Farewells and Rebirths

By John D. O'Brien, S.J., on behalf of the Ibo writers

Credit: Santiago Rodriguez

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. –Winston Churchill

The time has come to say farewell to our loyal readers. Sort of. For we are not so much departing from you, nor you from us, as we are putting to rest the format of communication that has served us both so well these past few years. The editors and writers of Ibo have decided that this will be the final article here, as we migrate to an exciting new blog-site hosted on Patheos.

But first, it’s opportune to take stock of what Ibo has been. Since our launch in February 2012, we have written 425 original articles, which in this time have seen 220,000 hits. The blog’s origins lie in several aspirations: to be a meeting place between contemporary concerns and Ignatian spirituality. To permit dialogue and creative conversation to erupt over a host of issues facing Christians everywhere. To be a voice-piece for young Jesuit thinkers and writers in an age when the printed magazine is in decline. We sought to bring creativity and depth, two qualities urged upon us by our religious order, to our writing. We hope you will stay with us as we continue this mission to the Church.

So this is not so much a farewell, as an invitation. A request to join us in our new format, on a new site. We are combining forces with our American colleagues at The Jesuit Post to provide thought-provoking and spiritually nourishing content at The Jesuit Post on Patheos. Patheos is one of the largest websites in the world that provides content on religion. Its Catholic Channel, which contains numerous blogs, is edited by Elizabeth Scalia, who writes at her own well-known blog, called The Anchoress. At the same time, we will edit our own articles within our own blog-site. So we are joining both an existing Jesuit blog (The Jesuit Post) and a vast community of conversationalists on a large aggregate site (Patheos). Patheos, it should be noted, gets more hits in one month than we did in our entire 2.5 year history. We are looking forward to expanding our readership under these auspices.

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice and to make an end is to make a beginning. – T.S. Eliot 

Most importantly, we would like to restate our commitment to continually improve the quality of our thought and writing, which we make entirely in service to the Church. You may not agree with everything we write, but we guarantee each article will contain something substantial for heart and mind. We will not waste your time.

For starters, Sam Sawyer, S.J. raises an interesting question about the relationship between faith and technology, profiling a stunning multimedia recording made by world-wide Carmelites in a virtual choir.

You will start seeing your favourite Ibo writers appearing soon at The Jesuit Post on Patheos. Please bookmark us. We look forward to seeing you there often.