Podcasting, Blogging and Vox Populi

While I've had a sense of Blogging for a while now, I have recently started to become acquainted with Podcasting. Both mediums seem to offer outlets for communicating just about anything one might wish to share with others or even just externalize without having a particular interest in the receiver. Such is the case with my interest in these mediums. While it is intriguing to think that another person may read my Blog or listen to my Podcast when I finally produce one, the main interest for me at present is to become familiar with these communication vehicles and use them as a means of expression for my own benefit. Writing has always helped me to sort my thoughts out on a particular topic or general subject area. I've started countless journals, written scores of letters and even tried my hand at short stories for a while. All of these forms of communication have had an organizing yet liberating sense about them and have helped me to understand my thinking better. I can't imagine that Blogging and Podcasting wouldn't provide a similar sense of liberation and empowerment for others as well.

I need to learn more about Blogging and about Podcasting. I do hit the internet for long periods of time looking for blogs and reading them. I want to learn from others who have journeyed this way already. There are some really good Blogs out there based on their ability to attract and hold my attention, but I still would have trouble articulating just what makes a good Blog or a good Podcast. I'm sure there is criteria for either or both I just haven't found it yet.

Funny thing, I have become lax in my faith over the last few years. Catholicism has been my conduit to a system of logic and rationale about the world we live in. Any number of real world events have disturbed that system which worked so well prior to 1969. I have never stopped trying to find that order, but unfortunately for me it has remained elusive. Now what does this have to do with Blogging and Podcasting? Well simply enough, I have found several Blogs and Podcast subscription sites that have had a truly interesting effect on my thinking. The Blog of note is by a fellow named John Willcott and he is a tour guide in the North of Ireland. One Podcast I like is by a Dutch priest and another is by a husband and his crazy wife. The first is called Catholic Insider and the later the Rosary Army. These are not high gloss, polished professional broadcasts. They are however quality shows and the content is well organized, but they are the insights and thoughts of the people who might live next door or work with you. Listening to these shows amongst a few others has done more in a short time to set me on the right path to my grail than anything offered by the Catholic Church in over 35 years.

Subscribe to Catholic Insider by clicking on http://www.sqpn.com/scripts/index_sqpn.php . Father Roderick is the kind of person that I would like to know. He is fun to listen to and he has such an appetite for life that it is contagious. There are really two Podcasts of interest to me by Father Roderick. The first is the Catholic Insider which presents shows largely centered on Father's travels. One show of note is his tour of the Cliffs of Moher. I love the Cliffs and feel like I am seeing them for the first time each time I visit. Father's Podcast allowed me to tour the Cliffs from my office chair in Florida and I felt like I was walking beside him. His second Podcast is called the Daily Breakfast. This is a morning oriented show that covers a myriad of topics, but is always interesting and always presented with enthusiasm. I find myself looking forward to these Podcasts because they make me feel good about my day and Father throws in just enough Catholicism so that I am sensitized without being saturated. I can't think of one commercial broadcaster that I would rather listen to over and above Father Roderick. Give his Podcasts a try. You won't be disappointed.

The other Podcast I like is called the Rosary Army and you can link there by going to their website at http://www.rosaryarmy.com/ . If you like the site you can also subscribe to Greg and Jennifer's Podcast right from the website. These are people who have just woven Catholicism into their daily lives, which is what it is all about really. I've taken a small except from their website as a sample of what these folks are about:

"Since Rosary Army was founded in 2003, thousands of free, all-twine, knotted Rosaries have been distributed around the world to anyone who requests one from our website.

We've made custom Rosaries for disabled people, sent bundles of Rosaries free of charge to Catholic college students making missions to foreign countries, and provided Rosaries for soldiers, patients, religious orders, and lay people. Our Rosaries have been sent to all fifty of the United States as well as Malaysia, Africa, South America, Europe, India, Haiti, Iraq, and elsewhere.

More importantly, we’ve taught others how to do the same thing. Our Rosary-making workshops, online videos and instructions have taught hundreds of people how easy it is to make these types of Rosaries to freely give away to others.

Our goal is to remove every obstacle a person may have to praying the Rosary, including giving them a free Rosary of their own. We do this by living by our motto: Make Them. Pray Them. Give Them Away. "

So to close this latest Blogthought, Podcasting and Blogs offer people of standard means the opportunity to share their thoughts and provide unpolished insight to a wide variety of subjects. I for one hope to take advantage of this technology and concurrently leran more about myself.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam