David Schütz: Amateur Catholic

Me too! Me too!

I want to be a part of your great endeavour, but...

I have a little confession to make--the Church does pay me. So I'm not completely amateur. But I think that there is always the possibility that I might be closed down if the Human Resources dept discovered my blogsite (or how often I make entries while at work), so that probably means I'm an amateur.

Come and see a dinky-di, true-blue, ozzy, cobber, wombie, down-under amateur Catholic blogsite at www.cumecclesia.blogspot.com

Welcome aboard, mate. It's nice to have another Aussie in our ranks. Welcome!

Jay: Amateur Catholic

Wondering if I can join with my two blogs:

http://www.livingcatholicism.com

http://www.deoomnisgloria.com

God bless,

Jay

Sure can. Welcome to the B-team!

Catholic Guy: Amateur Catholic

Hello fellow amateurs.

My wife has always wanted to own a Catholic gift shop. We have made a vocation of screwing up our personal finances so, challenged for capital, I staked out a place of the Internet for her in lieu of a brick and mortar location. It has all the benefits of a real Catholic gift shop without the hassle of customers and management. It is a wonderfully amateurish Catholic enterprise.

Once the site was up I found my egotistical proclivity for journaling beckoning me to add an amateur Catholic blog to my amateur Catholic gift shop. What a terrific self-indulgence! I can wax poetical and muse philosophical and place my observations in cyberspace where they can be ignored by millions. Since I am such an amateur at this I have done almost nothing to promote the blog because one of the dangers of promotion is that someone will actually read what I have written and then they might ask me a question which I will likely be incapable of answering.

So if you read anything on my blog don't tell me. And if you have any questions about anything that I have written, don't ask.

But even though there are inherent risks in making this request, I desperately want to be a part of the B-Team. I excel at mediocrity. If you look up "benchwarmer" in the dictionary, my picture won't be there because I didn't even make the team. My blog isn't amusing or informative because I'm not funny and I don't really know anything. But I have taken to keeping a current Catholic Catechism on my night table and I refer to it frequently as I try to reintroduce myself to a Catholic faith that I have sleep-walked through for most of my life.

Forgive me if I aspire to too high a height but since I have not discovered a C-Team, I must humbly request a spot on the B-Team.

I make this request with true Catholic guilt and humility.

Sincerely,

A Catholic Guy
http://www.catholicgiftscentral.com/blog

Hey Catholic Guy, it's good to have you. What an amateurish way to get plug. ;) Welcome aboard.

man with black hat: shameless self-promotion

"I will go to the altar of God..."

"One week ago today, the Diocese of Arlington announced that women and girls would be permitted to serve at the altar... Amid the blogosphere and e-mail chatter on the topic, this writer had an opportunity to reflect on his own experience..."

LOL

This is just too funny!

Dymphna: Amateur Catholic

Subject: can i join

I'm rank amateur.

http://dymphnaroad.blogspot.com/

How's that for amateurish? This is from Dymphna's profile:

DymphnaII is a Catholic chick who lives in Virginia with her husband. She loves God, her family, books, Virginia and boiled peanuts.

Hey, we dig Catholic chicks here...especially amateur ones. Welcome to the B-Team!

Peace Pilgrim: Amateur Catholic

I am such a bad blogger. I am neither witty, nor erudite. My writings are never pithy, insightful and brilliant. Amy Welborn, I'm not.

To make matters worse, not only am I an amateur blogger, I am an amateur Catholic. A lowly neophyte who brings new meaning to naivete, I only recently arrived home last Easter vigil.

He tells us that we should come to Him like children, and I did. Yes, I'm one of "those" starry-eyed, naively enthusiastic, and overoptimistic converts.

My blog is blawg-awful! It is so amateurish, so cheesy, so ridiculous, so pathetic, so unimaginative, so boring that professional bloggers never visit me. If they did, they'd mostly ignore me, never finishing the first post and leaving mystified as to why anybody would bother to put it online.

I guess I bother because writing with my heart is my way of praying.
God didn't pick the best when He picked me...

Peace
http://peacepilgrim.fotopages.com/
“Whoever welcomes a child like this one in My Name, welcomes me.”

Well it sure sounds like you're an Amateur, but I'll tell you what; send some of that Hawaiian weather to Detroit and I'll make you a Super-Amateur. ;)

Welcome to the B-Team!

The amateur's amateur!

Now here's an example of a solid amateur. Fellow B-Teamer Rebecca Taylor sent this in:

Dear Amateur Catholics,

I gave a talk at my parish last night on stem cells and cloning. It went pretty well for all 90 minutes. Afterward the coordinator of the adult educaton program asked me what my fee was. I said, "My fee?" She said, "Yes, your fee."

I stopped and thought to myself , "How could I possibly charge my parish for what I should be doing for free?And even more important, if I take a fee would that mean I couldn't be an Amateur Catholic anymore?" And so I answered, "I have no fee. Compensation is not necessary."

Rebecca Taylor
www.MaryMeetsDolly.com
A Catholic's Guide to Biotechnology

Can you beat that? She's charitable AND loyal to the team. What a gal! Thanks for sharing that with us, Rebecca.

Darren Norton: Amateur Catholic

I thought that since I can't seem to find time to post on my own blog, I'd ask if I could not post on the B-Team as well ;>)

Seriously though, I'd like to join the B-Team if you have room.

--
Darren Norton
http://mycatholicreflections.blogspot.com

Oh, I think we can make room for you Darren. A neglected blog screams, "Amataeur." Welcome to the B-Team!

SWF: Amateur Catholic

Really, I didn't want to be a B-Team affiliate/member/whatever, but then when I started playing with pictures on my blog viam pacis at http://www.opportunityhaven.com/blog (how's that for amatuer; the title and web address have nothing to do with eachother) and seeing what a smashing job of design I'm not quite capable of, I started thinking about it.

And then, I looked at the the badge again. "We barely do our jobs." Oh well, that sold it for me. Want or not, I qualify.

-swf

Wow, what enthusiasm! We're touched, really. Welcome to the B-Team, we're happy to have you. ;)

Ironic Catholic: Amateur Catholic

Hi amateur Catholic! Can I be included?

Reasons why I can be a B team Catholic--

1. I've gotten Bs in school
2. I'm thinking about writing a steamy love letter to my husband on my blog. Maybe that will get people reading
3. Definitely got picked in ...let's say the last quadrant...of Phys Ed games at school
4. My son's name begins with a B
5. I like honey, therefore I must like bees, so the Bee team sounds perfect
6. Couldn't handle the pressure of being "A" team
7. Most of my favorite words have a B in them

Is that pathetic enough? Please?

I'm a teacher (according to the IRS) and a Vatican II lovin cradle Catholic. My blog is clean late night fun for me...that's about it.

In Christ's Peace, I.C. (The Ironic Catholic)
www.ironiccatholic.blogspot.com

Part 2:

I just remembered...in the interests of total disclosure, I HAVE written a book. But seriously, I think maybe 20 people tops bought it, and most of them were family.

I hope I can still B. When you think about, there is nothing says B team like a totally failed author...right...?

I.C.
www.ironiccatholic.blogspot.com

p.s. I.C. : obviously that's pseudonym. Trying to avoid the theological bricks being thrown through my virtual windows.

Funny stuff you've got going on there, IC. Your material is in the vein of our very own Maureen Martin, who coined the B-team byline. I think having written a book that nobody has read is testament enough to your amateur status, so welcome aboard!

Joe: Amateur Catholic

Hey.

I blog Catholicly at jmgarciaiii.blogspot.com so...I
implore you for the authorized use of the B-Team logo.

AMDG and thanks and all that,

Joe posted his B-team post here. It reads as follows.

The Killer B's.

Rummaging through Some Have Hats, I have discovered the "B-Team" of Amateur Catholic Bloggers.

I'm not, by nature, "a joiner" of many things. However, Maslow must be given some cred and I must exercise my belongingness needs somehow. Might as well do it this way. After all, said B-Team has many stellar B-Teamers, who blog on all manner of important and weighty subjects, from many different perspectives (including--gasp!--some with which I agree) and do so passionately, elegantly and brilliantly.

Obviously, they need me to balance things out. This, obviously, is an Electronic Work of Mercy (wait for Vatican 3, I'm just ahead of the curve in this regard) on my part. In fact, I consider it a ministry.

