September 2, 2011

Our Pittsburgh Diocese

Today, the Rev. Bruce Robison, rectory of St. Andrew’s, Highland Park, and I are announcing a new blog, Our Pittsburgh Diocese. The idea for a blog grew out of the conversation that followed the posting of my essay “A Closer Look at Pittsburgh’s Diocesan Profile.”

The initial post on the new blog, “Welcome to ‘Our Pittsburgh Diocese’,” explains, in part:
Although the Profile is intended to draw a clear picture of the diocese and of our ideal episcopal candidate, no document could do this, except imperfectly. In fact, both our individual perceptions of the diocese and our hopes for our next bishop differ from one person to another.

This new blog, Our Pittsburgh Diocese, is offered as an extension—an elaboration, if you will—of the official Profile. Just as many families have posed for a formal studio portrait, our diocese has its Diocesan Profile. But families also have photo albums, shoe boxes, computer hard drives, and smart phone memory cards filled with occasional images—informal snapshots, rather than formal portraits. This blog seeks to be to the diocese what those albums and shoe boxes are to a family.
Our hope is that the new blog will help members of our diocese better understand each other—how we view our recent past, how we see our diocese now, and where we think we should go. The blog should also help potential episcopal candidates get a feeling for the diocese that they might one day lead.

The new blog is not to be the Bruce and Lionel show. As official contributors, we will, of course, post our own musings on the blog. But we hope that the lay people and clergy of the diocese will be writing most of the essays and will comment liberally on what is posted. “Guest contributors” can send their essays to submit@pittsburghepiscopal.org, and we will post them as quickly as possible. We do not intend to censor or edit contributions other than for format.

Have a look at the new blog and pray for its success in building a stronger Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like an interesting idea; I hope it generates some conversation. Frequently I wish we had some format beyond official press releases or newspaper articles to stay informed. It might be fun to chime in with little questions like "does anybody know if candidates A, B or C have any musical training?" or maybe some buzz like "candidate B wrote an interesting letter to the editor, or candidate C blogged that he makes a point of visiting All Souls, Langham Place and All Saints Margaret St when in London. Just some stuff for fun and a little personality.

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous comments are not allowed. All comments are moderated by the author. Gratuitous profanity, libelous statements, and commercial messages will be not be posted.