St. Michael Q & A Forums Policy Our General Mission: One of the primary missions Legion of St. Michael and the St. Michael Cyberspace Monastery is to provide the opportunity for Catholics and non-Catholics alike to obtain solid and accurate answers to their questions about the Catholic faith and related matters. Who We Are: The Forum Hosts are men and women who volunteer their time to our Q&A Forum and who are not so much experts as they are people who are absolutely committed to submitting themselves and their opinions to the Pope and Magisterium in all areas of Church teaching. They can be expected to give answers that conform to the teaching of the Church, or which represents an educated application of the principles contained in that teaching. Please keep in mind that where the Church has not explicitly defined a matter even saints have disagreed. See our Resources Page for more information about how our Forum Hosts research and verify their answers to your questions. Our Specific Mission: The specific mission of our Q & A Forums is to provide EDUCATIONAL Apologetics for people of good will to ask honest and genuine questions about the Catholic Faith in order to learn more about the Faith, or to strengthen their faith, or to find advice about living out that faith, or how to deal with those in opposition to the faith. Who is our Target Audience? The Forums are designed primarily to be an orthodox resource for Catholics who wish to be orthodox and obedient to the Church, and to friendly non-Catholics who genuinely wish to learn about the Catholic Teaching on whatever subject interests them. Hopefully we can answer such questions accurately as to give a clear picture of the Church's teaching on the various issues presented. What these Forums are Not: The St. Michael A & A Forums, as educational Q & A resources, are not interactive discussion forums and should not be used to carry on a conversation with a Forum Host over one's favorite theological quibble. The Forums are also not debate forums but a place where Catholics and non-Catholics can solicit the expertise of hard-working volunteers. Please do not abuse this privilege. There are many chatrooms and newsgroups elsewhere on the Internet where participants may engage in dialogue, debate, or controversy. Reserving the Right to not Answer a Question: To faciliate the Educational Q & A nature of the Forums, the Forum Hosts and/or the Forum Moderator reserve the right to refuse to answer without comment questions which are thinly veiled attacks on the Catholic Church or the Catholic worldview, or that are otherwise unproductive to the purpose of our Forums. Judgement of what constitutes an attack or unproductive question is left up to the individual Forum Host and/or the Forum Moderator. GUIDELINES FOR POSTING QUESTIONS In order to facilitate timely responses, especially to spiritually needy questioners, please follow the policies listed below for the operation of the Forums. 1. The Question. Please ask your question as simply and directly as possible. Time spent deciphering a lengthy stream-of-consciousness question is wasted time, both for the Forum Host who answers it and for the readers of the Forum. Your question should be edited for readability by you and not the Forum Host. This will contribute significantly to the usefulness and enjoyability of the Forum for all concerned. Questions are are unreadable or that are not clear or do not make sense may not be answered. 2. One Question per Post. Unless the nature of the subject requires follow-up questions please limit yourself to one main question per post. The temptation to use the Forums to get all of your questions answered, rather than do some research yourself, is understandable. Please resist it. 3. Post One Time. Please post a question only one time. Give your browser time to communicate with the website and notify you that your question has been received or (God forbid!) give you an error message. Please don't follow it up with a did you get my question? email. Multiple posts and follow-up emails delay answers significantly. 4. Be Patient. If you don't get an answer in two or three days you are not being ignored. Sometimes the Forums have backlogs of questions. We would like to be able to answer in a few days, but sometimes it has taken weeks. The current amount of delay can be checked by noting the question date on the most recently answered questions in that Forum. We appreciate the commitment of time and talent the Experts have made in being a part of this apostolate. Please don't badger them. It is a free service, generously given, by busy men. 5. Be sure you include a valid email address when you post a question. Your email address will not be made public, but a Forum Host may need to contact you to clarify something. If he cannot get through to you then your question cannot be answered. Forum Hosts and/or the Form Moderator reserve the right to not answer questions that are submitted without an email address or with an invalid email address. Thank you for your cooperation in adhering to these guidelines. God bless.