Furthermore, to pad my chances, I present the following factoids:

1- I have been educated by Jesuits.
2- I come from a lo-o-o-o-o-ong line of men educated by Jesuits (dating back to Spain & Cuba).
3- My sons (God willing) will be educated by these same Jesuits.
4- With all this Jesuitness, I am an orthodox, moderate-to-traditional Catholic.
5- I still love the Jesuits anyway.
6- What's more, I see no problem or conflict whatsoever between #4 and #5.
7- I teach CCD for 8th Graders who are about to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Strictly by virtue of the work of the Holy Spirit, these students seem to learn enough to be ready for this.
8- My Latin is actually coming back to me.
9- I have never (knowingly) committed simony.
10- I have an excellent knowledge of wines and can tell, with the merest sip, the ones that are so abysmal as to be incapable of transubstantiation.
11- I have been blogging, with varying degrees of public notice, since 2004.
12- I have never been arraigned on matters of canon law (now, traffic law, well...)
13- There is no 13, not because I am beholden to any pagan superstitions, but because I'm not taking chances with those maniacs who are.

There you have it.

AMDG,

-J.

Hey Joe, don't worry...we know there are some orthodox Jesuits out there. If we could just get into Area 51 we could find out just how many. ;)

Welcome to the B-Team!

KarenLynn: Amateur Catholic

Hi,
I'd like to apply to be an Amateur Catholic Blogger. I'm actually still an amateur Catholic blog reader. I'm still trying to learn what all these blogging terms mean. (blog rolling, permalink?..) I don't write much because I'm ...well...shy, and I don't think I've read one shy blogger, especially not a shy Catholic blogger. :-)
http://praytwice.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
KarenLynn

A shy blogger? Doesn't get much more amateurish than that. Welcome aboard, KarenLynn.

Konrad Huygens: Wanted by the B-Team

Lispers in the Woggia

Too funny!

Whoever you are, please apply for membership to the B-Team. We'd be happy to have you.

Also, you should install a sitemeter so you can keep track of us snowflakes, and so we can check in and see if Fluffyhead is really getting his marching orders from you.

-.009-

Audrey: Amateur Catholic

Hello to the President of B-Team!

I'm writing to apply for the membership of B-Team.

I'm pretty new to blogging. I started off blogging about everything else but the Catholic faith. Just a few months back, I decided to focus my blog solely on our Faith. My only purpose of blogging is to share my experiences and thoughts with youths around my age. Here's my humble blog with a humble name: My Journey.

I guess I'm the first youth in my archdiocese to blog. I serve the Lord in Parish Youth Ministry and the Choir. I like to stay online for long hours to read other Catholic blogs and also to blog, and that has actually earned me scoldings from my parents because we're still using dialup and it's kind of expensive. But despite the naggings and scoldings of my parents and weird looks of my friends, I still love blogging especially to tell the whole world about God's love.

Am I qualified? I'm from Borneo, Malaysia and my command of English is really bad...

God bless!
Audrey

Well Audrey, we don't have a president here because that sounds rather professional - and we wouldn't want that. It's good to have you, welcome to the B-Team. Don't forget to put up your badge to proudly display your amateur status.

Paul and Layla: Amateur Catholics

I hope it's not cheating to cram two people into one email, because I am -- but we both write the same blog, so it should work, right?

My name is Paul, and I'm an amateur Catholic. In fact, I don't even go to a Catholic college -- so not only do I not get paid to be Catholic, I don't pay to be Catholic either. Not surprisingly, I don't get paid to talk, either. However, if I tried, I could probably get paid to shut up, because I talk a lot; it runs in my family. And for some reason, people (around here) get nervous about you talking when you say things like, "magisterium" or "well, that's EVIL," or use phrases like "the Protestant heresy." I'm a cradle Catholic, took 12 years of Catholic school, and spent the latter of those years arguing with squishy religion teachers who acted like they were allergic to the Truth. I've always taken the faith seriously, but there's been something that's really clicked the last year or so, largely having to do with the woman I love deciding to convert. Nothing says "boy, you need to kick it up a notch" like the fact that your Protestant-raised girlfriend has taught herself almost (not quite, but almost) as much about the faith in a few months as you picked up in the past 20 years.

Layla is even more amateur than I am, because she's not even a fully initiated Catholic yet, at least for another month. Normally, you expect Catholic guys to grow up, and if they don't become priests, to find some nice Catholic girl to marry, and settle down and have a family. It's that whole "be fruitful and multiply" thing. See, my family never got that particular memo. We got one that jumbled "be fruitful and multiply" together with "make disciples of all the nations," so we don't just marry cute Catholic girls, we find cute Protestant girls, turn them into cute Catholic girls, and THEN marry them. Layla doesn't go to a Catholic college either, but somehow she puts up with me talking, which given our blog traffic is more than most people can do. We run In Veritate Ambulare (http://brpmilesblog.blogspot.com).

I hope it's not cheating to cram two people into one email...

No Paul, it's not cheating, but it is rather amateurish. I guess that means you're in (both of you). Welcome to the B-Team and welcome Layla to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Julie: Invertebrate Ambulance? ;)

WARNING: This Post Contains a Photo of a Scantily Clad Female

Anderson Family Album - the Birth of Mary Virginia
Mommy and baby shortly after delivery



Mary Virginia Anderson: born 16 March 2006 at 6:47 p.m. EST; 7 lbs., 5 oz.; 19.5 inches



Daddy's little girl



The Winning Team



Mommy and the kids



Daddy and the kids




Jamie celebrates Mary Virginia's birth



Aidan and Mary Virginia




Miscellaneous Photos
(because I had to load them to send to my parents anyway)

Ride 'Em Cowboy (notice how Aidan uses the rosaries as reins - his idea, not ours)



Bless Us O Lord ...

E. M. Blackstone: Really Amateur Catholic

Imagine the joy I experienced just moments ago when I discovered Amateur Catholic! I have been considering satisfying my blogging needs by focusing on my Catholicism and the faith in general for a while now, and it is so fantastic that I'm not the only college kid who is into it! How do I get in? Must I already have an established Catholic blog? Does someone else have to go pro for me to get a spot? How does this work? Tell me tell me tell me!

Yours in Christ,
E

To which I replied:

Hi E,

Just start blogging. Make it at lease identifiably Catholic and then send us in an "application" or just tell us that you want to be added to the blogroll and that's it.

Happy Feast of Saint Patrick.

EMB writes back with a link to her newly established blog, Substance and Accidents. Her first and only post thus far is her application, which reads:

I skipped four classes this week so that I could sit in my room reading the Catechism and "This is the Faith".
Being around my non-Catholic family last week drove home how important the Lenten tasks of getting closer to God and examining myself really are. I'm on the path to confirmation and it makes my secular Episcopalian/agnostic family itchy.
Since arriving at my "we put the liberal in women's liberal arts college" in Pennsylvania, I have been falling somewhat behind in the self-assigned God Homework I did while living in Cambridge, MA. I had been much more active about my faith while I was there. It helped that my housemate had a mini library of the Magisterium, and was a fellow convert. It also helped that I was a short subway ride away from a Latin Mass community which I absolutely loved.
Sidebar: that church is currently on the chopping block, though it is one of the more historically significant houses of God in the Boston area. If you want to read about it, check out www.holytrinitygerman.org. End of sidebar.
So now I am in Pittsburgh. I am told there is an Indult Mass somewhere, but getting there without a car is next to impossible, and I have yet to find another church-going Catholic anywhere on campus. I'm having a little bit of that Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness Syndrome, and to deal with it I have been retreating into myself and my books.
My school friends don't really get it, but I don't expect them to and I almost don't want them to. Sometimes I don't like having to explain everything, sometimes it is nice to just limit the storytelling folks who speak my language. Which brings me to the point of this entry: hey Amateur Catholic - I know I used the words "Magisterium" and "Indult" but may I please join your way cool blogging community?

Imagine that, someone started a blog for the sole purpose of being a B-Teamer. Lord have mercy on our sorry selves... hehe

Anyway, EM, you may very well be the embodiment of what it means to be an Amateur Catholic blogger. Welcome aboard, and please don't forget to put the badge and link up. In fact, you have available to you a ready made blogroll to install. Have at it, Am-Cath!

Fugger Nutter: Amateur Catholic

Hello,

I'd like to apply to be in your list of Amateur Catholics. I am an "amateur Catholic", a Knight, and the husband and father of a family that is active in the church.

God Bless ya.

Thanks,

Fugger Nutter

http://www.fuggernutter.com/Fugger, on your site you ask, "Is this a Catholic blog with a gun problem or a gun blog with a Catholic Problem?" It doesn't matter, as long as you're an amateur at it. ;)

Welcome to the B-Team, where you will find a number of us who share your passion for firearms.

