Catholic Roundup

A picture is worth 1000 words. Here are our CNMC Pictures

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The other day, I talked with Zina Gomez Liss about the spiritual and cultural significance of places. Zina has been exploring the Catholic heritage of Boston in her videocast, Catholic City with Zina. My town of Midland also has a rich Catholic heritage. Our community is where some of the first Jesuit missionaries to Upper Canada lived and died. It was the home of Saints, St. Jean de Brebuf, St. Isaac Jogues, St. Gabriel Lalament, St. Antoine Daniel, St. Charles Garnier, St. Noel Chabanel, St. Rene Goupil, and St. Jean de LaLande.

The Canadian Martyrs’ Shrine now sits on a hill just outside of the town of Midland. It is the only national shrine in Canada outside of Quebec. People from all over the world come to the shrine on pilgrimage. Our family regularly makes the short pilgrimage (10 min) to the shrine in the summer time for masses. Besides the beauty of the shrine and its grounds, and its spiritual heritage, it is also helping us to teach our daughter about the universal church. Midland itself is a small town with a fairly homogeneous community, but at the shrine we encounter people from all races and nations– all a part of the Body of Christ. This summer we met a priest from Africa, who was fluent in about 6 languages including French, but came to the Martyr’s Shrine for about 6 weeks to learn English. Even in that short time, as he carefully read through the parts of the mass in English, we saw him growing in skill and confidence in the English language. What a gift he has, to be able to communicate The Good News in 7 languages!

Over this 40 Days of reflection on Catholic websites, resources, and media, I’d like to explore more special and sacred places, but I’d also like to hear about your sacred places. Send me your comments or email me at ductapeguy (at) hotmail (dot) com .

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.3MB)

Zina Gomez-Liss has just launched, Catholic City with Zina

a wonderful video podcast which explores the Catholic culture and heritage of her hometown Boston. It is done in a lighthearted humorous fashion with loads of pretty graphics and special effects.

I spoke to Zina for quite a while about her videocast and the spiritual significance of one’s hometown. You can also check out Zina’s Online Live Journal page.

Here is Episode 1 of Catholic City.