Why do I blog?

Well I'm blogging because I was asked to give it a try by some colleagues at work, to see whether it might be possible to speak in a different way about a WCC meeting. And in case you're wondering, no I had no training - though senior management aka as Stephen - did set up the template etc for me. (OK I admit he also ironed out the odd photo that was posted upside down and immediately corrected the post when I said Simon supported Machester United rather than Manchester City - but that is what husbands are for, right?) I have been amazed at how easy it is - and appalled at how utterly dreadful my six fingered typing is! And even downloading the photos upside down has been fun.

Above all it has been a fascinating experience because I can now really see how blogging could work as a tool for maintaining and persuing discussions, contacts and networks following on from meetings. It is a little like a sort of live newspaper - I'm not claiming that for what I've written but I can really see how useful it sould be.

At a more personal level it has been interesting finding my voice - translators deal all day long with other people's voices, interpreters just try to keep up and often remember nothing of what they've said. So writing in my own voice has been good, but I noticed several things. The first was that most of the writing in my own voice that I've done in recent years has been of sermons and that does show, I did try to stop when I became too "preachy" (the posh word is kerygmatic) and I teased myself that I was becoming the worst kind of "letter from the minister" in the parish magazine - "Dear parishioners, as I looked out of my study window I thought God is just like a dishwasher...."
Another thing I noticed is how much I love language and how much language - even when there isn't interpretation - plays a huge role in international meetings and religious discussions of any kind. Words really are such wonderful things, there are so many wonderful incongruities between and within languages and it was great to note that down as it occurred to me rather than just let it pass into my subconscious.
Finally (for now) and this was the most difficult part - how to honour the discussion but respect that this meeting was a process that was ongoing - how to speak with my own voice and opinion and also leave space for that of others. I experienced a few moments of what practising journalistic responsibility is like, and on one occasion when I knew I was sailing a little close to the wind I did send my copy first to the aforementioned senior editor who sanitised my copy. I'll say a little more about that in a later post. But what is frightening is how terrifyingly quickly your words, thoughts, mistakes etc. get out there.
In the end it was that immediacy that really helped me find a voice - it's just like chatting to the computer.
And of course finding the time is easy - there was no tv in the Catholic Institute in Toulouse and I've certainly watched much less since I came back and continued blogging - swapping one small screen for another.