As the church celebrates the Year for Priests, the pope also wanted to invite the world’s priests to consider ways they could use digital media in their ministry, said a statement from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The Vatican announced the theme Sept. 29.

If understood and used wisely, new media technology “can offer priests and all pastoral workers a wealth of information and content that was difficult to access before, and facilitate forms of collaboration and greater communion in ways that were unthinkable in the past,” the statement said.

While the church also must be aware of and address problems the new digital culture causes, it said, the church should recognize the enormous potential new instruments of communication have in ministry and evangelization.

Thanks to the new media, those involved in preaching and catechizing can now reach individuals and entire communities on every continent using words, sounds and images, it said.

“If used wisely, and with the help of experts in technology and communications, the new media can become a valid and effective tool for priests and all pastoral workers for evangelization and communion that are true and full of meaning,” it said.

In most countries, the Catholic Church celebrates World Communications Day on the Sunday before Pentecost; in 2010 the communications day will be celebrated May 16. A papal message for the occasion usually is released Jan. 24, the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron of journalists. (source)

“The new media can become a valid and effective tool for priests and all pastoral workers for evangelization”, It can help to promote vocations too.

- A vocation story : Father John Meyer
- Is God calling you ?
- Fr. Corapi’s Conversion Story – Condensed Version
- Franciscan Friars Vocations Video
- Fr Bob Bedard and the Companions of the Cross
- A call to the Priesthood?
- Priesthood catholic vocation
- Discerning the vocation (Vocation Confusion)
- Vocation: Why not Priest? (english)
- Vocation (brother, marraige, sister, priest, etc.) : Interview Part 1
- Think Jesuit ?

Proposing Jesus and the Catholic Church by the Internet ? Take a look on this great video : Catholics Come Home (from catholicscomehome.org’s website)

The Unborn Child Finally Has a Voice of His Own!

Meet Umbert the Unborn, the pre-natal comic strip character that is winning the hearts and minds of people throughout the country. Created by Gary Cangemi in 2001, Umbert appears weekly in the National Catholic Register and over 100 other publications serving nearly a million readers and growing.

Umbert is a pre-born infant of yet undetermined gender whose mother’s womb is his private universe, playground and think-tank from which he can anticipate life and the world that awaits him.

Umbert is a feisty, outspoken baby who loves life and wants respect. Umbert often appears in various stages of development from a single cell to a near term baby. Umbert the Unborn is an upbeat, funny and sometimes poignant cartoon about human life in all its glory and potential. Umbert’s purpose is to give a voice, personality and humanity to the unborn child and to change the hearts and minds of the “born” and the way we view life before birth.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/scloutier/umbert/feed/ 0 http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/peggy-noonan-captures-jp2-and-b16/ http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/peggy-noonan-captures-jp2-and-b16/#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:51:33 +0000 Fr. Eric Nicolai http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/peggy-noonan-captures-jp2-and-b16/ Here is a quick line from an article by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal, an article definitely worth the read:

Oh, you miss that old man when you are here! You feel the presence of his absence. The souvenir shops know. They sell framed pictures and ceramic plates of the pope: John Paul. Is there no Benedict? There is. A photo of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger being embraced by . . . John Paul. It’s now on my desk in New York. They have their hands on each other’s shoulders and look in each other’s eyes. A joyful image. They loved each other and were comrades.When I was writing a book about John Paul, I’d ask those who’d met him or saw him go by: What did you think, or say? And they’d be startled and say, “I don’t know, I was crying.”John Paul made you burst into tears. Benedict makes you think. It is more pleasurable to weep, but at the moment, perhaps it is more important to think.A Vatican reporter last week said John Paul was the perfect pope for the television age, “a man of images.” Think of the pictures of him storm-tossed, tempest-tossed, standing somewhere and leaning into a heavy wind, his robes whipping behind him, holding on to his crosier, the staff bearing the image of a crucified Christ, with both hands, for dear life, as if consciously giving Christians a picture of what it is to be alive.Benedict, the reporter noted, is the perfect pope for the Internet age. He is a man of the word. You download the text of what he said, print it, ponder it.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/peggy-noonan-captures-jp2-and-b16/feed/ 1 http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/the-star-quest-production-network/ http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/the-star-quest-production-network/#comments Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:38:56 +0000 Fr. Benoit Morrier http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/the-star-quest-production-network/ “SQPN : Leading the Way in Catholic New Media“.

