User:Irish Melkite

The two words that make up my user name combine to describe my historical ethnicity (that of my grandparents actually) and my religious heritage (Melkite Greek-Catholic by reason of canonically transferring from the Latin to Melkite Catholic Church some four decades ago). It is also the user name by which I'm fairly well-known at a variety of web sites, principally Eastern & Oriental Christian forums, both Catholic and Orthodox. My schooling is in education and law; my work history includes decades in both technical and management positions in the non-profit health care sector, as well as stints in human resouces, and other administrative roles. Writing and editing have occupied much of my time throughout my career and I put great store in proper usage and meaningful presentation.

New England is where I call home. I'm an inveterate information-mongerer with particular interests in: Eastern & Oriental Christianity generally; small, somewhat obscure religious movements and denominations, such as the various Anabaptist bodies, the Russian Old Ritualists and the myriad sects that evolved contemporaneously to them, the Shakers, and others; vagante and "independent" ecclesia that claim historical development from the liturgical Churches; history generally, particularly that of Ireland and Scotland; genealogy; and a multitude of other topics.

I approach Wikipedia with trepidation. The idea of a comprehensive on-line encyclopedia, with entries created by anyone, regardless of their knowledge regarding a subject or their skill in writing, gives me great pause and has caused me to warn others, regularly and consistently, against relying on it as a reliable information source. At the same time, I registered - probably a couple of years ago - because I felt the need to be able to comment on some observed inaccuracies. Of late, I've felt compelled to actually engage in some editing and will do so, as time permits. My hope is to offer some constructive improvement to articles that I see as needing help; my difficulty will be to separate original research/personal knowledge from sourceable information, given that my time to go out and track down independent source documentation is limited. We'll have to see how that goes.