Rockin’ for Advent!

Well, not literally.

But if you’ve ever wanted to brush-up on your Christmas hymns and carols, this way is super fun! It’s the Online Christmas Songbook–featuring not only lyrics & sheet music, but a midi-track that plays along, too! With 106 songs, including “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”, it’s likely that your favorite is in this list.

Pump up the volume on your computer, print out some song sheets and get your friends and family together. When was the last time you went caroling around the neighborhood?

 

20 Somethings Unite!

St. Ann’s in Coppell, TX has a new group called 20 Something. And it’s just what you think: a young adult group for those in their 20’s. The opportunity to meet people who not only share your faith is great, and the best part is the potential for the inspiration to be closer to God! With events like Theology on Tap, Bible Studies, service projects, retreats and random social events (The Office watching party, anyone?), life just gets more exciting with a group like this!

If you’re in Austin, check out another group called 20 Somethings in Austin, TX. And at www.catholicyoungadults.com, you can find a whole list of national Catholic Young Adult groups. Just be sure to “shop around” if at all possible, making sure that the group you do decide to get involved with will be encouraging your faith and is orthodox.

Interested in starting a 20 Something group? As someone involved in the foundational efforts for the St. Ann 20 Something group, here’s what you need from my experience:

1. Permission from your pastor
   It is his Parish.
2. People in their 20’s
   If it’s just you, chances are there are more people out there who are interested in starting a Young Adult group, too.  Talk to whoever is in charge of the bulletin about making an announcement at Mass and put a blurb in the bulletin. Set up a time to meet to make a plan for your group.
3. A Plan
   Start small, perhaps with a monthly event such as a Theology on Tap, which is social yet spiritually informative. Have speakers who are strong in their faith and who can offer great advice on working while living a great Catholic life. Be sure they are willing to volunteer their time, since you’re just starting up. And host it at a restaurant with a private room that you can reserve. Voilà! You have an event!
4. Growth
   Create leadership roles and assign leaders! At your event, give everyone a form to fill out telling you what they are looking for in the group (social events, a yearly retreat, bible studies, etc.) and start creating events more often according to the needs of your members.

If you’re just out of college, or a young professional in your 20’s, definitely check out your local 20 Something group, or consider starting one. It might just change your world…

 

An Attempt at Undermining Christianity

[I'm not one to bash, but lies are being presented as truth, and it's got to be set straight. And please, don't send any impressionable people (such as children) to see this film.]

According to his page on Wikipedia, Philip Pullman wrote The Golden Compass seeking to take a direct stab at Christianity (including C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia).

Peter Hitchens has argued that Pullman actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda.^[6] In support of this contention, he cites an interview in which

Pullman is quoted as saying: “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”^[7] [...] Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis’s series.^[8]

The book/film claim:

1. God is the enemy.
2. God can be killed.
3. Most people have a “daemon”, which is outside of their body and is their “real” soul. (see the IMDB synopsis: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/synopsis)
4. You’re pretty much a loser/an outcast/uncool if you don’t (according to the audio played when you click on the “daemon” section of the film’s website.)
5. The magisterium, or the people of God, are the enemy.
6. The “organization” of God is mysterious.
7. There are generally a lot of direct oppositions to the Truth, which is claimed to be the “real truth” in the film.

Christianity (including the Magisterium of the Catholic Church) teaches:

1. Even satan believes in God, and trembles at the sound of His name.
2. Satan is a liar.
3. There are demons and they do desire to “attach” or further, possess people.
4. Satan tries to buy people with things such as money and fame/popularity.
5. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church was in fact established by Jesus Christ as a physical teacher here on Earth. And Jesus and his followers wish to call everyone in existence their brothers and sisters. What kind of enemy is that?
6. The mystery of the Christian faith [the Holy Trinity, Jesus' life, death & resurrection, etc.] is absolutely beautiful!
7. Satan is a liar.

It seems to me that Pullman, whether he sees it or not, is buying straight into the basis of Christian belief by inverting it, attributing all of God’s good works to satan, and all that is evil to God. And unfortunately children, because they are so impressionable, can easily buy into the entertaining fantasy at the potential cost of lies becoming their truths.

Oh, and don’t support this film.

 

Going Deeper

You have to check this out. If you have any curiosity about “why Christianity?” or “why Catholicism?” or “why Jesus?” or even, “why me?”, than this series of talks-turned-Podcast is a must.

Leo Severino, producer of Bella the movie, is either your favorite college professor, or the professor you always wish you had. This is the philosophy class you always wanted to take.

