Catholic Roundup

Earlier this month, Maria Johnson over at A Cup of Coffee and a Random Thought, posted about Who put the ME in media?. She is just one of many who have noticed that there seems to be a healthy and growing community of Catholics hungry for community who are gathering around Catholic podcasting. A few weeks ago, Greg and Jennifer Willits were on Catholic Answers Live. While listening live online I made a brief post on twitter and the Rosary Army forums to join me in the Rosary Army chatroom on Ustream. 10 people showed up and Greg and Jennifer weren’t even there (although Greg did peek into the chat room a couple of times). This was evidence to me of the growing community we’re building around Catholic new Media.

A couple weeks later, Greg posted a question on Facebook asking if anyone would be interested in a retreat with SQPN podcasters. Then, in Show 47 of the Catholic Underground podcast, http://www.catholicunderground.com/podcast/podcasts/episode-47-godmodding-and-catholicon/,
Father Chris, Father Ryan and Josh discussed the possibility of setting
up a Catholic New Media Conference (Catholicon? CatholiCamp?).

All summer I’ve been reflecting on this growing Catholic community so I jumped in and started a Catholic New Media Conference group on facebook. This
group could serve to guage interest in such a conference and help build
a community of Catholic New Media producers and users. Please send the
invitations far and wide. The hunger seems great for this kind of community. In two days, there are 46 members in the group.

All of this led me to start this blog. I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do here but I thought I would start by showcasing and responding to Catholic blogs and podcasts that have been meaningful to me.

Blogged with Flock

Tags: CatholicNew Media Conference, Catholicon, Rosary Army, SQPN

When I was growing up there was a sense that Christian values were something to which people aspired, and the practice of personal faith was a character trait that was admired. In our ever increasingly secular-humanist society, it seems that a person or a family that shows devotion to their faith becomes an object of scorn or derision. There is a pressure on Catholics to apologize for what we believe and who we are.

In this environment, I would like to coin a new term [tag]unapologetics[/tag] to represent the act of a person humbly and proudly living out their faith in the world at large.

Wikipedia defines Christian Apologetics as:

the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. The term “apologetic” comes from the Greek word apologia, which means in defense of; therefore a person involved in Christian or Bible Apologetics is a defender of Christianity. Someone who engages in Christian apologetics is called a “Christian apologist”.

A person practicing unapologetics would be witnessing to their faith, not through oratory and defense of their beliefs, but by the simple and humble practice of their faith in their daily life. Simple things like saying grace (something my family frequently neglects), or avoiding Sunday sports or activities which would exclude you from mass. Through prayer and practice of faith, one does not need to actively “witness” their faith to others. “They will know we are Christians by our love”.

Please join me in spreading the term and the practice of unapologetics.

Edit:  Go figure:  I was not the first person in the blogosphere to use the term unapologetics.  There are people on the net using the term to make arguments against Christian beliefs.  Proves me right not googling a phrase before I blog about it.  I stand my my concept though that we need to stand humbly but proud in our practice of our faith.

[tags] apologetics, catholic, witness [/tags]

For my first Spotlight on Catholic Media, I thought I would look at That Catholic Show. Produced by Greg and Jennifer Willits of Rosary Army and SQPN, That Catholic Show is a humorous and insightful introduction into Catholic traditions and beliefs. Greg says that they got their inspiration for the snappy production style (many short shots, many locations) from watching The Food Network. Each episode is about 5-10 minutes long and focuses on a different Catholic symbol, belief or tradition. The new episode of That Catholic Show, Water is brilliant. It highlights the importance of water for human life and explains the origins of water as a symbol in Christian beliefs.

Congratulations to Greg, Jennifer, Maria and everyone who worked on it.

Hello I’m Sean McGaughey. I’m a Catholic, husband, father, teacher, musician and podcaster. In the summer of 2005, I bought an Mp3 player and started looking for music and podcasts to fill it. At that time I discovered Father Roderick and The Catholic Insider then the Rosary Army Podcast . Over the past two years, my computer has been evangelized. My faith and the faith of my family has been rejuvinated by listening to Catholic podcasts and participating the Internet community around them. Recently this community surrounding Catholic podcasting seems to be growing into something special. This blog will be my place to respond to, and participate in this growing Catholic online community. To begin I will likely highlight some of my favorite Catholic Podcasts and blogs, and jump into this ongoing conversation.

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