Where to Find Me

I am really bad at that "networking" thing. I would say I'm not a natural salesman but I won awards during my short stent wandering around Sears getting people to sign up for siding installation. They gave me a bonus for every person who confirmed the appointment with a phone call so I had a nearly 100% phone call rate, before the days of cell phones even. I'm told that was a highly unusual skill.

There's a difference, though, between that kind of one-on-one salesmanship and making connections for their own sake. Maintaining connections as a social fabric. The kind of skill used in social networking. In maintaining multiple platforms to be where the people are.

I love and appreciate the Sir Ken Robinsons of the world who can tuck morsels of truth into lighthearted, relatable banter. Have you seen his multi-tasking joke about the difference between men and women? It's at 13:47. Isn't he hilarious? And yet so seriously real?



To be funny, I'd say the frying an egg portion describes me to a T. To be real I would say my multitasking is not so much external (though I do the same as any other woman in that regard) but an internal work of organizing people and ideas. I intuitively see the root needs undergirding the superficial presentations. While most people focus on the means, I focus on the end. It is hard to then add the everyday maintenance of the superficial or fleeting on top of that.

I'm the kind of person people seek out when they're hurt or troubled, seething or confused. The kind who can be fully present, discussing the hopes and challenges of our human existence. Troubleshooting ways to meet their own goals. The ultimate realist. I'm told I paint a picture in my writing that makes others feel like they're there. That I can organize and clarify in a way that is unparalleled. And I'm also told that I'm a dreamer, an optimist, someone who defines our existence not just by where we are but also by what we are called to be.

I start at the end and work back to the present. That isn't how most people think. "I didn't know where you were going with this and was a little overwhelmed and scared at first, but now I'm following and am on the same page," is a sentiment I frequently hear if I do not spend a great amount of time editing to be able to start a conversation with the now.

There's a place and a need for voices like mine because we speak for the vulnerable who have entrusted their most intimate reality with us and we say to that inner self reflected in all of us that there is more, there is a way, there is hope.

To my great sadness, being an introverted counselor-manager type doesn't garner many dinner party invites. You aren't ever likely to find a crowd gathered around me laughing uproariously like they did with Sir Ken's talk. Even when I put alcohol in others' hands, they somehow feel disinclined to drink. My presence, it seems, is a reminder of our end point, our telos in Christ.

I struggle, though, with communicating this perspective when the modern methods to do so require that social networking skill. If I update Facebook regularly, I'm not on Blogger. If I'm on Blogger, I'm not on YouTube. If I'm on all three, I'm irritable and short-tempered with my family because I cannot also be present with them. I multitask ideas easily but it is frying-an-egg-serious when I'm with a person or his or her needs.

Where have I been? With my family. They've needed me. People are being born, people are dying. It's that stage of life.

It's a beautiful and worthy use of my time. But it is also steeped in the tedious ephemeral of the now. Without the opportunity to connect with others on a deeper level that grounds us in history and unites us in purpose, I am not able to return to those who need me replenished with a grounding of self.

So I am online as well. But I am told that's not enough. I can't only be on Facebook. Or Blogger. Or YouTube. There's also Twitter and Instagram and Snapchat and Google Plus. They all have dimensions and algorithms that need to be optimized. They want a picture. A story. A package. Unique presentations refined for their core demographics. Networking.

The tedium only accelerates my burnout.

People like me tend to be renewed through academic or professional circles. Circles they typically built before family life. I built no such circles then, when our society facilitates such things. None that lasted, at least. You might be shocked to learn that I was the kid who started the Catholic campus ministry at my university. And that it was not a move welcomed by the school's social or scientific staff who actively thwarted the work. Or that the priest assigned to campus ministry turned out to be highly troubled, driving people away and causing us to disassociate from the Newman network before his removal from public ministry the following year.

I struggle to find the place for a person like me in this networked world. This world that archives everything you say and do and produce. This polarized world that guarantees vitriol that is ready to be slung at you, your spouse, your children, your friends. I feel a great need to protect my family and to guard my heart, to stay focused on God, and yet to do so not in the future but in the now. The ever-present now, which is all we really have. The now that has my to do list torn from my notebook and trampled on the floor that also holds laundry from the trip we just returned from too sick to address, videos to edit and relish and share, letters to write, meals and curricula to plan, doctors and medicines and therapies to organize, and so many people to love.

You don't need me on Blogger, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, email... You just need me to be present. And I need the same from you.

-Catherine

My Facebook page often features information on the faith, travel, education, planning, inspiration. It rarely features politics or popular news.

The Byzantine Catholic Facebook group is the most popular Facebook group in which I regularly participate (and help moderate). I'm also at Lynne Drozdik Wardach's Great Fast Meals and ByziMom.

