Tech Tips for Catholics

Today, you may have noticed that the leading, trending topic around lunchtime was “No God”.  Apparently, Christians all over Twitter tried to get the trending topic to be “No God, no peace; know God, know peace.”  Not a bad goal, except for the fact that Twitter only picked up “No God” and “Know Peace”.

But, I don’t think all has #failed.  More and more people are talking about it now than had the plan worked as intended.  It’s funny how God works.  He can take something bad and turn it into something good.

As always, feel free to comment. God Bless : )

If you’re like me you probably have a hard time managing the barrage of information hurled at you via Twitter, Facebook, and every other web2.0 social media platform. And even though it’s estimated that we only use a small portion of our brain capacity, let’s face reality: there is just not enough brain cells to remember everything we want. So while there are lots of tools to help us keep a reference of things (Evernote, NoteScraps, spiral notebooks, stickies, etc.), I find that many people have a hard time keeping in their mind the things that really matter to them. As a Catholic, it’s important to me to leave at least a little bit of room in my brain for things related to my faith. That’s why I use Evernote as an external memory, which allows me to free up my memory for other things.

Still, I need some way to get all of the Catholic goodness into my brain. Let’s say I want to memorize scripture, or quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Or say I want to remember all the incredible things that Padre Pio said. The best way to remember something is by repetition (though language experts might disagree with that) and for repetition and memorization, the best tool possible is the old flash card. But since this is a tech site, let’s talk about a tech version of the flash card that can help all Catholic tech heads: FlashcardExchange.

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This Saturday (June 27, 2009) is the second annual Catholic New Media Celebration! This year the celebration is being held in San Antonia, Texas.

In case you missed last night’s San Antonio radio interviews about the Catholic New Media Celebration Click Here.

So whether you are attending or not, here are some great sites to follow the festivities, speakers, musicians, and anything else going on at CNMC 2009:

SQPN.com will be the headquarters for streaming video, live tweets, and a place to virtually hang out during the celebration.

TweetGrid.com is a great way to follow multiple #hashtags during an event such as #cnmc09.  If you post any pictures with the according #hashtag via TwitPic, TweetPhoto, yFrog, or the such, a thumbnail of the image will appear within TweetGrid.  Pretty cool!

HashTags.org is a great way to see stats on a particular #hashtag.  Though it does not post all tweets relating to a particular #hashtag, it is a neat way to find other people who are tweeting about specific hash-tags.

Of course there is TweetDeck and other sites that may also be useful to follow live events — What are you using?  Let us know.

Grassroots Films is touring their award-winning film, “The Human Experience” in Rome this week.  My wife, Shanon, and I had the privilege of screening this film last Thursday in Cleveland, Ohio.  It exceeded my expectations!  It is a movie that will make you feel somewhat uncomfortable at times, but also joyful other times.  This movie will make you laugh, cry, it will humble you, inspire you, and challenge you.  Hopefully, it will make you a better person.

After the movie, Jeffrey Azize and Michael Campo were there for a Q&A session, which I so wish I would have recorded!  There were some really good questions, and some even better answers.  Jeff and Michael were both very genuine and humble guys.  They mentioned that one of the questions often posed to them is, “Will there be a sequel?”  It is their prayer that each person who sees this film will be inspired to live out the sequel in our own lives.  I really hope that they put a sort of Best of Q&A on the DVD when it comes out.

If you get a chance to go see this movie, it is so worth the time and money.  I was surprised to see all the young people there as well.  I ran into a seminarian, who resided at our Parish all last summer.  And I was surprised to see our Parish Priest’s 2nd cousin, who is also a Priest in the Cleveland diocese there as well.  What a small world!

Oh Yeah!  You might also be interested to know that Grassroots Films are the ones who did these films as well:

Below are some related links to this topic:

• Review: The Human Experience
• R.E.C.: Catholic Filmmakers Showcase

The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) recently released a Catholic Children’s Website.  I’m not a kid, but even I had a lot of fun learning about our Catholic Faith.  Parents will have a blast exploring the site and discussing the Faith with their children as they go along.  There is something in this Virtual Town for Catholics of all ages.

Here are just some of the activities you will find:

• Bible Bites
• Learn Latin
• Word Searches
• Matching Games
• Quiz Games
• Coloring
• Puzzles
• Dot 2 Dot
• Saint Trivia
• Choir Practice (Simon)
• And so much more!

If you have a question about the Faith, head on over to the local post office and mail EWTN a letter (in the game, but they will receive the e-mail and should respond to it).

When you login, you start off inside the clubhouse.  If you click on the “What’s New?” Star, you will find the latest activities that have been added.  Other than this, just click around and see what you find : )

Below are screen captures that I took while playing around on the EWTN Kids site (the music, I added afterwards).

