Catholic Roundup

We forgot to mention it in the show we just recorded but SQPN has begun their annual giving campaign.  They are trying to raise $125,000 to support Father Roderick and the SQPN team in all the great things that SQPN does.  In mainstream media, that amount is a drop in the bucket but in new media, it goes a very long way indeed. Their giving campaign will run for the 40 days of lent.

I have featured alot of SQPN podcasts during this 40 days project, but that is because I have sort of ‘grown up’ with the SQPN community. Two of the first podcasts I listened to regularly were the Rosary Army and the Catholic Insider . As the apostolates of Rosary Army and SQPN have grown, so has the community around them. My wife and I credit Catholic blogs and podcasts for helping us re-invigorate our faith and for helping us find Christian community both on the Internet and within our parish. A good example of the power of this community is that on Saturday, Father Bill Kessler was later than usual in starting his Technopriest podcast live on Ustream. There were about 5 people in the chat room waiting for him but we were quite happy chatting amongst ourselves, even if for some reason Father Bill was unable to arrive. He showed up about 20 minutes later with the Ustream party well underway in his absence.

Anyway, this weekend the SQPN website got major overhaul. I think the layout of the new site is very intuitive with content arranged logically into channels for easy browsing. There is a frequently updated rotating banner at the top which highlights recent episodes of SQPN shows and news. The tabbed bar at the right hand side makes it very easy to switch between views of recent shows, categories on the page, or recent comments to help you participate in the conversation. I’m not sure I like the idea of using visual elements and logos that resemble popular consumer brands for individual shows and entries but I love the overall visual effect.

The overall look and feel presents SQPN as very much a ‘Network’ of Catholic media with a little bit of something for everyone. Congratulations to Father Roderick and all the volunteers behind the scenes who made this happen.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.7MB)

Here is a brief interview I did with Father Roderick when he came to Toronto last month.

In August of 2005 I got my first mp3 player and started scouring the Internet for mp3s to put on it. I discovered the early This week in Tech programs, and found 2 neat Catholic podcasts, The Catholic Insider, and The Rosary Army Podcast. It was an AHA moment for me. Up until then I was largely unaware of the nascent Catholic culture and community on the internet. I quickly became a regular listener of Father Roderick, and I can remember I was walking to work through a park when I heard Father Roderick announce that he was going to do his first Daily Breakfast Podcast. Two and a half years later, Father Roderick and Greg and Jennifer Willits head the Star Quest Production Network, SQPN.com which currently hosts over 30 Catholic podcasts and is the epicenter for a blossoming Catholic community on the internet.

My family was delighted when we heard that Father Roderick was coming to Canada on a whirlwind tour in late January. After school on January 26, we piled into the van and drove 2+ hours to Toronto to meet up with Father Roderick and about 20 other SQPN listeners.