Your Word From the Wise YouTube Channel has interviews and other inspiring wisdom from others. It is updated when I get someone to give an interview. I do not produce content for it's own sake so there are no duds. It's asking the questions you want answered and then usually following through for a deeper understanding of the response. You'll need to subscribe to be notified. If you're connected to a larger Eastern Catholic network like a parish or eparchial or social network page, please share these wonderful nuggets so I'm free to just produce them.

Rómen Catholic YouTube channel has videos from my travels. (The title is a play on words as Rómen means "of the east" in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.) Churches, monasteries, hikes, museums, travel trailer/RV life, conferences, that sort of thing. It will ebb and flow based on my travels. Brand new with under 100 subscribers, it is not yet eligible for a custom URL. So hit that subscribe button to help me out!

Your Word From the Wise Facebook page has basically the same purpose of this blog and my news feed, except it is more refined to Eastern Catholic social content. Which in Facebook algorithm means not enough interaction for posts to be shared to the newsfeeds of those who don't ask specifically for notifications from it. It's a double-edged sword. I need more followers who engage to be able to get my content shown to them but can't get followers without people already present and engaged. This is why people have a whole career out of SEO.

Catholic Means Universal is a project I want to see come into fruition. Check it out! It builds local intra-church awareness (Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Oriental Catholic, FSSP, Anglican Ordinariate, dioceses, eparchies, seminaries, parishes, schools, religious houses, monasteries...) and promotes respect among everyday Catholics and our leaders by holding a joint procession called This is Our Cross. It's the perfect opportunity to encounter one another in love, united in Christ. And it is so easy to implement on a single day. Contact me if you want to see it happen, too!

I also make informational graphics. Things like prayer sheets, Confession guides, instructional or curricular text, that sort of thing. I make them available free of charge in response to an expressed need. Much of this work is not online as it is too unique to be of general value. For example, I made a year's curriculum based on the names of the students in a class, teaching them the faith through their patronal saints. Awesome but not useful to others, and potentially violating children's privacy to share their names online. I'd like to eventually re-work some of my guides to be able to offer a convenient purchase option for those who'd like to just buy a printed, laminated copy.

I was asked last week to begin the process for what I hope could turn in to a huge project. It's a little daunting by its size but it is needed and I think my abilities will uniquely improve the work that could potentially affect every Catholic in our nation. I am humbled and determined to stay in the present, leaving any worry about the future to God who provides. I'm likely to share what I learn if the project flourishes. Please pray that it does so only because of the great need it would address.

And then there's me, my family, our parish, our life. I don't share that online but it is full and blessed.

The Year in Review

I did this experiment of trying to blog in 2011 while waiting for opportunities to return to video. I thought it was worth trying because I could do more from home, since I needed to be home more this last year, and could provide the same quality information. It didn't work out so well.

One major hurdle I had was in getting responses to interview requests. No one likes cold callers. I didn't know if my emails weren't going through or if the person on the other end was not interested. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew so I'd wait on one person before asking the next and the lack of response slowed this process down considerably. Another major hurdle I faced was that those who responded favorably were often impressed with my questions and too busy to respond to them in text. Text is more formal, more detailed, more scrutinized, and more involved. After spending the time writing and editing the few interviews which were completed, I would send the final work for approval and it wasn't uncommon to not hear back. Dozens of hours of work sit ready and unpublished, much of which is no longer of particular interest because it was concerning current (at the time) events. People who have wisdom to share are, as an obvious correlative effect, very busy people. I need to be able to have 15 minutes or 30 minutes or 60 minutes or whatever it is that they're available for and then they need to be done, but I didn't accomplish that with the text model.

On a personal front, I am able to write the best questions when I talk with a person and learn what is important and of interest to him or her. I'm also most motivated to work when I have personal connections. Working on my own at home with a computer screen and text was a personal challenge which I did not always conquer.

All of this combined to an end product others were happy to see, but I didn't get requests for more of it. On the other hand, I continue to receive regular requests for my video interviews. This affirmation that the content is what people are interested in and the video medium is where it is best conveyed has brought me back to video interviews. It is obvious that my talents are best used in service to the church there.

God willing, I will be taking videos in the coming weeks and I will be posting video interviews regularly throughout 2012. I've heard you loud and clear and I'm responding to your call! Please pray for me that I continue to seek God's will and that I conform to it so that whatever I do brings glory to Him.

Social Saturdays (1/8/11)

It's Saturday! That means we're chatting with the living and praying for the dead.

