March for Marriage 2014

Today is the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. You can watch live video coverage of the march starting at 11:00 AM Eastern Time today (just a few minutes from the time I am publishing this post), at www.marriagemarch.org.

UPDATE: Here is the updated direct link for live streaming of the March:

https://www.marriagemarch.org/live/

I am also embedding the live video below, so that you should be able to watch it right here:

Mother Angelica Remixed -- Jesus Loves YOU!

Here is the third episode in the "Auto Tune the Church" series from Clark Jaman of Jungle Heart Productions. I have posted the first two episodes here and here. (These videos are made in the style of the popular PBS "Remixed" videos, such as this one with Mr. Rogers.)

Kudos to Mr. Jaman for creating a great balance of a serious message, humor, music, and just plain offbeat weirdness in this video featuring EWTN's Mother Angelica:

Cardinal Arinze on Abortion and Politics

I love Cardinal Arinze. He does not beat around the bush, but rather gets right to the heart of the matter:



(I found this video on Fr. Z's Blog and on LifeSiteNews.com.)

Something Other Than God

Jennifer Fulwiler's book, Something Other Than God, about her conversion from atheism to Catholicism, was released this week. I have ordered the book for my wife, and I am looking forward to reading it too.

Here is a video of various bloggers and authors reading passages from this book. Be sure to watch for the great C. S. Lewis quote at the end, which was the source of the book's title:



Jennifer discusses the story behind the video here on her blog.

Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II

I was overjoyed at the canonizations this past Sunday, especially of Pope John Paul II, who means so much to me and to my family. I loved seeing Pope Francis embrace Pope Emeritus Benedict. The whole "day of four popes" (John XXIII, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis) was a sign of continuity in the church, a sign that while different popes have different styles and different emphases, we are still one church, with Christ as our head.

If you missed the canonizations, here is the complete video, first from the Vatican and then from EWTN:





On the first video, click on "English" at the top of the video to hear commentary and translations in English. (English audio starts around 4:22 in the video.)

For more videos about the canonizations and other Catholic news and events, check out the Vatican YouTube Channel and the EWTN YouTube Channel.

The Third Way

I apologize for the very long hiatus from blogging here. I found the following video today, thanks to some participants on the Catholic Answers Forums. This is (apparently) the video that I mentioned a while back that Fr. John Hollowell was planning to make about Catholic teaching on homosexuality (though Fr. Hollowell is not actually in the video). I am very impressed with how the video turned out. Please watch it and share it with others. I believe that this video conveys the message that we Catholics need to get out into the public -- this "third way" that is neither the condemnation and bullying of homosexual persons that comes from some Christians, nor the approval of homosexual activity that comes from much of secular culture.



By the way, I recognized a couple of great Catholic bloggers among the people who were interviewed: Melinda Selmys of Sexual Authenticity, and Joseph Prever who is also known as Steve Gershom.

UPDATE: Not only does the general public need to hear the message of this video, but so do Catholics -- myself included. We need to take this message to heart, about being more welcoming and understanding of people who have same-sex attraction. As Melinda Selmys says in the video, the church must function as family and community to same-sex attracted people who are committed to chastity, and she calls us to task for not doing a very good job of it right now.

Fr. Robert Barron on the Pope Francis Interview

I am a bit late in posting this video, but here is some commentary from Fr. Barron, regarding the big interview with Pope Francis that was all over the media several weeks ago:



If you would like to read the entire interview, you can find it here. (I admit I got only about halfway through it, but I hope to finish reading it when I get some time.)

The Alleged Conflict Between Science and Faith

Here is a talk given in Ireland by a British priest and physicist, Fr./Dr. Andrew Pinsent, on "The Alleged Conflict Between Science and Faith":

The Election of Pope Francis - Remixed

The same gentleman who created the video which I posted as "Pope John Paul II Remixed" has done another video for the election of Pope Francis. This one is not quite as good as the first one, but it's entertaining, and it was nice to revisit Pope Francis's election:



In the video description on YouTube, the video creator says that he already has plans for a third video. I will watch for it and try to post it here when it's available.

