Ex-priest starts new congregation; newspaper coverage confuses readers : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• An article in the Charlotte Observer, on a former Catholic priest who has started his own religious congregation, illustrates the dangers of relying on religious reporting from secular outlets.
• Tom Sanford, who left the priesthood “more than a quarter-century ago,” recently decided to open his own church, to welcome Catholics who are unhappy with recent changes in the Church.

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Ex-priest starts new congregation; newspaper coverage confuses readers : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Leading Nigerian prelate denounces Islamist terrorist group : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• The president of the Nigerian bishops’ conference has denounced the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram and called upon European Christians to urge their governments to intervene on behalf of Nigerian Christians.
• Boko Haram “is a group that intends to replace the Constitution with Islamic law in order to forcefully convert the people to Islam,” said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos. “They initially began to attack the government, its institutions and security agencies, then initiated attacks on churches. They want to eliminate churches because they educate and promote culture.”

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Leading Nigerian prelate denounces Islamist terrorist group : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Bad End To My Work Day

Well this work day ended on a sour note. I got ready to leave work at 7:00PM, and I see that I have a flat tire. So, I get out the jack, the do-nut spare, etc., and remove the flat. Put the donut on, tighten the lug nuts, lower the car...and the do-nut has no air in it. 

So, I go into Walmart (where I work) and ask if they have a portable air compressor I can use. Nope. The one they have won't hold air.

So, I buy one of the inflaters that plugs into the cigarette lighter. Won't connect. Managed to pop out the metal "liner" in the cigarette lighter, and then was able to plug it in and inflate the donut. 

Since using the donut won't allow speeds faster than 50, I had to take the side roads home, and arrived at home 2 and a half hours after I got off from work....and yep....I was talking to myself.....and still am.

Now I am going to see if I can find a cheap tire because I can't run on that do-nut for 2 weeks.

If you can give me a little boost here, I'd appreciate it greatly!

Seven Years And Still Here (By the Grace of God)

In late July of 2005, Marie and I had an idea to start a Catholic blog. We had several discussions about it over the phone, and invited Emmy and Ginny to join us in contributing to the blogs.

Marie is from Australia, Emmy is from the Netherlands, Ginny is from Trinidad and Tobago, and I am from the United States. So our blogs were an international effort.

We discussed a name for the blogs, and came up with the name "Faith of the Fathers". Marie and I discussed the look of the blogs, and the different blog topics, and decided each of our primary topics deserved it's own "blog" under the name "Faith of the Fathers".

We started with the main blog under the name "Faith of the Fathers", and the others were (in no particular order) "Our Lady", "Pope Benedict XVI" (the only blog of ours that has been regularly visited by The Holy See), "Spiritual Warfare", "Church Under Attack", "Apologetics", "Approved Apparitions", "Saints of the Faith", "Daily Mass Readings", "Favorite Prayers and Scripture", "The Early Church Fathers", "Spirituality and Mysticism", "Saint Quote of the Day", and "Prayer Requests".

Later we added "Catholic Books And Movies", "No Walls" (a youth section), "Busy Mom's Notebook", "Faith of the Fathers Links", "Faith of the Fathers Report", and then our "Kids Corner" blogs (which was primarily attended to by Ginny) which included these blogs for kids: “Learning and Understanding Our Faith”, “Our Blessed Mother and The Holy Rosary”, “Bible Stories”, “Angels and the Saints”, “Prayers and Scripture”, and "Fun and Crafts".

Whew...no wonder I am so tired....

So our first posts were published on July 31, 2005, and now 7 years later, our blogs are still here and still growing. During our first year we had the following stats: 55,348 page loads, 26,908 unique visits, with 23,000 first time visits, and 3.908 returning visits. That was a monthly average of 152 page loads, 74 unique visits, 63 first time visits, and 11 returning visits.

For the period of August 1, 2011 through July 31, 2012 we show the following stats: 214,273 page loads, 170,224 unique visits, with 156,311first time visits and 13,913 returning visits. That's a monthly average of 585 page loads, 465 unique visits, 427 first time visits, and 38 returning visits (which I would love to see get better). Not too shabby an increase overall but, it perhaps could have been better if not for a few setbacks.

The setbacks that occurred were health related, financially related, and due to personal obligations as well. First, I had a "light heart attack" (I think health professionals call it light because they weren't the one's that had it), and since I had no health insurance (still don't), and was out of work for about 2 months, I eventually wasn't able to contribute much. Then Marie's health got bad, and the others personal obligations prevented them from contributing as before. I keep their nameshere as contributors because the posts they wrote are still here, and I will never remove them unless they ask me to for some reason. Marie apparently removed herself as being listed as a contributor a couple of years ago, but her posts are still here, and all the posts by all of them are still worth reading and reflecting on.

Anyway, it's 7 years later, and "Faith of the Fathers" is still here. Let's pray and hope for another 7 years!

Your brother in Christ, Steve Smith.