Moneybags: Amateur Catholic

Greetings! I am a younger Roman Catholic from the United States dedicated to serving Christ. In my parish I am a lector and an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. It was in 2002 when I began attending Catholic Masses, and I instantly new the truth - that Jesus was in the Mass and the Catholic faith. Finally, the day came in 2004 at the Easter Vigil when I was baptized, confirmed, and received the true Body and Blood of my Savior.

Since then I began to attempt to fulfill Pope John Paul ll's call for a new evangelization. I began discussing and defending the Catholic faith against pagans, atheists, and protestants on numerous message boards. Some, including Christianity.about.com are filled with hate-filled messages and cold-hearted people. In June 2002, I decided to turn my focus from message boards into a website. I decided on a blog. This seemed the answer to my desire to serve Christ by spreading the Gospel message. And since that day in late June when I started my blog, I have posted over 800 articles across three blogs and received hundreds and hundreds of compliments and comments from good, honest people. Some have found a deeper love for Christ. Some have decided to begin to return to the Sacraments. And some remained non-Catholic but gained an appreciate for the beauty of our faith unlike before.

This experience has strengthened my faith and helped me not only understand the faith, but live it. I try to post many prayers each day online in the hope that people will see them and grow in a deeper and true personal love for Our Lord. Just a few months ago I decided to answer God's call - I decided to become a priest. In just a few years I will start on that road, but with all of my blogging friends I know that my journey will not be alone with you behind me and Christ before me.

God Bless

Moneybags

http://acatholiclife.blogspot.com

Hey Moneybags, glad to have you among us. Welcome to the B-Team!

Karen Hall: Amateur Catholic

Pick me, pick me!!!

I have just discovered the "B-Team Bloggers" and I want to be one. It's a funny, irreverent (to the Blogosphere), smart-assed idea -- how could I not want to be one? And in the five minutes that I've known about it, I have discerned that it is the will of God. Indeed, I have a B-Team Blogger vocation.

Not convinced, B-Team hierarchy? Here are my qualifications:

(1) I am not a steadfast blogger. I disappear for big chunks of time, sometimes without even giving any warning.

(2) I waffle. I can't figure out whether I'm truly orthodox, or just scared not to be. Sometimes diehard conservatives make me want to throw myself into a vat of gin, other times I want to go live with on a private planet with everyone who follows the Ten Commandments and believes that Noah really built an ark. Because I waffle, my blog is always full of contradictions, as faithful readers love to point out in the comments box -- which, I believe, makes me good B-Team material.

(3) I don't have the patience to proofread; I can't spell; I never update my sidebars; and basically, I can't stand to do anything that bores me, which assures that my blog will never reach A-Team status.

(4) I no longer have time to click around and stay current, so my blog will never announce anything that people haven't heard in four other places before they go there.

(5) I have no angle, unique or otherwise.

(6) I spend way to much time ranting and/or obsessing about Jesuitdom.

(7) I never let my lack of knowledge on a subject keep me from launching into a diatribe on it.

There. I could think of more, but I'm too lazy. Or tired. I'm not sure which. And I don't want to commit to one.

So...do I qualify?
Karen Hall, Some Have Hats

You had me at "smart-assed." Talk about fitting in around this place ... just check out the travesty we have made of St. Patrick's Day. Welcome aboard, fellow B-Teamer ... pick up your logo and display it with pride.

Post Deleted by Author for Being in Poor Taste

UPDATE:
Okay, okay. I've replaced the original picture of Mrs. Douglas with something a little less "provocative".

UPDATE #2:
On second thought, I've decided to delete the post altogether as not being in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day.

I apologize for my poor taste in posting it, and can only fall back on the excuse that I wasn't thinking clearly in light of all the excitement in the Anderson household with the new arrival and all.

Well that and the fact that I'm still pretty amateur when it comes to being Catholic.

Beautiful Irish babe: Amateur Catholic

Since Julie and Penni have trashed up the place with their filth. I am going to submit an entry that will hopefully remind those two what the dignity of the Irish really is.

Now everybody say "Awwww".




The above little darling is belongs to fellow B-Teamer, Rebecca, from Mary Meets Dolly. Rebecca assures us that her little darling is not the result of genetic engineering, in spite of being perfect. See...man will never be able to outdo God. Just as Julie will never pass off her concupiscence as virtue.

Feast of St. Patrick

March 17 is the day appointed by the Catholic Church to celebrate the feast of St. Patrick, bishop and Apostle to Ireland. It is also the day that millions of non-Catholics celebrate a thing called St. Paddy’s Day. Normally these would be the same people that would deny an Irishman a job just because of his ethnicity, but on this day they will get stupid-drunk on cheap beer tainted with green dye and pretend they are Irish.




Naturally, us Catholics - amateur or not - are not so shallow. We take this time to reflect on this great saint and the wonderful nation and people he converted to the Faith. We consider the shamrock, which St. Patrick used so effectively to explain the Holy Trinity.



The great people of Ireland have been oppressed by an occupying force for centuries, yet thanks to St. Patrick, they still maintain that fighting Irish spirit!







And here's something of interest. Were you aware that in the year 2003 of Our Lord that a native of Ireland was crowned as the leader of the world or something. Her name is Rosanna Davison but they even called her Miss World. Inspiring stuff. No, you can’t keep the Irish down.














And talent… This people is so blessed with talent. Who is not in awe of the remarkable acting of Maureen O’Hara and Nicole Kidman?






I know, I know… Irish music sure leaves something to be desired, but what about their dancing? Pretty amazing stuff.












Now, to some unlearned types, Ireland is just the surname of some popular model, but we know better.




So as you drink your Guinness and eat your corned beef (if dispensed of Friday abstinence), please say a prayer to St. Patrick, patron of Ireland, engineers, snake bites, and redheaded lasses.

Seeing as Julie and Penni buried poor St. Patrick with their trivial antics, I am returning him to some prominence. After all, it is his feast day, not James Bond's.

Faith and Begorra ...

... sure and 'tis fine to celebrate our Irish heritage.
I salute the Irish.

For the way they have helped save civilization.

For their contributions to world exploration.

For reminding us that romance and poetry and love can be found in everyday life.


Ah yes, like my sister Penni, I celebrate the Irish spirit and wish us all many more happy years of reflecting on their myriad attractions.

My Celtic Moment(s)

I generally don't go out of my way to wear green on this day. But I do have a button I wear, a line from a poem by William Butler Yeats: "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree..."

"Patrick was not Irish, and on his Feast Day, we do not celebrate being Irish; we celebrate being Catholic."

i agree with rick...

...you cannot keep the Irish down.

(if i were here all day, it would be so *on*....but some of us have to work for a living, m'kay?)

Happy St. Patrick's Day - raise a green beer around 7:30 p.m. e.s.t. and i will do the same :)

edited to add: i was coming back to lay the smack-down on mr. lugari for posting nicole kidman as irish when i thought she was australian...she was actually born in honolulu, hawaii (like yours truly!) and lived in the states before moving to sydney. she does have irish ancestry, so i retract the smack-down but affirm that aside from my prior marriage to tom cruise - we do not speak of that in polite company - she and i have our birthplace in common.

there ya go.

Carol Marks: Amateur Catholic

OK, because I am super lazy I'd like to submit a recent blog entry as my application. ;-) Yeah, I think that should qualify me as B-team Catholic. Heh.

http://alabamaimproper.blogspot.com/2006/03/da-vinci-code.html

"I have not yet read this book........

this is a piece of fiction, right?......"

Double Heh.

Carol Marks

http://alabamaimproper.blogspot.com

Wow, Carol. First, you ask where you can get the blogroll code - by commenting to the very post that gives you the code. Then, out of sheer sloth, you submit a post as an application. If that isn't enough to positively assert your amateur status, you prove that you couldn't possibly be a Professional Catholic simply by taking a cavalier attitude toward the Da Vinci Code. Brilliant strategy. You are so in!

Welcome to the B-Team!

Andie: Amateur Catholic

My Blue Button envy has overcome my embarassment at having such a silly little blog.

May I play?

I'm a homeschooling mother of five. I was baptized Catholic, went to Catholic school (in the early 80's where I colored pictures of Jesus and made felt banners and learned...uh...nothing!) until Mom and Dad divorced, Mom joined a cult and I never went back to church, never got confirmed. I married a non churched feller, had a couple kids and after awhile started feeling the need to get back to church. Not the Catholic Church, of course - I'd seen the Godfather, after all, and I'd heard from Pat Robertson that I just needed to pray that prayer and I was good. So, a nice easy United Methodist or non denom is what we needed, I thought. While I'm church shopping, what does my heathen husband do? He starts secretly attending Mass and wants to start RCIA. I tried to save him, but...

