I'm really getting tired of this. I've always said that once blogging became more of chore than a joy, I was outa here. I'm fast approaching that point.
So be it. I'm not trying to impress anyone.... and really mean it, it's probably time to hang it up.
Labels: Blogging
posted by Pro Ecclesia 4:37 PM
47 comments
A convert to the Catholic Church who became Catholic because of a belief in and devotion to the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. * A graduate of Baylor University and the University of Virginia School of Law. * Former Mayor of the Town of Columbia, Virginia. * Married with four children: two boys and two girls. * Primary interests include the Catholic Church, family, Early American History, and law/politics * Primary purpose of this blog is fostering enlightened discussion about the roles played by the institutions of religion, family, and state in our daily lives. * Under the protection of St. Thomas More, martyr, and patron of lawyers, judges, civil servants, politicians, statesmen, and large families (not to mention troubled marriages).
Thomas More, counselor of law and patron of statesmen, merry martyr and most human of saints:
Pray that, for the glory of God and in the pursuit of His justice, I may be able in argument, accurate in analysis, keen in study, correct in conclusion, loyal to clients, honest with all, courteous to adversaries, trustworthy with confidences, courageous in court. Sit with me at my desk and listen with me to my clients' tales. Read with me in my library and stand always beside me so that today I shall not, to win a point, lose my soul.
Pray that my family may find in me what yours found in you: friendship and courage, cheerfulness and charity, diligence in duties, counsel in adversity, patience in pain -- their good servant, and God's first. AMEN.
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Prayer to St. Thomas More for Lawyers and Judges
Dear Scholar and Martyr, it was not the King of England but you who were the true Defender of the Faith. Like Christ unjustly condemned, neither promises nor threats could make you accept a civil ruler as head of the Christian Church.
Perfect in your honesty and love of truth, grant that lawyers and judges may imitate you and achieve true justice for all people. AMEN.
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"Give me the Grace Good Lord, to set the world at naught; to set my mind fast upon Thee and not to hang upon the blast of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly company but utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of the business thereof."
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Litany of St. Thomas More, Martyr and Patron Saint of Statesmen, Politicians and Lawyers
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"The ordinary acts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest."
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"What does it avail to know that there is a God, which you not only believe by Faith, but also know by Reason: what does it avail that you know Him if you think little of Him?"
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"The things that we pray for, good Lord, give us grace to labour for."
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47 Comments:
I hope you'll stick around.
Thanks, Paul. As long as there's enjoyment to outweigh the BS, I'll stick around. It's becoming more and more a chore, however.
Hey! I just linked you like yesterday. If you hang it up, I gotta go back into the annoying WordPress and pull you off. As I see it, you owe me at least three more months of trenchant commentary. :) Try this link for relief and : Flame Warriors :)
maybe you just need a break. there's always a need for another blog to present the truth and refute or expose the lies. I think you were doing a good job collating and organizing posts.
Regardless, thanks for the thoughts & info.
Ditto what Paul said, and I'd also take Rick's advice. It could be half-Lent sacrifice.
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM Jay!
That would be sad.
But I do think being able to say "I don't care what Person X thinks" or "I'm not out to impress people" is, far from a sign it's no fun, is a sign of perspective and a prerequisite to NOT getting down.
In fact, I'd even call it a prerequisite for blogging about controversial topics. If you do so and have a significant readership, you will get strangers ranting to your (cyber)-face about how you're an effing idiot or a self-hating fag or a fat pig or a GOP hypocrite or a baby-murderer or whatever. Being unaffected by that requires a healthy contempt for the crowd. Maybe that's not where you want your heart to be, or you think "healthy contempt" an oxymoron.
Take a break if you must, don't give up entirely. We need all the strong & righteous voices we can get.
"So be it. I'm not trying to impress anyone." I gotta remember that and use it on occasion.
Heck, Jay. That's hard for me to do. I want to burn every liberals face off.
See, now you just taught me something in the process of hanging it up again.
You should stick around. Guys like you help keep guys like me in a lucid zone.
You are one of th more respectable bloggers online - I hope you stay.
Hope you don't stop blogging. Your posts keep me up to date on what the devil's thralls are doing. You are a staunch advocate for the Lord and His Church and we can't afford to lost even one now days. lois
Sorry. That would be we can't afford to lose even one... lois
What can I tell you, Jay? Can you remember what you found so enjoyable in the beginning?
You must follow your heart, of course, but we'd all be the poorer if you left.
"Can you remember what you found so enjoyable in the beginning?"
I think it was the zeal of a convert.
;-)
Actually there's probably a little truth to that. You know, after 4 years of blogging you sorta run out of energy, out of ideas, and out of things to blog about. I mean, seriously, am I blogging anything different on a day-to-day basis than I blogged last week, last month, or last year?
