A Five Year Journey
This month Joe Paprocki celebrates fives years of writing at his blog, Catechist’s Journey. Loyola Press asked a few bloggers and catechetical leaders to create short videos congratulating Joe on this monumental accomplish (after all, five years online is forever!) and I was happy to oblige. Loyola Press posted the videos on Joe’s blog today. Congratulations,...
Read More#NCCL2011 TweetUp Round-Up
Tonight I had the immense pleasure of gathering with about 12 other Catholic bloggers and Twitter users at the NCCL convention in Atlanta, Georgia. We sat around, enjoyed some great local beer, and discussed everything from the Blessed Virgin’s role as the model catechist to WordPress configurations; Twitter clients to the Civil War War of Northern Aggression; protecting yourself online to the number of hits our sites get. It was a very diverse group, but I was amazed at how quickly we fell into easy conversation. That is, I think, one of the gifts of Catholicism: a shared culture and...
Read More33 for 33
Today I turn 33-years old and, in the spirit of giving, I thought I would share 33 things I’ve learned in 33 years. When you find something you’re passionate about, jump into it. Be inquisitive. Ask questions, read books, visit museums. More children means more messes, more noise, and more love. You’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish when you don’t know you have to ask permission to try something new. When crossing train tracks, keep your hands out of your pockets. Honesty in all things. Even the hard things. Especially the hard things. Admitting ignorance and...
Read MoreAnnouncing the Unofficial 2011 NCCL Tweet-Up!
For anyone who will be attending the 2011 NCCL conference — or if you’re just in the Atlanta area — we’re going to have an old-fashioned Tweet-Up on Monday, May 23rd, around 9p ET (after the Sadlier event) at Twenty-Two Storys, the lobby bar and restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. This will be an opportunity to meet with other Catholic bloggers and Twitter users to network, discuss catechesis and social networking, or just enjoy a cold drink at the end of the day! This is completely unofficial; it’s not in the conference program, so please help me spread...
Read MoreMonty Python: Christological Scholars?
I recently completed watching Monty Python: Almost the Truth, a fascinating six-hour documentary on the British comedy troupe. The fifth episode of the series focuses on The Life of Brian, a film about a reluctant false messiah at the time of Christ. When they first set out to write the film the Pythons started with, in their own words, a lot of blasphemous jokes about Christ. But the funny thing is that, as they reviewed what they had written, they realized it wasn’t really that funny. The funny stuff tended to happen around Christ rather than to or because of Christ — the...
Read MoreThese Are a Few of My Favorite Things…
Today is Catholic Media Promotion Day, a day when when Catholics list “their favorite 3 blogs, 3 podcasts, 3 other media, 3 random Catholic things online, and their own projects.” Here, in no particular order, are my favorite Catholic: Blogs (Catechetical) This is a hard category because there are so many great ones! Among the ones I rarely miss: Catechist’s Journey Marc Cardaronella The Religion Teacher Scrutinies Blogs (Non-Catechetical) Building Cathedrals Domine, da mihi hanc aquam Whispers in the Loggia Podcasts This is another hard one for me, because I...
Read More5 Books for the New Year
Last year I offered five books I had read in the previous year that I recommended for the new year. If doing this two years in a row makes it a blog tradition — well , so be it! Here are five books that come with my highest recommendation: Doers of the Word: Putting Your Faith Into Practice, by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan (2009) — In this wonderful little book Archbishop Dolan offers short reflections on Christ, the Church year, the saints, the Church, the Blessed Virgin, and other topics. His short, pithy stories are a great example of his ability to explain the faith clearly...
Read MoreThe Adventures of ChatRoulette Jesus
Recently I’ve been having some fun using ChatRoulette as a sort of evangelization tool/sociology experiment. For those unfamiliar with the site, ChatRoulette pairs you up with a random stranger in a chat room. If you both have web cams you can even see each other. (Note: Many people take advantage of this function to display highly inappropriate material. Enter ChatRoulette at your own risk.) Using a piece of software called ManyCam I’ve replaced my image with that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (see above). The fun has been in seeing people’s reactions to Christ appearing on...
Read MoreFive Reading Picks for the New Year
There has been much written in the past few years about the “death of the book.” Certainly with the advent of the Kindle and new ways of conveying writing online we are changing the way we read. But I think it’s premature to write the book’s obituary yet. Instead I think we’ll see a shift in the way books are published – away from large publishing houses to smaller niches publishers. In addition, print-on-demand solutions will allow anyone to publish a book quickly and cheaply. To ensure that the book has a few more years of life, I’d like to recommend the following books that I...
Read MoreCan't… Avert… Eyes!
In what can only be the final culmination of internets and religion (and a sign that surely presages the eschaton) Jeff Geerling has produced LOLSaints. I, for one, welcome our new hagiographic overloards.
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