Hmm. I'll skip the fighting part....

He joined over my protests; it only took a year for my sorry self to follow. We baptized the three kids, whom we'd started homeschooling by then, and had two more since, well, it's fun, and being Catholic we had an excuse to do so. ;)

Now we're just trying, like everyone else, to better learn and live our faith and raise all these kids right.

As for proof of my amateur status, well, I submit my blog entry about my toddler son on his potty. Does blogging GET any more amateur than discussing a toddler's name for his privates? I think not!

Andie

inthetwoacrewood.blogspot.com


Sell crazy someplace else. We're all stocked up here.

Potty humor? I love it, and wouldn't expect it from anything more than an amateur. Welcome to B-Team, Andie!

dilexitprior: Amateur Catholic

email #1 - Can I join the team?!

Why do I qualify as a B-Team member?

1. Blogging is my ultimate form of procrastinating. I'm a university
student. I need healthy forms of procrastination. St. Blog's has served
that purpose for me for this past academic year. Too bad I didn't discover
it until my third year of university. If it wasn't for things such as
applying for the B-Team, how else would I put off those essays I should be
writing right now? Right now as we speak. Oh yeah... that's why there are
three dozen books lying on the floor around my desk.

2. I get into conversations in com boxes, pretend I know what I'm talking
about, and then step back and realize how ignorant and how stupid I really
am. It's good to be reminded of how little you know.

3. I once was a stats addict. I was excited the first day I passed 100
visitors. Granted, my sister visited my blog twenty times that day. She
must have been bored. It only happened once.

4. My parents know more of what is going on in my life by reading my blog
than talking to me! That being said, I don't live with my parents.

5. cf. 1.

Appendix: I just wasted an extra half hour reading through everyone else's
e-mails sent in applying for the B-Team instead of studying for my Spanish
Literature test tomorrow .

email #2 - Another reason

This is apparently the definitive reason: I'm so absent minded I forgot to
include my blog name and address in the orginal e-mail.

Letters from a Young Catholic
www.dilexitprior.blogpsot.com

If that wasn't enough to gain membership, notice that our young amateur misspelled her own blogpsot address. That's okay though, I made it point to the right place. ;)

Welcome to the B-Team, dilexitprior!

Pio Francis: Amateur Catholic Catechumen

Let me in!

+JMJ

Well I'm not even Catholic yet, so I'm pretty sure that's as amateur as it gets. Surely there's room enough for a lowly material heretic who, no longer protesting the Church, just wants to receive sanctifying grace of the Sacraments, eh?

http://somethingCatholic.blogspot.com/

32 days from this posting Pio Francis will be confirmed in the Faith. Congratulations on you entrance into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and to the B-Team. I wish I could say one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit you will receive upon Confirmation is graduation from the B-Team, but alas, He's more into that virtue thing...

Welcome aboard!

Matt: Amateur Catholic

What makes me a B-Teamer?

I can't keep up with the Professional Catholics! Having given up my identity as amateur apologist "Fulltruth" about 2 years ago, I started CatholicSphere, devoting (well ok, not that devoted) myself to blogging on truth, justice and the American way! As "Fulltruth", I paid apt attention to some of the "Big Dogs" such as Carl Olson, and others who have some of the more well-known apologetics sites, on CIN's apologetics e-list ... feeling so cool to have been on the invite list with these guys.

But, only some who ran in the Catholic circles at Delphi Forums probably had heard of me.

That alone has gotta qualify me for the B-Team, right? I mean, a name-dropping no-name?

Well, if not ... how about these qualifications?

I've got opinions ... lots of them.

I watch TV.

I listen to rock music.

I have run with scissors, left the lights on when I leave a room, and let the refrigerator hang wide open while I tried to figure out if there was anything in there I even wanted.

So, am I in?

-- Matt

CatholicSphere

http://blog.catholicsphere.com

Hey Matt, you were officially in the moment I read, "I can't...". That's the B-Team spirit! But the deal was cemented with the running with scissors comment. Surely a professional wouldn't be caught dead doing that. Welcome!

B-Team Blogroll

We now have the code available for adding the B-Team Blogroll to you your sidebar. So far, we're offering to display options (though you can always create your own look if you know how).

The basic code for displaying the B-Team Blogroll which uses your default background and link colors/settings is as follows:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=2c873209022b1f6ab1261e34b2eccc61"> </script>

If you want the custom blogroll that matches the B-Team badge, like the one in our side bar, use this code:

<style>
.blogrollmain{
width:152px;
margin:5px;
padding:1px;
border-top:6px solid #8deafb;
border-right:6px solid #57b4ed;
border-bottom:6px solid #46a3dc;
border-left:6px solid #7ad8fc;
background:#69c6ff;
font-family:Georgia, Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif;
font-size:12px;
text-align:left;
}
.blogrollmain a{
display:block;
margin:1px;
padding:3px;
border-top:1px solid #cde;
border-left:1px solid #cde;
background:#69c6ff;
color: #3500ff;
font-weight: bold;
text-decoration: none;
}
.blogrollmain a:hover{
border-top:1px solid #def;
border-left:1px solid #def;
background:#ffff00;
color: #3500ff;
text-decoration: none;
}
.blogrollmain a:visited{
border-top:1px solid #def;
border-left:1px solid #def;
color: #3a39ff;
}

.blogrollmain br{
display:none;
}
</style>

<br>
<center><script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=2c873209022b1f6ab1261e34b2eccc61"> </script></center>

Just don't forget to backup your template before making any changes.

About Amateur Catholic
Membership
B-Team badge code

Laura: Crazy Amateur Catholic

'member me???

Oh, how I wish I could be on your team! I was always picked last on my parish school playground, so I hope that qualifies me to be a professional amateur? I just had my 5th baby and I'm taking a little leave from blogging for Lent, but I love blogging about my children, my faith, and my goofy family members and I love reading the blogs of all of your members on a daily basis! I wish I was as inspiring as The Curt Jester, but I GET him...is that good enough?

I'm so amateur that I don't know where to paste a code and I don't even know how to be included in a blogroll, hmmm, maybe you have a "c" team (been on quite a few of those in the past) that I could join instead?

Thank you,
Laura
www.laurathecrazymama.blogspot.com

JMJ
+

Yeah, I remember you... you're the girl with the big hair! Nobody is as inspiring as The Curt Jester, so don't worry about trying to be. We don't expect greatness ... after all, we're the B-Team.

Essy: Amateur Catholic

Hi,
I'm Essy, all my friends have joined and I'm feeling a little bit left out. I'm as amateur as they come though...I have a blog but I don't write well, and am no where near as entertaining as all the others here...in fact the only thing that I can offer is a daily glimpse into the life of a very ordinary person trying to live her life in the presence of God...the good, the bad and the ugly.

http://estemomento.blogspot.com/

Always happy to be in the company of Carmelites...welcome aboard, Essy!

Linda F: Amateur Catholic

Can I join?...

I blog at:

Right As Usual

and about as amateur as you can get. Raised by a Catholic mom, fallen-away Holy Roller dad, after flirting with secularism, had the good fortune to find and marry a Catholic man.

My eldest daughter, BTW is a sister. Yeah, that kind of sister.

Linda F

Sure you can join, Linda. Welcome to the B-Team!

Blogroll additions

Okay kids. We've got a fully functioning blogroll now. We found that there were a fair number of folks who either didn't get links in their post or the links they had were bad. We believe we have them all fixed now, and we apologize for our amateurish ways. Well, we apologize for the errors, and per our therapist's suggestion, embrace our amateur status.

If you are a victim of a missed or bad link please let us know so we can remedy the situation. If there is an interest in publishing the B-Team blogroll on your personal blogs, just let us know and we'll make the code available.

Blog on...

Karen: Amateur Catholic

In fact, I might only be good enough for the "Z" list? Does one such list exist? I really can't even write very well, but just like my Catholic faith, I am still "practicing".

I am a homeschooling mom of 6. So I have lots of free time to blog, especially giving up the monotinous chore of laundry to make room for blogging. I am fairly new to the arena, picking it up last year, writing about my journey through my mother's illness and eventual death last Easter.

I tend to find other places, message boards, other blogs, etc., to be caught in apologetics, which I feel called to, however, can't remember scripture well enough to quote it off the top of my head. I honestly think God does this on purpose so that I'll stay somewhat humble.

My faith is simple. My brain is not. I love the Lord, the Church, my family, and chocolate. Do I qualify?

In Christ,
Karen
www.holyoakhs.blogspot.com

Oh you are sooo B-Team material. One of the marks of a B-Teamer is the ability to dedicate themselves so completely to blogging that they routinely neglect the menial tasks of everyday life. We understand that things like clean clothes and good personal hygiene are okay for some, but generally overrated.

