It happens to all of us. Life is moving along swimmingly until it hits. “It” might be something thrown at us from the outside—a layoff, your child’s crisis, or realizing that all of the graduate programs you’ve applied to waitlisted you—or it can be internal—realizing that you’re not happy in your job/career, finishing college without… [Read More]
Why Are Christians Always Judging?
One of the most unattractive challenges in joining a Christian group is the fear of being judged. Honestly, most people fear the judgement of Christians over the judgment of God Himself. How can this be if Saint Paul reminds us not to judge others, “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God…”… [Read More]
Life, Detours and Trust
So this week has been interesting to say the least… I’ve been out of college since 1999 and by the grace of God have always been gainfully employed. I’d managed to avoid or side-step a number of lay-offs and company closings, but my streak of dodging bullets ended this week. As to be expected I’ve… [Read More]
A rose by any other name. . .
. . .would not be half as awesome as Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha. I have a confession. We’re all Catholics here so I can do that, right? When I first made the conscious decision that converting to Catholicism was what I was going to do, one of the things I was geeking out about was the… [Read More]
Falling and Fighting – The Struggle for Christ
I’ve been a Catholic school kid my entire life. A fact that has provided me with a number of opportunities that many people didn’t get growing up. I had the opportunity to learn about my faith in school, to share my faith with all my friends and teachers, to pray openly. But I also had… [Read More]
Tattoos & the Church
All about tattoos…kind of. Over some time now I’ve come to gather a series of resources regarding the morality of modern-day tattoos from the teachings of the Catholic Church. This is by no means extensive though. Regardless, I’d like to share what I’ve found in hopes that it will provide the insight you need (or at least… [Read More]
Inconceivable! (Review: “Bumped”)
Last week, I read a book that I could not put down. Even when I paused to gasp or to ponder what I’d just read, I only stopped long enough to process my thoughts, and then I immediately went back to turning pages as fast as I could. I was stunned and excited, and it… [Read More]
Who Do You Seek?
“Men and women seek God. Young people realize in the depths of their being that this quest is the inner law of their lives.” -Blessed Pope John Paul II As I write this blog, I am sitting on one of four buses from the Diocese of Austin with youth, youth ministers, chaperones and priests from… [Read More]
The reason why you can’t hook a U-Haul to the Hearse – a lesson in detachment
This past weekend I found myself engrossed in a new {to me} show via Netflix streaming. I gave up t.v. for Lent 2010 and I never really went back full swing. I have always been intrigued by reality shows, so it was no shock that I took to a show like Hoarders. All I can… [Read More]
Slow To Anger
Yesterday, my not-quite-2-year-old and I went to the post office to check my P.O. Box. As we were sorting the mail, a woman walked in 20 minutes after closing time, saw they were closed and was very upset. I’ll save all of the details, but picture language not appropriate to say in front of a… [Read More]
Communion of Hearts
The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were held on July 1st and July 2nd of this year. Both of these days have a very special place in my heart. As one ponders the pierced side of Jesus’ body, we are able to know who… [Read More]
St. Mary Cathedral Celebrates Enrollment & Investiture of Brown Scapular
Saint Mary Cathedral Celebrates: 2st Annual Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast Saturday, July 16 @ 9-12 talks – 12:05 Mass Enrollment & Investiture of Brown Scapular What is the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel? A scapular consists of two pieces of cloth, one worn on the chest, and the other on… [Read More]
As American as Dissatisfaction
We Americans live in a world of milk and honey made up of hamburgers, baseball, and apple pies. Sadly, even when we live in a world full of such riches and opportunity, we can’t seem to have enough. Sure, times aren’t as good as they have been in the past for many of us, but… [Read More]
The Harvest Is Abundant But The Laborers Are Few…Or Are They?
