The End of the Beginning

So, here we are – my time as a guest blogger here at the Anchorhold has come to an end.

I have to emphasise the extent to which this whole thing came as a bolt from the blue – a random act of grace. I emailed Elizabeth to get Leah Libresco’s email address because I was trying to see if she’d give a talk while she was visiting Ireland. Leah ended up doing the talk (we’re still talking about it), and I ended up doing a guest post for her blog while she was over here. Then Elizabeth invited me to guest blog for her, and the rest is history. I really can’t thank her enough for that offer: if I haven’t made as much use of the opportunity as I should have, that’s my fault and not hers.

It’s been an absolute privilege – a chance to become a part of a website and a community I’ve been inspired by, a chance to enter the conversation on faith with people I’ve admired as a reader, a chance to talk and write about weird abstract things that most people wouldn’t publish, a chance to read some of the best internet comments I’ve ever come across. I’m sorry to be leaving.

But all that stuff will, I hope, continue, even as my presence here comes to an end (I’ll feel a pang no longer doing whole chunks of sentences in bold, a habit of Elizabeth’s which I – slightly cheekily – adopted as a hat-tip). Because, for whatever mad reason Elizabeth and the team dreamed up, I am staying on as a Permanent Patheosi at the Catholic Channel (the first Irish one, too, though I hope not the last!). This is quite literally a dream come true – though if I recall correctly, the dream version was a bit weirder and involved Matt Smith.

My blog is called Shadows on the Road, and it’s a road I’d love those who’ve enjoyed my writing here to walk with me. My first post, a mission statement of sorts, has just gone up. I’d love to see some of the brilliant commenters here grace my blog with their presence, or to email me with thoughts, suggestions, criticisms and chat at benjdconroy (at) gmail.com. I’ll endeavour to get better at responding, I promise.

Slán go foil, everyone. I’ll see you on the other side.

Featured image via Sergey Gorshkov/solentnews.co.uk