Vatican Catholic Bloggers Meeting - A Trip to Rome

Did you know that Vatican has invited 150 Catholic bloggers to Rome? Incredibly, I am one of them.

LINK to announcement.

From USATODAY


I do not know yet how the PCCS meeting at the Vatican will be organized. (They write,"... will receive further indications after Easter.") And for some reason God sees fit to make it so that my family can be there.

Many of the other Americans going, as my Italian great-grandmother Taddei used to say, are "bigga shots" like...

18. Carol Glatz http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/
33. Elizabeth Scalia http://www.patheos.com/community/theanchoress/
59. Joan Lewis http://www.ewtn.com/news/blog.asp?blog_ID=1
72. Katrina Ebersole http://thecrescat.blogspot.com/
76. Lisa Hendey http://catholicmom.com/
125. Rocco Palmo http://www.whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
126. Roderick Vonhögen http://sqpn.com/
142. Taylor Marshall http://www.cantuar.blogspot.com/
143. Thomas Peters http://www.americanpapist.com
144. Tim Kelleher http://www.firstthings.com/

I've been thinking a lot about how I can participate and thinking about what a blog like mine offers. I think it offers a support network to those in similar situations. For those who, like me, homeschool or are attached to the Traditional Latin Mass, we are 2 somewhat fringe elements in the Universal Catholic Church. We can doubt ourselves and what progress we are making and we need to connect with others for encouragement and support.

Via the social communications of Blogging, Facebooking, and being a part of Catholic yahoogroups we find blessings and certainty in these connections. Certainty that we have a community, one that we lean on. I am grateful to live in a time when I can so easily communicate and in many cases befriend others from all over the world who share a love for the Catholic Church.

Speaking of faith and certainties, I reached out to a dear priest who I admire. I shared my uncertainties with him. "Father, about the Pontifical Councils for Culture and Social Communication, do you have any thoughts or guidance about them and what they are looking for? Father, pray for me. I feel a bit out of my league..."

And what do our priests do? They support us. They lift us up and fortify us. Taking a pause from his day he immediately wrote me back, thought some more and wrote me again! These are the questions my priest set before me to ask myself and I extend them to you as well...our community. Even though I don't know if these are questions on topics germane to the meeting, they are worthwhile to think about and give me something to ruminate on over a long plane ride.

#1 How can they (PCCS & The Vatican) support you in your work of Catholic homeschooling?


#2 Can they make resources available to you, what would be helpful?


#3 What guidance would you like from the Vatican? Are there any issues that you feel need to be addressed?


#4 Are they doing enough to support big families, especially home schoolers?


#5 How could the church help you more in your homeschooling?


And finally he asked me, "how could you homeschool/evangelize more effectively and pleasingly to the Catholic Church?"

These are the questions I will be pondering as I travel to the Vatican. Again, I don't know how I might be asked to share my perspective...and as it says on my blog sidebar, my blog is our family's photo journal...just our perspectives. But I recognize that I am a part of a community. Your comments are most welcome at the link below.

I hope you'll visit here often as I blog from Roma. After Easter, my goal is to be blogging daily from the Eternal City about this incredible field trip through the eyes of my family.

One more thing, may I ask for your prayers as well? I will be praying for your intentions in every Church I visit!

Ciao.

Meeting for any and all Bloggers after the PCCS Vatican meeting - http://catholic-bloggers.com/#Event