If you are plugged into the online Catholic world, then you’ve likely heard of Lisa Hendey. She’s the podcasting, blogging, webmastering, book-authoring Catholic Mom that everybody loves. I’ve only ever heard kind, awesome things about Lisa. And last year, I actually got to meet her in person where we were both presenters at the Catholic New Media Celebration. She’s a very cool gal and is accomplishing so many great things. And I know she is an inspiration to many other moms when they see her ability to fully embrace motherhood - both in the home and professionally.

Much of Lisa’s work falls under the grander effort of CatholicMom.com. But CatholicMom.com is not just Lisa Hendey.  She’s...READ MORE

Sex is everywhere in every single kind of media. It is very difficult for families to avoid it anymore. Morally minded people can either hide out from it and cut ourselves off from the world, or we can fight back against it.

We often forget how influential we can be if we would just stand up for something. Catholics represent about 24% of the US population. If we had the will to do it, we could shape the entire political landscape ourselves.

Anyway, we can do the same kind of “shaping” in our community. We shouldn’t cut ourselves off from the culture or be content with creating our own sub-culture. We need to become more a part of the pop-culture. We need to make it good.

The USCCB put...READ MORE

So you just received this amazing link to a great, new Catholic resource. It explains one particular point of our faith absolutely perfectly…and it totally slams the dissenters. Made you feel really good, especially after reading it 3 times in a row.

But now what? Do you share it with others? If so, who do you share it with?  And in what way do you share it?

In the online world of Catholic evangelization, this situation happens more and more often. It happens to me many times a day. To share?  Or not to share? That is the question.

We have many excellent ways of sharing these great resources these days. We can share it privately with an individual. Or we can share it with a mass of...READ MORE

In these trying times for the Church, one of the resulting tragedies has been that a very small percentage of bad priests have given a bad name to so many good ones. This is most certainly tragic.  It’s tragic that so many great priests are going unappreciated. And it’s tragic that so many of us aren’t aware of so many of these wonderful priests. And all of this in this Year of the Priest.

That’s why a neat new project I recently became aware of is so appropriate: Letters to Priests - Thanking the Men of the Catholic Church. It’s “an interactive book being written to promote positive public relations of Catholic Priests.” They are asking everyone to submit letters describing how a priest...READ MORE

We had more wise and beautiful words from Pope Benedict this week regarding new media. I’m always impressed and humbled by how well this pope grasps these huge cultural factors, such as the Internet, without even really using the internet much himself. Of course, he has been experiencing its wrath more and more these days. But he has also been a huge proponent of nudging the Church into its proper use as well.  Overall, his firm grasp of it all is a true testament to his - and the Church’s - fundamental understanding of the human person and social communication.

Pope Benedict told participants that the task of every believer who works in media, is to ensure the “quality of human contact,...READ MORE

I’m always on the lookout for great new Catholic online video. And one of the primary sources of such video is YouTube.com. Below are a bunch of my favorites.

I’m sure I’ve missed some good ones out there that I don’t know about yet. So please feel free to add your favorites in the comments below and we’ll try to build a more comprehensive collection.  Thanks!

Some official Catholic orgs/news/channels:

- The Vatican
- Knights of Columbus
- Priests for Life
- EWTN
- Catholic News Agency
- RealCatholicTV

Some other great Catholic orgs:

- CatholicVote (also here)
- Word on Fire and Fr. Barron (also here) ...one of my favs.
- LiveAction.org
- Catholic Answers
- Catholics Come Home

Other...READ MORE

This week’s Catholics in New Media highlights one of my long-time favorite Catholic resources: Catholic Answers (AKA Catholic.com).  They are an outstanding defender and articulator of the Catholic faith. And were around online early enough to have snagged the coveted “catholic.com” web domain. And I’m not sure we could have been blessed with a better representative for “Catholic.com” than Catholic Answers.

From radio shows and podcasts to seminars and cruises, a top-notch speaker line-up, world famous forums, This Rock magazine, an online Catholic encyclopedia, the best apologetic library on the internet and some handy tracts to share the truth with your friends, they’ve done a great job...READ MORE

“The increased availability of the new technologies demands greater responsibility on the part of those called to proclaim the Word, but it also requires them to become more focused, efficient and compelling in their efforts. Priests stand at the threshold of a new era: as new technologies create deeper forms of relationship across greater distances, they are called to respond pastorally by putting the media ever more effectively at the service of the Word.” - Pope Benedict XVI (44th WCD)

Pastors and Church leaders who refuse to use new media technologies in their ministries are not just missing out, they are shirking a responsibility. “To whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke...READ MORE