Gashwin does the reporting so I don’t have to!
It was, indeed, great to meet so many people I only “knew” virtually at the Catholic New Media Celebration. I’ll add the following to Gashwin’s list:
Chris Cash of the Catholic Company, who has interviewed me a couple of times for their podcasts, was there (from Indianapolis!) with his wife.
Lisa Hendey of Catholic Mom - such a great website, a mainstay for so long, and a site which it’s been so exciting to see grow over the years – did a great job moderating the Blogger’s panel, which consisted of me, Mark Shea and….Jeff Miller! Yes the Curt Jester has a visage, is a very nice fellow. I was actually moved by his brief testimony, which involved not only blogging but conversion from atheism to Catholicism, and the importance of the Internet to him in enabling him to share the joy and truth he’s found in his faith. Related: Jennifer of Conversion Diary has an article on the role of the Internet in her conversion.
Rachel Balducci is as charming as her blog – very funny person and great to chat with.
Clayton Emmer came all the way out from California – it was great to see him again (I’d met him on one of my CA talks a couple of years ago), and had great observations on the Eucharistic Congress – I hope he’ll blog them.
Got to see Lisa Wheeler of Maximus again - Maximus is a marketing group committed to getting Catholic (and other Christian) voices out there. Lisa had been working with the Atlanta Archdiocese a few years ago (almost 4 to be exact – I was pregnant w/Michael, as I recall) when I came to speak at Christ the King (on DVC, of course).
As part of a “New Media” panel, Lisa had some very wise things to say about divisions with the Catholic community and the need to overcome them. The way I would put it is: there’s already one Magisterium. There’s no need for any more.
(And if you think this is a quirky thing to say, review Pope Benedict’s talks when he was here with us. What was one of the things he said to us over and over? Yup.)
And…Lino! After years of doing radio w/Lino Rulli, both at the Catholic Channel and in his previous incarnation whereever he was, finally met the guy. It was only a mild disappointment. I gave him some advice – badly needed – about his show, and I have full confidence that he’ll take it.
One word:
(Um…joke. Lino would get it. Lino would tell it.)
There’s more. I have a small stack of business cards from folks with interesting, varied and important ministries that I’ll post later. Plus some more substantive reflections.
God bless Greg and Jennifer WIllits, creators of the great “That Catholic Show” and all the folks at SQPN for putting on the event.
Also - Check out Gashwin’s post on the Eucharistic Congress, which was the huge event of the weekend. Anyone who was in attendance, please post your comments!
My daughter’s highlight was playing with your son. She talked about him the whole night. Thanks for bringing him!
Amy, it was truly an honor to meet you as well as other “big names” (yet extremely humble) in Catholic media. Thank you for all you do to help spread the Good News. It’s people like you who led me to rethink how I was using my writing and journalism degree and maybe that I should look beyond secular markets (thus, the inception of my little blog). I pray the Holy Spirit will guide me and help me to carve out a niche in Catholic media.
Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking a lot about if I have anything to offer that’s unique (I’m speaking only in terms of my blog, especially since it took me so long to jump onto the blogging bandwagon). I don’t have a house full of boys (or girls…yet). I’m a cradle Catholic – no profound conversion story there. I haven’t witnessed any miracles besides the birth of my daughters and consecration after consecration (and I pray one day I’ll witness the conversion of my non-Catholic husband; being an orthodox Catholic in a mixed marriage IS something I want to write more about). But I realized that perhaps it’s my lack of experience – the fact that I’m a newbie mom and blogger and certainly no theologian – that make me unique. You were right on when you said we have to find our voice and carve out a unique niche, but perhaps my niche is in that I don’t have a gaggle of kids (yet) or lots of published books. I’m a 20-something mom of two little ones, searching for a lot of things (including runaway baby socks, MIA sippy cups, and spit-up stains on the carpet). I’m learning as I go and looking for God in the trenches of new motherhood, and maybe that’s just what I need to be writing about.
Anyway, thanks for being so charitable to come to Hotlanta and to share your wisdom. Good luck with your upcoming move. Sorry for the lengthy comment!
Peace & Prayers,
Kate Wicker
p.s. Forgot to mention when we spoke that I also enjoy your “Living Faith” meditations. That tight kind of writing is so tough and you do it beautifully.
I am such a long-time lurker of your blog and I’ve never commented on any of yours or the other blogs I read (even digitally shy I guess) but I think I may start a Catholic blog that just repeats: “there’s already one Magisterium” over and over again…
Thanks for that
Meeting you at the CNMC was definitely one of the highlights of the event. Thank you for taking the time to come and share with us, and I hope to see you there again next year.
Here, here to working on unity across the church so that we can focus on achieving unity in Christ around the world. The more that we fight within, the less time we have to grow the new evangelization outward.
Amy,
Thanks for your generosity of spirit this weekend. It was truly a pleasure to meet and spend time with you after being an Amy “fangirl” for such a long time! I appreciate your sharing your writing wisdom with me on Saturday night. Blessedly, I had the forethought to record our panel so that I can go back and re-listen to all the great stuff that was shared. Hope you have a great week!
Lisa
“It was only a mild disappointment. I gave him some advice – badly needed – about his show, and I have full confidence that he’ll take it.”
Context?
Also, if you want to unpack for me what you mean by, “There’s only one magisterium…” … who do have in mind?
It was a great connection weekend and so glad to see you and the boys! And I was SO glad that you got my in-between-the-words!
Hope to see you more with the move to AL. Atlanta is a stone’s throw away from Birmingham. :)
Looking forward to meeting Michael.
BTW, the weblink for us here at Max is a little off since we switched from the prmaximus.com URL to the maximusmg.com URL, so some of links may be dead. Just wanted to update you with the better website http://www.maximusmg.com.
I finally got around to blogging about the Eucharistic Congress today….