Today (15th March) is Catholic Media Promotion Day. In celebration of the inaugural 1st CMPD, here’s a list of my favorite Catholic stuff:

3 Favorite Catholic Podcasts (SQPN)

• The Break with Father Roderick (website)|(rss)
• Catholic in a Small Town (website)|(rss)
• Catholic Weekend (website)|(rss)

3 Favorite Catholic Podcasts (Catholic Radio)

• Catholic Answers LIVE – This Week (website)|(rss)
• EWTN Audio Library (website)|(rss)
• The Catholics Next Door (website)|(rss)

3 Favorite Catholic Podcasts (Others)

• BustedHalo Cast (website)|(rss)
• pray-as-you-go (website)|(rss)
• Faith & Family Live! Podcast (website)|(rss)

3 Favorite Catholic Blogs

• JIMMY AKIN.ORG (website)|(rss)
• The Integrated Catholic Life (website)|(rss)
• Catholic Cartoon Blog (website)|(rss)

3 Favorite Catholic Apps (Android)

• Catholic One (AppBrain)|(Android Market)
• Evangelizo – Daily Gospel (AppBrain)|(Android Market)
• iBreviary (AppBrain)|(Android Market)

My current project is this blog, of course. I try to review podcasts, blogs, apps, etc, Catholic or otherwise, but I’m a little behind since work has been piling up. Still slowly trying to clean-up broken links and obsolete items.

Tags: android, Announcements, blogs, Catholic, Podcasts, SQPN

The season of Lent is here again. With Ash Wednesday coming up tomorrow, it’s time again to think about abstinence and cleansing of one’s soul in preparation for the glorification of Lord through His death and resurrection. It truly is a humbling time of the year, when we recall how Jesus suffered His passion to redeem us from evil. We look back on our lives so far, and examine what we tend to cling blindly to and learn to give up unnecessary material wants, and replace these “things of the world” by stocking up on our spiritual needs.

What are you giving up for Lent this year?

Many tend to think of Lent as a period of giving up something. Most times, these may be things that may not mean much in terms of our spirituality and faith, such as chocolates and candy. The idea of giving and abstinence during Lent, is actually a form of cleansing and disciplining ourselves, by learning to conditioning our urges and desires in a way that leads us to greater union with God. It is by no means a form of oppression or suppression, but rather a way to free ourselves from unwanted and unhealthy desires and attachments. It is only when we let go of these unnecessary burdens can we rise higher in our spiritual life. Such acts of self-discipline should not be restricted to just the period of Lent, but throughout our faith journey. However, it is especially highlighted during this period because we want to love Jesus as He has loved us, through sacrificing.

I’ve learned through the years that giving up simple things like coffee and chocolate during Lent does not essentially make me a better person. Lent should not be a treated as a season to adjust to a healthy diet. Instead, I try to assess what material things I’ve been overly attached to and learn to give these up. Such things can be either food, games, a bad habit, etc. Also, I try to devote more time to do something good, like saying extra rosaries, reading a good religious book, learning a new devotional prayer.

This year I’ll be continuing my fight with the morning alarm. I’m going to try to wake up without hitting the snooze on my alarm clock. Discipline in terms of  time management is something I seriously need to work on. And let’s not forget my continuous battle with my quick temper. Haven’t figured out how I can work on the latter, but it’s definitely something I desperately need to get rid of.

For more information on the season of Lent, as well as fasting and abstinence during this season, visit ETWN’s mini-site.

Meanwhile, here’s a good commentary on Lent by Father Barron.

Tags: Catholic, Inspirational, musings, Personal

Ever since I switched to this new Android phone, I’ve been trying to look for some good Catholic apps that resemble what my Apple-loving friends have on their devices. I must say the Android App Market is rather disappointing when compared to the iTunes App Store. But thanks to the recent upgrade on the AppBrain app/site, I discovered quite a handful of cool Catholic apps that can be downloaded and installed directly from my web browser. Let me  review a couple of them here.

iBreviary

One of the most popular Catholic apps on iTunes App Store has finally arrived on the Android App Market. The iBreviary is developed by an Italian priest, Father Paolo Padrini. The app has sections for the Breviary, Reading of the Day and Prayers, and is wonderful for Catholics to be able to keep up with their daily devotions while on the go.

Evangelizo – Daily Gospel

This app is developed by the folks behind evangelizo.org, and reflects the corresponding Gospel and Readings sections on dailygospel.org. There’s also a Saints section and an additional Prayers section hidden in the menu. You can also choose between the Ordinary Roman, Extaordinary Roman, Maronite, Melkite and Armenian Liturgical Calendars.

Lectio Divina

Lectio Divina stands for Divine Reading in Latin. The Lectio Divina app for Android consults the Catholic liturgical texts (readings, psalms, gospel) taken from universalis.org, and the lives of saints for each day or a date chosen.

Sincere Prayer

The Sincere Prayer app contains 4 major sections: Prayers and Verses, Prayer Journal, Daily Readings, Mobile Rosary. Worth mentioning is the Daily Readings section which contains links to various websites and podcasts where you can get your daily readings.

Mobile Prayerbook

This app offers a collection of Catholic prayers for you to take on the go. There’s also a Catechism section, which is great for folks who want the Catechism at their finger tips.  The user interface on this app is rather simple when compared to the others mentioned here, but still, it gets the job done. There are also separate apps available for Mobile Litanies and Mobile Rosary.

Catholic Mass Daily Readings

I had an earlier version of this app installed on my phone, where there were only daily mass readings and a prayer section. The latest update now has Liturgy of the Hours (Lauds and Vespers) as well as a Rosary section. Sadly I had problems updating to the new version, after I uninstalled the older version. So now I’m between a rock and a hard place. I tried contacting the developer directly via email, but he wasn’t very helpful, and has since stopped responding to my email. I’ve yet to see the latest version for myself, but the print screens and description from the developer’s blog look promising. At least for the short time that I had the earlier version on my phone, I had quite enjoyed it. I do hope to be able to install this on my phone once again.