Below are some related links to this topic:

• Catholic Bible Trivia Game Online
• JellyTelly: Online Children’s Video Channel
• Free Download: Catholic Game Show slides (Eucharist edition)
• Fun Wii Download: “Critter Round-Up”

You gotta check out the great new series by Busted Halo! It is called “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding” and it features Dr. Christine Whelan, author of the Pure Sex, Pure Love column and Father Eric Andrews, a Paulist priest with more than 15 years of wedding experience.

They do such a good job of sharing the faith, and in a lighthearted way.

Some of the topics include:
Why Can’t We Get Married On The Beach?
“The Jerky Priest!”
What Does a Celibate Priest Know About Sex?
How Can We Keep Our Wedding Simple?
Why Can’t We Get Married To The Beatles?
& More!

From over-the-top registries to destination weddings, the American wedding industrial complex is a $161 billion consumer bonanza. But a wedding is more than just a party: It’s the beginning of a life-long marriage, an important sacrament in the Catholic Church. Brides want everything to be to their specifications — and priests bristle at being treated like hired help. Friends and family ask about color themes for the reception, and the priest plies pre-Cana compatibility quizzes. It’s a cultural war, and engaged couples are on the front lines.

What happens when the princess planning her “one perfect day” clashes with the priest who would rather preside over a dozen funerals than one wedding?

Find out in the new BustedHalo.com series, “The Princess, The Priest and the War for the Perfect Wedding.”

If you have a question for the Princes or the Priest, e-mail them and who knows, you might start the next battle.

This was an interesting conversation that we had on Twitter today.  The question was posed as such, “Should folks ‘tweet’ or ‘text’ during Church? Different from note-taking?”

There has been a lot of news reports lately talking about how some non-Denominational, mega-churches are encouraging their congregation to tweet and text during their Sunday services — as a way of reaching out to non-church-goers.  Don’t get me wrong, we should be reaching out to non-Christians, but during a Worship service is not the time to do it.  I’m not alone in thinking this.  There were some Protestants who are also in agreement.

It is kind of hard to follow, but here is a screenshot of just some of the conversation:

So, what were some of the key points that Catholic Christians were making in this Twitter discussion?

• That there are distinct differences between a non-Denominational Church service and the Catholic Mass.
• Social Networking is a great tool for Evangelizing, but just not during the Sacred Liturgy.
• During the Mass, we should be focused on Christ, not on what is going on around us.
• There are mixed feelings about note-taking during the homily.  What are your thoughts on this?
• Most view cell-phones and other electronic devices as a distraction or as being disrespectful to others during Mass.

We would love to hear what you think about this topic.  Go ahead and post your comments below, Tweet at us, or continue the discussion on flockNote.

Below are some related links to this topic:

• Rant: Cell-Phones in Church : (
• 7 Books for New Catholics
• Mars Ill – “Love’s Not” song lyrics

Q. I would like some information on “Centering Prayer”. Is it recognized by the Church?

A. What a great question!

People mean different things when they talk about centering prayer. Some people use the term centering prayer to describe an emptying of one’s thoughts until they fall into a sort of trance-like meditation. One needs to be careful not to confuse a state of trance with being with God.

If by centering prayer you mean, centering your thoughts on the life of Christ or a specific attribute of Christ, this is perfectly fine.

The Church does speak of Contemplative prayer in the Catholic Catechism:

“What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: ‘Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.’ Contemplative prayer seeks him ‘whom my soul loves.’ It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.”  — CCC 2709

“Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we ‘gather up:’ the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us. We let our masks fall and turn our hearts back to the Lord who loves us, so as to hand ourselves over to him as an offering to be purified and transformed.”  — CCC 2711

“Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more. But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.”  — CCC 2712

“Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts. Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, “to his likeness.”  — CCC 2713

“Contemplative prayer is hearing the Word of God. Far from being passive, such attentiveness is the obedience of faith, the unconditional acceptance of a servant, and the loving commitment of a child. It participates in the “Yes” of the Son become servant and the Fiat of God’s lowly handmaid.”  — CCC 2716

“Contemplative prayer is silence, the ’symbol of the world to come’ or ’silent love.’ Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the ‘outer’ man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.”  — CCC 2717

So, what is the difference between Centering Prayer and Contemplative Prayer? I would describe Contemplative Prayer like this. Let’s say that you are with your loved one, sitting in front of the fireplace and just enjoying each others’ company. Not only are you feeling the warmth of the fire, but the warmth of knowing that this person loves you. No words are spoken, but there is this seance of feeling loved that is beyond words. I often feel this love of Christ during Adoration.

So, the main difference is that some strive for the emptiness feeling (a state of trance), rather than just basking in God’s love. One is based on simply a “feeling”, while the other speaks to the soul.

I hope this helps.  If you need more information about some of the other New-Age practices that are sadly creeping into Catholic Churches and Christian homes, visit: www.NewAgeDeception.com.  Sharon Lee Giganti has some free downloadable resources, including: 7 Reasons Why Centering Prayer Should NOT be in Your Parish, A Warning About: A Course in Miracles, Church Sanctioned Methods of Testing The Spirit, and Information on the Dangers of New Age Thinking and the New Thought Movement.
OF A TEACHING

If you have a computer question or a question about the faith, let us help!  Contact Catholic Tech Tips.

