Introducing Forum Friday

Every guidesite on About.com has two parts: the one you're reading now, with blog posts and articles, and the forum. Each serves a different purpose. The main part of the guidesite is where you come to find in-depth examinations of Catholic teaching, the nuts and bolts of the Catholic Faith, and resources such as prayers and the liturgical calendar of the Church. While the comments section on each blog post provides an opportunity for discussion, the discussion tends to be narrowly focused, and it's hard to build up a community.

That's where the Catholicism forum comes in. It's been pretty quiet in the forum since I became the About.com Guide to Catholicism (as a longtime forum member noted just yesterday), but all that's about to change.

Every Friday, I'll highlight a particular post or an entire forum thread that I think is interesting or worthwhile. But don't wait until the weekend to see what's brewing in the forum. Check it out each day, and join in the discussion. Don't be shy--if there's something you'd like to discuss and nobody's talking about it, start a new forum thread!

The forum is also an excellent resource for those times when you can't find what you're looking for on the guidesite. Post your question in the Questions forum folder, and one of the long-time members will be happy to help you out!

I'm also using the forum to provide links to archived copies of each Catholicism newsletter. If you'd like to discuss a particular issue of the newsletter, or if you want to look up a previous issue, just check out the Weekly Newsletter folder.

When you first enter the forum, you'll come in as a Guest. Once you're ready to reply to topics--or to post your own--you can register. Registering allows you to choose your own username, upload a user image, and add friends and subscribe to discussion topics that interest you. And your registration is good on every forum here on About.com. (If you already have a username from another About.com forum, you can simply log in.)

So what are you waiting for? Check out the About.com Catholicism Forum today!