Dear Readers,

This is a bit of a different post. And it’s inaugurating something of a new chapter in the life of this little blog and the silent community that’s been built up around it.

Let me tell you, I’ve come to resent very deeply a phrase which I hear all the time.

“I’m busy.”

Nope.

The truth is, nobody is “just busy.” Everyone is busy with some particular thing, and your proposed action-item (“come to my party,” “let’s watch a movie,” “will you wash my car,” etc.) is not as important as whatever else that individual is doing. If it were more important to go to your party, they would be busy doing that rather than going to a cooler party, going to bed early, or filing their taxes.

They are not busy – they are busy with something else. They are busy with something of a higher priority.

Maybe you think their priorities are mixed up. Maybe you think they could reorganize their schedule to fit in your action item, but they’re just not aware of that or are too lazy to bother. And you might be right about all that. But unless you are going to kidnap them and hold them hostage at your party you lost the negotiation of their time.

The great thing about a blog is that it is a party you can go to whenever you want. But the host has to keep things going.

I’ve been slacking on that….. I’ve been busy! I have not prioritized the party, because I have not prioritized the partygoers. So, I apologize for that.

A light has gone on in my mind today. But let’s back up a little bit.

I do have a lot of things going on. People tell me all the time that I have too much to do. That’s usually because they think things which I take on are more complicated or time-consuming than they really are, and/or they expect a much different pace of life for themselves than I myself can tolerate and even enjoy. These days, I go to sleep thinking about how to set up a warehouse in Karachi to handle leather and pink salt exports, and I wake up thinking about what kinds of agriculture I can leverage in eastern Zimbabwe. That’s no joke, and that’s only some of a single element of one large project I have going on. I can’t even really talk about some of the things I’m involved with these days… Big stuff.

The point is this. I’ve undervalued two things.

First, I’ve undervalued you as a community… as a party.

Second, I’ve undervalued you as an individual… as a partygoer.

As a party, we can have a much better time. The party can get bigger, too, and we will do some amazing things together if you’re interested. It’s not just anyone who reads these pages – it’s mostly a particular kind of person. That creates particular kinds of opportunities. I want to explore that together, in due time.

As an individual, you decided to be a reader, even a subscriber. You showed up for the party… I should provide you with some food, some drinks, some music. You’re owed a good experience for having bothered to show up.

I started this blog in a room next to a parish office in west Baltimore in 2016 to talk about art, science, and the Catholic faith. From there, it quickly grew into a general theology and “culture-ish” blog. Occasional personal posts, but mostly academic-leaning stuff. The pace has been around a post every other week or so over the years.

Today, things are changing.

It’s a great moment for me, because there is indeed a lot going on in my life – things which could easily make me “busy.” Since I have so many things to do, one of the best things for me, knowing my own psychology, is to add another thing to do. It forces me to be disciplined, especially if I’m accountable to someone – or to a whole room of partygoers.

The party has liked the more personal, culture-ish, travel-ish blog posts historically. Awesome, I like writing them. So get ready for more.

And get ready for a whole lot more posts in general… I mean, every single day. Every. Single. Day.

Even if it’s just a few lines, or sharing a cool video clip, I’m going to create and share something every day. I have to. It’s becoming an interior need.

The daily posts will go until the day of my ultramarathon race for my fundraiser in early April. (The run could go well over 24 hours… So, I will “take a break” to focus on running 100 miles.) After that, we will see how it’s been going and re-evaluate. Maybe I will miss a day or two for really extraordinary reasons… But I am really going to strive to be consistent.

What I need from the party – and from you as a partygoer – is two things. First, prayer. Second, cooperative engagement. I’m confident that many of you hate as much as I do the persistent calls from social media influencers to “like, subscribe, and share,” but the fact remains that these posts are not getting nearly as much exposure as they could because my readers aren’t passing them along to friends. This isn’t to guilt any of you! It’s to present the opportunity to be part of something more than where we are at now as a community. If you think I’m writing something valuable, why not take the 10 seconds to share it with some friends? And pray a Hail Mary for me too.

Here is the bottom line. I like rewarding people who take me seriously and give me a chance. You’ve done that. I now want to reward you not only with more frequent posts but with posts which go beyond the speculative and theological (although those will continue) and build up the experience of each other as individuals who are interested in the Church and Her affairs from the particular kind of perspective which animates the takes on this blog.

I am telling you right now that I am “inside” some things which you WILL want to know about. And you’ll hear about it HERE, if anywhere. Not from one of the big guys in Catholic media, not from the parish bulletin, but here. I can’t promise you that sort of experience every day, but if you stick around, I will tell you what I can when I can about… things… Not goofy tabloid stuff or Roman gossip – yawn – but meaningful initiatives which are actually going to help the Church flourish in the 21st century, things which all of you can be part of if you want to be.

So, that’s the update. You will be hearing a lot more from me. And if you think it’s too much, no problem. I understand. But if you’re interested in a more engaging experience of like-minded individuals, this blog is now going to become a more useful forum for that. I LOVE when people comment or send me emails (Contact). You have no idea, it makes my day! And I usually like to respond too! I’m a real person, you know… I would like to be busier engaging with you.

Buckle up. The Christian Renaissance Movement is just beginning. And I’m happy you’re already part of it.

God bless you,
-Eamonn Clark, STL