Housekeeping

 

Since I've been getting some new readers to the blog after the release of my book Wisdom and Folly: Essays on Faith, Life, and Everything in Between (Cruachan Hill Press, 2024), I thought it might be helpful to do a little introduction to myself, my blog, and highlight some general housekeeping and navigation items that readers may benefit from.

Firstly, I have had some questions about why the Blogger profile for Pater Familias refers to the author as "Paul." "Who is Paul?" some people ask, "I thought your name was Rob." Paul is my moniker here; it is both my middle name and in the spirit of the Apostle. I originally adopted this pseudonym to allow myself a degree of anonymity; I sometimes write on contentious issues while maintaining a degree of freedom to do so. I do not work for the Church or a diocese, have no social media presence, and also work my day job in a fairly liberal environment. 

Alas, the anonymity has not really been possible as more of my writing has been published at places like Crisis magazine, Catholic World Report, One Peter Five, and other Catholic publications, and all my author bios link to this blog. Not to mention the publication of my recent book. Nevertheless, I have prayed and thought about it and have decided to keep my Paul pseudonym to if nothing else give me the inner freedom and patchwork detachment of myself from my writing. Hard to explain, but I think it works. 

If you benefit from the content here, I invite you to make yourself at home. If it's not your cup of tea, there is no shortage of other Catholic content and commentary out there. I would like to think, however, that I offer something of value here; or at least some spiritual food for thought.

Secondly, a technical note. Blogger mobile (access from smartphone or tablet) is a different interface than the web (desktop/laptop) version of this blog. Unfortunately, some of the features on the desktop version that I really like do not carry over to the mobile version. 

What this means is that if you are accessing the blog from your computer, You will be able to see topical organization of posts (there are over 800!) which aids in navigation. I write pretty consistently, 2-3 posts per week with some periods of downtime when the Spirit wants me to rest.

Also, there is a "Get Posts By Email" option on the far right column where you can get each post delivered to your email. For people who don't check the blog regularly, this is helpful for many people so they don't miss new posts. Just enter your email and you'll get new posts delivered right to your inbox. Easy! Unfortunately, this feature doesn't appear on mobile, so if you want to get email posts, fire up your laptop and knock it out there. Same goes for the contact form--it only appears on desktop, not mobile. But you can always access the web version on mobile by going to the bottom of the page on mobile and clicking 'view web version' to access these features. 

Thirdly, I don't monetize this blog. No ads, no monetary revenue. Everything is free. "Freely you have received, freely give," our Lord says. I value the freedom to write what the Spirit leads me to write over anything I may earn from my writing or hawking to an audience; that is a personal decision I have peace with. There's nothing wrong with a writer earning his keep, but I have a day job and our family is doing fine so I don't find it is something I am compelled to leverage for the almighty dollar. So, enjoy freely, and freely share.

Lastly, for those who are new, welcome. I write from the Northeast U.S. I am in my early forties, a happily married husband and father of three. I love my wife, my best friend. I am also a convert to Catholicism, though Byzantine by rite. My conversion story on EWTN can be found here. I write primarily about faith, prayer, family, marriage, chastity, manhood and fatherhood, evangelization, the state of the Church, liturgy, and discipleship. My family and I have been attending the Traditional Latin Mass for the past five years, but I do not necessarily consider myself a traditionalist in the strict sense of the word. I will take grace wherever I can get it and wherever God chooses to give it and not spurn it. I consider myself a kind of beggar in that sense, like Lazarus at the foot of the table. I'm not a doom-and-gloomer; I maintain much hope for a renewal in the Church. But it will take deep faith, prayer, and work. 

I value orthodoxy of belief, charity of discourse, earnestness in prayer, generosity in service, and reverence in worship. I value comments to the blog, and encourage you to not be afraid to comment on posts as long as it is charitable and in good faith; I try to respond to them all. We all need one another. I appreciate you being here and taking the time to read. 

Finally, if you do end up purchasing the book, please consider leaving a five star review on Amazon if you enjoyed it after reading. That would be a big help. For a little background on why I wrote it, click here for this interview at my friend Susan's blog.

God bless, and enjoy!