Most of my generation grew up not knowing the word "vocation." And I mean vocation in the sense of something in life that you are divinely made for and called to. And specifically, I mean Marriage vs. (what I'll here call) not-Marriage.

And by not-Marriage I don't mean all of the things the world tries to call Marriage but are actually not Marriage.  By "not-Marriage" I mean things like religious life, priesthood (the non-married version), consecrated life, the diaconate (the non-married version), the single life, and any other legit form of it I'm missing and whereby I am not sure of a single word that can describe all of it without somebody complaining that I left something out so...READ MORE

When we can manage to look past the many downers and dangers of social media, it's inspiring to find the many more blessings hidden beneath it all. One such blessing is that social media can help save lives. Here's one way (among many other examples of natural disasters and Arab Springs, etc.) Facebook is helping to do so:

A new Facebook program provides military personnel, veterans and their families with customized resources when their content is flagged as harmful or suicidal.

It is an extension of a suicide prevention effort Facebook launched in December, which lets friends alert the social network when other users express suicidal thoughts by clicking a link next to the...READ MORE

Recently, this conversation concerning the HHS mandate between Jon Stewart (Daily Show host) and David Barton made the top search on Google.

It was a terriblly frustrating discussion that never seemed to get to the meat of the real issue. And, David Barton (God bless him for his support) in trying to defend our position (i.e. "the Catholic thing"), ended up giving a platform for Jon Stewart (a very smart guy) to completely miss the point repeatedly...to the applause (and extreme google search interest) of a Comedy Central crowd that apparently doesn't know any better.

Here's the convo (with comments below):

Okay, so...

1. First, Christmas trees everywhere does not mean a...READ MORE

Your parish (or your diocese) doesn't need a technology strategy. Here's why.

"The internet comes along and it's mysterious and suddenly we need an email strategy and a social media strategy and a web strategy and a mobile strategy.

No, we don't.

It's still people. We still have one and only one thing that matters, and it's people. All of these media are conduits, they are tools that human beings use to waste time or communicate or calculate or engage or learn. Behind each of the tools is a person. Do you have a story to tell that person? An engagement or a benefit to offer them? Figure out the people part and the technology gets a whole lot simpler." - Seth Godin

The...READ MORE

The birth rate is a very different thing than the pregnancy rate. But many are happy to pretend they're the same when convenient. Here's one such good example which was pointed out by Students for Life:

In a new report, the CDC has released figures showing that the U.S. teen (ages 15-19) birth rate has dropped to an all-time low. In the release, the CDC claimed that this drop is due to a combination of “strong pregnancy prevention messages…as well as an increase in contraception use.”  Also cited as a reason why birth rates declined was the economic recession, similar to the Pew Foundation’s findings earlier this year which cited the recession as a cause for a lower birth rate for...READ MORE

Now, I'm nobody to tell the Pope what he should and shouldn't do. But I think these are important questions to consider. Should the Pope have his own blog? Should he be tweeting on Twitter?

Some might say, he's already on Twitter. In fact, according to Mashable.com, the Pope "took to Twitter to save Lent." But did he really?

Even the Vatican's own news site reported that we could "Follow the Pope on Twitter for Lent." Sadly revealing, the same article doesn't even provide a link to find him on Twitter or tell us how to follow him on Twitter. After some searching around and filtering through some false "Pope Benedict XVI" profiles on Twitter, I did manage to find what they were talking...READ MORE

Culturally, it’s getting easier for people to be pro-life. There are four key reasons for this:

(*While being pro-life includes many things, here I’m mostly referring to life in the womb.)

1) The science: Science has clearly confirmed that a new, individual, self-directing human life is created at the moment of fertilization (i.e. conception). There is no point after that where this life magically becomes human or deserves to live, etc. It’s quite obviously a precious human life from that first moment. Just add food, water and proper shelter and eventually you get a bigger human being. People increasingly get that. And it takes really convoluted, non-rational squirming to try and say...READ MORE

Momentum Studios. Check them out. Their mission:

“Momentum Studios is a Catholic production company producing solid Catholic videos for youth.  We pray that our videos will ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of every Catholic teen and bring them into a deeper understanding of the faith and into a profound union with our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

They are doing a series on the sacraments that I think will be very helpful for youth and youth ministers. You can check out the first couple of them here on Confession and Confirmation. I’ve embedded the one on Confession below.

Great as a teaching aid or simply something easy to share, these well produced 5-7 minute videos are made...READ MORE