Catholic Roundup

Blessed Kateri Shrine, Fonda, New York, Usa

Last year one of the highlights of our family driving vacation to Boston was stopping at the the Shrine to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Shrine in Fonda NY when we did not know it existed. You can hear more about that visit onCatholic New Media Roundup Episode 2 from last July.

This year we are spending two of our family camping weeks at Catholic Family retreats, first at Catholic Familyand in Bloomingdale, Ohio and later at Cana Colony at Madonna House in northern Ontario. We are certainly not alone in taking vacation time out to recharge our spiritual batteries and renew our faith.

There were over 140 families at Familyland the week we attended. The week at Familyland was structured with daily mass in the morning, followed by sessions for all members of the family until lunchtime. The afternoons were dedicated to sports, relaxation, watersliding, swimming and visiting with other families. At 3 pm each day, everyone in the whole complex stopped wherever they were to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Dinner was served between 5 and 7 and there were family activities and rosary time in the evenings. During each afternoon a number of priests were available on the lawn outside the chapel to hear confessions. The whole week was a wonderful balance of spiritual renewal and family fun.

While we were there, we met the Kearns family; Deacon Pat, Liz, Makenzie and Sean, from northern California who dedicated their month long circuit of the United States as a pilgrimage with daily mass and times for family rosaries. They documented their journey on the Kearns Family Pilgrimage USA blog.

This notion of traveling to renew one’s faith is not new. In fact it is very old. For thousands of years, Catholics have been making pilgrimages to holy places seeking healing or to grow in their faith. We are privileged to live quite near to the Shrine of the Canadian Martyrs, which is one such place of pilgrimage.

Catholic Roundup Big Question

How about you? Have you ever been on a pilgrimage? Have your family ever gone on a vacation/retreat? Do you take time during your vacation to recharge and enrich your spiritual life? Tell us about it. Send your responses to (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a voicemail message at 206-337-0611.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (29.9MB)

Yes folks, this is another of my posts riddled with p’s, and I’m not even mentioning Popple this time (oops– too late).

What I do have is pictures and a podcast from Easter Sunday when my daughter and I joined the Portageurs who are making a pilgrimage with the Ark of the New Covenant from Midland to Quebec City for the International Eucharistic Congress in June.

The music throughout the podcast is the Theme Song of the International Eucharistic Congress, God’s Gift.

You can follow the progress of the portageurs on their blog.

You can see media coverage of the pilgrimage in midland from AChannel Barrie, and on Salt and Light TV.

My daughter and I took lots of pictures. Here is an overview of the afternoon.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.6MB)

For ten days in February, Fr. Bill Holtzinger led members of his parish from St. Anthony’s Church in Forest Grove Oregon on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We talked about his experiences on the pilgrimage and his Pilgrim Cast podcast.

In keeping with the truism that no podcaster produces just one show, here is a listing of Father Bill’s seven podcasts. You can find them all at frbill.org .

• St. Anthony’s Podcast
• Fr. Geek
• Mysteries of the Mass
• Pilgrim Cast
• DaVinci Cast
• Children’s G.I.F.T.
• Camp On Dude

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.1MB)

Today, I talk with Doug Mumphrey of The ManlyCatholic Podcast. Enjoy.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.4MB)

During the weekly chatroom circus that is the live Ustream recording of Catholic in a Small Town, I pestered Mac and Katherine Barron to do an interview with me. As soon as their show recording was done, they called me on skype and we did this interview, live in front of the Ustream irregulars. Mac and Katherine do a podcast about raising children in a small town and being Catholic in the deep south. Besides, they are EXTREMELY funny. Check it out at sqpn.com.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (18.4MB)

I had a wonderful conversation with Joe McClane of The Catholic Hack Podcast and Fullness of Truth Ministries. We talked about Lent, his pilgrimage to Rome, The Mission Trail in San Antonio, St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, and Saint Marie Among the Hurons here in Midland. Enjoy.

Huge storm last night.  Snowblower broken.  Shoveling and praying all afternoon.  Too tired to blog.

Enjoy this picture of Our Lady of the Snows Church in Owl River Alberta.

From Flickr: terrydonovan88.  cc-attribution-non-commercial, share alike.

This website gives a history of Our Lady of the Snow basilica in Rome, also known as Saint Mary Major.

From Flickr: LawrenceOP  cc-attribution-non-commercial, share alike.

 From Wikipedia: Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Pope Liberius commissioned the construction of the Liberian Basilica, circa 360. According to the founding legend, which cannot be traced farther back than the thirteenth century,^[3] he wanted a shrine built at the site where an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary manifested herself in identical dreams shared by a local patrician and his wife and by the pope. According to tradition, the outline of the church was physically laid out on the ground of the noble’s property by Liberius himself under a miraculous but predicted snowfall that took place on the night August 4-5 352.^[4] The legendary Miracle of the Snow was depicted by Masaccio and Masolino about 1423 in a triptych commissioned by a member of the Colonna family for the Basilica, now conserved in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples.^[5] In it the miracle is witnessed by a crowd of holy men and women and observed from above by Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Snows, local Roman Catholics commemorate the miracle on each anniversary by dropping white rose petals from the dome during the feast mass.

Public Domain image from Wikipedia

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.4MB)

In July 2006, I stopped by at Our Lady of the Highway shrine in Vegreville, Alberta Canada. In today’s episode I talk about the shrine and have prepared an audio/picture slideshow so you can see and hear this special place I also include some audio feedback I sent to the Rosary Army Podcast while I was at the shrine. The background music is Hail Holy Queen by The Harms. Dan Harms is 1/2 of Popple.

If you have downloaded this audio via rss, check out the slideshow on my website.

If you would like me to release my For the Sake of the Song interview with Kyle from Popple earlier than the scheduled April 20, then send me some feedback in the comments, to ductapeguy (at) hotmail (dot) com or to my voicemail feedback number at 206-337-0611 .