Rookie Mistake

On one hand, it amazes me the loyalty that some people have to blogs (certainly not mine, I'm new here). But it only took one friend putting a link to this lil' place on the internet, and I started getting comments like wildfire! Most of them are great and supportive, and to those of you who've sent those, I thank you. On the other hand, there are also the ones that make you think that some people got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasn't looking. How brave they are to tell me all about me and all about what's "wrong" with me, but with the safety (and some would say cowardice) of anonymity.

So let's make this a teaching moment to the Young Fogey Seminarians or the newly ordained YFs: In your Priesthood, you will from time to time receive the anonymous letter. These will, almost always, be letters complaining about what you said, did, wrote, preached about, or forgot to do. More often than not, they will be sent first to your pastor, since the anonymous sender cannot get a reaction out of you without revealing their secret identity; the letter will be sent to your pastor so that someone else besides you and them know that they complained. Do what you want with it. Some Priests make a personal policy decision not to read anything that is unsigned; others choose to read them. My advice: Do what works for you, but don't let it get under your skin too deep. Read the letter and move on.

Now back to our show. What I've decided to do is to omit the "comments" section of the blog. What it means is that if you want to talk to me (and I'm all for that), you've now got to send me an e-mail. If you've found this blog, you know what to do to get my e-mail, but if you're new, click on "view my complete profile" on the right side of the page and then click on "e-mail". I'm flattered anyone would want to read what I write, but I don't want people checking the site only for the comments back and forth. Now I know this won't stop all the criticism, nor do I really want honest and charitable criticism to stop. But it means that if I'm going to put my name out there in the blogosphere, you should be willing to do the same.