SQPN is the website host of– among other things– That Catholic Show. A lot of good stuff there, including quality podcasts.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/the-star-quest-production-network/feed/ 0 http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/catholics-come-home/ http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/catholics-come-home/#comments Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:59:00 +0000 Fr. Eric Nicolai http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/catholics-come-home/ You just HAVE to see this top notch site on Catholicism called Catholics Come Home, with high level ads plus tons of resources of all kinds. Whatever you do, make sure you watch TV Ad 1. These ads are very high quality, much higher than I’ve seen in most Catholic media. As one blogger put it: “It is not “Come see us, we’re a vibrant community and we like you.” It’s not, “Come back and reconnect with your family traditions because it’s good to do that.” It’s not, “Y’all better come back Or Else.” It’s simply – Jesus lives, Jesus saves – you – through His Church, and as a part of His Church, you’ll be a part of bringing His love to the others who thirst. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late.” So get ready to be moved. It would pretty cool if we could produce these kind of videos advertising the greatness of Adventus, or say the Archdiocese of Montreal… It will ask you to type in a US postal code. Pretty much any number will do, say 90210 or 21662, or any other you prefer from the US.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/catholics-come-home/feed/ 2 http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/the-day-humanity-became-cheap/ http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/the-day-humanity-became-cheap/#comments Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:05:19 +0000 Fr. Eric Nicolai http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/the-day-humanity-became-cheap/ Some of you may remember January 28th 1988: it was that awful day in which the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment on the Morgentaler Case, thereby removing the abortion provision from the criminal code. I was working on my Masters back then, and I was sure the judgment wouldn’t last. Well it’s been 20 years. Since then the doors have been swung wide open to the progressive degradation of human dignity in Canada. The issue of abortion has been almost completely absent from public debate in this country, which is why it is heartening to see David Frum’s article in today’s National Post. It is the kind of debate that we need to hear. And if you’re up to reading some heart-wrenching stories of women who have gone through abortions and if you’re ready to hear some of the deep scars they have been left with, read the recently-published diaries put together by Yvonne Floraczak-Seeman, called A Time to Speak. Mrs. Floraczak-Sleeman, who herself had 5 abortions, puts together the 14 most commonly-heard myths about abortion (a simple procedure, its legal so its ok, it’s my body, it’s just cell tissue, whatever) and answers them with the testimonies of people who have lived through this horror. If you want a glimpse of some of these stories, listen to a recent interview with her on Catholic Answers. It really brings home why it is a good thing to do some penance for all the victims of the tragedy of abortion.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/the-day-humanity-became-cheap/feed/ 12 http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/preventative-repentance/ http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/preventative-repentance/#comments Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:18:57 +0000 Fr. Eric Nicolai http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/preventative-repentance/ It has been said that there are certain anniversaries that nobody likes celebrating. While here in Canada some mused about changing the abortion law (or lack of it), the debate is heating up in the UK, especially since this past Saturday October 27^th was the 40^th anniversary of the law on abortion in England. The “father” of this law was Lord David Steel who recently reflected rather pensively on what he brought about, and declared to the Guardian that there are now far too many abortions. Which means in cold numbers, 194,000 in England and Wales, and up to 200,000 if you include the women coming in from Ireland. But of course with that he added that by saying this he nevertheless felt no regrets, and did not feel it necessary to change the law. But he did admit that abortion has become too easy since it is often used “when things go wrong”.

But in any case he said, far be it from him to be repentant for what he did. All he wanted was a greater sense of responsibility. But what is surprising in all this is that he actually blamed the Catholic hierarchy; for him, the “no” to contraception would contribute to the recourse to abortion as a substitute or a back up for a “botched” contraception.It is rather difficult for me to imagine these pious Catholics, and Catholics who supposedly obediently don’t use contraception because of an “imposition” of the bishops, yet then can tranquilly go and have abortion. It would appear to be more honorable to suggest that their own previsions simply failed. While the law may have sought to avoid clandestine abortions, it ended up banalising life itself as something entirely disposable. A letter signed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor and Cardinal Keith O’Brien stated:

“The 1967 Act was intended to solve the problem of illegal abortion, on the basis that it was a major cause of death in pregnant women. Yet our countries now perform nearly 200,000 abortions every year.”Whatever our religious creed or political conviction, abortion on this scale can only be a source of distress and profound anguish for us all. There is nothing to stop our society from acting now to foster a new understanding and approach to relationships, responsibility and mutual support.”