Let's take today's news. How many times must we watch this same scenario play out over and over again. I mean, it's like a ritual that takes the same format every time:
(1) Notre Dame does something that compromises its Catholic identity;
(2) faithful Catholics get in high dudgeon (rightfully) and rail against whatever action Notre Dame has taken and question its commitment to and/or seriousness about Catholic Truth vs. secular adulation;
(3) "enlightened" Catholics sit on the sideline casting stones at those who take offense at Notre Dame's actions rather than taking issue with what the University has done;
(4) Bishop D'Arcy issues a statement strongly criticizing Notre Dame's actions and calling into question its commitment to Catholic ideals, knowing that he's nevertheless powerless to do anything about it;
(5) Notre Dame acknowledges the Bishop's disagreement, notes its commitment to both its Catholic identity and its academic freedom and engagement with the culture and continues to go about compromising its Catholic identity in favor of so-called academic freedom and engagement with the culture.
That scenario plays itself out at least once a year. I'm offering nothing new by blogging about it yesterday or today. And, frankly, while the issue is important to me, I'm sick of talking about it. Nothing ever changes, and I just get all worked up over nothing ("nothing" in the sense that our talking about it never seems to change the outcome).
I thank all of you for your support and kind words of encouragement. It means a lot to me that you enjoy this blog. But, in the end, whether I continue is going to come down to whether I can come up with a way of enjoying it more than I do currently.
I hear you loud and clear. That's why I have dropped off to one post a week or less. I have gone a couple weeks without posting because I get fed up with the ridiculous rhetoric coming from our side.
Do what you need to do bro.
I don't want to see you go, Jay. If you still enjoy the act of blogging and am just weary of the BS stuff, then shift focus. You should be blogging for yourself - blog about whatever you feel like. Nothing says you can't blog only when you feel you have something to share.
I'd still read your blog even if you wrote about nothing but country, western, bluegrass, the blues, or even funk. I've learned a lot from reading your posts, and I would really hate to see you go. Then again, if it's causing you that much grief...well, all the best.
I understand. I'll miss your blog, but I feel your pain (biting thumb).
Daniel,
Thanks. I may have to move away from focusing on politics and culture war stuff and more towards things like music, etc. in order to make it more enjoyable. I truly enjoyed blogging my Texas Music series (and I actually still have a number of Texas artists yet to cover).
Thanks, Father. Will I be seeing you in Columbus/Worthington in a little over a month when the "Darwins" come for their visit? The Mrs. is planning on coming with me, so y'all can get all the real dirt on yours truly, if that's any motivation.
;-)
Jay,
Have you considered posting more frequently about other topics you enjoy, like the Texas music posts and less on the typical St. Blogs' material? One thread a week? If you can't decide wether to hang it up or not, ask your wife.
I appreciate and find helpful your practice of listing other posts on the same or related subject.
Thanks
Tim Lang
Tim Lang
Sorry Jay,
You answered my question before I posted?
Thanks again.
Tim Lang
I hope you stay, but get it if you don't. I would hope you would stay in contact with some of us if you did stop.
Btw, I recommend that you stop reading Vox Nova. Why waste time on bad sites. That could help.
I don't, generally. But I kept getting hits from that blog, so I went over to see what was up. MM had linked to my post about Notre Dame and Obama and had made a bunch of noise about alleged "inconsistency" and other such nonsense.
The devil loves to fluster the faithful - get us to change course. Attacks us where he thinks we are most vulnerable.
Being called unjust or a hypocrite (which is what they were doing)is not pleasant, but it does remind me of that 8th beatitude....
My prayers are with you.
One method I recommend is to create or join is a team weblog. When you team with folks that have a similar perspective the group can present a steady flow of commentary everyday, yet being apart of team gives each blogger a chance to rest and reflect in between posts. From the social networking and blogging sites I read this seems to be the new direction the bigger blogging sites are going to.
You might want to consider this as a way to refresh yourself and keep your readers informed.
Another idea for you Jay: you live in a beautiful part of the Buckeye State in close proximity to scenic rivers, covered bridges, vivid foliage (speaking of which, is the dogwood blooming yet?), etc. Maybe some pictorial posts like the ones Jefferey Smith and Dale, in addition to the music.
You're a daily stop.
Jay,
We here at CMR would definitely miss you. As I've only been at this two years I can't speak to how it would feel at four but I would offer that you should just write what you care about.
If you're having fun then we'll probably have fun.
I'll say some prayers for you.
Well, I hope you manage to get the fun back. I'd miss you. (And as U2 has observed, you must not let the bastards grind you down.)
You could always try cat blogging for a while like Der Tommissar... ;-)
LOL! I was actually going to make a comment about people should stay away from blogging about politics and religion and instead blog about little baby ducks, fluffy bunnies, or, like Der Tommisar, cats.
