An Appeal to the Pontificator

Fr Al,
It is with pain that I read your announced planned changes to Pontifications. This web site is a truly special place on the internet where serious discussion about serious, and yes even controversial topics has been the norm and not the exception. It is a place where one can go and expect enlightenment from even those with whom one may passionately disagree. It is a place of spiritual and intellectual stimulation and yes, even occasionally entertainment. Never can I remember anyone behaving in an ungentlemanly manner, even when debating points that in another age might have ended in a duel or some other unfortunate event.

While I empathize with the time involved in running a blog, I prayerfully implore you to reconsider your decision. I believe that we are all called to do something important in life. Many of us are never blessed to know with certainty what that something is. In your case there is no doubt. This is at least one of the things you were put here to do. This is a part of your vocation. And it is no more a distraction from your priesthood than St. Paul’s travels were to his. Rather it as an inseparable part of your priestly vocation.

St Paul spread the Gospel by going from town to town and city to city in the then known world. Today the great commission can be advanced just as effectively in places like Pontifications. Whether or not you understand this, you and all those who have contributed to this truly wonderful oasis of Christian thought are missionaries to the modern world.

In Christ,
John