I’m happy to post on this good Good Friday about a new New Media expo for Catholics: CatholiCon. This bit from their website explains just what it is:

“In addition to Sacred Chant, Art, and the Liturgy, we’ll also explore the New Evangelization as it is taking place in podcasting, vidcasting, blogging, and social networking.

It’ll be expo style, which means that attendees will be able to browse the floor, looking at the latest in new media gadgetry, hang out in a coffeebar environment, or attend the keynotes and workshops.

We’ll worship together, we’ll learn together, and we’ll certainly have a lot of fun.”

The event will be in Houston, TX on August 26-28, 2011. So you have...READ MORE

That’s right. Pope Benedict has spoken out about the lies and abuses in the media. Okay, so he said this a couple of years ago, but it is every bit as - if not more - relevant to today:

“In view of their meteoric technological evolution, the media have acquired extraordinary potential, while raising new and hitherto unimaginable questions and problems. There is no denying the contribution they can make to the diffusion of news, to knowledge of facts and to the dissemination of information…Unfortunately, though, they risk being transformed into systems aimed at subjecting humanity to agendas dictated by the dominant interests of the day. This is what happens when communication is used for...READ MORE

Sometimes when you first get to a restaurant for a meal it’s nice and quiet. It’s easy to talk to your friends. It’s relaxing. It’s peaceful. Then a few hours later you all of a sudden realize that you’ve been yelling at each other for the past hour, your voice is getting sore and you can hardly hear each other anymore.

You look up and notice it’s the same thing at every table around you. Dishes clang in the kitchen. Some music you can barely make out blares from the ether. Waiters quickly dodge each other. A tray full of drinks crashes to the floor. The kitchen door slams. A hungry mob has formed by the door, sipping drinks and complaining about the wait. The bottle of wine in front of...READ MORE

Where do you want to go? China? Afghanistan? Paris? Moscow? Africa? Take your pick.

And don’t worry about packing your bags. No vaccines necessary. Leave your wallet in your pocket. And tell your family you’ll be home for dinner. Actually you can take them with you if you’d like. All you need to do is go sit down in front of your computer, say a prayer and step out into the untamed lands of the Digital Continent.

The Web has given Christians a new and vast mission field that needs missionaries.

“Perhaps one of the finest gifts which we could offer to Jesus Christ on the two thousandth anniversary of his birth would be that the Good News will at last be made known to every person in the...READ MORE

CatholicTV recently launched a new feature on their continually improving website: 3D online videos.

This is just one more great example of Catholics truly using the visual web to its potential. And it is an innovative way to make video more interesting and to better explore the visual beauty of our Catholic faith. Hopefully you can check it out with some old 3D glasses lying around from a recent viewing of Avatar in 3D or something. It’s pretty neat stuff.

But most importantly, I hope it encourages Catholics to use the visual power of the web a bit (a lot) more.  I get excited thinking about all of the impressive ways we can share the visual beauty of our Catholic faith through New...READ MORE

This is one of the sweetest ideas I’ve come across in a little while. The project is called OneBillionStories.com. The concept is simple.

Seth DeMoor is riding his bike from Florida to Colorado. Only this is no ordinary bike ride. This is a pilgrimage. And this is no ordinary pilgrimage. Seth is using new media to do it in a unique way that has never been done quite like this.

Ya see, this isn’t just about his story. It’s about the One Billion Catholic stories - of the one billion Catholics - presently living, breathing and walking about this giant rock. As Seth rides along, everywhere he goes he is capturing the Catholic stories he meets along the way on video. You can be a part of this...READ MORE

Every Thursday I’ve been taking a different quote from something the Church teaches about social communication or new media and trying to apply it. This week’s comes from an address Pope Benedict made to the Roman Curia last year:

“God’s loving care for all people in Christ must be expressed in the digital world not simply as an artifact from the past, or a learned theory, but as something concrete, present and engaging. Our pastoral presence in that world must thus serve to show our contemporaries, especially the many people in our day who experience uncertainty and confusion, ‘that God is near; that in Christ we all belong to one another’.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman...READ MORE