Initial Post. Welcome, and Laying Down the Law

Hello to all who surf the Catholic Blogosphere. For a while I've done commentary on my favourite sites mostly under my pseudo-name and rarely under my true identity (which I won't reveal here). So who am I? I'm a young Canadian male trying to get myself a living, all the while being faithful to my Lord, Jesus Christ and the Church he established for all eternity. I grew up with a decent start, fell in my post-secondary years, and have now reverted back to the faith for almost 2 years running.

Now I think I might do a little light blogging and posting from time to time. I will not be posting daily or weekly due to my life at the moment. So what will be here on the YCRCM blog (YCRCMB) when I have that spare moment to do a little side blogging?

1) Basic Catechesis. What's my faith? If you didn't get taught well to begin with, or you forgot in university, you might want to know what you believe in if you get stopped on the street. I'll mainly draw on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the cool new YouCat as starting points, but I might add on other well written explanations from books, more conservative Catholic websites/blogs (e.g. Fr. Z) and whatever sources I find or you, the commenters, point out to me.

2) Commentary on certain popular blogging issues: Let's just say that something happens that shakes waves in the blogosphere and everyone wants their 2 cents on something. I'd both post what others are saying, as well as my take on things from a young male Catholic layman's perspective, with a little common sense/arguments

3) Traditional stuff - Don't get me wrong, Novus Ordo practices in the Church can be cool, and I attend a N.O. Catholic church, but I happen to be favourable to the traditionalism/traddie/trid/.... whatever you call it, movement, though there are particulars with each title and other bloggers will let you know their stances. For all purposes on this blog, let's call what the "trads" do or your grandparents did, "traditional practices" (TPs) and adherents or practicing catholics of those practices "traditional Catholics" or TradCaths (TCs). Therefore you might see promotions, posts with questions, etc. conerning traditional practices or TCs on here. However, see my disclaimer on my tolerance limits below in "THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM!!"

4) Oddities in other parts of the church that Catch my interest, e.g. Youth Ministry, other orders of the Church of religious or laypeople, ministries, prayers, rating other Catholic blog/WWW sites and giving my opinion etc.

So before I begin, here's the ground rules for my blog. My "living room," my rules. Ahem,

THE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM!!!

1) This is a blog by a Roman Catholic, mainly for Roman Catholics, but could be for others who are interested in such things. Of course, we Catholics are meant to be "in the world, but not of the world" and due to our theology, and moral/ethical principles and beliefs, we are meant to be hated. However, just cause, that does not mean we are doormats to be stepped upon. As long as the YCRCM blog stands, I will NOT TOLERATE any of the following. These things will get your posts deleted and your blogger ID blocked immediately if you have one. Here's my "RED FLAG LIST"

- Any form of blatant racism, or religious indifference/hate to the Catholic faith or Catholic religions. This also includes people and things, for example: Specific laypeople of note or clergy, taking a pro-choice, pro-Latin Rite married priest, pro-euthanasia, etc. stance and insulting people on here.
- Also any form of blatant racism, or religious indifference/hate to those of other faiths or philosophies.
- Constant trolling or "S*#& disturbing".
- Insulting or lashing out on anything of TCs or those who do TPs. The same goes for the reverse of TCs or those who do TPs insulting or lashing out with those who are Novus Ordo only and do post Vatican II practices. Exception: If something is seriously grievous to the Catholic faith and attention should be brought to it, or an exceptionally intelligent argument is brought to the limelight. I might even investigate it myself to determine if it is heretical and should be reported to the Vatican or proper authorities.
- Any links to pornography, anti-Catholic sites from any source (regardless of religion or philosophy of the site and your religion or philosophy) as spam or insulting those here on YCRCMB.
- Direct insults at me.
- An anonymous poster who does any of the following above or in the "yellow flag list below". I can't exactly warn you if I don't know who you are.
- emails from people with addresses that are blatantly obvious in your intentions e.g. ihatecatholics@gmail.com
- you do what is under the yellow flag list either a 2nd time or repeatedly, depending on a case-by-case basis from me.

The following are what I call "Yellow Flags". If you do the actions listed here, and you do have a blog identity or give me a name/pseudoname, you will likely get a one-time warning from me: "________, you are not followint the rules of this blog ..." OR "___________, you are being .....", ".... please cease what you are doing. If I find you doing this action a 2nd time, I will ban you from this blog or delete your comments". If I am being nice or your action seems innocent enough, I'll give you a personal caution that's not like the quotes listed above or I'll ask for clarification myself. Here are my "Yellow flags":
- Something that might seem racist, or express religious indifference/hate to the Catholic faith or Catholic religions. Same with those of other faiths or philosophies. This also includes things, for example: taking a pro-choice, pro-Latin Rite married priest, pro-euthanasia, etc. stance and insulting people on here. This is not case by case if I or a commenter becomes offended.
- First instances of trolling or "S*#& disturbing".
- Sounding condescending on anything of TCs or those who do TPs. The same goes for the reverse of TCs or those do TPs who are condescending of those who are Novus Ordo only and do post Vatican II practices. This includes discussion of traditionalist groups who have questionable statuses in the Church or are schismatic extreme traditionalists (e.g. SSPX, SSPV). I don't mind discussion, but there are limits. If not obvious, this will be a case by case basis. Exception: If something is seriously grievous to the Catholic faith and attention should be brought to it, or an exceptionally intelligent argument is brought to the limelight. I might even investigate it myself to determine if it is heretical and should be reported to the Vatican or proper authorities.
- Indirect insults at me or someone yanking my chain or others.
- Defense of or criticism of certain internet bloggers, laypeople, clergy, etc. if it seems to me like Idol-worship or character assassination. Exception: If you have solid evidence or can cite/quote other sources to prove your point about a specific person's/clergy member's incosistency with the Catholic faith, it will be shown and maybe I'll even follow up with a post.

Well, that's laying down the law. I hope that this blog will be fruitful to someone, even if it's just one person. Anyways, signing off, YCRCM.