I call what us B-Teamers do The Little Way for Bloggers; small sacrifices done with great love for our blogging apostolate. Because of our Little Way, we know that when we get a hot combox discussion of over 50 posts that God is pleased with our sacrifices and the Blessed Virgin is smiling upon us.

Sometimes, however, there are slow news days, fresh ideas fail to materialize, the hit counter almost seems to be going backward. Do not fear this. It is called the Dark Night of the Blog and it is God's way of strengthening us in our apostolate. When one encounters this it is imperative that they just keep blogging even though they doubt anyone is reading. Do this and the rewards will be sweet.

Welcome to the B-Team, little blogger!

Ed Pie: Amateur Catholic

Greetings, Citizen!

I submit myself for your ratification. I started blogging in November
of aught-five because it seemed artistically incorrect for there not to
be an official "dirty papist" in the blogosphere.

I aspire to be a professional amateur, but it's more of a pipe dream
than a practical goal, at least for now.

My original intent was to be ironic and somewhere between pithy and
incisive, but since I'm usually motivated to write by secular
postmodern and anti-Catholic silliness, it usually comes out as (and
here I'm being generous with myself to no small degree) rocky cultural
critique.

Oh, there's also some directly spiritual and otherwise Catholic stuff,
too. I'm trying to ramp up the ratio of material that's edifying, or
at least instructive, to that which is just critical and angry.

May it please you, find me at dirtypapist.blogspot.com. Honest, I'm
mostly harmless.

I can't think of a more heatening thing than the words dirty papist being muttered through clenched teeth in my direction. A badge of honor, it is. Welcome to the B-Team, Ed. Don't forget to grab your badge code and put it up. ;)

Steve Bogner: Amateur Catholic

... the more I realize just how amateur I am!

I've been blogging for a couple years now; one of the few Jesuit-groupies out there, or am I the *only* one? I don't know; too busy working my day job to spend much time looking.

My blog was nominated the past couple years for the Catholic Blog Awards but I always lose. I thought maybe this year I could ride Mark Mossa's coat-tails to victory in the Most Devotional category, but to no avail. That's OK though, it's good for my humility.

So, do I have to list my amateur credentials or something like that? Hmmm.... well, I have been published in America Magazine but it was only a letter to the editor.

The B-team idea/icon is great. In the Jesuit way of looking at things, I'm indifferent to actually *having* the icon on my blog. But if it helps advance the kingdom of God, I'm all for it!

Steve Bogner - Catholicism, Spirituality Holiness

Don't worry about having written a letter to the editor of America - almost a year ago someone from the CDF wrote him a letter too and a great many people were pleased. ;)

Welcome to the B-Team, Steve, and sorry about the wait.

Jerry Wightman: Amateur Catholic

I've just discovered Amateur Catholic and I find your purpose to be rather exciting.

I am interested in joining up with you folks. My situation is a little unique. I am an ordained Roman Catholic Priest. I served in several parishes for five years and then I had some disagreements with my bishop so I took a leave of absence and got married and had two children.

Thus, technically under canon law (#1394), I am suspended. However another canon law (#1335) states that anytime anyone asks for any sacrament for any reason the suspension is itself suspended. So, it just means that I don't have a full time job.

I would put myself somewhat into the amateur category since for the past twenty years since I got married I have not done anything serious as a church minister (I've been working a computer network engineer). People where I have worked always found out that I am a priest and often would talk with me about religious issues. My wife divorced me five years ago. After my kids finish college I may consider going back to full time parish work if my bishop is interested.

Recently I made a comment on someone's blog site answering a confusing Catholic question and from that I was asked to begin a blog and write about various Catholic and religious issues that people wanted me to discuss. My blog is titled, "I Was Asked" and is at: http://iwasasked.blogspot.com

I would offer to be a chaplain, a confessor, or just another guy to bounce questions off of or to share your thoughts and concerns with.

I congratulate the charter members for getting the amateur effort going. I look forward to reading much from the members. I have already checked out several very interesting links.

- - Jerry, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
(Fr. Jerry Wightman)
On blogs I usually go by the name: jw

Well, you sure sound like an Amateur Catholic to me, Jerry. Welcome to the B-Team. ;)

Traditio in Radice

Apparently the Traditional Radishes have been asked for by name. We
like what we see with the B-Team and think it suits us perfectly. We
certainly qualify as Catholic writers who don't publish books or do
tours. We definitely don't make any money doing what we do!

I am one of the two gentleman named Nick who blogs at Traditio in
Radice. I have no clue how many hits we get per day, but we have two
or three dedicated commentators in our comments box.

We're Evil Traditionalists. That right there is confirmation that no
one will ever pay us for our rantings and that the wives will continue
to nag us about getting off the computer. Too Catholic to see (paid)
publication yet loving the Faith too much to quit. That's the very
definition of an Amateur Catholic.

It was only a matter of time. Welcome aboard guys.

Christus Vincit Audio Promo Plugs the B-Team

Go check it out!


I think Amateur Catholic needs its own audio promo. Alas, I think our B-Team blog administrators are too amateur to know how to put something like that together.

Elena: Amateur Catholic

Greetings!

I found you through Julie, the Happy Catholic and I would humbly like to submit my application as an Amateur Catholic!

I definitely qualify! I am a survivor of the post-Vatican II, Kumbaya, "let's make burlap and felt banners because we don't know what to teach the kids any more" catechesis, having graduated from high school just shortly after Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar hit the screens.

I spent my early adulthood thinking I'm OK and You're OK and didn't have a clue about what my Catholic faith taught and didn't think about it too much either. That all ended when my sister left the church and started challenging me about what the church taught. By the grace of the Holy Spirit and some common sense, I knew that even if I didn't know why the church taught something, I was pretty sure it didn't just make all that stuff up! And I started to look for the answers.

I am therefore a self-taught Catholic in the neoclassic mode of Professor Scott Hahn.

I have six living children that I am trying to pass the faith onto - many times learning a few things myself as I go along!

I have been blogging for a little over 2 years and get about 100 hits a day. I've made a little money from blogging, but not enough to fill up the gas tank for my 15 passenger Dodge Ram even twice!

I blog at My Domestic Church, mostly about stuff that interests me. I have taken my proverbial thumps though sparring with JCecil (who said my "witness is horrendous") objecting to the early induction of children with anomalies (ad hominem attacks too numerous to mention) and speaking against abortion (where I was told there weren't enough Crayola crayons to color in my particular shade of stupid!).

With that, I humbly submit my application to hang with the B team!


Elena

Woohoo, I've been waiting for you, Elena! You just bring that domestic church right on board with you. Welcome to the B-Team!

Jen: Amateur Catholic

I'd love a cool button for my blog, but I don't think I can make any claims about being ready for the B-team. If you're the JV, I'm still with the freshman. I think y'all are cool, so I follow you around, but I'm not ready for the medium-time.

Maybe it's because I'm trying to do my job just a little bit more than barely. (Um, no, not that.)

Maybe it's because I don't want to be an amateur apologist. (Nope, not that either.)

Maybe it's because I'm not a committed Catholic. (Again, not true. I should definitely be committed.)

So here's my story. I'm Jen, and I'm a Catholic. (And a feminist. And an academic. And a mother of three.) Once, a long, long, long time ago, I got paid for an article in America . (Hey now, they publish orthodox stuff, too.) And then I finished my Ph.D., had two more kids, and took a tenure-track job at a Jesuit Catholic university in St. Louis. (Hey, they may host the Vagina Monologues, but don't go and judge the book by its...um....cover.) Now I'm trying to keep my head above water, and I am getting more amateurish every day.

But hopefully, somewhere I'll be Catholic enough to raise my kids to know, love, and serve Jesus. To help my husband get to heaven. And to convince my students that thinking people really can be practicing Catholics who follow the Magisterium.

But my blog is not going to be the thing that does it.

Can I have a button anyway?

Jen - PopMeyer Musings

Yepp, you can have the button, Jen. You're in. Now, we like having underclassmen toadies around to puff up our fragile egos, but in reality I don't think you're that. You're definitely B-Team material. Welcome aboard and why don't ya bring your bishop along with you...
;)

"Annie Mockingbird", Amateur Catholic

My real name is Celia DeWoody, but I blog as Annie Mockingbird at
www.xanga.com/anniemockingbird


I've been blogging on Xanga for about a year now, sometimes about Catholic topics. A nominal cradle Catholic,I came back to the Catholic Church in 1997 after about 25 years as a Methodist. I am in love with being a Catholic, but I'm definitely not a pro! I came back into the Church in the Diocese of Jackson in Mississippi, but moved to the Ozarks in January and am now a happy member of the Diocese of Little Rock.

