Matthew’s Lament Revisited

One year ago today, we commented on the state of the Catholic blogosphere, as seen from one corner of it.

Creative Minority Report ... may be one of the best things to happen to the Catholic blogosphere in recent years. The brainchild of two brothers, Matthew and Patrick Archbold, joined by an architect identified only as "D Mac," CMR broke significant ground when bloggers with no prior credentials in the Catholic media, not only published a weblog, but did it (and continue to do it) well enough to gain a sizable audience ... The mainstream Catholic press still doesn't give them their due ...

Shortly thereafter, a cry to Heaven may have been answered, as the brothers Archbold shortly thereafter became regular staff bloggers for NCRegister.com, owned by parent company Circle Media. We see now that the Catholic print media is no longer content to use the weblog medium simply as an adjunct to their print enterprise, but as a primary medium in its own right. This is even more evident in its sister publication, Faith & Family, featuring a complete lineup of "mommy bloggers."

(Hey, that's what they call them.)

At a time when printing and mailing costs are rising, and the economy is not, a dedicated web presence -- including web-exclusive subscriptions -- is the wave of the future, and the future is already here. We've seen a lot of new developments in this arena in the past year, and the next year should see many more.

Fortunately, this writer isn't going anywhere -- yet.
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