The About.com Catholicism GuideSite is more than this blog, and more even than the thousands of pages of content that you can find by clicking on the tabs at the top of the page, the "Must Reads," and the links in the "Browse Topic" section. One integral part of the site is the Catholicism Forum, and over the last year I have worked hard to draw your attention to interesting and thoughtful threads in the forum.

Last week's Forum Friday, however, resulted in not a single post to the thread I highlighted. A number of readers left comments on the Forum Friday blog post itself, but few seem to have entered the forum.

That got me thinking: When you go to the forum, how do you get there? Is there a particular link that you always follow? Do you arrive by web search? Do you always come through these Forum Friday blog posts?

Please take a moment to leave your answer on this thread: "How Did You Find Your Way to the Forum?" I hope to use your answers to figure out ways to drive more traffic to the forum, and thus to make it a more interesting place to spend your time.

Reader Preston Bolinger has asked an interesting question through our Questions About Catholicism form:

I got into an argument with a friend of mine about Catholic priests. I told her my brother is a Catholic priest and is married, but she said that was impossible. I need some kind of proof to let her know that she is wrong.

This is a question that is likely to be asked more often in the near future. Those who have followed Pope Benedict's overtures to disaffected Anglicans know that married Anglican priests who convert to Catholicism will be allowed to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders, thus becoming married Catholic priests. This is an exception to the practice of clerical celibacy in the Roman rite of the Catholic Church, but just how unusual is it for the Church to allow married men to be ordained priests? Read more...

(Photo © Scott P. Richert)

We've got not one but two contests this Wordless Wednesday. For regular readers of the Catholicism GuideSite, the first one should be easy: Since Saint Philip shares a May 3 feast day with Saint James the Lesser in the Roman calendar, why did I post this stained-glass window of Saint Philip today?

The second contest this week will be familiar: Identify as many traditional symbols of Saint Philip as you can in this stained-glass window, and then briefly explain the reason why each is identified with Saint Philip. In next week's Wordless Wednesday post, I'll acknowledge the commenter who identifies and explains the most symbols, as well as the commenter who explains why I posted this image of Saint Philip when I did.

Gallery of Previous Wordless Wednesday Images

Wordless Wednesday on About.com

More Wordless Wednesday

Ross Douthat, the conservative columnist for the New York Times, rose to fame for his blogging on the website of The Atlantic. After six months away from blogging, Douthat now has a new blog, "Evaluations," on NYTimes.com.

In one of his first entries, "Pro-Lifers and the Patriarchy," the Catholic Douthat makes some observations that are undoubtedly correct:

Conservative Christians’ attitudes toward women in the workplace, in particular, have evolved dramatically across the last two decades, even as their pro-life convictions have remained essentially constant. . . .

During the ‘08 election, you’d often hear media types buzzing about how [Sarah] Palin was a bad mother for putting her political ambitions ahead of her family; you’d almost never hear that from pro-lifers. Some of this reflects partisan biases, obviously—but some of it reflects a real sea change in how religious conservatives view women in the workplace.

While Douthat does not come right out and say it, he seems to regard these changes in "attitudes" as moves in the right direction:

Indeed, you might say that the pro-life movement has done an impressive job of embracing, albeit slowly, the positive achievements of the feminist revolution, while remaining steadfast in its opposition to that revolution’s darker consequences. (Well, O.K., you might not say that, but I probably would.)

What Douthat does not consider in the course of the post is whether there might actually be a reason for "religious conservatives" (let alone Catholics like myself and Douthat) to view such developments with skepticism. Read more...