Where do I get my ideas for this Blog (and why so long between posts)?

Where I’m coming from
I am (as I’m sure you’ve all noticed by now) NOT a trained theologian or Catholic philosopher. I did attend the University of Washington between 1977 and ’79, studying mostly inorganic chemistry, physics and math, along with the usual “liberal arts” courses expected of every college student, but I lost my ambition to continue in my chosen program and dropped out before completing any degree. I started working full-time then and, except for a 2-year stint in tech school studying electronics and computer hardware in the mid ’80s, I have been steadily employed ever since. I have been relatively fortunate in this regard and I thank God regularly for it.

At present I earn a living for myself, my wife and our three children (aged 11 to 15) in a humble “blue collar” job at a location about 50 miles from home. So each day I have two long commutes during which I am able to think and listen to Catholic radio (we are very blessed to have an EWTN-affiliated radio station in the Seattle area that broadcasts 24-7, KBLE AM-1050). During the course of my work day there is generally quite a lot of time to think as well, since I sit or stand at a workbench most of the time and my assigned tasks do not ordinarily require a great deal of concentration. (Sadly, though, I am not able to receive KBLE’s signal very well inside my building.)

No, I am no theologian by any means. In fact, I’ve never had any formal religious training of any kind since graduating from Catholic high school in ’77 (beyond the odd parish seminar or retreat here & there and “auditing” my then-future wife’s RCIA classes). My “adult” religious education has been entirely on my own, searching out good books and devouring them as time permitted, building quite a formidable personal library in the process. I have also subscribed to several good (meaning faithful to the Magisterium) Catholic periodicals over the years. Many of them I let lapse because I didn’t have enough time to read them, but the three I still keep—and wouldn’t be without—are The Wanderer (weekly newspaper out of St. Paul, MN), This Rock magazine (published by Catholic Answers out of San Diego, CA), and Culture Wars magazine (my personal favorite, out of South Bend, IN). Other Catholic periodicals I could recommend are the Homiletic and Pastoral Review and the National Catholic Register—I’m sure there are many other good ones besides these, but I’ll stop there. Naturally, I have the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1st and 2nd editions) besides numerous other excellent catechisms, as well as a Latin-English edition of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. I also have a 1,914-page Complete Concordance to the Bible (Douay Version) published in 1945 [given to me many years ago by a Protestant friend who found it at a garage sale] which comes in VERY handy!

My ideas
So I have a long history of solid (though informal) Catholic reading under my belt ranging through theology, philosophy, biography & hagiography, spirituality, morality and social doctrine (including very many encyclicals and other official documents), besides my daily doses of orthodox Catholic radio and a lot of time most days to mull over it all. My “default” mental setting is that, since everyone dies sooner or later, and the ultimate goal of every sane person is to get to heaven, religion is the most important topic in the world. (I may have skipped a few steps in that sentence, all you strict logicians out there, but I hope I plotted enough dots for you to at least follow along.) I take my faith very seriously and am always on the lookout for any opportunity to share it, though I try (sometimes with limited success) to conceal my impatience or disappointment with others who do not seem to share my enthusiasm.

Often many days—or even weeks—go by at a stretch, I must confess, when I can’t think of anything worth writing about. Then, sometimes gradually appearing over the horizon of my consciousness like the sun rising on a clear morning, sometimes coming like a thunderclap, I will get an idea and begin to work it over in my mind over the course of several days or perhaps a week or more, jotting down notes on scraps of paper as opportunity affords. It might start as a phrase from a homily or some talk or discussion on the radio, a line or passage from something I’d been reading, or some problem from my daily life or family history that is bothering me somehow. Occasionally it is an event in the news or an article in the secular press that starts me thinking, trying to put it into some kind of meaningful perspective.

I have a rather thick skin, and I don’t have a great deal of patience for those hyper-sensitive personalities who are always afraid of offending anyone. While I recognize the need for a certain diplomacy and tact, a reasonable delicacy or sensitivity to the normal human feelings of others, I also admire brutal honesty and forthright candor. While I always try to acknowledge, understand, learn from and sympathize with other people’s attitudes, beliefs and perspectives on life and various issues, eventually there comes a time when one has to call a spade a spade and “cut to the chase.” Sometimes I go too fast or misjudge the situation and end up turning someone off to whatever it is I’m trying to convey or even blacking someone’s eye (metaphorically speaking of course) by my not-too-gentle way of approaching most things. Sometimes I’m really out of line or off-base in what I say, and I am not afraid to say I was wrong when that becomes evident. But at the same time, I’m not one to apologize or back down from a good argument just because someone out in cyberspace takes umbrage at my legitimate opinion or belief.

I will frequently state Catholic doctrine as established fact, since from my perspective as a convicted Catholic, it is. (If anyone disagrees with or doesn’t understand what I say, I hope he/she would be kind enough to drop a comment or e-mail me to either correct me or allow me to clarify.) I will try to explain and defend such teaching to the best of my ability and show how it is at least reasonable for someone to accept and believe it, but I won’t waste a lot of time beating around the bush trying to convince or win over those who either genuinely “just don’t get it” (after all, faith is a gift from God and we can neither get it nor give it on our own), or who obstinately refuse to shift their own cherished opinions or consider another perspective (there is a qualitative difference between steadfast faith and obstinacy). Contrary to what some people have said of me, I am capable and willing to change or even reject my views and beliefs—if someone is able to find or demonstrate a real (not just an imagined or imputed) weakness or defect in my position or how it is somehow irrational or dishonest to maintain such a belief. I have, at many times in the past, held erroneous beliefs, and once shown their inconsistencies or otherwise unreasonable elements, I changed my view. My faith is not blind or obstinate. I strive at all times to be open to the truth.

The only problem (if you could call it that) is that, so far as established Catholic teaching and Apostolic Tradition are concerned (once they are properly understood), there are no inconsistencies or defects of any kind (since it was revealed and continues to be safeguarded by God Himself). History bears witness to this fact. (On the other hand, the sinful behavior and attitudes of individual Catholics, acting either alone or in groups, is another matter entirely. They sin precisely because they are in violation of Catholic teaching, since it is that teaching that informs us of God’s will, the violation of which is the essence of sin.) For 2000 years, many of the cleverest minds known to civilized man (and not just the moral degenerates) have struggled against the historical, doctrinal, moral and social claims of the Catholic Faith, and have often persecuted, tortured and killed its adherents wherever they could be found. (Quite a few of these persecutors, antagonists and adversaries of the Church eventually converted to the Faith, often led by their own arguments into the fullness of truth, or inspired by the personal faith and courage of the martyrs in the face of torture and certain death.) Many people have sworn to crush, obliterate and bury once and for all the Catholic Church and all memory of her. In the end, all these men have themselves been buried, and today the Church is as strong and vigorous as ever, winning new converts every day from among men and women of all races and backgrounds, the rich and the poor, the wise, erudite and refined, as well as the simple, uneducated and uncouth. The Catholic Church is, in this respect, truly universal.

So the things I write here could be called the ordinary musings, ideas and expressions of one ordinary Catholic layman—a view of the world seen through the eyes of “Joe Pewsitter.”