Personally, through this podcast, I have grown so much closer to Christ–just because my existential understanding has grown as a result of revalation after revelation of the Truth!

Also, check out this page, that has notes on the first few sessions, which is worth reading at least a few sentences of to get an idea of what adventures lie in this Podcast.

Just try session one; download it to your iPod–it just might change your life and make your commute to and from work infinitely more fascinating!

 

New NFP vs. Contraception video…

…with special guest, Media!

 

Is this an NFP or Apple commercial?

If you haven’t yet, see a Mac ad, then watch these videos on contraception vs. Natural Family Planning. I promise at least a little bit of amusement (unless you’re a disgruntled PC or contraception user…).

Enjoy!

 

Pray the Rosary Online!

Praying the Rosary to meditate on the mysteries of Jesus’ life, and therefore His love for us, is extremely powerful. It will change your life.

To start, Catholic Answers has a great article on the Rosary.

59beads.com is a great site to pray the Rosary with. Although it’s not quite finished (only the first 4 Joyful mysteries are complete with pictures, but you can finish the 5th with just the prayers), the online rosary at our ourcatholicfaith.org has the Joyful, Sorrowful and glorious mysteries (with Gregorian Chant!), but not the Luminous mysteries (as announced by JP II in 2002).

Check out a few sites that have all 4 mysteries:
http://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/documents/misteri_luminosi_en.html
http://www.tu-newman.org/rosary.html
http://www.easterbrooks.com/personal/calendar/rosary.html

Rosaryconnection.com encourages praying the rosary daily, and provides the 15 promises of the Rosary given by our mother Mary at Fatima. A couple are…

• The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
• It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.

An awesome way to pray the rosary is in novenas, 7-day series of prayer for a specific intention through the intercession of Our Lady. There is a more powerful novena, that takes 54 days. The 54 day novena has great promises from our Mother…

“Child, thou has invoked me by various titles and hast always obtained favors from me. Now, since thou hast called me by that title so pleasing to me, ‘Queen of the Holy Rosary,’ I can no longer refuse the favor thou dost petition; for this name is most precious and dear to me. Make three novenas, and thou shalt obtain all… Whoever desires to obtain favors from me should make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary, and three novenas in thanksgiving.“

Lastly, if you’re looking for an audio guide to novenas or just the rosary, consider getting a CD ($1 plus optional donation) from Catholicity.org.

 

Comedy worth laughing at

After looking for some good comedy for years, I finally found something (well, it was more like my friend told me about it): Brian Regan.  He is funny. For a comedian who is not necessarily Christian (maybe he is? I don’t know…), he has clean, and therefore tasteful, (not to mention quality) humor!

Check out brianregan.com, or search YouTube for video clips.

 

FREE Catholic CDs and Novels

Run by the Mary Foundation, CatholiCity.com is the place to order good free Catholic CDs (with a nominal $1/CD expediting fee and an optional donation). The CDs you can order are…

* Seven Secrets of the Eucharist
* Marriage and the Eucharist
* The Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet
* The Mass Explained
* The Conversion of Scott Hahn
* John Corapi’s Amazing Story
* Confession
* The Truth About Mary

the three books available are…

* Pierced by a Sword, by Bud Macfarlane
* Conceived Without Sin, by Bud Macfarlane
* House of Gold, by Bud Macfarlane

It’s great for the price and a good opportunity to strengthen your faith or pass out these resources to others!

 

Will the Pope get a Facebook?

A group on Facebook called The Papal Facebook Initiative is promising that when they reach one million members, they will send the petition to the Pope himself. The group tells us to imagine if…

…You could poke the pope.

…A new Vatican Office of the Curia had to be created, called the “Papal Facebook Attendant.”

This group is also getting press in the UK, including The Catholic Herald making mention of the group…

The idea began at the University of Cincinnati, where young students in a Catholic study group decided that the site would be an ideal vehicle for improving dialogue between the younger generation of the Church and its leadership. It has also been suggested that the site is a potentially valuable forum for increasing understanding of Church teaching.

Visit www.facebook.com to join and check out The Papal Facebook Initiative.

 

One Hundred Pro-Catholic Movies!

After browsing the National Catholic Register resources page, I ran across a true Catholic movie-lover’s resource: Top 100 Pro-Catholic Movies! Based on an online survey taken in 2004, it may not surprise anyone to hear that the 2004 phenomenon, The Passion of the Christ is #1 on the list. And there are some other obvious ones, such as The Ten Commandments (1956) at #6 and Thérèse (2004) at #11. And although the fact that The Exorcist (1973) is #44 might be a little scary ( I can’t handle watching movies like that), it’s certainly is pro-Catholic.