I'm really getting into the Rosary lately, and wrote a little about that the other day. I'm finding other Christian blogs a real source of encouragement, and a goldmine of opportunities for me to try to give a word of encouragement here and there, or to find things that I really feel the need to pray for.

Keep up the good work, and THANKS!

Celia (aka Annie)

Welcome to the B-Team, Annie/Celia! We love those evangelical converts and reverts here at Amateur Catholic, especially since I'm a convert myself.

Please be aware, however, that I have it on good authority from some of our "reformed" brethren that the Holy Spirit would NEVER lead a truly "saved" person into the Roman Catholic Church. Funny, but I couldn't find that little tidbit anywhere in the Bible.

;)

Ron Rolling: Amateur Catholic & Available Choir Director

Please accept my humble application as an Amateur Catholic.

I am an amateur because of my non-existant training in liturgy,
theology, cathechism, apologetics, and the other disciplines which set
the Professional Catholic apart from us.

I am an amateur because I am not a good writer.

I am an amateur because I still am a "practicing" Catholic. I need all
the practice I can get.

I am an amateur because I have not learned the Two Great Commandments
well enough.

I am an amateur, in the truest sense of the world. For the love of God.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your
reply.

In God's Love,

Ron Rolling, 'Blogmaster
A Wing And A Prayer
http://awingandaprayer.blogspot.com

Hey there, Ron. I was getting worried that I was going to have to drag you into this kicking and screaming (and that goes for M.Z. as well). We know you're an amateur because we know the kind of company you keep. Be sure to get the code below and put the badge up. I don't know if it will do you any good or not, because to the best of my knowledge it hasn't benefitted anyone yet - and it's doubtful it ever will. But hey, sometimes we just like to have a little light-hearted fun. ;) Welcome aboard, friend.

I ask all of you readers to please pray for Ron. He has been unemployed in a tight market for a while now, and he could really use our prayers, even if they are rather amateurish. [In case you're wondering, no, it's not because of his blogging - Ron is actually one of the few bloggers out there who knows something about moderation. And he thinks he's an amateur? Go figure.] I don't hesitate to ask because we are the Church Militant after all, and that's what we do. Hmmm...I wonder if as far as the B-Team goes, it would actually be considered the Church Militia. You know, a volunteer squad of amateur soldiers. Seems about right...

CPT Tom: Amateur Catholic

Please accept my membership applications. A recovering Vatican II cradle Catholic, I have survived the storm of the last 40 years to re-awaken as a Militant Catholic(tm). Started blogging in October, at http://corningcm.blogspot.com I comment on mostly Catholic issues and about the goings on in the small part of the Diocese of Rochester where I live.

Yours in Christ,

--CPT Tom

Diocese of Rochester, eh? No wonder you're a curmudgeon. For what it's worth, I'm from Detroit, so I feel your pain. Maybe not as intensely, but enough to know what it can do to a guy. ;) Welcome to the B-Team.

Jamie Beu: (extremely patient) Amateur Catholic

My blog, Orthodoxy - right teachings for a right moral compass, takes its name from the G. K. Chesterton book.

I am a cradle Catholic who has had to explain that faith so many times to so many people, that I ended up studying my own faith more and more and becoming an amateur apologist. I started my blog around the time of the Terri Schiavo murder, and for Lent, my spiritual exercise is posting Lenten meditations on the Mass readings for each day until Easter itself.

Usually, the material for my blog comes from news events (especially abortion-related news), but sometimes it's fueled by something I hear debated on a news msg board or talk radio.

Well, best of luck with your site too, and God bless.

Jamie Beu (JamieBeu@yahoo.com) - Orlando, FL

"To have a right to do a thing is not at all
the same as to be right in doing it."
G. K. Chesterton - A Short History of England

We are amateurs at organization thus making Jamie had to prove his patience and persistence by asking more than once. We're very sorry, but you did know up front that we are a buncha amateurs, right? Anyway, enough of that. Hurry aboard and make up for lost time, Jamie.

Nancy Reyes: Amateur Catholic

Would this blog count?
http://boinkie.blogspot.com

It's my ethics/rant blog.

nancy reyes
gapan city Philippines

Why yes, it does count ... welcome to the B Team!

Patrick Kinsale: Amateur Catholic revert

How does one join the club? Does the fact that I had four years of theology in college and used to be a published writer count against me? Now I'm writing when I can at donutsunday.blogspot.com.

You're already in the club, it's just that now you get a nifty button to sport on your blog. Besides, I'm guessing you hail from Abp. Burke country. That's worth a truckload of points in itself. I bet you're gonna miss him when he gets transfered to Detroit. ;)

Welcome, Patrick.

Nick P: Amateur Catholic

My name is Nick and I have a problem:

I am an amateur Catholic blogger.

I have been blogging for about a year now. About the same time as I have been really into my faith. Like many around these parts I have learned more about my faith in the last 18 months than I did in the whole 8 years I went ot Catholic school.

My old blog is at www.piscotikus.com/blog and my new blog is at piscotikus.blogspot.com and I'll probably switch back because I have ADD when it comes to computers. I try and post every couple of days or so, but I enjoy reading blogs more than posting my own thoughts which is why I think I'd be agreat B-teamer. When I post, it's usually on things Ive read or the latest from the pro-life movement or what I get out of the days readings.

What I'd like to see from the B team is a community of B playas discussing encyclicals, fathers of the Church, scripture, as well as current events and sports. I rarely see any mention of sports on Catholic blogs. I wonder why that is...

What I can't stand are people who declare themselves as such and such kind of a Catholic. Your either Catholic or your not! I guess that would make me a Traditional Catholic ;)

On a more serious and personal note, I'm a pharmacist, recently married and expecting our first baby soon. What I'd really like is to open my own pharmacy someday and not sell BCs or the morning after pill. If anyone knows of any pharmacies out there like that let me know.

Hey Nick. Happy to see you're a genuine B-Teamer: Having fun going nowhere, yet refusing to check your faith at the door. Sounds like you have the prescription for moral pharmacology. Welcome to the B-Team.

Christine: Rambling Amateur Catholic

Okay, I can’t help it any more. (I am terrible at resisting temptation on the web for some reason.)

Hi, I’m Christine, and I am a blog addict.

I gave up computer games for Lent, but I didn’t include reading blogs, so I am now applying for membership on the B-Team. I’m an amateur Catholic because, despite being raised in the Faith, I only just read my first encyclical when Benedict put his out. I also did not know what an encyclical was until I was a married grown-up.

Other things that give me amateur status…I homeschool my children with Catholic curriculum and I find myself learning lots of neat stuff from my second-grader’s Religious Ed. Book. I had a scapular (two, actually) from my First Communion and didn’t know what they were about until about a year ago. Really. I didn’t know the mysteries of the Rosary until about three years ago, when I happened to watch enough EWTN to pick them up. I’d never learned the Hail, Holy Queen or the Fatima prayer until then, and I learned them by watching the International Rosary every day until I got them down. They say that really FAST on there. Too bad I didn’t think of just looking up the prayers online. My mother used to tell me that I’m book-smart, but didn’t have the common sense to come in out of the rain. I’m starting to think that it’s really true.

I’m also definitely not a pro because I fail every day to be the Christian I ought to be. I have messed-up priorities sometimes, I don’t always get through a whole Rosary in one day, I don’t remember to say grace half the time, and I definitely have a problem with pride. One day, I hope to get over all of these things, especially the pride thing. And I hope I won’t be proud of myself when I do. I spent a couple of years wondering why I was Catholic when I was exposed to Evangelical/Fundamental Christians (very good people, very sincere) until I heard a convert say that the reason she is Catholic is because of the Eucharist. And I knew I’d never, EVER leave the Catholic Church.

Things that threaten my pro status are few. I teach CCD, but naturally don’t get paid for that. I did apply to be youth director at my parish and I was not chosen, in spite of the fact that there were no other applicants at the time. (Wow…that really doesn’t threaten it, does it? Kind of affirms my amateur status…)

I’ve been running my blog, Ramblings of a GOP Soccer Mom, since the 2004 election cycle, and although it started out as a mostly-political blog, when John Paul the Great died, it began to morph into something with a LOT more Catholicism on it.

Hopefully, I’d be able to keep up with the amazing bloggers on this site, many of whom are on my Blogroll already, and quite a few of whom inspire me to read, learn, and link, link, link. (Do I get extra credit for brown-nosing?)

