It may be selfish, but it’s because I miss him. Still. I miss John Paul II as if I knew him or as if he was a relative. The power of his faith, his passionate exhortations — it’s easy to forget the earlier years of his pontificate, when he animated his homilies by waving his script or puncturing the air, accented by a warm smile, humility and a gentle sense of humor — transcended the ocean and miles. He was as present as our own pastors. He moves millions of us today: Be not afraid. Open up your hearts to Christ. That challenge to lift up your life amid earthly pursuits for the cause of Christ, his pontificate, his ministry all still resonate — not to mention the force of his will which in large part ended the enslavement of communism — make him the greatest man of the 20th century, a historic figure with whom we were privileged to share earthly time.

If anyone doubts the Holy Spirit, one need only undertake a cursory examination of John Paul’s life. If one doubts the power a Christ-like life, one need only witness the immense affect he had on the world and love for him, unlike that showered upon anyone else in human history. We loved him then. We love him now. How appropriate that his beatification Mass took place on the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday, which he instituted, and the feast on the eve of which he died six years ago. Six years? I miss him. Still. But now we know he remains with us. Blessed is he, John Paul The Great.

No news report needed. Only the awe of Pope Benedict’s pronouncement and the unveiling of the Blessed John Paul’s portrait.

For more detail, here’s a narrated report courtesy of RomeReports.com.

The Top 10 reasons for hope are . . . and none of them have to do with social justice.

Mr. Weigel will speak on The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II, The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy, his new book which details Pope John Paul’s life, epic defeat of communism and his historic quarter century in the seat of Saint Peter. We hope if you are anywhere in the area you can take advantage of this rare opportunity to see Mr. Weigel in person for what will assuredly be an enlightening, informative and inspirational presentation.

His visit is sponsored by the St. Anselm Institute of Catholic Thought, an organization dedicating to promoting . . .  

a Catholic intellectual presence and community at the University of Virginia, to make the richness of the Catholic tradition of thought and action available for public consideration by all, and to contribute to Catholic intellectual and cultural life in Virginia and the United States.

The St. Anselm Institute is a wonderful resource in an environment not usually conducive to cultivating Catholic thought. Through its Web site, sponsored lectures and other outreach, it is another organization fueling the revitalization of the traditional teachings of the Church throughout the laity. If you cannot attend the Weigel lecture, there are other events on its calendar and opportunities to learn through its Web site.

For those who have never seen it, here is an excerpt from the movie Witness To Hope the companion movie to the biography of John Paul II by the same name by George Weigel. It gives an idea of the depth of his research and writing.

Witness To Hope: George Weigel’s in depth chronicle of John Paul II in book and film. Now he follows up with a new work on the late Pontiff’s legacy. 

Secularism is at the heart of Benedict’s concerns. By this the Pope does not mean the delimitation of Church and State, the sacred and profane — which is intrinsic to Christian culture as well as political society since the Reformation — but the amnesiac eradication of one of the principal roots of Western civilisation and the deliberate marginalisation of all religion to the private sphere. In its stead has come a society that thinks its existential despairs can be ameliorated by limitless consumer goods, or worse, by a state that racks up fathomless amounts of debt so as to throw money at problems that may have no material resolution.

Clink the link above and read the entir piece. Then let us know what you think.

Catholic Vote, recognized for its creative, well produced and thought-provoking ads, promises more of the same, especially as election time draws near, and Catholics are called to make informed decisions as to who should represent us in government. While this ad doesn’t strike me as up to the standards of its past work, that is a pretty high standard. I look forward to seeing its next releases.

CatholicVote.org celebrates its two-year anniversary with a new Web site and another glossy, attention-grabbing ad.

Now, let’s go out and buy as many as we can (see American Papist)! What better way to prove we were right, to show America how dear this woman was to all the world and to honor this saintly nun (CatholicVoteAction.org Blog). What better way to show our country the strength and grace of The Catholic Church and to spread the good message of The Church as exemplified by the life of Mother Teresa? As far as a simple, conventional method that’s every bit as powerful as anything in this Internet driven, social media crazed culture . . . nothing!

Worth every cent . . . and then some! The Mother Teresa stamp now is available from the U.S. Postal Service. Time to buy them up!

It’s important for Catholics to understand why this is happening. While many of our dioceses went through (or are still in) a period of “hipness” to ”attract” young people, that’s exactly what drove them away — a lack of substance. While trying to be “relevant” to the young (and even not so young) the Church watered down the Mass and its emphasis on certain Church teachings. While evangelicals got a bump for a number of years by its sheer emotional pull, people soon find out that after a service, when the “alleluias” are over, there isn’t much there, there.

