Eric Williams: Funky Amateur Catholic

Well, I'm certainly not a profession Catholic, though with all the encyclical reading I've been doing lately, I wish I was! ;) Actually, I've only been a Catholic since 2000, so I'm not even a cradle Catholic.

I've been blogging since November, 2001. Back then my blog was called "Scribbled Lines". I've been blogging under the title of "Ales Rarus" for a few years now, but I don't recall exactly when I made the switch. Whence Ales Rarus? I used to enjoy making people guess what this means, but I've decided to relent and make it known to all. Ales Rarus is a Latin play on words. "Avis rarus" means "a rare bird" and carries similar meaning to "an odd fellow". "Ales" is another Latin word for bird that carries connotations of omens, signs of the times, and/or augery. If you want to get technical, both "avis" and "ales" are feminine (requiring "rara", but they can be made masculine in poetry (which tends to breaks lots of rules). I decided I'd rather have a masculine name in Latin. ;) Yeah, I'm a nerd. So what? :-P I am grad student in Intelligent Systems (A.I.) after all. ;)

I consider myself to be politically moderate and independent and somewhere between a traditional and neo-traditional Catholic. My intention in blogging is to "teach in order to lead others to faith" by being always "on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful" through the "use of the communications media". I also act knowing that I "have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors [my] opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and [I] have a right to make [my] opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward [my and their] pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons." (adapted from CCC 904-907)

In other words, I rant about stuff that bothers me, and it's for your own good, so you better like it! ;)

Seriously, though, if I had to summarize in one sentence the main reason I blog and how I choose what to blog about, I’d say that I’d like to help people stop begging questions, talking past one another, and calling each other silly and rude names, and start thinking critically, listening to one another, and treating each other with, at minimum, the same love they’d ask for themselves.

I'm sorry if my autobio is dull, but I just don't have time to devote to writing a better one. Ah, the busy life an amateur Catholic...

Eric "Funky Dung" Williams
Ales Rarus, http://alesrarus.funkydung.com

Welcome my son, welcome to the B-Team. Where have ya been? It's alright, we know where you've been. You've been in the Bloglines, filling in time.... So welcome to the B-Team.

It's good to have ya, Eric. :)