From unhealthy cults of personality… Spare us, o Lord.
I was hesitant to create this website. American culture is overly fixated on narcissism, celebrity and self-promotion, and I have wondered whether the very act of launching a site with my name might de facto contribute to that culture.
I have two motives for launching this website:
to provide some sort of account of my experience during this unique chapter of my priesthood (advanced studies in Rome) in response to requests from some friends and family
drawing from my studies, to explain how the Catholic Church understands Mary, the mother of Jesus, and contribute to a deeper understanding and appreciation of who she is, her relationship to Jesus, and the role she plays in assisting Christians
In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI gave a message titled "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World,” in which he stated:
[P]riests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.
Using new communication technologies, priests can introduce people to the life of the Church and help our contemporaries to discover the face of Christ. They will best achieve this aim if they learn, from the time of their formation, how to use these technologies in a competent and appropriate way, shaped by sound theological insights and reflecting a strong priestly spirituality grounded in constant dialogue with the Lord. Yet priests present in the world of digital communications should be less notable for their media savvy than for their priestly heart, their closeness to Christ. This will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a “soul” to the fabric of communications that makes up the “Web”.
Can I simultaneously maintain this website and the attitude of Saint John the Baptist in John 3:30 (“He must increase; I must decrease“)? Will the website produce good spiritual fruit in the lives of readers? I leave it to them to judge for themselves. In the meantime, thanks for accompanying me on the journey.
