“Along with traditional means such as witness of life, catechetics, personal contact, popular piety, the liturgy and similar celebrations, the use of media is now essential in evangelization and catechesis. Indeed, “the Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect”. The media of social commun... More

Welcome to the Lunchtime Reader, where we assemble important stories to keep your eyes on. House Republicans are claiming that Obamacare has a marriage penalty. When some couples get married, they may no longer be eligible for tax incentives for insurance, a new report from the GOP Oversight and Government Reform Committee says. http://cvote.to/6f Professor Michael New suggests that laws which reg... More

An excerpt from Archbishop Charles Chaput’s remarks given to young pilgrims in Madrid as part of a special World Youth Day Session (underlining my own): We make a very serious mistake if we rely on media like the New York Times, Newsweek, CNN, or MSNBC for reliable news about religion. These news media simply don’t provide trustworthy information about religious faith—and sometimes they ... More

What does this man: Have in common with this one: And him too? … they all love the new book The Church and New Media! I’m the author of the chapter on “Faithful Online Activism”. Order your paperback edition (we’re working with Amazon to get it re-stocked quickly!) or download it for $9.99 on the Kindle. You can browse the first batch of reviews here. Props to Spir... More

Last week Facebook introduced an exciting new feature – expecting parents can add an unborn baby they are expecting to their family connections on Facebook! They can also add a photo, name, and due date for their not-yet-born child. Even more exciting was the reason why Facebook added this feature – because parents were already trying to figure out some way to share this type of good n... More

A sign outside an establishment in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City reads: “If you don’t like gay marriage, blame straight people. They’re the ones who keep having gay babies.” The photo is bouncing around Facebook by supporters of the new law, including a family member of mine who supports gay marriage. She “liked” the photo. The sign has that classi... More

My man Hoopes and I have had a little back and forth going (see here, here, and here) about the impact of modern communication methods on human interaction. His latest (the third “here” above) was a humorous attempt to channel some greats of American history and re-imagine what they might have tweeted at their greatest moments. Now it looks like John White is getting in on the luddite ... More

First, there are entirely too many Toms on this site. I shall forthwith refer to fellow CV blogger Tom Hoopes as simply “Hoopes.” And if we ever have a meeting of the Toms I’ll buy the first round—these are good guys. But I have to push back a little, or perhaps simply give a different emphasis, in response to an item he recently wrote at National Review Online and linked t... More

As a young person who uses social communications, I’m inspired: Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for January 2011 is: “That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society”. AmP’s Facebook and Twitter are two good places to start! UPDATE: Apparently the Vatican... More

Last week I posted a video entitled “Digital Nativity Christmas” which has gone on to become a viral smash-hit with over 2 million views on YouTube. Over the weekend AmP reader Chris alerted me to another video with a similar theme. It’s beautiful and a nice way to start the week before Christmas: ...READ MORE... More