Holy Week is one of the most moving and joyful times of the Liturgical year.  The story of our Salvation history comes alive, especially during this time.  Lent and Easter are seasons of renewed faith and springtime.  Hopefully, we have taken the time leading up to this celebration of Christ’s suffering, death & resurrection to do just this.  Have we offered up our sacrifices in union with Christ’s suffering?  Have we died to sin?  Have we turned to Christ in love and in a renewed spirit of our baptismal vowels?  Christ is reaching out to each of us.   His arms wide open upon the cross, inviting us to Himself.  Take time this week to participate in the Holy Triduum.  You’ll be glad you did.

Easter is also an exciting time for those who have journeyed to become Catholic.  Can you remember your baptism, confirmation, your first reconciliation, or the first time you received our Lord in His gift of the Eucharist?  Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but this is a time that newly Catholic Christians will never forget.  We need to make them feel welcomed, pray for their continued conversion (and not to mention our own, ongoing conversions), and give God thanks and praise.

Here is my list of recommended books for new Catholic Christians:

1. The Bible: Chances are they already have a Bible, but one can never have too much of God’s Word in his or her life!

2. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Second Edition): This version of the Catechism is revised in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II.

3. The Catholic Source Book: This is a great resource that was given to my wife as a gift when she became Catholic.  It is a vast collection of information to help people of faith learn, renew, teach, and live the risen life of Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church.

4.  A Father Who Keeps His Promises – God’s covenant love in Scripture: My cousin bought me this book as a gift and I’ve read it twice now, and will probably read it again.  This is one of Scott Hahn’s earlier books, but don’t let that discourage you from reading or giving this book to someone as a gift.  In this book, Dr. Hahn takes the reader on a journey through Salvation History and reflects upon God’s unchanging, covenantal love.

5. Surprised by Truth (series): Because every convert loves a good conversion story : )  This series features powerful testimonies of others who have made the journey to the Catholic faith.

6. The Catholic How-To (series): These books are not just great for converts, but just as great for cradle Catholics.

7. On The Passion of Christ – Prayers and Meditations: From the author of the well-known, classic “The Imitation of Christ,” Thomas à Kempis prayerfully reflects upon each step of Jesus’ Passion.

I would much rather you support your local Catholic book store, but if you do not have a store near you, you can order these and other books from our online store.  Have a blessed Holy Week and a Joyous Easter season!

Back in the day, and perhaps still today, video game magazines were notorious for pranking their readers between the pages of their April issues.  Printing fake game cheats, news, and all sorts of other little bits of fabricated information.  For those of us who were anticipating the April issues, knew what to expect, but I always felt sorry for those who were not prepared.  I admit that there were a few times when I forgot all about the April issue and spent countless hours implementing the gaming tips that were supposed to “grant me infinite lives”, or that would “unlock” something cool in the game.  It is never fun to be on the receiving end of an April Fool’s joke.  First you feel angered or deceived, then comes the urge to get back at the person with an even bigger prank, which I’m all for.  Just don’t get too out of hand.  Some people take it too far.

This April 1st, Twitter will be inundated with contrived lies, half-truths, and deception.  Some may even be outright malicious, but hopefully this won’t be the case.  There’s nothing wrong with good, clean fun, if done in a light-hearted manor.  I plan to avoid the internet altogether on April Fool’s Day.  I’m pretty gullible and I know for a fact that I would fall victim to at least one online April Fool’s joke.  Here is an example of one from last year.

All of this talk about April Fool’s jokes got me thinking.  What does the Bible say about fools? Actually, there is quite a bit of Scripture that talks about what it means to be foolish or to be a fool.  A fool is described as someone who is:  full of deception (Proverbs 10:9-10; Proverbs 10:18; Proverbs 14:8; Proverbs 19-9), reckless and sure of himself (Proverbs 14:16; Proverbs 17:7; Proverbs 17:27-28; Sirach 22:7; Ecclesiastes 4:13-14; Ecclesiastes 10:3), a brute (Sirach 22:9-20; Proverbs 17:20), lacking in faith or is in ignorance of God (Luke 24:13-35; Wisdom 3:1-3; Wisdom 13:1-9; Psalms 53:1-2; Jeremiah 5:21), wicked (Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 4:17; Proverbs 10:21-23), quick-tempered (Proverbs 14:17), discontent (Ecclesiastes 7:9), unwise and/or unprepared (Matthew 25:1-13; Wisdom 3:11; Proverbs 17:16), and is grief to his parents (Proverbs 10:1; Proverbs 17:21; Proverbs 17:25).  These are just a few examples.

Have a fun April’s Fool’s Day, and try not to be too big of a fool!