Commandments for believers who blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Popes rarely produce viral sound bites, but legions of Catholic bloggers continue to pass around a quote from Pope Benedict XVI in which he openly blessed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Commandments for believers who blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Popes rarely produce viral sound bites, but legions of Catholic bloggers continue to pass around a quote from Pope Benedict XVI in which he openly blessed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-12T12:17:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/\",\"name\":\"Commandments for believers who blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-12T12:17:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-12T12:17:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"Popes rarely produce viral sound bites, but legions of Catholic bloggers continue to pass around a quote from Pope Benedict XVI in which he openly blessed\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commandments for believers who blog\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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{"id":2705,"date":"2012-11-12T07:17:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T12:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2705"},"modified":"2012-11-12T07:17:56","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T12:17:56","slug":"commandments-for-believers-who-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/11\/commandments-for-believers-who-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"Commandments for believers who blog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWithout fear we must set sail on the digital sea facing into the deep with the same passion that has governed the ship of the Church for 2000 years,\u201d he said, in a 2010 Vatican address easily found at YouTube<\/a>. The goal is to live in the \u201cdigital world with a believer\u2019s heart, helping to give a soul to the Internet\u2019s incessant flow of communication.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that quotation is too long, bloggers can embrace this shout out from Pope John Paul II, who could become the patron saint of digital scribes. Just before his death in 2005<\/a>, he proclaimed: \u201cDo not be afraid of new technologies!\u201d<\/p>\n

That quote should fit atop a computer monitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest obstacle is always fear, when the church tries to get involved in something new,\u201d said Brandon Vogt<\/a>, author of \u201c The Church and New Media<\/a>: Blogging Converts, Online Activists and Bishops Who Tweet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the fear of the unknown, the fear of making mistakes, the fear of creating controversy and, most of all, the fear of causing divisions in the church. \u2026 Are there going to be bad apples? Of course. Will there be people who think they\u2019ve been appointed as the pope? Of course. But Catholic leaders \u2014 including our bishops \u2014 can\u2019t ignore what is happening online.\u201d<\/p>\n

As in the secular media, the social-media tsunami has rocked the old-guard religious publications. <\/p>\n

For Catholics, diocesan newspapers long served as the official establishment voices, often clashing with independent publications on left and right, as well as those produced by religious orders such as the Jesuits. Now, Catholic bloggers have emerged as a quick-striking source of alternative commentary and information \u2014 often from a sharply pro-Vatican point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Catholic blogosphere is probably one of the most orthodox parts of the American church, in large part because there were so many people who feel like the church being attacked and they want to defend it,\u201d said T.J. Burdick<\/a>, a Catholic educator who edited the new \u201cOne Body, Many Blogs\u201d<\/a> e-Book. <\/p>\n

In this collection, a circle of Catholic writers provided their \u201c10 commandments\u201d lists for blogging about religion. In addition to the need for prayer before clicking \u201cpost,\u201d these blunt recommendations included:<\/p>\n

* First, said Marc Barnes of the Bad Catholic blog<\/a>: \u201cDon\u2019t suck. There is a tendency within the Christian world to think the work we do will be good work, if only we do it for God.\u201d Anything less than excellence \u201cis no service to God, no matter how well we think we are witnessing, giving testimony, or whatever Christian euphemism we want to use to disguise the fact that we can\u2019t be bothered to make something awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Never assume \u201ceveryone who reads your work has the same viewpoint on issues of faith,\u201d wrote Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom.com<\/a>. \u201cFind a Jewish, Protestant or even Atheist friend or acquaintance and invite them to join you for a cup of coffee and a peek at your blog. While they view it, watch carefully how they interact with your content and what lasting impressions they have in reading your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Along that line, but in pews, Deacon Greg Kandra advised<\/a>: \u201cKeep an open mind to the many ways there are of Being Catholic. Not everyone loves the Latin Mass. Not everyone adores strumming guitars and liturgical dance.\u201d When in doubt, he added, \u201cAsk yourself periodically: WWJB?\u201d<\/p>\n

* Kevin Knight of NewAdvent.org<\/a> warned: \u201cTruly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a pixel, will pass from the Wayback Machine cache until all is accomplished.\u201d With a strong \u201camen,\u201d Katrina Fernandez of The Crescat<\/a> said her first commandment is to \u201cremember that we will be ultimately judged by every word we utter and write. The Internet is forever, folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

* Former atheist Jeff Miller, blogging at The Curt Jester<\/a>, advised: \u201cDo onto other bloggers as you would want them to do onto you. If you want to be linked by others, then be generous in linking to others and to give proper attributions to where you first noticed a story. If you want others not to jump to conclusions about what you write, make sure you are not doing the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"