Somebody’s Top Ten List

It's about time for this year's Catholic Blog Awards™. Somebody didn't waste their time.

Jim Garlits, author of the blog Uncommon Sense, recently moved from northern Indiana to Alexandria, Virginia. "He has been a radio personality, a factory worker, a short order cook, an Army officer, a coffee shop and used bookstore owner, an apartment painter and a writer, but not all at the same time." A devoted husband and father of four, Garlits composed a "top ten list" of Catholic bloggers. Listed in alphabetical order, they are:

American Papist
Creative Minority Report
JimmyAkin.org
New Liturgical Movement
Overheard in the Sacristy
Rorate Caeli
The Hermeneutic of Continuity
The Shrine of the Holy Whapping
What Does the Prayer Really Say?
Whispers in the Loggia

It is an insightful list of choices, for the most part, with one possible exception. Rorate Caeli, while often the first to break news concerning the restoration of Catholic tradition, is selectively hostile toward papal authority, an attitude that is not limited to the comments box (although it is certainly enabled). This betrays a certain intellectual cowardice, when you consider that half its contributors operate under pseudonyms, for no clear reason. After all, if you are in a position in the church to fear reprisal, honesty demands that you at least state as much.

Rocco Palmo has enjoyed considerable acclaim as a Catholic reporter, and rather early in life. As a result, his need for personal maturity is more apparent than with most. We would look forward to that, and to even more good fortune for the author of Whispers in the Loggia.

Personally, I never heard of Overheard. Perhaps I should have. We'll get back to you.

To his great credit, Garlits avoids the habitual trap of trotting out the usual suspects from the mainstream Catholic print media. The result is one indication of a trend in the Catholic blogosphere, upon which we expect to elaborate in a future piece later this month.
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