Among Women ReadHER 1.7.12 ...Epiphany, Supper, Gists, Digital Stuff and more

Among Women ReadHER

1.7.12

A Blessed New Year
By Archbishop Timothy Dolan from his blog at the Archdiocese of New York
Some simple spiritual suggestions for the new year! Oh, and in case you missed the hoopla this week, we'll be calling him "Cardinal" Dolan very soon! 


My Digital Resolutions for the New Year
By Lisa Hendey at CatholicMom.com
Timely, useful, and realistic ideas.


An Epiphany Royal Supper
By Tiffany at Catholic Cuisine
Neat-o!


The Premiere of "The Gist"
Posted By Catholic TV
Missed the debut episode? Click on the link above!


What Christian Parents Need to Know about Facebook
By @Sticky Jesus
Some basics. Check it out if you are a newbie to FB, or if you're kids are in middle school or older.


The Case for Calling Mom
By Sarah Klift at Washington Post
New study gives evidence that Mom needs to hear from you! 
H/t Bonnie Rodgers at Catholic TV


Healthy Habits for the New Year include NFP (Natural Family Planning)
By Ellen Gable Hrkach at Amazing Catechists
A great reminder! I too recommend NFP, not only from a Catholic perspective, but also as a "green" and healthy alternative! Listen to Ellen's guest visit on Among Women 89.


Melanie Bettinelli's site The Wine Dark Sea got an upgrade!
Listen to the 2-part interview with Melanie here on Among Women.

America's Next Top Model: A little boy with Down's Syndrome
By Deacon Greg Kandra at The Deacon's Bench
A real human interest story... emphasis on the beauty of humanity.


Catholic issues in the culture... as posted in CatholicVote.org



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SQPN offers it's 4th CNMC --This year's Catholic New Media Conference

For a young non-profit organization, SQPN (Star Quest Production Network) has an impressive worldwide following of professional colleagues, friends, and admirers in the still-emerging field of Catholic new media. For four year in a row, SQPN's intrepid podcasting priest and CEO Fr Roderick Vonhögen, along with Executive Director Steve Nelson, and the Board of Directors, are presenting a conference that is one part learning, one part inspiration, and one part community-building -- for Catholic folks from all vocations who have ventured into this digital mission field within the new evangelization.

From CNMC's website:

The Catholic New Media Conference (CNMC) is a festive, educational, and international conference focused on evangelization and building community through the use of new media. This event is designed to connect, guide and inform Catholic communicators as a response to the Church’s call for new evangelization.

“The 2011 CNMC will focus particularly on social media, its impact on culture, and how the Church and its institutions can effectively use it,” says Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, CEO of SQPN.  “We will be exploring how social media can be used with quality content; authentic catechesis and, a true sense of mission,” he says.

All interested in Catholic communication, new media, and social media are invited, including young adults (18+), ministry leaders, and priests and religious, to whom Pope Benedict appealed in his 2010 World Communications Day message, to “become an ever more pastoral presence on the web.”

For specifics about the schedule, please see the Program page.

There will be an amazing array of media veterans, like Sean Patrick Lovett from Vatican Radio, and Blogger Sr. Anne Flanagan from the Daughters of St. Paul and Pauline Books and Media. And there'll be lots of training and inspiration for newbies and up-and-comers from talented and savvy media geeks like Matthew Ward, Jeff Geerling, and Lisa Hendey.

I've attended the three previous CNMCs, and helped to coordinate last year's event in Boston. This year is no different, and I'm pleased to join in the fun once again, this time as a presenter. So I'll ask for your prayers for this event, and for the entire team that is diligently preparing and planning the CNMC, to be held in Kansas City, KS.

I hope I will see you there! Register here.

This makes me think... about New Media religious dialogue

[O]nline religious dialogue almost always evokes detractors... Instead of worrying about whether detractors will arise, however, [Catholic] leaders should assume they will, and then prudently decide how to best engage them. What they shouldn't do is let the fear of detraction prevent any type of discussion.


If dialogue is practiced in full awareness of these dangers, it can flourish. Dialogue is at the heart of growth and community, both securely -- see Socrates -- and religiously -- see Jesus. Discussion gives the Church a human element, revealing her to be a living organism rather than a static institution.


Through prudent New Media dialogue, leaders can help people develop a closer relationship to the Church, and therefore to Christ.


--Brandon Vogt, The Church and New Media, Our Sunday Visitor, 2011.

Brandon Vogt's newly released book, with essays from a stellar cast Catholic New Media enthusiasts, is important reading for Catholic parish and diocesan leaders, as well as for any Catholic with a heart for the new evangelization.

Among Women ReadHer... 7.30.11: Sexy NFP, Prayer and Stress, Saint Therese, Internet Kiddos

Among Women ReadHer

7.30.11

NFP: Making Catholic Sex Sexy

--Ashley E. McGuire at AltCatholicah

H/T to The Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia for this find. I'm a supporter and a user of NFP... using a symto-thermal method for much of my marriage, but switching to Billings method (BOM) when I hit mid-life. So far, so good. Okay, if this NFP topic is of interest to you, there's more conversation going on with Danielle Bean and with Rachel Balducci over at Faith and Family Live. Finally, you can hear previous episodes of AW on the subject:  AW 42 on the Creighton Model, and AW 46 on the Billings Method.


