With the national debate on so-called “Same Sex Marriage” raging everywhere you turn (Facebook, newspapers, websites, television, etc.), I’m reminded of the pertinent question that is often ignored. “What is the essential, public purpose of marriage?” The answer to the above question is absolutely crucial, and if you have not thought through this question thoroughly, then you should because all other considerations...

On the afternoon of March 14th, Pope Francis delivered his first homily while celebrating the Missa pro Ecclesiae in the Sistine Chapel. Below, I have reproduced the full translation, provided courtesy of Vatican Radio: In these three readings I see that there is something in common: it is movement. In the first reading, movement is the journey [itself]; in the second reading, movement is in the up-building of the Church. In the third, in the...

I spent exactly 5 years working on the diocesan level in evangelization, new media, and catechesis (for the Diocese of Sacramento, California).  During that time, the team I worked with accomplished some pretty amazing things, such as establishing the annual On Fire NorCal Kick-Off for Youth & Young Adult Ministry, implementing a diocesan-wide Catholics Come Home campaign, and bringing marriage preparation to the parish level, just to...

The blog post is part 2 of 2, be sure to read part 1. On January 15, 2013, I drove down to Fresno, California to record two television episodes (“The Church and Social Media” – Parts 1 and 2) for the diocesan owned television station, KNXT with Lisa Hendey, creator of CatholicMom.com.  We were on the show titled “Forum for a Better Understanding,” and we were interviewed by the host, Jim Grant.  If you missed the...

On January 15, 2013, I drove down to Fresno, California to record two television episodes (“The Church and Social Media” – Parts 1 and 2) for the diocesan owned television station, KNXT with Lisa Hendey, creator of CatholicMom.com. We were on the show titled “Forum for a Better Understanding,” and we were interviewed by the host, Jim Grant.  In this first episode, Lisa and I did a quick run through of new media methods...

A Nation Rises I couldn’t agree more, Mr. President.

In the Catholic world, the Church is growing in its sponsorship of the new media.  Parish staffs are investing in quality websites.  Dioceses are promoting online learning.  Parish ministries are paying for subscriptions for Catholic new media tools. And… Catholic apostolates are paying talented developers to create incredible Catholic mobile apps. I’m happy to say that one of my favorite new-and-upcoming Catholic apps is no...

The Diocese of Oakland has hired me to teach a specialization course in Sacred Scripture over the course of 5 Saturdays in early 2013. This course is titled: “A Catholic Introduction to the Depths of Sacred Scripture” and will take place at St. Joseph the Worker School (1640 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94703) on the following Saturdays: February 2 March 9 April 13 May 11 June 8 The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be available...

Flocknote is an awesome Catholic communications tool created by Matthew Warner. In sum, it allows you to send emails to select groups of parishioners or constituents, and it does much more than that. For the Year of Faith, flockNote will email you a select portion of the Catechism of the Catholic Church every day for 1 year. Read that email each day, and in one year, you’ll have read the entire Catechism. When I was a grad student at...

For “Support a Catholic Speaker Month 2012“, I volunteered to interview Al Kresta, host of “Kresta in the Afternoon,” which can be heard daily on approx. 200 radio stations as well as the Catholic Channel on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.  It can also be heard online through the Ave Maria Radio website. Here’s a direct link to the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT55lTEICms ...