The American Church must never forget the substance and challenge of The Faith. For too long “Modern” Catholicism focused on emotion, not substance. But emotion does have a place — as a tool, not an end. It’s a lesson the Church in America has had to learn the hard way. Sadly, some still have not learned. Perhaps, this new exodus from the evangelical movement will give Catholic dioceses an opening to present the Truth to those so desperately seeking it.

As usual, Michael Voris at RealCatholicTV gets to the heart of the matter. Please take a view and let us know what you think.

Can the Catholic Church learn from the exodus of many from evangelical “mega churches”? 

Not quite phoning God: The iPadre, Father Paolo Padrini, looks over morning prayers on his iPhone application.

I got the idea about the “iPadre” from I saw something on television a few days before. I caught it in the middle, and didn’t get the whole story, but I did see where this priest was a Apple aficionado and had developed an iPad app for the Roman Missal and used it rather than the actual Missal at Mass.

I heard the reporter use the moniker “iPadre” for him. So, I Googled “iPadre” and only one news article registered, much less any television reports (the one I found was from a local station and buried on his Web site), and that article was from the The Georgia Bulletin (Archdiocese of Atlanta) — strange, since I also thought the iPadre was in Italy. Stranger still since the article was about a priest in Diocese of Providence.

Oh, well, what do I know. The “Heat Index” has hovered around 110 degrees for about two months. Maybe I was suffering from heat fatigue and thought “Italy” because I heard an Italian name, which Father Finelli has. I further researched Father Finelli, found more information, was quite impressed and wrote a blog about him. I’ve heard from some people and have had interesting discussions about the use of technology in bringing the Word to more people.

But something still stuck in me. I’m the type that simply cannot go unfulfilled in the pursuit of a story and my instincts are pretty good. I’m the type that just has to know. I’m not satisfied until I’m satisfied all avenues are exhausted to confirm or deny any hunch I have. Yesterday, I was still thinking about it. Then, it hit me: Although one might think it specific enough, instead of “iPadre,” Google instead, “priest uses iPad at Mass.”

Thank you Saint Anthony! (Don’t laugh, he helped me find deleted blog posts on another blog, once — Google and Yahoo! cache them.) So, today, here’s a post about the real iPadre!

He happens to be Father Paolo Padrini, 36, an Italian priest who consults with the Vatican, (indeed, from Italy) and another Mac head (see boing boing). Now that I know his name, there’s miles of info on him. He created the Roman Missal app for the iPad and it became available for free in July in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Latin. He created it with his own money and mind — the Vatican, though approving, had no role in its initiation or creation. According to Rebecca Boyle at PopSci.com, via the AP, an audio version with suggestions for homilies will be available before too long. But it wasn’t his first Apple app. He also invented an iPhone app called the iBreviary, which contains the book of daily prayers used by priests. More than 200,000 people have downloaded it (AP/PhysOrg.com).

All of this is seen by both the Vatican and Father Padrini, who serves as an advisor, fittingly, to the Vatican on social communication, as a plus, both in reaching young people and logistically for priests, especially for those who travel much. Having the Bible, Missal, Breviary and more at the their finger tips, in one piece of technology, rather than several bound editions, is convenient.

So, we have iPadres on two continents. Doubtless, the American iPadre is one of those 200,000 downloaders. Both priests are doing creative, yet labor intensive, work in the Lord’s vineyard to bring the Faith to more people. It wasn’t by design, but I was happy to learn about both. Confession is, after all, good for the soul.

Podcasts? Check! Video podcasts? Of course! Blog? Got that down, too. He even has a Chantcast! He is on Twitter as well Facebook and YouTube might as well be old school for him. He even has a live stream.

It’s all well and good and with younger priests come newer techniques.  Priests are no different than anyone else. They will bring with them their interests and parts of applicable modernity to their job. In this sense, they are no different than a young CPA using online tools while the grizzled old vet still uses the ledger book. In fact, we love EWTN and a new wave of technology at its founding allowed it to take off — and newer technology allows it to flourish still — and EWTN is about as traditional and true to the Word as there is. It’s safe to say we love the way technology has enabled hundreds of millions to stay in tune with the Faith, and to spread it, or we wouldn’t be here at RealCatholic ourselves.

Still, and again as in life, technology has a role. It can be a road to, but not a substitute for, our personal relationship with God and the manifestation of that on Sunday, which is the receiving of the Holy Eucharist. Delivering and receiving a better understanding of the Word through technology is a useful supplement it, but listening to Father Finelli’s homilies or watching Mass on EWTN cannot take the place of attending Mass. Watching videos of a papal address cannot take the place of saying the Rosary or Eucharistic Adoration.

Technology has its place. But we have ours — in the pews and in prayer, engaged in our parishes and the communities around us.

The iPadre takes Christ’s injunction seriously high tech: To spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.