Don't let looks deceive you. Megan Castellan is a battle-hardened veteran of Celebrity Bloggerdom. Last year she shepherded Brigid of Kildare to the first ever Silver Halo, thus inspiring the popular Lent Madness Brigid pint glass.
Along with her fellow long serving (suffering?) Celebrity Bloggers, David Sibley and Laurie Brock, Megan was recently awarded the title Distinguished Celebrity Blogger. This title, graciously bestowed by the Supreme Executive Committee after they drank way too much coffee, will allow these three dedicated Lenten heroes to write their own ecclesiastical tickets.
The Rev. Megan Castellan, Distinguished Celebrity Blogger, is Assistant Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri, and diocesan youth coordinator for the Metro Kansas City area. Previously, she has lived and worked in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Arizona, and that period of time in the West Bank that the government can’t know about. Her ongoing adventures and strong opinions are chronicled in her blog Red Shoes, Funny Shirt and on Twitter @revlucymeg. (From time to time, you can also catch her writing in various other places, like House of Deputies News, Episcopal Café, or Fidelia’s Sisters, though the snark factor is significantly lower there). In her spare time, she enjoys singing, playing with yarn, throwing jellybeans at politicians she disagrees with on TV, and cheering on KC-based sports ball teams.
1. Since being named a Celebrity Blogger is obviously your greatest lifetime achievement, how will you handle the inevitable post-Lenten letdown?
Aside from the traditional post-Easter nap common to all clergy, I will probably sequester myself away to mourn the loss of the brackets with mindless TV and good coffee. I will continue the mourning process by staking out a busy corner downtown and asking passersby to vote in a pointless internet contest.
Withdrawal is hard.
2. What is the single strangest thing you’ve learned about one of your assigned saints?
Researching the many uses for dye-producing snails remains the strangest saint-related task I’ve undertaken. Lydia has my undying respect for that alone, even if she never had started a church, and funded Paul’s missionary exploits. Who knew that there was so much to be learned about squirmy little crustaceans?
However, I am still sad that I never got to write up everything I learned about Balthazar, one of the Wise Men. Almost nothing is known about him, but his legends rest largely on medieval Europe’s fixation and fascination with Africa and the East...and then later derive from African Christians’ claiming him for their own, and telling their own stories through this figure. It’s fascinating.
Megan on the night the Kansas City Royals won the World Series
3. What is your favorite saint-inspired food and why?
Bear with me, but I think Julian of Norwich would have loved Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread). She would have written odes to its glory and wonder; she would have eaten it spread on all her humble flatbreads. This HAS to be where that “universe within a hazelnut” thing comes from, right?
4. Besides Lent Madness, what do you most look forward to during the season of Lent?
I really love Lent because it’s an excuse for us to become very intentional about our daily practice of faith. During the rest of the year, I can easily forget about taking time to pray, to reflect, and to pay attention to my relationship with God. Lent reminds me to stop and think, stop and breathe. It’s really the best time of the year!
(That, and there are Girl Scout cookies.)