In a world immersed in iPods, iPads, iTouches and iPhones, it’s only natural that we would have an iPadre. Fr. Jay Finelli is the iPadre. To have snagged the name “iPadre” he certainly isn’t new to the Catholic new media scene. In fact, this week he is celebrating his 5th year of podcasting and his 200th episode of the iPadre Podcast. Congratulations, Fr. Finelli!

“Father Jay Finelli is a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence in the state of Rhode Island. He began building web pages in 1995 and started podcasting in September of 2005. This is a great new means of evangelization. Pope John Paul II said that we are in need of a new evangelization. Podcasting is a small part of this new work of evangelization. All of us need to do our part in spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I was able to speak with him a little bit at the CNMC last weekend in Boston. He’s such a peaceful, friendly and genuine guy. I really enjoyed finally getting to meet him in person. I have an interview of him (along with many other bloggers and podcasters) that I’ll be posting in various pieces over the coming weeks. And I was honored to be interviewed (along with lots of other great people) in his latest podcast, as well.

In addition to his podcast, Fr. Finelli also runs a blog, a videocast, a chantcast and “live streams” liturgical celebrations and devotions from his parish. All can be found on his happenin’ website: www.ipadre.net

He even has his own iPhone App!

Aside from providing excellent content for Catholics through everything he does, Fr. Finelli represents so much more. There are few priests who have embraced new media as fully as he and even fewer who did it starting way back in 2005. He is a true pioneer of the digital continent.