The Sat Report
and so it begins
In the Beginning …
For the last 16 years I have been covering the Church. Gosh, that does seem a very long time as type these words out. Just a quick recap of how CatholicSat has covered the Church over the years, changing and adapting to the times. Just laying out my credentials. The Sat in the name refers to a satellite, as in a satellite dish to receive television signals. This started in the days when Netflix was a DVD rental service by mail. Streaming was in it’s infancy. The Vatican wouldn’t broadcast live over the internet for another 3 years, and then only by using technology based around Microsoft’s Silverlight Player. Most of you have no idea what I’m talking about but bear with me. CatholicSat started off as a service providing frequency and symbol rate data for people to see the wonders of Catholicism as displayed by the Papal liturgical celebrations.
From there it grew to all Catholic content available on satellite television, and ballooned with the advent of streaming and YouTube livestreaming. At one stage I was the 6th biggest Catholic channel on YouTube, before a notorious plagiarist cleric conspired to get my channel shut down, but I’ll save that story for a Patreon Live Q&A session, more on that below. We never really recovered those heights on YouTube, and I had other life goals to achieve. I think my big breakthrough on Twitter came with the live-tweeting of the Press Conferences at the Synod of the Family, a mainstay in our coverage of every Synod since. That same Synod we had our first viral tweet, translating the disparaging remarks of certain bishops in the back seat of a taxi towards African prelates at said Synod. It is useful to have a very good grasp of Dutch, and speak 6 other languages fluently. The first of many viral twitter videos, most of the ones you know. Comment on your favourite below. Ah, those viral moments before the content scrappers on Twitter arrived on the scene, but I will save that rant for a future Patreon Live. I’ll stop there, bragging is not a good look, especially when you are trying to attract subscribers to a new platform. I couldn’t have done it with you, dear followers, and I am immensely grateful. Anyways, time to get to the point, moving on before I bore you to tears.
1. Why this, why now
As some of you may already know, I have been planning to write a book about this Pontificate when it eventually concludes. I have followed the Vatican and Pope Francis extremely closely, perhaps even too closely, since the day he ascended to Throne of St. Peter. I did it so you didn’t have to. Thank me. My hope is that this newsletter will help to sharpen my writing skills, as well as shamelessly use you, dear subscribers, as beta testers of some excerpts from the future book. The Sat Report will be a weekly of newsletter, at least, breaking news and analysis posts apart, published every Saturday, with content varying from week to week. Some weeks it will be a retrospect on some aspect of this current Pontificate, other times it will look forward to some event, sometimes analysis etc. As a small flavour of what is to come, next Saturday, given the recent death of Sister Agnes Sasagawa, will focus on Akita, the week after on the Church in a country close to my heart, Timor-Leste, ahead of His Holiness’s Apostolic Visit to the country and wider region. Looking further ahead will of course cover the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, and the Great Jubilee. I think the aim eventually is to have a podcast [more info on Patreon]
2. What am I looking to build here
I’m not just starting a newsletter, I want to start a community. I want open honest discussion of the problems facing the Church today, the strides she has taken forward and the failings she still needs to rectify. I have always tried to show the Church as she is. The good, the bad and the ugly. I have praised the Pope, and I have also criticised him. This won’t change. Nor will the output I currently put out on Twitter.
3. So what will Change
Dear readers, for $5 a month you will have access to this newsletter. I think you will find value in it. If you are a priest or religious please reach out to me, on Twitter or email, and I will gift you a free lifetime paid subscription to this Substack. In addition I am also launching a Twitter subscription and a Patreon. On both those platforms $5 a month gets you access to the Sat Report. [As August 17, my Twitter subscription approval is pending]. Please only subscribe to one service, the one that is most convenient for you. On Patreon, $10 a month or $100 a year, and on Substack, the founding member plan of $100 a year, gets you access to a monthly live Q&A session. Yes, face reveal, Tony Annett and Greg Daly must be beside themselves in excitement. I jest out of respect for both of them. On Patreon we have some other perks and we have a further tier, more information can be found here.
4. The End, I promise
Just as CatholicSat started out 16 years ago with mission of showing the world the wonders of the Church founded by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as the barque in which wretched sinners like you and can find our hope in order to obtain salvation. The Sat Report is another chapter on this journey. If you want to join me as fellow sojourner, hit the link and subscribe. If you prefer Twitter or Patreon, do it there. Thank you for getting to the end of this newsletter, I promise the ones to come won’t be as tedious or as self-referential. May God bless you.
If anyone has any questions about this new venture, reach out to me on Twitter, @ or send me and email, or comment down below.