Fr. Robert Barron on "The Child-Free Life"

I am a bit out of date in posting this video, as the Time magazine article mentioned by Fr. Barron is from a few months ago, but this is a good commentary:



Fr. Barron also made a follow-up video on the same topic:

NaPro Technology: Morally acceptable medical treatment for infertility

The two videos below provide testimonials on NaPro Technology and the Creighton Model of natural family planning. NaPro Technology is a system of treatments for infertility and other reproductive health issues that aims to treat the underlying cause of the problem. The Creighton Model is a method of charting a woman's cycle in order to postpone or achieve pregnancy, that can also help doctors to diagnose underlying medical issues. The two methods work together, and are fully in accord with Catholic teaching on sexuality and openness to life (as opposed to IVF and contraception, both of which separate reproduction from the marital act).





To learn more about NaPro Technology and the Creighton Model, including finding a doctor who is trained in these methods, go to fertilitycare.org.

Trent Horn answers atheist objections

Trent Horn of Catholic Answers has a series of short videos addressing atheist objections to Christianity, to promote his new book Answering Atheism:

"I believe in one less God than you":



"There's no evidence for the existence of God":



"You don't need God to be a good person":



"Evolution explains life without God":



"The universe has always existed":



The Problem of Evil:




You can find more videos from Catholic Answers on their YouTube channel.

Church leaders confront "virtual reality"

A fitting topic for a Catholic blog:

Jennifer Fulwiler on Atheism, Science, and Belief in God

Catholic blogger Jennifer Fulwiler posted on her blog today about the Explore God campaign which is being heavily promoted in and around Austin, Texas. This campaign appears to be designed to lead people to Christianity, mostly from a non-denominational or inter-denominational Protestant perspective, though I found some information on the site that is somewhat Catholic-friendly.

Jennifer mentions that, to her surprise, she is featured in one of the videos on the Explore God web site. In the video she talks about how she came to Christianity from atheism. Here is the video:



And please do take the time to read Jennifer's blog post if you get a chance. She make some great points about what it really means to have proof of the truth of Christianity.

Jimmy Akin on the Transfiguration

In this video, Jimmy Akin (of Catholic Answers) tells us about the Transfiguration, which he calls "the strangest event in Jesus's life":

Homily on Homosexuality by Fr. John Hollowell

Here is a good homily on homosexuality by Fr. John Hollowell:



Fr. Hollowell is also working on a professionally-produced video on this subject, titled "Unnatural Law?".

Join Pope Francis in Fasting and Praying for Peace in Syria

Pope Francis invites us to participate in a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, to be observed on Saturday, September 7, 2013. Here is a quote from Pope Francis:

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

Here are links for more information:

Full Text of Address by Pope Francis

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Joins Pope Francis’s Call for Day of Fasting and Prayer for Peace in Syria

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops - Issues and Action - Syria

Catholic News Agency: Pope’s Vigil for Syrian Peace Expected to be Biggest in Decades

Premiere Episode of EWTN News Nightly

I'm sorry for the very infrequent posting over the past few months. I can't promise that I will post more frequently over the next few months, but try to do my best, as my schedule permits.

But I do have a video to share today. It is the premiere episode of EWTN's new program EWTN News Nightly with Colleen Carroll Campbell:



You can read Deacon Greg Kandra's review of this episode on his blog The Deacon's Bench. And you can find more episodes of EWTN programs on EWTN's YouTube channel.

World Youth Day 2013 - Catechesis and Mass with Cardinal Dolan

From World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, via Salt + Light TV:



(If there is no sound, please adjust the volume control at the bottom of the video frame. When I first started playing the video, the sound was all the way to zero for some reason.)

World Youth Day 2013 - Live Video Coverage

World Youth Day events begin today, as Pope Francis arrives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for World Youth Day 2013. Salt & Light TV has live coverage:

http://wydcentral.org/live/

You can also see live coverage and related programming on EWTN; here is their World Youth Day page:

http://www.ewtn.com/rio2013/index.asp

(Right now, I am not seeing any of the text on EWTN's World Youth Day page, but it was there earlier today. If the problem is on their end, hopefully they will get it fixed soon. UPDATE: It appears that my ad-blocking extensions in Firefox and Chrome were hiding some of the text on that EWTN site. If you are seeing big blank spaces where you should see text on that site, try disabling your ad-blocking extension.)