Seeing Through the Eyes of God: Therese [of Lisieux]
--Heather King at Shirt of Flame
Heather has a way of honestly listening to the heart, and actually sharing what she hears. Her book on St. Therese is coming out soon.


Technology Creates New Risks for Kids, Families
--Mary Beth Hicks at Family Events 
Parents: Stay informed. Now we gotta learn Google +! You may also want to read this one on how kids fool their parents about their online "life". (BTW, Hick's newsletter is worth subscribing to --very solid in the topics & info posted for families.) 


Stress: a Pathway to Prayer?
--Kathy Coffey, with a new column over at Patheos
Some excellent applications to daily life. (I'm not a fan of the yoga reference only cuz so many folks confuse it for a religious/spirituality practice -- or in place of it.) But the experience of deep breathing and using the other "techniques" for prayer are recommended by Kathy and by me. 


Cord Blood and God's Grandeur
--Simcha Fisher at National Catholic Register
I've been a proponent of this, being a cancer-survivor. The technology was not around when I gave birth, but I'm glad to see more women investigating this. Here's a list of places to donate cord blood.

And now a word for all you pastors, DRE's, parish councils, youth ministers, church staffer and volunteer types...

In the past year, I've spoken to many Church people both online and in person about the benefits of using new media for evangelization and catechesis... and the bottom line is, well, we Church peeps are slow to adopt these technologies.

But the truth of the matter is, we cannot ignore that our parishioners and our future parishioners are online NOW, and so that is where the local church needs to be.

Still need to be convinced?  Check this out, and pay attention, this video is exactly a year old, and already some of the stats are out of date--in other words, the numbers are larger (!):


New media is not a fad or something just for tech-savvy youngsters. It is not going away. New media is changing the way we live and work. When I was promoting the CNMC this past August, I wrote some of my thoughts about the subject here.

I cannot think of a single good reason to delay...

• Too expensive? Using twitter, facebook, and most blogging sites are free.
• Too time-consuming? So is chasing down your church membership, and using other communication methods like phone-calling and direct mail. Imagine the time saved by better, more stream-lined communications... right to folks' email or phones.  
• Don't have the "know-how"? This is the mission field for the laity. Talk to your parishioners. Poll them. Find a few techie geeks who can help you take baby steps until you can hire someone fulltime in this ministry. Oh yes. It will come to that. Within the next 5 years if not sooner. 

The NEEDIEST and MOST IMPORTANT frontier for this technology is the local parish setting or Christian organization. We must learn to maximize it and use it wisely and decisively.

Here's Matthew Warner, a young Catholic entrepeneur with a few more ideas on the subject. (Disclaimer: I have no fiscal interest in Matthew's company, FlockNote. I just think he's got a useful idea worth considering.)  



I'm not in new media 'cuz I'm a technogeek. I'm in it because of a like-mindedness that Christian share: The Church is on a mission to tell the world that Jesus loves them!  Join in!

And, by the way, if you're a catechist and you have some ideas how we can catechize via new media, let's connect by meeting in the combox below.

Here's a Catholic New Media idea to get behind

Sr Susan Wolf, SND, started a new blog about Catholic media and she offers some reflections here.  We need our "best" people online! Think of a person you might encourage!

This gives me an opportunity to share a favorite quotes from this past year from Pope Benedict XVI about how we ought to use the internet:

Let us set sail on the digital sea

fearlessly,

confronting open navigation

with the same enthusiasm

that has steered the Barque of the Church for 2,000 years.

Rather than for technical resources, although these are necessary,

let us also qualify ourselves by dwelling in this world

with a believing heart

that helps to give a soul

to the ceaseless flow of communications that makes up the web.

This is our mission, the inalienable mission of the Church. 

[Emphasis mine.]

---From the Pope's address:  "To participants in a congress on "digital witnesses"... faces and languages in the cross-media age," April 24, 2010.

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Among Women Podcast #61: now also found on our new page at SQPN!

This week, Among Women profiles two young women of faith. The first is St. Teresa of the Andes, a young women of the early 20th century from Chile. Her life is one of simplicity, letter-writing, and a deep abiding love and joy of Christ. Her life was cut short by illness, yet she was prepared to meet Jesus, the Captain of her heart.

My guest this week is Angela Santana, blogger at Catholic Media Girl, and a new media affectionado working at the Pilgrimage Center of Hope in San Antonio.  Angela is a recent college graduate whose Honors thesis studied new media and its potential for evangelization within and beyond the Catholic Church.

Also, I'm proud to show you our new Among Women page over at SQPN's updated website. Go check out all the great podcasts on SQPN.com.

Details about the Catholic New Media Celebration, August 7th in Boston, are here.

Archdiocese of Boston has new media mission

Kudos to Sean, the Duct-tape guy for this video about CNMC

For more, go to Catholic Round Up.

Veteran Homeschool Moms "Living the Liturgical Year" in a new blog

Here's a plug: I know these gals. They've got a pretty good blog launch going on for a pair of new media neophytes. Go welcome their arrival to the blogosphere, check 'em out, and leave a comment. (Tell them Pat sent you.) Or, better yet, check out their blog AND listen to their conversation with me on last week's AW podcast.

Media Convergence: The Most Dynamic Argument for Using the Internet for the New Evangelization

If you have the faith, live the faith, or teach the faith.... (and you know who you are!)... get busy and communicate it!

HT: Through Many Witnesses