My site has just reached 600,000 hits! I want to thank all of my visitors, past and present for this milestone. This would not have been possible without God's grace, your clicks and reading eyes.
When I created "Sacerdotus" on Twitter, I never had any intention of starting this site or anything else. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had called clergy, religious, seminarians and religious in formation to make use of the media. He wrote:
"Responding adequately to this challenge amid today’s cultural shifts, to which young people are especially sensitive, necessarily involves using new communications technologies. The world of digital communication, with its almost limitless expressive capacity, makes us appreciate all the more Saint Paul’s exclamation: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16) The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word." (http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/communications/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20100124_44th-world-communications-day.html)
I am not much of a fan in regards to social media. Reading, libraries, research, playing piano, sports and other young nerd stuff is what I like. However, I decided to give Twitter a try and created @sacerdotus. I chose this name because at parishes where I have worked at, I was called "little priest" or "little bishop" due to my work with a bishop and my strong leadership personality. After reading on Solanus Casey, I read on the title "Sacerdotus" and decided to use that since it fit me. While on Twitter, I seldom posted. Those tweets were mostly prayers, quotes and Bible passages. There was even a time where I did not tweet for months.
As I learned how to use Twitter, I began to engage atheists and others. I figured I could reach out to them since I used to be one myself. In my exchanges, I used my fields of science and philosophy to present answers to atheists and was successful. However, the idea of blogging never crossed my mind. I had blogged before as an atheist, but it was just something I did when I was bored and for school related purposes. It was not until I ran into @Sr_Lisa that I became curious about blogging. She sent me these tweets regarding my exchange with atheists and others as well as blogging. Please follow @Sr_Lisa on Twitter. She is a great religious Sister.
@Sacerdotus +JMJ+ I do from time to time have conversations with others with very diverse views than mine. … (cont) http://deck.ly/~lYHEG
— Sr Lisa Marie Doty (@Sr_Lisa) August 9, 2011
@Sacerdotus This might interest you: http://is.gd/mp37jc a look at clerics and new media (blogging). Blessed afternoon/evening.
— Sr Lisa Marie Doty (@Sr_Lisa) August 11, 2011
After these encouraging Tweets, "Sacerdotus" blogging was born. The site began with just 12 views and now has over 600,000! Thousands visit each day and monthly I get about 33-50,000 visits. The blog has now expanded into a radio podcast at www.blogtalkradio.com/sacerdotus and a Youtube broadcast show "Sacerdotus Hangouts" on youtube.com/sacerdotvs.
I thank God and our Lady for this success and pray that it continues. I also ask for your help to continue this work and expand it even more. Please consider donating to my gofundme.com/sacerdotus campaign so that I can expand and continue this work. Here is the link with information on why I am having this campaign:
