finally, comment flagging is on. Any comment that receives five flags will automatically be pulled by the system for my review. If you see a comment that crosses the line, use the little pull-down menu on the right side of the comment and flag it. This will help tremendously. (Please don’t abuse this, though, just because you disagree with someone.)
As you were. And remember: before posting, a deep breath and a prayer to the Holy Spirit go a long way.
Thanks for your work on 1P5, Steve.
Wise words written here. Thank you. Let us remember who the enemy is: Satan
Are you sure the enemy is Satan?
I thought all along it was that guy next to me on the train 🙂
And he thought it was his mother in law.
And his mother in law thought it was him.
And the grocer thought it was that sneaky looking guy.
And ….
“Let us be ambassadors of Catholic sanity to a world (and a Church) gone mad.”
With all due respect it is not The Church that has gone mad; there is no division in The Body of Christ.
It is the Church leadership, which for all practical purposes is what we perceive as the Church. Should I have said “institutional Church”? Probably. But now I have.
INTERNET FIGHT!!!!!!
Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!
Gloves off or on?
“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, there’s always laughter (and fisticuffs) and good red wine!”
Today at work I had to wade through a lot of random emails, some not important at all, some interesting, to find necessary (for my job) very important messages. My boss in Switzerland needs to see what my Health and Safety team here in the US of A is doing to prove our worth, and on a spreadsheet. It took me three hours to get to the important emails! I’m an occupational health nurse, and am interrupted frequently by people who need actual here-and-now medical, or even psychiatric, problems that must be addressed by me, a one-person office. But I have a need to see those important emails, for instance, from battling insurance companies. Sometimes it takes hours, as today, to weed through the flak. And I have no desire to take my work home, but I do, so that I can complete it peacefully. So I have great respect for Steve’s expectation that we moderate ourselves. My work is sometimes life-and-death for the body. Steve is working for life-and-death of the soul!
We are under attack in a sense so it is easy to ‘shoot from the hip.’ Please pause and think, so that we can continue to receive the benefit of this excellent website without having to be over-moderated.
I sincerely hope Steve will be able to continue to do his research, and write his thoughtful posts that help his readers to gather our energy for the next onslaught from our hierarchy.
MaryKJ…what an excellent post! thank you
Indeed, excellent Mary KJ!
Thank you Steve. You do great work!
I won’t say God bless you because He always does.
May you always be aware of His blessings every second of your life.
And thank you for the reminder to be charitable.
Had a few ouch’s as I read your Comments Off blog. 🙂
Thank you for choosing to keep comments on for articles. I find being able to comment on articles to be a very important part of sharing ones faith, beliefs, concerns with other catholics/christians. Too often sites do not realize this importance in being able to dialogue with others, fear too much that a divergent view will upset the apple cart. I hope that before people immediately hit the report button (unless it is obviously abusive) that one responds to comments that one finds offensive so that a rebuttal/dialogue could be reached. Thanks again for keeping comments up, I hope I have not, nor will not post anything offensive.
I’ve always wondered what flagging a comment did, if anything; now I know o.o
From the Divine Mercy Novena/Chaplet:
O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus, as a Font of Mercy for us, I trust in you!
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
JAMLY
euie