Prayer Requests:

• For the family of Gianna Caeli Henninger, an infant who died this week from complications due to Trisomy 18. She leaves behind her parents and seven siblings, among numerous other extended family. She joins 4 siblings who preceded her in death.
• For an abused woman and mother, A, who is in desperate straits and in need of many prayers this week as she navigates police, courts, severe depression, and more.
• For the souls and families of Elaine Dorko and Helen Boytim who died this week, as well as their parish family at St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Marblehead, Ohio.
• For the soul and family of George Michael Ritchey, as well as his parish family at St. George Melkite Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
• For the soul and family of Father Constantine Brown of the Byzantine Catholic Church.
• For Msgr. Sharbel Maroun who celebrated his birthday this week, that he may be blessed with many more years.
• For Kat's family, including their current and future children, that they be guided in discernment and finances in their next adoption. (Kat has other prayer requests at the link.)
• For all those affected by the Australian flooding, that the Lord provide for their needs.
• For all who are persecuted for their faith, especially those in the Middle East. 
• For Congresswoman Giffords and all who were hurt in an Arizona shooting rampage, that their physicians' hands be guided so that they may be restored to full health. For the souls of those who perished that the Lord may welcome them into His kingdom and for their families that the Holy Spirit bring them comfort and hope in their grief.
• For all of our clergy, religious, and monastics that they be directed in strength, courage, patience, and fortitude to radically live God's will for their lives. 
• For mothers, that they not abort their offspring; for infants in danger of being put to death in the womb; for a change of heart of providers of abortions and of their collaborators; for human victims of stem cell research, genetic manipulation, cloning, and euthanasia; and for all entrusted with the government of peoples, that they may promote the "Culture of Life" so as to put an end to the "culture of death."
• For Your Word From The Wise and all who are connected to it, that it may bring glory to God.
• For the intentions of those who are praying.

Do you have a prayer request you'd like to add? Please put it in the comment box any time this week so we can pray with you.

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What's going on at Your Word From The Wise?

• I added a new comment feature which allows commenting from multiple account types and not just Google accounts. It says it is installed and working, but it isn't showing up. Troubleshooting will be forthcoming.
• I sent out a 1-question email request to a handful of people hoping for an easy aggregate post. No responses yet.
• I updated the About page to include a schedule for posts, defining the focus of this project and giving names to each day which reflect the type of content that will be covered. Tuesday was a hard one to come up with! As promised, they are appropriately kitschy.
• I sent interview requests to a handful of people, offering to tailor interviews to their areas of knowledge and interest. I heard back from one who is going to talk with me in a couple weeks. I will follow-up this week with phone calls to the others.
• I heard from several people about topics or people they'd like me to cover. I was already able to incorporate two of those requests into interviews I was writing. (Do you have suggestions? I'd be grateful to hear them!)
• I researched and wrote three interviews. I had a "little birdie" offer some much-appreciated musical knowledge to the research, for which I am very grateful. (5-10 minutes of information sharing made a huge difference. Do you have knowledge you could take 5-10 minutes to share?)
• My hard drive suddenly and irretrievably crashed while I was working on the interviews. The last time that happened was when I was working on Your Word From The Wise videos. I thankfully had learned my lesson and was regularly making back-ups so I only lost a week's worth of work.
• I re-wrote and sent out the three interviews.
• I heard back on the two most involved interviews with positive results and am now coordinating those interviews. I'm excited! I think you will be, too! 

Figuring this blogging thing out

I've been trying to figure out how to balance the blog world's need for regular updates with my desire to have original content that isn't duplicating the efforts of others who are already out there.

I decided on a trial that I think will be a good balance. Please let me know if it is working or if it needs tweaking. (Really. When you're lurking here and thinking, "She's needs to update this thing more often," or "I wish she'd put it all in one place," or "I just want the good stuff. Leave all the rest elsewhere," then I really want you to type that and send it to me.)

I am thinking that on this blog I will stick to homilies, lectures, interviews, projects, and biographies. My current projects include the Eastern & Oriental Catholicism Google map, a universal liturgical calendar widget, and a links page. On the Facebook page, I would then share more of the all and sundry posts like hymns, news, or other background info on what I'm working on for the blog. How does that sound?

I've also discovered that the blogging culture has an innate appreciation for structured cycles with their Wordless Wednesdays and Thankful Thursdays (how Catholic of them!) so I'm going to try to come up with something similar to regularly structure my posts. I guarantee the titles won't be as catchy. I take more of an Eric Carle approach to the calendar. You know: "Today is Monday. Monday string beans." Coming up with something slightly more endearing will be one of my goals for this week. I'll leave the rest of what I'm doing for the Facebook page in order to not bog things down here. Please let me know what you think!

Welcome!

There's not much here yet, but I hope that will change quickly. I got an About page and a Help page up, I updated my YouTube channel, created a Facebook page, I just started a Google map for Eastern and Oriental Catholics, and now I need to set about the work of connecting with those wise souls whom I hope to feature here.

So what is there to do right now? Offer to help, update the google map, spread the word, become a follower and put this blog in your RSS feed so you get updates, friend me on facebook, and pray!

I am learning as I go and hope to have the bulk of the blog world learning curve complete by the middle of 2011. I don't know if that's realistic, so please pray for me!

Adiós,
Catherine