Celebrity Blogger Week continues as we welcome a fresh face to the Lent Madness fold (not that the veteran bloggers have stale faces, mind you). Maria Kane is excited to be part of the Madness in 2014 and we're excited she allowed us to twist her arm. Plus we told her she wouldn't really have to do anything. We might have lied just a little bit but it's okay since Lent hasn't started yet.

The Rev. Maria Kane

Maria Kane is an Episcopal priest, historian, and proud native Texan. Her favorite role, however, is being godmother to Cal (6) and Leila (4). She has served as a parish priest in Virginia and boarding school chaplain in New Hampshire. Among other things, boarding school life dramatically increased her knowledge of pop culture and internet lingo, for which she is immensely grateful (as are her friends). Maria is a contributor to Weavings and Alive Now! magazines, and like a true mad woman, she's completing final revisions of her dissertation, "Pretty Girls & Fascinating Boys," a study of race, sexuality, and adolescence in late twentieth-century evangelicalism. In her free time, Maria loves reading, cooking, gardening, and finding grammatical errors in the New York Times. She can be found on Twitter @mariaconchia.

How has Lent Madness transformed your life?
For starters, it has nurtured my often unrequited love of history. It's also been a fun conduit for meeting people and making new friends (but keeping the old, 'cause you know, one is silver and the other is gold). It's expanded my sense of community, as well.

Did I mention I love any excuse to talk about history?

What do you hope the Lent Madness public will learn from the lives of the saints?

I hope people will see that being a saint isn't about perfection or surrendering to a formulaic life. From the saints' lives, I want the Lent Madness public to see the grace, sacredness, and possibilities in their so-called "ordinary" lives. I hope people will embrace the idea that they, too, have a place in God's family of faith. Of course, if they develop a passion for history that would be fantastic, too.

Someday, when you become the answer on Jeopardy, what will the question be?

Among other things on this person's bucket list are cocktails & dinner with her closet friends and the hosts of NPR's Morning Edition& All Things Considered at the home of the subtlety  pretentious, yet talented Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa. There will be plenty of orange flowers, of course.

While not technically a Celebrity Blogger, Maple Anglican nonetheless has become the official video blogger of Lent Madness. Since the Supreme Executive Committee is generally benevolent, we have included the mysterious Maple Anglican in Celebrity Blogger Week.

You can find Maple's videos featuring Archbishop's John Chrysostom and Thomas Cranmer on the newly created YouTube channel, Lent Madness TV. They'll be providing commentary throughout the saintly smackdown -- commentary you won't want to miss. Ever.

Maple Anglican is the nom de plume of the mysterious Anglican Vlogger living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Very few know his true identity. Supposedly he is married with two young children, a son and daughter, attends All Saints’ Cathedral, Edmonton, has really bad grammar, and is very proud that he is Scott Gunn’s “Canadian Nemesis.” Last year in Lent Madness he was able to collaborate with the late Archbishops John Chrysostom and Thomas Cranmer  (@LMArchbishops) using a special device called the “Clairvoyatron,” a device even more mysterious than Maple Anglican himself.  Some say that he’s really a plant by ACNA, while others think he’s a complete git. Either way we still watch his videos. He can be found on Twitter @MapleAnglican,Facebook, or YouTube.

How has Lent Madness transformed your life?
I would say it has gotten the chance to bring out Church Geek in me a lot more and meet a lot more Church Geeks.

Obviously being a Celebrity Blogger is your greatest lifetime achievement. What perks have you enjoyed as a result of your status?
Well, it seems that I have become a bit more mysterious than I previously have been.

What do you hope the Lent Madness public will learn from the lives of the saints?

Maple in a ball pit

All competitiveness aside Lent Madness is a great way for people to learn about the Saints, and more importantly, the history of the Church. In the modern so-called "Post-Christian" society there is definitely a lack of knowledge about Christianity and I think that Lent Madness helps to educate people. At the same time this isn't just for Anglicans/Episcopalians; we have Roman Catholics involved. We have Lutherans involved. It is something that is ecumenical.

Someday, when you become the answer on Jeopardy, what will the question be?
I would want the "Answer" to be "This anonymous Canadian video blogger was part of the Social Media Evangelization movement of the early 21st Century."

[Yes, this should be in the form of a question but we'll cut MA a break. He's Canadian after all.]

Celebrity Blogger Week (or however long it takes) kicks off today! We'll introduce you to our fabulous stable of writers who will help make Lent Madness 2014 happen  (please note: by "stable" we're not implying that they're all horses although Laurie Brock actually does own a horse named Nina).

We've asked all of our non-equine CBs to answer a few questions and provide a photo that somehow reflects or sheds new light upon them. While we did this in alphabetical order last year, in 2014 we're getting loopy and mixing things up. In other words, we're posting these in the order we receive them, which also offers subtle motivation to those Celebrity Bloggers who haven't yet submitted their answers to the SEC to get them in ASAP.

As the pre-Lent Madness frenzy ratchets up, we hope you'll enjoy spending some time with the men and women (not horses) who will bring our 32 saints alive for us this year. We think they're all pretty amazing and not just because they work for carrots, er peanuts.

But before you read about our first CB, don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Thanks -- it's good for our self-esteem.

Canon Heidi Shott

Heidi Shott, entering her third year as a Celebrity Blogger, is Canon for Communications and Social Justice in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine. She is a member (and past Vice Chair) of the Standing Commission on Communications and Information Technology and served as Chair of the Episcopal Life Board of Governors. She worked on the Office of Communication’s video news team at two General Conventions, hosting “The Daily Wrap” in Anaheim in 2009. In Indianapolis she hosted an interview blog atwww.indy300.net. Praised widely for her writing about faith in daily life, Heidi writes for a variety of publications and blogs. She keeps the blog Heidoville. With the departure of their twin sons for college, she and her husband Scott are milling aimlessly around their home in mid-coast Maine where they root for the Red Sox even when they lose. Follow her on Twitter @heidomaine.

How has Lent Madness transformed your life? 
I never thought of myself as a competitive person until Lent Madness came along. I haven't won anything since my third place ribbon for the triple jump in the Holland Patent Central School 6th grade track meet in 1974. There's something about looking at those vote totals when one of my saints is up that lights a holy fire in my heart. In the first round last year Frances Perkins was neck and neck with Damian of Molokai. As it approached midnight East coast time, I was worried she might lose and that all the people who had never heard of her life and witness would go on with their lives without hearing about her life and witness. That's when I decided to take action and vowed to keep tweeting photos of Graceland to the Lent Madness twitterverse (I happened to have a lot of Graceland photos on my phone) until Perkins took the lead. It paid off. She won the first round and never looked back all the way to the Golden Halo.

Obviously being a Celebrity Blogger is your greatest lifetime achievement. What perks have you enjoyed as a result of your status?
The executive director of the Frances Perkins Center bought me a cup of coffee at the Maine Coast Bookshop and Cafe last year. That was sweet. I'm still waiting for the letter from Social Security Administration to announce that they will double my lifetime benefits because of my relentless support of Perkins, not to mention the free trip to Hawaii for helping Queen Emma get to the Golden Halo Round in 2012.