The website shamelessly seeks out as many clicks as possible by posting funny memes, cat pictures (lots of cat pictures) and important cultural contributions such as “22 Celebrities You Probably Didn’t Realize Were the Same Age” (not kidding).

On any given day, I would definitely recommend steering clear of the feed.

So that said, imagine my surprise when I stumbled across an article on BuzzFeed titled “Are You Holy Enough to Receive Communion?” that was actually, um, useful!

Sure, it’s meant to be sarcastic and, yes, mocking.

One of the Buzzfeed article questions

But in her effort to poke some fun at the Church as rigid and rule-obsessed, the author (Ellie Hall, a graduate of Notre Dame) managed to include plenty of accurate information about what Catholics believe!

How? By doing her homework. She got her answers from Vatican.va, CatholicsComeHome.org, takes time to explain some of the nuances of the church’s teaching on the death penalty (for instance), and even quotes the Catechism (!), Canon Law (!!) and St. Thomas Aquinas (!!!).

At the end of the article she just goes crazy with long quotations from Canon Law and the Catechism, including what Church teaching holds will happen to you if you intentionally receive Communion unworthily.

She even responds to the common question “What about freedom of conscience?” Aren’t I free to make up my own mind about things like abortion and same-sex marriage?” (short answer: no. but she quotes Catholic Answers to give a more complete answer.).

Here’s how Ellie ends her article “Just realize that you might need to head to Confession before going to Mass on Easter Sunday? Me too. Here are some happy Catholic GIFs.” (The GIFs are good.)

I can’t emphasize enough how strange/amazing it is to see this kind of material on BuzzFeed, of all places! 

With Easter coming up and plenty of our friends (and family) possibly planning to go to Mass for the first time in a long time (or all year) this might be something we can jokingly share on our Facebook page etc. as a way of very subtly reminding them that the Church has real standards for who can receive Communion and who cannot.

Okay, now I’ll give the link to the article, but BE WARNED, some of the content on BuzzFeed is offensive and unsuitable for some ages: “Are You Holy Enough to Receive Communion?”

By the way, you might want to hop on Twitter and tell Ellie you appreciated her article. She apparently writes on BuzzFeed about Catholic-related topics with some frequency — here’s a few from the past month:

• Pope Meets Pope
• Vatican Accidentally Tweets About Batman
• Pope Francis Celebrates Inaugural Mass
• Meet the Pope’s Cute-As-A-Button Childhood Sweetheart

My takeaway here: evangelization can take unexpected forms!

Here’s one photo of the proceedings:

See the rest of the photos and a play-by-play of how the Conclave went down at Fr. Z’s blog.

UPDATE — already one of my Facebook followers has shared that her 8th grade class is doing the same thing. If your school is hosting their own mini-conclave please let the rest of us know in the comments! What a cool idea of education through doing.

World Meeting of Families 2012/CNA

While many of us are focusing on who the next pope will be, an announcement made yesterday gives us a big clue about when we will first have the opportunity to see the new pope on American soil — whoever he turns out to be:

“His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, announces the official dates for the Eighth World Meeting of Families, which will be celebrated in the United States for the first time in its history. It is expected to draw tens of thousands from around the world to the City of Philadelphia.

…Subsequently, in a letter dated January 11, 2013, the Secretary of State officially confirmed that the actual dates for this VIII World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia will be September 22-27, 2015.”

Philadelphia is an excellent choice and richly deserving of the honor of hosting the new pontiff and the World Meeting of Families.

Pope Benedict had attended part of the last World Meeting of Families in Milan (pictured at right) and said at the time that he intended to attend the next meeting in 2015.

That promise’s fulfillment now falls to whoever his successor will be.

You can learn more about the World Meeting of Families at their official website and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia homepage.

The closing Mass for the last World Meeting of Families had nearly a million people in attendance. This upcoming meeting will probably be far smaller, but the interest in and chance of seeing the new pope could add to the draw.

My recommendation? Book travel and lodging early.

Oh and incidentally, when it comes to being a leading voice for families, Archbishop Charles Chaput and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia were first to endorse the newly-announced March for Marriage in addition to always being a very active presence at the annual March for Life.

“Papists across the world celebrate the launch of the new CatholicVote website!”

Photo: Reuters / David Moir

Pretty nifty, eh?

The CatholicVote team has been hard at work for months preparing this comprehensive redesign, and in my completely unbiased opinion, they’ve done a marvelous job.

The new design is slick, intuitive, and chock full of new information and resources!

CatholicVote will be firing on all cylinders in the coming days, so stay tuned for (even more) exciting developments.

If you have any questions or feedback about the new design, visit this page.

Photo: AP Photo

Okay, I see the knight. Now where is the rest of the chess set?

4. American Papist’s Thomas Peters Graduates – One of the “go to” blogs for Catholic news and information continues to be American Papist, where Thomas Peters does a great job synthesizing, analyzing and sharing information. Congratulations to Thomas on his graduation and joining with the American Principles Project. The blog continues to amaze me!

Thanks, Lisa!

(And do check out Catholic Exchange soon – exciting things happening over there!)

A new ad being aired by the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List asks Senator Casey to live up to his late father’s words (in a speech he gave at Notre Dame):

In a landmark speech, the late Governor Robert Casey, Senior said “Nothing could be more foreign to the American experience than legalized abortion. It is inconsistent with our national character, with our national purpose, with all that we’ve done, and with everything we hope to be.”

But right now, Robert Casey, Junior is poised to vote in the Senate for a health care bill with federal funding for abortion. The bill will result in more abortions—abortions that Americans will be required to finance. Senator Casey, trading the lives of unborn children for a health care bill is inconsistent with our American character.

“The abortion debate is not about how we shall live, but who shall live. And more than that, its about who we are.”

Contact Bob Casey, Junior today and tell him to vote NO on any health care bill that funds abortion. – SBA List

A story by LifeNews, meanwhile, points out that the Democrat leadership is doing everything they can to pull Senator Ben Nelson over to their side:

[pro-abortion Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin] told NRO to watch for the manager’s amendment, which could include language that would satisfy Nelson but eventually be withdraw in the conference committee to leave the bill funding abortions.

… Reid is reportedly working on the [new abortion] language with Sen. Bob Casey, the Senate’s only other self-proclaimed pro-life Democrat — although Casey faces criticism of his own for appearing to support the bill even with abortion funding in place.

Both Senators Nelson and Casey should be encouraged to oppose this pro-abortion bill!

Someone against the poster (all quotes via USA Today):

The Rev. Miguel Rivera, chairman of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, says invoking the name of Jesus to promote the 2010 Census is “blasphemous” and “violates the concept of separation of church and state.” Using the name of Jesus for “a political and secular intention, it is definitely an assault against our Christian faith,” Rivera says.

Someone in favor of the poster:

Government did not pay or play a role in creating the posters, says Nick Kimball, spokesman at the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau. “We work with people from all walks of life to get an accurate count but do not provide funding,” he says … Tying the Census to the Christmas story strengthens the message, Cruz says, because “Mary and Joseph, who were both God-fearing, decided they needed to participate.”

What do you think of the poster? Are you in favor of it, or against it, and why?

{Ph/t: AmP reader Michael.}