The most read commentaries in 2009...
I've not yet completed the compilation of the most read commentaries on Catholica in 2009. I thought it might be useful for both our readers and commentators to gain some insight into the pattern of how one of our commentators is received and read by our readership. The commentator I've chosen is Dr Andrew Kania — principally because it is his statistics I've already done most work on. As I keep emphasising the appeal of Catholica is not primarily generated by the email we publish each day, nor the immediate discussions taking place on the front page of our forum. Unlike many traditional media initiatives we are not primarily endeavouring to generate ratings from the immediate publicity that Catholica generates on each day of publication. The success of a commentary on Catholica might only become apparent many months, even years after a commentary is initially published. From the outset Catholica was principally designed to be picking up its readership, and ratings' success, through search engine enquiries.
Dr Kania has written 140 commentaries for Catholica since the first which we published on 12 December 2006. During 2009 those 140 commentaries were read a total of 57,754 times — an impressive statistic for any profesional writer or publisher seeking to achieve more than to merely entertain, distract, or stir up emotional responses. Andrew's most read commentary in 2009 was in fact one we originally published on the 18th December 2007. It was read a total of 3,561 times in 2009. (Interestingly it didn't rate highly in 2008 only attracting 1,221 reads in that year.)
The introduction to that commentary was "Rounding out last week's commentary, Dr Kania takes a look at that passage from St Luke's Gospel where Jesus provides some advice on the sort of foundation we ought build our lives upon." It was a commentary built around the themes uncovered in the classic film "Citizen Kane" — and that might go some way to explaining why it is generating much interest through search engine enquiries. Interestingly though I am pretty sure the most read Catholica commentary of 2009 is again going to be Dr Ian Elmer's commentary on Greed which we published in 2006 as part of the Seven Deadlies series. I don't have the final figures for Ian's commentary yet but month after month I've seen it drawing a massive readership and the themes Andrew is exploring are similar to those explored in Dr Elmer's commentary so it is perhaps no surprise that Andrew's commentary has also generated much interest.
To give you some idea of what generated the most interest in Dr Kania's commentaries in 2009 listed below are the top ten along with how many reads each received and the date when it was originally published. All of them were published in 2007 or 2008 and I confidently expect we won't see his 2009 commentaries making their mark until this year, 2010. This work extends Andrew's work outside the classrooms of Aquinas College (his principal place of employment), or the other schools and universities where he has worked in the past year by an enormous factor that is difficult to compute.
Brian Coyne
Editor and Publisher
Castles in the Air! Rounding out last week's commentary, Dr Kania takes a look at that passage from St Luke's Gospel where Jesus provides some advice on the sort of foundation we ought build our lives upon. [more]
Holy Heads & Empty Hearts! This is perhaps Dr Andrew Kania's finest commentary. The man is firing on about 24 cylinders in what he writes today. He seeks to address what is perhaps the chief disjunction in Catholicism today. It's a very old problem but Andrew addresses it with a fresh slant. It's all about this unbridgeable divide that seems to have opened up in the Church between the legalists/literalists/fundamentalists and the rest. Dr Kania presents a view of what our faith and spirituality ought to be all about that most readers of Catholica will readily assent to. It might even inspire you. Enjoy! [more]
DEATH: it's meaning! Andrew Kania explores the meaning of death: "Existential questions are at the heart of all religious faith; yet without these being personally asked and answered, an individual's spirituality cannot progress beyond that of mere religious membership … the existential question clearly requires that we place our lives within the sad context of our own physical mortality in order to complete our soul's joyful journey to immortality." [more]
The Moving Hand… Dr Kania explores the ever-fascinating story of the sinking of the Titanic in search of answers to some questions that perhaps lie deeper than where the Titanic ended up. What is the role of Providence in our lives? What are the ultimately important standards by which we measure the value of our lives? [more]
Where Is Your Brother? This week both Eastern Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox celebrate Holy Week. It is an appropriate time in which we might re-visit what is perhaps still the greatest scandal in Christendom of all time — the split which occurred between the East and the West in 1054. Dr Andrew Kania's commentary today takes us back to examine the causes of the split and argues that greater effort needs to be made on both sides to heal the split. [more]
Getting through the "Eye of the Needle"! At heart this commentary is about how to develop a good attitude to wealth, money and material possessions. It's something worth meditating on often: how to thread your way through "the eye of the needle"! [more]
What's in a name? Today's commentary ought to raise a lot of interest. In it Dr Kania explores the issue of how our name can affect our personality and outlook on life. He raises many intriguing ideas that merit our quiet reflection. [more]
What lessons from Thomas Becket today? Andrew today re-visits the story of 12th Century English Saint and Martyr, St Thomas Becket. Even today the site of his murder in Canterbury Cathedral is a much venerated spot. Why does this meddlesome priest continue to inspire? [more]
Models of Leadership! Dr Kania entitled today's commentary "Lillies that Fester". He takes the title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 94: "But if that flower with base infection meet, The basest weed outbraves his dignity: For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds." It is a thought-provoking discussion starter on the subject of leadership. By way of introduction Andrew informs us that he was born on the 22nd of November, 1966 and shares his birthday with the anniversary of John F Kennedy's assassination. His interest in Kennedy began with each birthday having a documentary, or eulogy, about and to Kennedy. In time this interest developed into an admiration for the man, eventually Kennedy becoming a hero figure for Andrew as a teenager. With the focus also these days on the flaws that are evident in ecclesial leaders, the ideas that Andrew touches upon in this commentary might lead us to ponder: how do we integrate the very human flaws that all of us exhibit into our picture of leadership — do we go back to a system of hypocrisy where, for example the media, carefully camouflage the personal failings and flaws of our leaders, or do we seek out "lilly-white, goody two shoes" who lack the capacity to inspire, or are we seeking some different model? Do the sort of qualities Dr Kania articulates towards the conclusion of this commentary offer the basis for a model of leadership or is it an ideal that is unrealisable in practice without throwing up the sort of insipid leadership that makes people blanch and leads a community into the sort of irrelevant place in human affairs the Christian churches seem to be rapidly heading towards? How do we find the right balance in these matters? What modelling of leadership does Jesus Christ, or Peter or Paul offer to us? [more]
“All in the Family” This commentary by Dr Kania opens up a myriad of possibilities for discussion. Here's just a couple: is this a boy's own tale — how is this stuff viewed from the female perspective? How do communities protect themselves against nepotism and corruption? [more]
How economic inequality harms societies... We feel instinctively that societies with huge income gaps are somehow going wrong. Richard Wilkinson charts the hard data on economic inequality, and shows what gets worse when rich and poor are too far apart: real effects on health, lifespan, even such basic values as trust. Richard Wilkinson, is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, and cofounder of The Equality Trust, a nonprofit that aims to reduce income inequality by educating and engaging the public while supporting political commitment to address the problem. 16m55s [String on the Catholica Forum where the general issue of wealth inequality and this documentary was first discussed 25Jan12] | [WATCH THE VIDEO]
Doco 035: 25Jan12
Total Visitor Stats at 0745hrs 10 January 2010 [Counting since 1 Jan 2007] |
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Total Visits |
Pages Read |
Hits |
Data Downloaded |
944,021 |
24,620,784 |
136,007,841 |
722.66Gb |
Unique Visitors |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 (to 31/12/09) |
Annual Total: |
59,218 |
188,768 |
262,250 |
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