Question:
Where do you get the questions and answers for your column every week?
Answer:
Well, the questions come from various sources. Sometimes a parishioner will email me a question. Other times, friends, family, and coworkers will ask me things. However, the majority of the questions come from people I’ve never even seen before. These people are readers of my blog.
The word “blog” is short for “web log.” It’s like an online journal where you can post your thoughts. Blogs are nice because you don’t have to know anything about web design in order to create your own. Once you sign up with one of the various blog services, you just type out what you want to say and the blog service does the rest. The three most popular blog services are Blogger, WordPress, and TypePad.
If your content is well-written and speaks to a particular audience, you post on your blog regularly, and you are able to enhance the design of your blog, then you can actually attract a sizeable group of fans who will read your blog on a regular basis. I’ve been posting on my blog, phatcatholic apologetics, since July 19, 2006, and currently attract around 200 readers a day.
Most of the time, at least one or two of these readers will have a question about Catholicism. That’s why they read my blog in the first place, because they want to learn more about the Catholic Church and they see that I am knowledgeable in that area. Out of the hundreds of Catholic “experts” out there, they choose to ask me their questions. I am always truly humbled by that.
The answers come from my own noggin … with a little help from various online resources. The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia is an amazing resource for information about the Church. Catholic Answers is great because they have a library of short articles that defend various Catholic beliefs. Crosswalk is actually a Protestant website, but it’s the best tool I’ve found for looking up Scripture passages. Each passage is also linked to various dictionaries, commentaries, and lexicons that are useful as well. Of course, you can never go wrong with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
On the http://owensborocatholicradio.com/resources/catholic-information/ page of our website you’ll find a collection of links to articles that address various Catholic topics. It’s not finished yet, but it may help you to find your own answers to the questions you’ve always had about your faith. Of course, I am always available as well.
Peace of Christ to you,
Nicholas Hardesty,
WIMM Board Member
Director of Religious Education, Blessed Mother Catholic Church
Feel free to email your questions to nicholashardesty@gmail.com