Anonymous comments

Earlier today I sanctioned the publication of an anonymous comment on the piece I wrote on 12 April (concisely) entitled Et unam sanctam Catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam. While I'm loath to play censor, I do think if people have something to say they should come out into the open and say it and not hide behind a cloak of anonymity. So, reluctantly, I shall not in future publish comments by anyone unwilling to sign their name to what they've written. After all, if I'm prepared to make a fool of myself by what I say then so can you.

Blogging

As a Johnny-come-lately to blogging, it probably ill behoves me to knock it quite so soon. However it did strike me that Giles Fraser's comments in the latest edition of the Church Times
about blogs and those who comment on blogs entitled Poisoning the wells of open debate are worth pondering. Conventions governing the civilised use of this (as yet) still relatively new freedom will no doubt emerge in due course. In the meantime poison pen bloggers hiding behind a veil of relative anonymity need to be aware not only of the hurt they can cause but of the damage they can inflict on this medium of communication. That said, sadly those who behave in this way are unlikely to be so self aware.