A Guild of Catholic Bloggers - what do you think?

For a few months now a thought has been popping into my head, namely that it would be good to create a special Guild of Catholic Bloggers. Seeing how much today's Church is enriched by the creativity, witness and even the prophetic role of those who blog, maybe Catholic bloggers would like to meet up now and again to discuss their work, pray and attend Mass. One way of uniting those of us who share our faith on the blogosphere could be through the creation of a new Catholic guild, with the purpose of strengthening our faith, mission and desire to serve the Church?

A couple of days ago, I mentioned this idea to Fr Tim Finigan, in a comment I left on his blog, The Hermeneutic of Continuity. He had just written about the meeting of Catholic bloggers organised by the Vatican, which will coincide with the beatification of Pope John Paul II. In his response, Fr Tim seemed genuinely supportive of the idea, and even offered (in principle) to celebrate an annual Mass for any Guild that might develop. He also suggested that if a Guild for Catholic Bloggers were set up, it might be a good idea for it to adopt Bl Titus Brandsma as patron (See below).

The proposed Guild for Catholic Bloggers would need active members and a few officers - chair, secretary and treasurer - so would have to be limited to those bloggers from this country (UK), or those able to travel to Britain. The officers shouldn't need to volunteer too much time, especially seeing that many bloggers are already kept busy what with day jobs and their blogs! The Guild might also wish to find a president, and a chaplain to celebrate its annual Mass - Fr Tim Finigan has already kindly agreed to do this. Maybe, as a motto, the Guild could use these words from 1 John 1:4, "et haec scribimus vobis ut gaudium nostrum sit plenum" (We are writing to you so that our joy may be complete)?

Seeing that Bl Titus Brandsma's feast day is kept on 26 July, it might be good to try and set something up before then? If anyone would be interested in forming a Guild for Catholic Bloggers, I would be most happy to hear from you, and very grateful if you could send this post to others who might wish to join.

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Blessed Titus Brandsma (Priest and Martyr)

Bl Anno (Titus) Sjoera Brandsma, also known as Shorty, came from a good Catholic family, and felt an early call to the priesthood. After originally applying to the Franciscans, ill health forced Anno to join the Carmelites at Boxmeer - where he as given the name Titus, and took his first vows in 1899.

After his ordination in 1905, Titus gained a Doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian Univeristy in Rome. Afterwards, he taught at the Carmelite seminary at Oss, Netherlands, and edited the local daily newspaper. He would often enjoy a cigar whilst working on various publications!

Bl Titus Brandsma went on to lecture in philosophy at the Catholic University in Nijmegen. He also travelled widely, and worked tirelessly as a journalist, author, and lobbyist for the university. In 1932, he was appointed President of the Catholic University, and was made ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists in 1935.

In the same year, Titus Brandsma wrote against the Nazi anti-Jewish marriage laws. He later wrote that no Catholic publication could publish Nazi propaganda and still call itself Catholic - which brought him to the attention of Dutch National Socialists. After the invasion of the Netherlands, Bl Titus Brandsma was constantly followed by the Gestapo, and was finally arrested on 19 January 1942. For several weeks he was shuttled from jail to jail, abused, and severely punished for ministering to other prisoners.

Bl Titus Brandsma was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in April 1942. Whilst there he was overworked, underfed, and beaten daily - but he would always ask his fellow prisoners to pray for the salvation of the guards. When he could no longer work, he was used for medical experiments. When he was no longer any use for experimentation, he was murdered by lethal injection. The nurse who killed Titus Brandsma was a lapsed Catholic, who never forgot him and later returned to the Faith.

Titus was beatified as a Martyr in 1985 by Pope John Paul II.

[Image: Bl Titus Brandsma]