-Christine

http://ramblinggopsoccermom.blogspot.com

(oh, I hope I get to join the club…I hope, I hope, I hope…maybe they’ll let me sit at the Cool Kids Table!)

Haha Christine. After reading your last post in the comboxes I knew it was only a matter of time before you succumbed to the temptation of professed mediocrity. And yes...brown-nosing will get you anywhere. That's all part of our Amateur status, we don't have enough sophistication to dismiss the shameless and pathetic attempts of those trying to curry favor. We just like you all the more. See, here's a link just for being a sweetheart about it. Welcome!

Wretched Amateur Catholics

Hellooooooooooooooooo!

My name "around the blog world" is earthie. It's short for Sr. Earth... I'm so amateur I have a nickname for my nickname. I'm the "mother" of a group of 20-30ish women called the Little Wretches of St. Joseph and we have a little blog at http://wretches.blogspot.com.

We're a bunch of wretched Catholic women, who basically try and help each other to be less wretched.

While there are 16 of us who are supposedly "contributors" on the blog, there are really only 2 or 3 who post- the rest are so amateur they don't even really "get" how the posting thing works.

When we get together in person, half of us don't show up because they're wretched.

No one would ever pay us for our opinions, because we are so wretched. We tell people that they are wretched all the time, and it is not a compliment most people desire. If we were on a speaking tour, we would pick out the person who comes in really late to the talk, or leaves early, and announce to the whole room, "I like this guy! He's wretched! Did you all see that? He just walked in late, like he didn't care we had already started talking! Come up here!" and run over and give the guy a hug. Because usually we ARE that guy... er, girl...woman... Yeah, we don't like "inclusive language"; We fall asleep in prayer; We forget to say our rosary; We write applications to be amateur Catholics instead of studying for comps.

One of us has already joined the ranks of Amateur Catholics with her own blog (Amy Lemoine with the greatest title ever- refusal to grasp!). The wretches as a whole are so amateur that we didn't even hear about it until now.

Please please let us join the B-team! We don't want to drag down your reputation, though...

grazie!

earthie

p.s. I'm so wretched I'm not sure where this quote comes from:

Hi earthie, so does this mean you folks are the wretched wenches? Just wonderin'...

Anyway, you won't find yourself in any more wretched company than the B-Team. It is our hallmark after all. We could apply the following byline as well:

We're not perfect, nor very good. In fact...we barely stay in a state of grace.

Welcome aboard, you kids sound like a fun-loving group of wretched wenches and we're happy to be in your company.

Paul Smith: Amateur Catholic

My name is Paul Smith and I'm a computer programmer from Wilmington, Delaware. Although I'm a cradle Catholic, it's just in the past few years I've started taking my faith seriously. I blog at http://paulsmithjr.blogspot.com/ and I discuss whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. (Catholicism, baseball, politics, history, the TV series NewsRadio, etc.) I'm single and fairly private so nothing personal ends up being posted other than vague references to past troubles in my life.

I'm active in my parish (Adult Education Committee, Head Usher, Liturgy Committee, Lifter of Heavy Objects when the Church needs Decorating) and organize a lot of the Diocesan Young Adult activities.

Honestly, the number one reason I blog is to I can avoid annoying my coworkers. If I vent online, I don't vent to them.

Thanks.

--Paul Smith

A considerate venter ... excellent! There's always room for one more of those on the B-Team. Welcome aboard, Paul!

Brian McDaniel: Amateur Catholic

Hello,

I’d like to sign on to the club. I am a Benedictine Oblate from the Chicago region and run Ora et Labora from my domain at www.BrianMcDaniel.org. Thanks!

Respectfully yours,

Brian S. McDaniel

Ooooh, a Benedictine Oblate ... isn't that the same as The Anchoress? I do get mixed up about these things though. Anyway, Brian, I can see that you're a man of few words, keeping it short and sweet. Much needed around here (as I think I've already out talked you just in this little bit). Welcome, Brian!

That Most Foolish of Amateurs, The Holy Fool

The Holy Fool writes:

Let me in! Let me in!

If I'm not an amateur blogger, no one is. Have you seen my google Ads, lately? Of course not! Well, trust me: I'm not quitting my day job anytime soon!

I love the idea of celebrating us amateurs! I'd love even more to be apart of it. Sign me up, please!

Looking forward to speading my Foolishness your way!

Yours in Christ,
A Holy Fool

http://holyfool69.blogspot.com/

Julie D said:
I was hoping you'd show up over here. This place was tailor made for your kinda Foolishness. Welcome, fellow Amateur Catholic!
posted by Julie D. @ 11:23 PM


Jay said:
The Holy Fool is a longtime friend, a fine writer, a gracious blog host, and one of those bloggers who everyone seems to KNOW should win a Catholic Blog Award, but for some reason didn't get nominated. What's up with that?

I tell you what's up. It means he's an Amateur among Amateurs! ;)
posted by Jay Anderson @ 11:21 PM

Welcome aboard, Fool!

March Hare: Amateur Catholic

Oh, please, pick me! Pick me! I never get picked for anything! (Picked on, maybe...) And the "B" Team would be such as step up from the "C" Team. Or the "D" Team.

I mean, imagine, blogging in the same alphabet as Julie D. and Rick L. and Rick's wife and... and... everyone else!

I even do Windows (XP)!

Pax,
The March Hare
http://marchhareshouse.blogspot.com

Gee, I got all excited about having clean windows for a change (and then I saw the XP). What took ya so long, hon? C'mon in with the B Team!

Tim: Amateur Catholic

My name is Tim and I'm the perpetrator of a blog called the Lapped Catholic. I was actually hoping to be accepted into the Society of Catholic Dilettantes or possibly to join Graham Greene's Foreign Legion of the Church but if you'll have me I'd be happy to join the B-Team. Here are the top ten reasons I should be admitted to the ranks:

1. I once sported a Mohawk (like an amateur Mr. T)
2. I now sport a natural tonsure (like an amateur Franciscan)
3. I used to think Vatican II was the airplane the Vice Pope flew in
4. I can get you deep discounts on "The Pope Has A Posse" t-shirts (http://www.cafepress.com/gigocorp/843535)
5. I've got mad web graphic skillz I could use in support of the B-Team
6. I'm not averse to bribing you with hand-made knotted rosaries
7. I'm a little fuzzy on whether the above mentioned bribery constitutes simony
8. Kneeling causes extreme pain in my knees so there's no way I could ever go pro
9. I have yet to find a niche with my blog but I'm hoping when I do it's doesn't require crossing a river of fire.
10. If you don't have a bad blogger in your ranks how will anyone know how good you guys are?

There are also ten reasons why I shouldn't be picked for the B-Team but my keyboard is running low on letters so I'll have to get back to you later with thos

I am a sucker for a Top Ten List ... and the deep discounts on T-shirts don't hurt either! C'mon in outta the rain Tim ... welcome to the B-Team.

Stephen S: Amateur Catholic

http://www.ivycatholic.blogspot.com

For God, For Country and For Yale

Heh, a blogger of few words. Go figure...

Welcome to the B-Team, Stephen. ;)

Fidei Defensor: Amateur College Catholic

Hi everyone, my name's Dan but I blog under the name Fidei Defensor or simply FD. My blog, College Catholic, is on hiatus for Lent however since I am emailing this blurb to Rick, not posting it on a blog per-say I think I'm in the clear. I guess I'll just string off a bunch of facts about myself.

I'm a going on 20 college student in one of those frigid upper-Midwest college towns.

I learned more about Catholicism from a few months in the blogsphere than in all my years of once a week religion classes.

One of my main goals in life is to become self sufficient in supplying myself with maple syrup.

I was on the "B" team of freshman football, senior year my varsity stats include one tackle and almost recovering one blocked punt.

I am a sometime reader at church and always plead to the person sitting next to me to give me a "courtesy elbow" when it is time for me to go up and read.

I collect flags and have a 3 by 5 ft. Vatican City banner hanging up in my dorm.

I once told a rather liberal priest that I had just got a Rosary and wanted to learn how to say it (as in HINT HINT) and was shocked when he didn't oblige.

In an attempt at some uniqueness I occasionally will do a post on military surplus rifles, M-14's, M-1's, and Lee Enfields being the most beloved.

I am a bit disappointed that Pabst is now brewed in Texas instead of Milwaukee, does anyone know if they are still making Hamm's in the "Land of sky blue waters?"

I throw the phrase "Culture of Death" around on my blog a lot but I have never read a Papal encyclical.

I once missed half a class because I asked a fundamentalist guy preaching on campus why his Bible has less books in it.

