Over the weekend, it seems the whole world noticed that Cardinal Sean O’Malley is blogging. I saw headlines from across the US and in Europe and South America. Not bad for a rookie blogger.
Now, I would add that I hope this isn’t a one-time experiment, that he keeps at it when he comes home and that it expands beyond the daily diary format. I think for it to be effective at connecting the Cardinal directly with the people without the filter of the mainstream media, he should keep blogging and use it to write about controversies that arise. I can’t imagine how helpful it would have been during the parish closings or the Catholic Charities debacles and the like. Of course, such a revolution in thinking about media relations takes time. After all, it hasn’t escaped my notice that publicity for the cardinal’s blog went out through the same old media channels. If the cardinal’s starting a blog, it might have made sense to alert, you know, the Catholic bloggers first as a natural constituency.
Should the cardinal allow comments?
Update: Looks like the blog now allows comments. Hope my predictions don’t come to pass.
Technorati Tags:bishops, blogs, Boston, cardinal, Catholic, O’Malley
I’m enjoying it, too. (Actually, I’m your average Joe—or Josephine—Six-Pack.)
The blog is open for comments…in fact, I posted one yesterday…but on my computer, anyway, the blog I posted on reads “0 Comments.” On the other hand, if I click on it I can read what I wrote plain as day.
I heard from Father Brian Bachand today (I’d suggested that the Cardinal plug this Sunday’s Pro Life Mass on his blog) and gather somebody’s putting in mucho hours to maintain the blog…I suspect it’s all those gorgeous photos!
Keep in mind that the cardinal is probably not the one posting the pictures. (He’s certainly not taking them!) You can probably blame one of the guys back in the communications office for the overkill, and I do agree with you on that. We don’t need multiples of the same pose, but it also doesn’t bother me much. I just keep scrolling down.
man with black hat: At least he didn’t sign up with MySpace…