Joe Catholic Booked for 2012 Blogathon

You may have noticed the recent addition of the Blogathon 2012 badge on the right column of this blog. Beginning May 1st, participating bloggers will attempt to post at least one entry to their blogs for each day of May. I successfully participated in Blogathon 2011 while honing my writing skills on my personal blog.

I am going to need some help to make it through the next thirty-one days. If you have some ideas for a post, please send me a message or write a comment on the blog. I aim to be faithful to the mission of the Joe Catholic apostolate, while hopefully building viewership of this blog. Did I mention I am trying to this while I have three finals in my IPT courses this weekend?

I am entrusting my writing to the intercession of St. Josemaria Escriva, the patron of the ordinary, whose name means "he writes." Please pray for me that the Lord use this fun little contest as tool for evangelization.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph pray for us!

Ave Maria IPT Grad Program

If you have visited the blog this week, you have noticed a significant drop off in posts. First, let me apologize. Secondly, let me explain. I recently began pursuit of a Masters in Theological Studies through the Institute of Pastoral Theology at Ave Maria University. I just attended my first month of classes and I am still recovering from the intense weekend of learning.

We are blessed in the Fort Worth Diocese to have the faculty from Ave Maria fly into the DFW area once a month to instruct about twenty-five of us at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's Formation Center. This is the first year the program is in Ft. Worth. We are studying Vatican II, the Foundations of Catholic Spirituality and the Old Testament. Our professors are Douglas Bushman, S.T.L. and David Twellman, D. Min., Th.M.

We meet one full weekend a month (for the next three years). We begin Friday night, meet all day Saturday and most of Sunday. The instruction is fast paced but full of rich orthodoxy. I learned more about Vatican II in one day than I had learned in my lifetime.

I can already tell I am going to make some life long friends with some of my classmates. I am looking forward to the continued studies and I hope to share some of what I learn here on this blog.  I also hope to get back on track posting this weekend. I will be back dating the Tuesday Tech Talk and I have also asked a few other Joe Catholics to write some posts in the future.

Thanks for your continued support.