So if you have a free week, and would like to watch around 220 hours of movies back-to-back, or if you’re just looking for a movie that won’t insult our fantastic faith, check the list out.

 

Why are you Catholic? Part 2

Why Are You Catholic? Part 2!

 

Champions of Faith

If you love baseball…
Or if you love the Catholic faith…
Or if you love both of the above… seeing this film is a must.

More than a sports documentary, Champions of Faith goes beyond the surface of the baseball game, and into the depths of a baseball professional’s Catholic faith. It’s an inspiration, and as Mike Piazza put it:

The story just unfolded so velvety and every piece was great and very inspiring . There’s many times I was in tears just from the emotion of it – from everybody’s story.
I’ve had some great moments in my life but being part of this and being able
to tell people about my story is one of my proudest moments.

Some of the Catholic players interviewed include, Mike Piazza, David Eckstein, Mike Sweeney, Jeff Suppan, Jack McKeon, Tom Glavine, Craig Biggio, Sean Casey, Pudge Rodriguez, Jim Leyland, Mike Scioscia, with former players Darrell Miller and Sal Bando.

And while the Catholic community is endorsing this film left and right, the Catholics behind Champions of Faith alone are inspiration to see the film. Tom Allen, the executive producer and director for this documentary is also president and editor-in-chief of Catholic Exchange, CEO of The Maximus Group and the distribution finance executive of The Passion of the Christ, for starters. Writer and Narrator for Champions of Faith, John Morales, is host of Catholic Exchange Today, a radio show featured on Catholic stations nationwide and comes with a 20-year background in radio and television. Three-time Emmy award winner Lino Rulli was host and executive producer of Generation Cross, a nationally syndicated Catholic comedy tv show, from 1998-2004 and is the Producer of this film. And Emmy winner Dean Krueger, the Director of Photography and Editor, has served as photographer and editor for various news outlets, including Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

Watch the trailer for this film and if you like it, buy it as a gift for friends, family or anyone who needs to hear about the joy that comes from Christ and His Church.

 

Why are you Catholic?

 

Why are you Catholic?

 

Summer Festivals ~ Christian Style

www.christianfestivals.com is a great place to start when finding ways to spice up your summer. For now, here are a few bigger festivals to check out…

Cornerstone Festival

Where: Bushnell, IL
When: June 25-30
What: bands, games, prayer
Who: Switchfoot, Copeland, Deas Vail, The Wedding, Cool Hand Luke, Leeland, David Crowder Band, Skillet, Anberlin, Relient K, tobyMac, Underoath, Flyleaf, Pillar, Emery & tons more.
How: Adult passes are from $135 – $155 at the gate. Click here for more ticket info.
Why it’s Cool: You’ve probably at least heard about this one–it’s the biggest of them all and takes place in Bushnell, IL. People travel from all over the country to attend this 6-day Christian woodstock.

Cornerstone Florida

Where: Orlando, FL
When: May 11-12
What: bands, games, prayer
Who: MxPx, Pillar, Underoath, As I Lay Dying, Copeland, Darek Webb, Family Force 5, Jonezetta & lots more.
How: Adult 2-day passes are $44.95 if purchased by May 8, and $50 at the gate. Click here for more ticket info.
Why it’s cool: It’s a Cornerstone festival!

Celebrate Freedom

Where: Parker, TX (just north of Dallas/Fort Worth)
When: June 29-30
What: Bands & lots of booths (including the Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas’ very own Youth For Life booth!)
Who: (not official) Rebecca St. James, Skillet & 33 Miles. An official list of artists will be on their site soon.
How: Tickets are free, but required. Pick them up starting in June at any DFW Chick-Fil-A, CareNow or Capital One location. Parking is $12 per vehicle.
Why it’s cool: As America’s biggest free music festival–and it’s Christian. Plus, this is the first year this one-day festival will be two days!

Kingdom Bound

Where: Darien Lake, NY
When: August 5-8
What: Music, prayer, extreme sports, kids ministries (can anyone say Veggie Tales?), speakers & rollercoasters (it’s at a theme park!)
Who: The Afters, Decemberadio, David Crowder Band, Dizmas, Leeland, Manic Drive, Newsboys, Skillet, Stellar Kart, Superchick, tobyMac, Chris Thomlin & more.
How: Full-event tickets are $105 if purchased after June 30. Click here for more ticket info.
Why it’s cool: Christians take over an ex-Six Flags theme park in western New York for 4 days. Need I say more?