It’s not so much that the laborers are few. It’s that they are all too busy working on their own crap… Years ago God placed it in my heart to be in media. The funny thing is, as is in most cases, I took something that God had put in my heart and instead of… [Read More]
It’s a Difference of Feeling – Making Mass Meaningful
We’ve all thought it at some point in our lives: “Why does Mass have to be so boring?” I’ll admit to it. Growing up in a Catholic household, I used to dread going to Mass (although for a youngster I think that’s almost expected). And there have been times – yes, even as an adult… [Read More]
My Journey with “Financial Peace” from a Catholic Perspective
How it started: Back in the first week of April ’11, a company-wide email was sent out at my workplace advertising a new course that was being offered. The program was Dave Ramsey‘s “Financial Peace University,” a 13-week video based personal finance class that would be moderated by a fellow employee on-campus during lunch. Everyone… [Read More]
Review: “Elsewhere”
Imagine waking up dead. I’ve always had a soft spot for the ludicrous nature of that question, but it’s worth pondering. If you went from this exact moment and suddenly found yourself dead, how would you react? MercyMe treated the question of the afterlife in their hit song “I Can Only Imagine,” but Gabrielle Zevin… [Read More]
You Beter Run Run Run…
“Let each confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession can be received, while satisfaction and the forgiveness granted by the priests is acceptable to God.” – St. Cyprian I have seen youth excited to go to confession. I have had a few youth come and ask me to skip… [Read More]
WARNING: Scandal – Proceed With Caution
When I started attending Bible Study two years ago, I went in with full knowledge that I knew nothing – Scripturally speaking. I was blown away when we read 1st Corinthians. It wasn’t so much being blown away by reading Scripture, but by the realization that St. Paul spoke to me in a very personal… [Read More]
Sex Is Good
Catholics aren’t known for being knowledgeable about sex. The extreme stereotype says we’re ashamed of it, and our bodies. We have sex only because of marital duty and we shouldn’t enjoy it. The stereotype says that we acknowledge we need to do it, but almost as a necessary evil. Wow. I know aspects of this has existed in time… [Read More]
PMP and Social Justice
Greetings to the Austin Catholic New Media Community. I would like to do a brief introduction of myself before I begin my post on social justice. First off, I am very blessed and honored to be able to partake in this form of new media in the church. I am a recent Texas A&M University… [Read More]
Obedience, Division, and Black Sheep
Unless you’ve been avoiding the internet over the last few days, you’ve probably already heard about Fr John Corapi’s decision to leave the priesthood. I will not claim to be an expert on this situation but want share some thoughts on this issue. I would recommend you read this detailed analysis called Father Coarpi’s Bombshell…. [Read More]
Father’s Love
With Father’s Day being this Sunday I felt it would be kind of cliché to do a post about fathers, but The Lord put that in my heart so I’ll go with it. Who knows better then your Heavenly Father anyways?! When I was growing up my dad used to tell me, “You can learn… [Read More]
Different church, same Jesus.
A few weeks ago, three of my siblings and my mother made a reverse exodus from Texas to Oklahoma to visit me for a few days (and exhibit their dogs in a dog show – you know, purely coincidental). My youngest sister Aeren (who just turned 7) was one of the lucky three siblings that… [Read More]
Rosary lost, devotion found.