]]> http://adventus.org/en/ericnicolai/preventative-repentance/feed/ 6 http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/dvd-review-prophets-of-peace-by-masterworks-productions/ http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/dvd-review-prophets-of-peace-by-masterworks-productions/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:20:13 +0000 Father Thomas Dowd http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/dvd-review-prophets-of-peace-by-masterworks-productions/ Prophets of peace is the second DVD that was sent to me by MasterWorks Productions for review (the first being McLuhan Way). It is actually two videos in one, each telling the story of a man with a disability: John, who has Down’s Syndrome, and Michael, who was born with cerebral palsy. And the stories are utterly charming.

We live in a world where we readily throw things away, and sadly that seems to include people. Given the prevailing attitudes of many in our current society, who knows if both John and Michael would have been aborted had their conditions been revealed in a pre-natal diagnosis. But each of these men, while living with a disability, is a gift to those around them. For John, it comes in his disarming friendliness; for Michael, his appreciation of small gifts of love. I was completely taken in, for example, by the charm of the question John tends to ask people: “Where’s your home?”. And I was profoundly moved by the story of Michael wanting to have others pray with him.

Each video is quite short (10-15 minutes), so this is not a “rental” in the strict sense. The DVD is, however, an important testament to the truth of the Gospel of Life. I highly recommend it for parents and teachers wanting to instill in their children a sense of the dignity of human life. My rating: A.

]]> http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/dvd-review-prophets-of-peace-by-masterworks-productions/feed/ 0 http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/godtube/ http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/godtube/#comments Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:05:35 +0000 Fr. Benoit Morrier http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/godtube/ You know YouTube. Now, there’s GodTube – for all your Christian video needs. Here’s one I uploaded (my ordination to the diaconate):

Go and upload ’till your Christian heart’s content! We need strong Catholic witnessing on that site!

]]> http://adventus.org/en/benedictus/godtube/feed/ 1 http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/special-offer-from-the-catholic-register/ http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/special-offer-from-the-catholic-register/#comments Sat, 19 May 2007 18:03:18 +0000 Father Thomas Dowd http://adventus.org/en/fatherdowd/special-offer-from-the-catholic-register/ A friend over at the Catholic Register asked me to post the following note. I did so last year on my other site, Waiting in Joyful Hope, and they got their first Quebec application ever. Let’s unleash the power of the blog!

• Are you curious about the world around you?
• Do you like to ask questions of strangers?
• Do you want to learn more about your faith?
• Do you like to write?

If you answered yes to these questions then The Catholic Register wants you.

Here at The Catholic Register we are assembling our new team of young writers from across Canada for the 2007-08 season.

Now in its eighth year, Youth Speak News continues to help young people with an interest in media to develop their skills in a faith context. YSN offers its team members regular online workshops in different aspects of journalism and a weekly forum to display their work in the pages of The Catholic Register and this web site. This team has become an important outreach for The Catholic Register and has helped create a greater awareness of youth issues within the church in Canada.

Through the YSN program, youth will:

• receive hands-on training in Catholic news media — Monthly newsletters, an online discussion group and internet-based activities will provide information on news, feature and opinion writing, photography and newspaper design, as well as the issues of Catholic journalism;
• gain an understanding of news production for newspapers, television and the web — YSN stories will be published both in paper and online. And in collaboration with Salt + Light Television, Canada’s only Catholic television station, YSN members may even have the opportunity to assist in the broadcast and editing process;
• produce high quality articles and opinion pieces suitable for portfolios — With the help on professional coaching, YSN members provide stories (one per month) and columns (on a rotational basis) based on events, issues, people and places that affect and influence their faith;
• meet in Toronto for fellowship and fun — A weekend retreat in Toronto offers YSN members a chance to meet fellow journalists, participate in seminars, pray together and visit the offices of both The Catholic Register and Salt + Light Television;
• help people in youth ministry by sharing their own stories or ministry practices, either through the pages of The Register or online discussion groups.

If you are in senior high school or university we invite you to apply for our program.

How to apply

We ask each applicant to submit a nomination letter by a youth minister, pastor or teacher who can vouch that the applicant has a demonstrated interest in media and communications and is a committed Catholic.

Submit a resume indicating journalism experience, e.g. school or campus newspaper, yearbook, photography, relevant courses.

Log onto our web site www.catholicregister.org to download an application form or e-mail saral@catholicregister.org. E-mail the completed form along with your resume and nomination letter to

Sara Loftson, Youth Editor: saral@catholicregister.org

tel: (416) 943-3410 ext. 403
fax: (416) 934-3409
1155 Yonge St. Suite 401
Toronto, Ont. M4T 1W2

Nominations will be accepted until June 30, 2007. The 2007/08 program will begin in September.

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