Fridays I try to reserve for myself but today is not going to be one of  those days, th0ugh I do hope I can get to my first RAYS game tonight. Some general responses to comments which many of you have taken the time to share with me over the past weeks and months. It is impossible for me to respond to all of them but some response seems apropos. I do not consider this a blog, as you know, where comments are posted. I read them, take them seriously, sometimes respond to them generically without publishing them specifically.

First, thanks to all who read this blog. The number of people visiting each day is on a steady increase and I know that many check it out intermittently. We can tell where the readers are from (general location) and how long they remain on the blog site (the longer time usually means someone comes intermittently and thus takes more time to read its contents). I do  not consider it my duty to blog every day although sometimes it may appear that way.

I was pleasantly surprised at the response level of support in favor of the position of restraint which I tried to take on the Notre Dame graduation issue. Thank you for that and thanks also to those who respectfully disagreed. From the beginning all I hoped for was a civilized discussion/debate.

One reader mentioned the loss of THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC and asked what we were planning as a vehicle for delivering “news” of the diocese, especially clergy assignments, etc. We hope our web page will be the major manner of communicating to all who can access it through the electronic media.

That so many of you loved the ordination of Father Melchior brought a return of tears of gratitude and happiness. Also, the blog on the virtue of hope seems to have struck a responsive chord in a number of readers.

So let me end with some good news for a change. The vocations to the priesthood picture brightens considerably this year as we have accepted about eight  into the seminary to join the twenty-four we currently have. For the first time since 1988 we have more than thirty seminarians and this year will be the third best year for the number of seminarians since 1984. Thirty-nine is the highest number in the forty year history of the diocese (1983-84). I attribute that grace to several factors: God’s blessings and favor, a good vocation director who works the job hard, and the quality of our present seminarians who attract those discerning a vocation. It also helps that only Father Carl Melchior left the seminary this Spring (understand that properly now!) while for the first time in my memory, all others are remaining in formation for next year. Finally, your prayers help a lot. The media this morning is filled with a story of a priest who felt he needed to leave the Church of his ordination. Not enough attention is paid to those who choose to remain and serve. Soon, if it is God’s will, there may be more of them.

+RNL

It was a bad week-end for accuracy in “For His Friends.” One error was occasioned by a “senior moment” or too much distraction from the baseball game and the second, well I was not totally wrong but I was inaccurate.

The first miscue was in the “Birthing” blog which prior to my correcting it this morning after a deluge of “excuse me, bishop’s” stated that there were no ordinations to the priesthood last year. Deepest, deepest apologies to Father Tim Cummings and Father Philip Clements, both of whom were ordained last year. I think Evan Longoria hit a home run against the hated Red Sox as I was writing that one.”

The second concerned an implication in the blog entry entitled “Church Ladies.” There I mentioned that St. Timothy parish in Lutz has an active men’s club but there was no women’s group in the parish. I had asked that evening if  St. Timothy parish had a affiliated women’s group to the DCCW. The answer was “no” and thus the nearly infallible declaration. It turns out that St. Timothy’s has a very robust women’s group but they just don’t belong to the DCCW. My thanks to their corresponding secretary, Jane LaRose for setting me straight on that one.

Now I am tempted like Punxsutawney Phil to go underground for another year before checking to see if I can see my blog shadow again.

+RNL

I can not remember a day in a long time when I have nothing scheduled – nothing! No appointments at the office, no conference calls, no ceremonies, no public appearances, nothing. So I am going to have my hair (what little there is) cut, pick more oranges from the super-abundant tree in my back yard, and put my life on “cruise-control” for twenty-four hours. The reverie ends tomorrow.

I do have a chance to bring you up to date on some things about this blog. Happily our Diocesan Web Site is now receiving about 1000 hits each day and this blog is averaging about 300 hits a day with people reading the blog for an average of about two and half minutes. This blog enjoyed a brief spike in readership when the mother of all Catholic blogs, Whispers in the Loggia announced to the Catholic world that I was up and running.

There have been a number of great comments and I read them all carefully and ponder their implications both for the blog and for my ministry. Early on, however, I decided that this was not the forum for airing disputes when they occasionally arose or giving angry people a place to publicly vent. By far, over 98% of your comments have been very positive and all serious comments are appreciated by me.

One surprise which I was not expecting is that I get an inordinate number of “comment responses” from places selling drugs, medicines and some other bad things. Apparently this is something which regularly happens to blogs as spam artists try their best to use other people’s work and space to promulgate their wares, etc. So each night I have to mark those which I wish to identify and “treat as spam.” Were I not to permit “Comments” there would not be this bother which is miniscule compared to the positive aspects of allowing you to interact with me directly.

Vivi Iglesias, my wonderful assistant, soon discovered what I suspect she knew all along, that is that her boss talks too much, so she is no longer able to translate all these blog entries into Spanish. I am sorry for that but from time to time on special topics, I will ask her to prepare a translation.

Have a great day!

+RNL

I mentioned earlier in the week that I would share some of the feedback which I have received so far on the blog and I have some time today to do precisely that. First, my thanks to all who take the time to share with me. It is, first of all, reassuring that someone out there in cyber-space is reading what I write (we do know the precise number of hits and some information about where they come from and how long they spend on each entry). Then I must admit, it is reassuring that others share with me my hopes and desires, for Church, for nation, for season (e.g., Advent and Christmas).

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Como les mencioné al principio de la semana compartiré con ustedes las opiniones o reacciones que recibí hasta ahora de mi blog y hoy tengo tiempo de hacerlo. Primero, muchas gracias a todos los que se han  tomado el tiempo para compartir sus opiniones y reacciones a este blog. Primero que nada, es alentador el saber que hay muchas personas en cyber-space que están leyendo lo que escribo (sabemos exactamente cuantos entran al blog y algo de información acerca de que parte del mundo llegan y cuanto tiempo están en el blog visitando cada historia) Debo admitir, me tranquiliza el saber que otros comparten mis esperanzas y deseos por la iglesia, la nación y la época en que nos encontramos (ej. Adviento y Navidad). (more…)