Terry,
It's still a little early for the dogwoods. I think I will be doing a lot more photos of family, scenery, events, etc. Thanks for the suggestion.
RightRunner is correct.
You are WAAAY classier and saner than he is.
I enjoy "trolling" your site, as you say.
Good luck to you, whatever you decide to do.
Oh stay!! SOmetimes you kust a bread
Jay, I've never commented on your site before but have been a long time reader & lurker. Just want you to know I'll miss your take on things if you give it up but completely understand. Carl Olson's Insight Scoop, The Anchoress, and your site are usually my 1,2,3 blogs for news & info...or 3,2,1 or some variation thereof. As a dad of 4 young'uns myself, I have a lot of respect for you for the amount of work it must take to be a dad/husband, have a full time job, and publish a quality blog. To paraphrase Bl. Mother Teresa's words, we're not called to be successful, just faithful, and you can do that lots of ways, blog or no blog. Do what you have to do but here's hoping you stick around. Best wishes.
Thanks, Craig. And I actually don't mind your "trolling".
;-)
Thanks, Tom. And you, too JH. And to everyone else.
I'm going to give it some thought for a few days, but I'm considering at least a temporary shift in focus (per some of the suggestions from commenters) and scaling back to fewer posts per week.
And just as an fyi, this has been coming on for while. It may have been apparent in my blogging about things outside the stated scope of this blog, and in my fairly recent post in which I lamented how depressing blogging about politics has become.
Jay, it may be corny, but what the heck. I posted a song from Third Day at My sight that may be worth a listen to.
http://kaiserfam.com/kyrieeleison/2009/03/25/give-me-revelation/
Jay:
I am planning to come over to Columbus that evening.
"The devil (Vox-Nova? really?) loves to fluster the faithful - get us to change course. Attacks us where he thinks we are most vulnerable."
This is sad. Both this kind of quote (above) and the fact that you feel run down by the polemics. I have read your blog for some time along with other ones (Holy Whapping, Vox-Nova, and more) and only recently got myself an account and started to join in.
I just posted something I think you might enjoy and might make you feel in communion with the other Catholic bloggers online, including myself and my dear friends at Vox-Nova. It memorializes Father Richard John Neuhaus and longs for the days when polemics were not far from sanity. We could all learn much from his work at First Things and the dialogue that exists to this day. Perhaps it will give you some comfort and guidance.
Here it is: http://rimatara.blogspot.com/2009/03/sober-moment-in-drunken-fray.html
For my part, I think all Catholics should be reading each other, as much as possible, and engage in robust debate and agonistic dialogue--but never at the expense of charity.
By the way, I also live in Columbus (I am a student at OSU). Perhaps we can engage in a robust discussion like Neuhaus did--over a cigar and something to drink... I'd be happy to. Shoot me an e-mail if you like.
Actually, I'm in Norwalk ... 2 hours north of Columbus. But I do get down there a few times a year.
For the record, I do not consider the folks at Vox Nova to be "the devil". I count some of them among my friends, to the extent you can be friends with people you've never met. And I even like Morning's Minion, despite my profound disagreement with him on a number of issues and the fact that I believe his arguments often are lacking in good faith (as I described in my post below).
And, finally, I'm not sure there is anything particularly "sad" about my desire to go in a different direction with this blog. Four years is a fairly long time as far as blogs go. I'd venture to guess that most blogs peter out after a few months to a year. It gets wearisome blogging about the same old things over and over again. After about the 10th different "controversy" at Notre Dame, you start to ask yourself "What the heck? Haven't we been down this road before?" It starts to get old.
I'd be happy to meet you for drinks and a cigar sometime (if we can find any place left in the state of Ohio that will serve you drinks and let you smoke ... not to mention if I'll be able to afford cigars after April 1 when the tax increase kicks in).
We may have trod the same paths. I visited family in Mansfield growing up, not too far from you now.
Yeah, depending on traffic and/or the weather, I can get to Mansfield in a little over a half hour. (You have to watch out for the State Police, though. Just ask my wife about that.)
Jay,
You will certainly be missed, but team blogging may be the way to go. It solved my dilemma and it doesn't seem as a grind as before (or not at all now).
You are one of the most charitable bloggers I know. And for someone that can still tolerate and deal with polemics that emanate from Vox Nova, I truly admire that.
In Jesus, Mary, & Joseph,
Tito
Great, another good guy bites the dust while more obnoxious dolts like Scott W. still remain to irk the best of us.
(actually, that remark should've been intended for the pro-abort vox novans -- my bad)
;^)
(BTW, Publius, are you by any chance the same guy from the former res publica blog?)
Jay,
Speaking as a requent reader and occasional commenter I certainly hope you reconsider. Maybe a short vacation from blogging would be enough to recharge your batteries.
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