All the apps mentioned are available free on AppBrain. Some of these apps are location specific, so you may not see it on the Android App Market. There are also some paid apps such as the iMissal that I’m not able to review here since I do not have access to paid apps here in Singapore. If you know of some good Catholic apps for Android, please let me know!

Tags: android, Catholic, devotions, prayers, Resources, Reviews, technology

I know it’s been quite a while since I last did a podcast review and I shall save you from hearing (reading) me repeating my usual excuses, and go straight to some of the new Catholic podcasts I’ve added to my collections in the past couple of months.

This one is not exactly *NEW* new, but it is one of the recent additions to the big family of SQPN. If you like food, and hopefully like Catholicism too, you’ll probably like The Catholic Foodie podcast (rss). Join Jeff Young on his foodie adventures where he talks about faith and food.

Another new member of SQPN is the In Between Sundays podcast (rss), a podcast that gives you the essentials to live in the world outside of church. Join Nick & Pat Padley where they talk about life as Catholic young adults, ways to grow in faith including specific prayers, websites to visit and practices. They believe that being people of faith requires more than just one hour on Sunday, and we all know that they’re not the only ones who believe that. By helping you develop your body, mind, soul and emotions, the Padley brothers hope to help you become the best person you can be.

As its name suggests, the Among Women podcast (rss) is specially created to celebrate the beauty and grace of Catholic Faith and Life among women. Join Pat Gohn as she does some faith sharing, teaching, and conversation woman to woman. I’ve just started listening to this podcast after it recently the SQPN family, and I’m already hooked by Pat’s beautiful “radio DJ” voice.

Thanks to Lisa Hendey’s mention on her Catholic Moments podcast (rss), I was made aware of the Marian Cenacle Rosary Podcast (rss) by Susan Bailey. If you’re a frequent listener to the Catholic Music Express (rss) podcast or the Catholic Rockers podcast (rss), or if you’re familiar with the Catholic music scene in general, I’m sure you’ll be familiar as Susan as singer, as well as the person behind GrapeVine Online ministry and the GrapeVine News Minute podcast. Susan is also the author and composer of a Catholic book and CD, Mary, Queen of Peace Meditation Guide & Sung Rosary, which this podcast is based on. The Marian Cenacle Rosary Podcast now has a new supplement known as “How Can I Keep from Singing,” a faith-in-action podcast with personal sharing from Susan on how praying the rosary, studying the word of God and other spiritual exercises has nourished her faith and kept her strong in the midst of trials.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably also know that Deacon Tom Fox, who does the Deacon Moments section on the Catholic Moments podcast has started a new podcast with his lovely wife, Dee Fox. The Catholic Vitamins podcast (rss) is dedicated to helping you find the right nutrients that can add a lift and just the right amount of ‘zest’ to your faith practice.

SQPN’s official shwag guy Jeff Nielsen has finally caught the bug and started his own podcast, Catholic Pilot (rss). Jeff talks about his adventures as a commercial air pilot.

If you like reading, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the Catholic Book Club podcast (rss). Join Katherine Barren from Catholics in a Small Town as she interviews a series of noted Catholic new media personalities and others to talk about the book, Choosing Beauty by Gina Loehr, and how choosing beauty can affect our lives in profound ways.

We’ve had quite a few podcasts for and by women in this post. If you’re a man looking for some inspiration and spiritual guidance, you might be interested in the  Catholic Men’s Podcasts sponsored by the National Fellowship of Catholic Men and the Catholic Men’s Fellowship of Pittsburgh PA. There are 2 channels. Channel 1 (rss) is an ongoing weekly audio reflection of the upcoming Sunday Mass Readings from the perspective of Catholic male spirituality. Channel 2 (rss) is a compilation of hundreds of hours of various audio presentations geared toward Catholic masculine spirituality, inspiration, and general faith formation.

Last year was the Year of St Paul, so for those of you seeking to study the life and teachings of St Paul, you might want to listen to the Catholic Perspective on Paul podcast (rss). Created by Taylor Marshall, this podcast is an outgrowth of his book, The Catholic Perspective on Paul, which is set to be released in summer of 2010.

If you find some of the descriptions I’ve given above look familiar, let me admit that I’ve been a little lazy, and have “lift” most of the descriptions right from the related websites themselves.

Whew! That was quite a long list!

For links to these and other fine podcasts, please hop over to my Podcasts page.

Tags: Catholic, Podcasts, Reviews

Hurray! SQPN has added 3 new shows to it’s stellar line-up of fantastic Catholic podcasts! Woo hoo!

ROSWELL, GA – To wrap up a summer of fun and gear up for the fall season of new activities, the Star Quest Production Network proudly announces the addition of three new podcasts to the SQPN family. Each show casts a unique spin on how Catholics live their lives. They serve the growing interest, not only in Catholic living, but in living well.

“In answer to the Church’s call for evangelization via the new media, SQPN is constantly searching for ways to reach out to new audiences,” says Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, founder and CEO of the Star Quest Production Network.

“The three new shows in our line-up do exactly that: Pat Gohn’s ‘Among Women’ reaches out to women, while Nick and Pat Padley cater to young adults with ‘In Between Sundays’, and Jeff Young, ‘the Catholic Foodie’ targets people that love to share faith and good food with friends and family.”

More details here.

And in case you were wondering, yes the Podcasts page has been updated accordingly.

Tags: Announcements, Catholic, Podcasts, SQPN