Monday, June 18, 2012

Atheist blogger at Patheos joining the Catholic Channel as she converts

I picked up this news on Facebook from Elizabeth Scalia and wanted to share it. A woman who has blogged at Patheos as an atheist is converting to Catholicism, and she is switching to the Catholic channel at Patheos.  She made her announcement by telling her readers, "This is my last post for Patheos atheist portal."  You can follow her on her journey through RCIA by clicking on the header below. 

 

I hadn't heard of Leah before today, so I don't know whether any Catholic writers at Patheos played a role or not.  But it is still interesting.  Please keep her in your prayers.  As with anyone converting or reverting, be patient (Rom 14:1).

She talks philosophy, which is of interest to me, so I'll be checking in.

My Thoughts on Patheos


For those who don't know, Patheos is a religion site and portal that hosts blogs of people from many faiths in what are called, "channels." It also has an atheist channel. Some object to Catholic participation in such portals, especially given that the Catholic bloggers there cannot control things like advertisements. Someone may, for example, see an ad for a Jewish dating service, or to a non-denominational Christian college.   I think those who run that portal ought to give more control on advertising to managing editors and no one should have to deal with advertisements not in accord with their faith.  Someone needs to create an advertising tool that will allow Catholic advertisers to get into Catholic blog advertisements.  That's just my humble opinion.  Lack of control is why I refuse to use  things like Google Ad Sense at this blog or other such options.

Others are concerned that Catholics who are weaker in their faith may click around the larger portal and end up leaving Catholicism.   In that case, we could make arguments against television, the web, school, and even leaving the house, where people of other faiths, and their values will be encountered.  Learning our own Catholic faith well, and it's roots in Scripture, is what keeps Catholics from going astray, and brings people home. 

So, while respecting, and even sharing some concerns, I believe that if there is going to be a religion portal that has the world's major religions represented, it needs some kind of Catholic representation in the interest of evangelization.  
Elizabeth Scalia, who blogs as The Anchoress, is the managing editor of the Catholic channel at Patheos. She has been bringing a number of popular Catholic bloggers there for some time now and they have migrated their blogs to the site.  Here is the Catholic channel at Patheos if you want to look it over.  

One of the things I lament is that it is a few more clicks to find bloggers I used to be able to reach by just typing in a few letters into the URL bar.  Now, with so many at Patheos, it has become cumbersome to get to specific people unless you have it bookmarked.  to that, I say, it is what it is.

For interesting news items I don't have time to blog on, check out my Twitter Feed: @TeDeumBlog

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