Each Tuesday morning we bloggers and other priests gather for breakfast. Most of us are retired and some have been retired for more than ten years. Others are still active in parish ministry and two are on a diocesan staff. One of us is a retired Bishop and another of us is a Canon to the Ordinary. Together we have hundreds of years of collective experience. We discuss whatever is on our minds and we are pastoral with each other if one of us is hurting. It is a true community of faith that gathers to celebrate our vocations to the priesthood and to share in Celtic-like soul friendships. Of course we also "solve" all the problems in the church and the world. It takes us two to three hours to get this done.
During breakfast a couple of weeks ago it was mentioned that I should report to you, our readers, which blogs you read the most and those issues you seem to be the most interested in. Therefore, here are the top ten blogs that you read ranked from one to ten.
Where have all the Rectors gone?
Rectors (Pastors): The Odds are Against You.
Rectors - Resign, Get Fired, Retire.
Rector (Pastor): You're Fired.
Clergy Divorce.
The Bishop Speaks of a Punctuation Mark.
Let's Get Rid of the Rector: A Priest's Nightmare.
The Bishop Speaks from the Heart.
10 Things You Should Know About Fasting.
Episcopal Chaos.
Five of these blogs are concerned with a parish priest's job security. One of them, clergy divorce, is concerned about this very intimate and personal issue which, when it happens, is a personal and parish tragedy. Two blogs are about Episcopal authority and another is about Lenten discipline. The most popular blogs that didn't make it into the top ten are about the decline in The Episcopal Church, how it impacts clergy mission and ministry, and Celtic Christianity as a way to renew and reform the Anglican Church of today. One could safely then draw the conclusion that most of our readers are Episcopal bishops and priests and they justifiably are concerned with issues that pertain to their parish and diocesan ministries.
It is fascinating to me and other bloggers that you are consistently reading older blogs on a regular basis, even when they didn't make it into the top ten. We are grateful that readership is continuing quite stable and even rising at times. While I don't know any statistics about numbers of readers of religious blogs in the United States, Episcopal Journey of Hope does appear to me to be pretty popular. We have been read in 87 countries. And there have been over 50,000 pages views, which is more than we could have imaged when we started this little endeavor.
Thanks for continuing to read our blogs. If there is any subject that you would like us to address, please let us know in the comment sections of the blogs. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.
Yes, we are grateful and amazed to have many dedicated readers. Thank you one and all.
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