Are there any statistics on how often the average person loses things? Particularly small things? Because I’m pretty sure I’m double that. Just ask my mom. (Just kidding, Mom!) Speaking of, I don’t think I told her that I had lost my Rosary. Ok, I admit I have several rosaries (and more than enough twine… [Read More]
Review: “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
I love reading. These days, I read mostly blogs, but I do pick up the occasional magazines of my alma maters, and I usually get in some pleasure reading at lunch at work. I also find plane reading a lovely way to pass the time…especially when I sync my iPhone wrong and am therefore unable… [Read More]
What We Look For
There are many joys to working with new media, but perhaps none more so than all of the “Stats” and other metrics provided by even the most basic of new media platforms. I love the fact that everything is trackable because it not only gives me an idea of how people are responding to my… [Read More]
My Mexican Kids
Vanessa published a post yesterday on Busted Halo about her Mexican culture and some difficulties she is having in exposing the girls to it. This has been a well-discussed issue in our home, so Vanessa wrote nothing groundbreaking to me. One of the comments, though, I found quite interesting. “James” writes: Overall, I find this article offensively… [Read More]
Workout for Christ
“Every Christian is called to become a strong athlete of Christ, that is a faithful and courageous witness to His Gospel.” –Blessed Pope John Paul II When I was younger, working out and staying in shape was pretty easy. I danced and played organized sports throughout my childhood and in middle school. In high school… [Read More]
Journey to the Center of Homeschooling
As I sit down to write this entry, I have Pandora going in the background, the teenager is informing that I need to go to the store {I just went two days ago – never mind I bought a week’s worth of groceries}, the three-year-old and six-year-old are complaining and whining about who gets to… [Read More]
Summer 2011 ACNM Update
Austin Catholic New Media is well into its first year as a group, and it has been an incredible start so far. When Jason, Chris, and I first started making a plan, there were a lot of unknowns about what would come out of this group. I think there are still many unknowns as to… [Read More]
Have You Prayed For Your Future Son Or Daughter-In-Law Today?
Today’s post was inspired by a pair of very unlikely sources. The first being MTV’s massively popular show “16 and Pregnant” and a personal favoriate podcast of mine called “The Catholic Laboratory“. Now you may be asking yourself what could these two shows possibly have in common that would inspired a blog post on Austin Catholic… [Read More]
Doubt as an Opportunity
Do you ever fear that doubt or anxiety about future events somehow means you doubt God? I have a friend who deals with this often and I find myself talking her through it every once in a while. All it takes on my part really is just reiterating things she already knows. Like to be… [Read More]
The Holy Father’s Intentions for June
Each month, the Pope asks the Catholic world to join him in a common prayer. This month, we pray that priests, united to the Heart of Christ, may always be true witnesses of the caring and merciful love of God. For our missionaries, we pray that the Holy Spirit may bring forth from our communities… [Read More]
Summer Movie Preview 2011
I used to be a movie buff. As a kid and young adult, I would watch almost anything. I knew my fascination with film had probably become an obsession when, after one particularly active movie-viewing summer, I received a letter from the president of Blockbuster Video, thanking me for renting more movies than 99% of… [Read More]
How Will They Know Who We Are?
Hello, ACNM readers! My name is Lindsay Wilcox; I’m the campus minister at the University Catholic Center over at UT, and I was recently invited to join the ACNM family. I’m very excited to share some of my perspectives on Catholicism in Austin with all of you. I am new to Austin, being from Maryland… [Read More]
I’ve Earned a Busy Badge!
Busy. We live in a world consumed with busyness. The question “Hey, how are you doing?” is frequently responded to with a “Busy, but _____ (good, bad, tired, etc).” Busy has become the new norm. Busy is beyond being socially acceptable. Busy is now socially expected. Busy is chic. Being busy can lead to debates… [Read More]
Our Faith walk: As unique as our DNA
As I work on mapping out common objections to the Faith that were outlined in my last post, My Priest, My Coach, I wanted to reflect on something that caught my attention. In my own faith walk, I’ve always been drawn to something we believe in, that we are all part of one Body. The… [Read More]
Death and the End of the World
Each day that passes means we are one day closer to the end of our lives on earth. It’s not the most pleasant of realities, so we often choose to not think about it much. So far this year, life has been filled with opportunities to reflect upon death. Natural disasters have been forcefully… [Read More]
Glee, Gaga and God
Hi my name is Jason and I watch too much trash TV. I know that I really should be spending more time in prayer and deepening my spiritual life. Unfortunately more often then not the spare time I do have usually consist of watching an hour or so of mindless TV. That being said I… [Read More]