I am happy to be counted in the esteemed ranks of amateur Catholic bloggers and promise to sacrifice valuable homework and studying time checking your guys's blogs ad nauseum (how's that for Latin?)!

We have not an M-14, so we MUST be B-Teamers, huh? At least it's official now. I'm missing your blogging, but it is Lent, so I must sacrifice. And FTR, bud...if you want one of us to speak at one of your functions, you better not try pawning off a Pabst product on us - else we'll have to go "pro" on you, and you can't afford that. ;) Welcome!

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. :)

Claude Muncey: Amateur Catholic

I'm happy to apply to vault all the way to the second string of Catholic bloggers, having spent several years further down in the food chain, to mix metaphors. Which is almost as fun as mixing a drink . . .

While I have been blogging on and off since 2001 (with lots of off the first couple of years) I have managed to avoid any awards, and with due care should be able to avoid such awards for the forseeable future. I did manage to accumulate some google juice, as well as vertebrate status from TTLB, on my former blog, One Pilgrim's Walk. However, that blog was hosted on manilasites.com, and their decision to stop free hosting (I'm not only amateur, I'm cheap) stimulated a move. I now blog at Semina Verbi, with no Google rating at all, which makes me even more amateur. I tend to concentrate on ministry in our current culture, links to the strange, interesting quotes, and my continuing struggles with trying to get my blogger template to pass the W3C HTML validator. (At the current rate, that alone could take years.)

Completing my status as an amateur Catholic (professional or amateur, your pick) is that currently the cash flow associated with my Catholicism is strictly one way, from me to the Church and various bookstores. It is true that my wife and I have applied to start the discernment process for the diaconate, but that is years off, and they don't tend to pay deacons, either. I'll have to keep programming, I guess.

Claude Muncey

All my money flows to the Church and bookstores too. Brother! Welcome to our ranks!

Laura H.: Amateur Catholic

You don't know who I am? *gasp*

No not really. I am usually behind the scenes, not on the stage. Such is life... especially in the blogging sphere. Doesn't that qualify me as amateur? If that doesn't this definitely does: My blog (...and if not...) debuted less than a month ago *gasp* and I have probably four readers... amateur enough? Yeah I didn't think so... how about the fact that I am a mere Crunchy Crustacean in the TTLB Ecosystem? I think that is REALLY amateur. Most people only laugh at my jokes when I start to tear up which oddly enough is common with my readers as well... you know... they come, they read, they cry, they leave. No? *tears up* *nervous laughter* See... I told you.

Enough about me though... it is time for my daily dose of Happy Catholic... I am determined to figure out what makes a good amateur versus whatever kind of amateur I seem to be. I'm like gum on the bottom of your shoe when you're in an interview and you don't know what to do. Sorry... I was on a roll...

*excuses herself back into the dark void of unknown amateurs*

--
God bless and Mary protect!!

with love, in Christ,
Laura H.

Lucky me, I do know you and you have that love of your faith that defines a true Amateur Catholic. Welcome, sistah!

The Anchoress: Amateur Catholic

I am an amateur Catholic because after 30 freaking years, I still cannot get comfortable with the hand-grabbing sign-of-peace at mass, and I never will. I want them to move it or lose it - it’s that simple.

I am an amateur Catholic because, while I like the breast-tapping that goes with the Agnus Dei, and wish more folks did it, because there are both mystical Christian and Taoist purposes behind it, so it’s kind of neat and Ecumenical, I also know that I can never seem to get the taps right. I’m always out of sync, like Steve Martin in The Jerk, I just can’t catch the rhythm. I CAN, however, tap it in Latin. And so, it would be best if the mass would allow us to, you know, chant “Angus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis” with the lovely, wandering air, as opposed to the unsingable “Lamb of God, you (super high vocal high jump) TAKE away the sins of the world….” But don’t get me started on modern Catholic music.

I am an amateur Catholic because even though I have published numerous articles in Catholic magazines, whenever I mention that I am a writer, people say, “sorry, I’ve never read anything by you, I don’t think.” And I say, “perhaps you read thus and such,” and they get a blank, sad expression on their face and say, “no…nope…doesn’t sound familiar…oh, do you mean that book about why men aren’t necessary? Are you Maureen Dowd? WOW! You look so much thinner and crankier on television!”

I am an amateur Catholic because whenever blogging folk congregate somewhere they ask me to come participate and maybe lead a forum on “Women” bloggers” or “Christian Women Bloggers” or “Catholic Christian Women Bloggers” and I always must refuse because I rather like being anonymous and unknown. I was tempted to accept one invitation but I believe they thought I was joking when I suggested I show up wearing a nun’s habit and wax teeth to protect my identity.

I am an amateur Catholic, because I was serious.

I am an amateur Catholic because all these years since the second grade, wherein I made my first confession - and I have loved the sacrament ever since - I still find myself confessing, at least once a year, that sometimes I just miss mass because I was feeling childishly obstinate and I wanted a pajama day.

I am an amateur Catholic because while I can name the 20 Mysteries of the Rosary and the 7 Sacraments and can mostly name the Ten Commandments (if I sing them the way Sr. Gemma taught me) I can’t for the life of me remember the 7 Deadly Sins or the (how many) fruits of the Holy Spirit…

I am an amateur Catholic because while I am second to no one in my appreciation of Gregorian Chant and the great music which has been composed for the church over the last 2000 years (basically anything before 1965) I have a deep and abiding love of the music of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the old-timey Gospel music, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, the Dixie Mockingbirds and The Abbot Kinney Lighthouse Choir. And while I have no doubt that our warm pope Uncle Benedict XVI would quite enjoy some of that music, he might give a frown if he heard me singing that I’d see him in the Rapture!

I am an amateur Catholic because try as I might, I still find myself curling a lip at other people who have done nothing to earn it other than being in my way when I’m in a crappy mood. I fail in love every single day. I harbor great resentment toward people who stand around in church after mass chattering loudly because - after all - can’t they see I’m trying to PRAY over here? I do so many things that offer no glory to God. I lack humility. I lack charity. I am not unkind, but I am often impatient. When I am lazy, I embrace cynicism. I have a sharp tongue and am too often very quick to unleash it on someone. While I do not lie or gossip, I am capable of using that sharp tongue to not only “cut” but to literally slice open an artery and bleed someone out. I am selfish and self-interested and my use of the world “I” is second only to Bill Clinton’s use of it.

So, yeah. I’m an amateur. A rank amateur. I need grace - oh, I need it. Amazing grace.

Can I be in your club?

--
The Anchoress

Awww, you had me at "hand-grabbing sign-of-peace at mass" ... and I was crying in sympathy by the time I got to "Maureen Dowd." Come aboard, Anchoress, and welcome!

Sacred Heart of Jesus

In solidarity with my Catholic brothers and sisters in my love and devotion to Our Lord, I offer this image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus along with a prayer and offering that we may use, if desired.

Novena Prayer

Divine Jesus, You have said, "Ask and you shall receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you." Behold me kneeling at Your feet, filled with a lively faith and confidence in the promises dictated by Your Sacred Heart to Saint Margaret Mary. I come to ask this favor: Mention your request).

To whom can I turn if not to You, Whose Heart is the source of all graces and merits? Where should I seek if not in the treasure which contains all the riches of Your kindness and mercy? Where should I knock if not at the door through which God gives Himself to us and through which we go to God? I have recourse to You, Heart of Jesus. In You I find consolation when afflicted, protection when persecuted, strength when burdened with trials, and light in doubt and darkness.

Dear Jesus, I firmly believe that You can grant me the grace I implore, even though it should require a miracle. You have only to will it and my prayer will be granted. I admit that I am most unworthy of Your favors, but this is not a reason for me to be discouraged. You are the God of mercy, and You will not refuse a contrite heart. Cast upon me a look of mercy, I beg of You, and Your kind Heart will find in my miseries and weakness a reason for granting my prayer.

Sacred Heart, whatever may be Your decision with regard to my request, I will never stop adoring, loving, praising, and serving You. My Jesus, be pleased to accept this my act of perfect resignation to the decrees of Your adorable Heart, which I sincerely desire may be fulfilled in and by me and all Your creatures forever.

Grant me the grace for which I humbly implore You through the Immaculate Heart of Your most sorrowful Mother. You entrusted me to her as her child, and her prayers are all-powerful with You. Amen.

Offering

My God, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for the intentions for which He pleads and offers Himself in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in thanksgiving for Your favors, in reparation for my sins, and in humble supplication for my temporal and eternal welfare, for the needs of our holy Mother the Church, for the conversion of sinners, and for the relief of the poor souls in purgatory.

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