My daily goal of posting at least one article on the site didn’t happen yesterday.
I spent most of my day working on a complicated article about ecclesiology and Church authority, stopping to respond to emails, read article submissions, keep track of the news in the Catholic world, and speak to sources about various news items. Because I was so absorbed in working on my article, I asked Dominic de Souza if we could push this week’s recording of the debrief to this afternoon (so stay tuned).
I also picked up my kids from school, made dinner, helped my older daughter with her homework, read to my 6-year-old, and reminded my 14-year-old three hundred times that it was his day to empty the dishwasher. Before I knew it, It was 11pm and I attempted to push through and finish my article before midnight. But around 11:45, I realized that I would need significantly more time to finish the article in a satisfactory way. Faced with a choice between a possible all-nighter and getting a fairly decent night’s sleep, I chose to call it a day and go to bed.
Since the beginning of the school year, this type of day has been typical, with the only difference being that I failed to post anything to the site yesterday. I’ve been running on almost empty since midsummer.
On top of all this, I am carrying around a lot of guilt over the backlog of at least 15 article submissions that need to be reviewed and edited. This year, I’ve had at least three writers withdraw their submissions because I didn’t get back to them quickly enough or I overpromised about when I thought I would finish editing and publishing their articles.
I’m not writing this to complain, but simply to provide a window into the inside workings of Where Peter Is. (And I sincerely apologize to anyone whose submission or email has not yet received a response from me.)
Fortunately, help is on the way.
After more than four years of false starts and aborted attempts, Where Peter Is has finally been incorporated as a nonprofit company at the state level and we are applying for nonprofit status with the IRS. A couple of years ago, I asked Sister Gabriela and the Flemington Carmelites to pray (if it’s God’s will) for the Holy Spirit to send us a business manager or someone who can help us establish a nonprofit and mentor us through the forms and finances to make that possible. The Holy Spirit has finally delivered, opening up exciting new possibilities for the future.
We are currently setting things up with a bookkeeper, and we have set up a bank account from which we can access the Patreon donations we have been collecting. Although the purpose of WPI has never been to make money, we will now be able to provide a little bit of compensation to some of the people who help keep the site running and content flowing, and I will have a little bit of flexibility and (hopefully) the ability to take a break every once in a while.
For the next couple of weeks, I will be prioritizing these internal matters. So if there’s a bit of a slowdown, don’t be alarmed. (Don’t worry, we will certainly have plenty to say about the synod!)
More information is coming soon! This is good news.
New Sunday contributors
I would also like to make a (belated) announcement regarding the Sunday reflections we have been posting every week. Fr. Mike Najim has had to step away from writing a reflection every second Sunday of the month due to increased responsibilities (his bishop has named him Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of Providence). Fr. Freddy Devaraj has also been given different responsibilities in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Both of them have parted from us on good terms and I hope they will continue to contribute to WPI when they are able.
We have three new contributors to the Sunday reflections:
Fr. Bernardo Lara (2nd Sunday)
Fr. Bernardo is a priest of the Diocese of San Diego and pastor of three parishes. A young priest originally from Mexico, I met him in Rome last year when he was doing graduate studies in moral theology.
Deacon Steve O’Neill (3rd Sunday)
Deacon Steve has been a deacon for ten years in the Archdiocese of Washington, and happens to be one of the deacons at my parish! I’ve always enjoyed his well-structured and insightful homilies. He preaches every third Sunday of the month, and now our readers will have the opportunity to experience it too.
Fr. Francis Afu (5th Sunday and fill-in)
Fr. Francis, originally from Nigeria, is a priest of the Diocese of Armidale, Australia. He is currently undertaking a PhD Research Fellowship in the United States. In addition to his preaching, he is also an expert on Islam, so hopefully he will be writing for us on Islamic issues as well. He will provide our regular 5th Sunday reflection, in addition to supplementing or filling in as needed.
Veterans: Fr. Alex Roche (4th Sunday) and Fr. Satish Joseph (1st Sunday)
Fr. Alex of the Scranton diocese and Fr. Satish (Archdiocese of Cincinnati) will continue to contribute monthly homilies. I am very grateful to them for their continuing generosity in sharing their Sunday reflections with us. Additionally, Fr. Satish’s homilies are available every week at his own website and he frequently fills in or provides us with a second Sunday reflection.
Stay tuned later today for a new edition of The Debrief.
Image: Adobe Stock. By Rick Rose.
Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor of Where Peter Is. He and Jeannie Gaffigan co-host Field Hospital, a U.S. Catholic podcast.
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