Great Catholic Facebook Pages

Pope Calls for Christian Presence on Social Networks:

Catholics Invade Facebook!

“I would like then to invite Christians, confidently and with an informed and responsible creativity, to join the network of relationships which the digital era has made possible . . . In this field too we are called to proclaim our faith that Christ is God, the Savior of humanity and of history, the one in whom all things find their fulfillment (cf. Eph 1:10).” -- From the Vatican, 24 January 2011, “Truth, Proclamation and Authenticity of Life in the Digital Age”, Feast of Saint Francis de Sales, http://www.pccs.va

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are just a few Catholic social networking sites you can participate in and share with your friends. These are all on Facebook; if a person or group has a webpage, that is listed, too:

Walk for Life West Coast -- Official Group Page (http://www.walkforlifewc.com). Join the growing numbers of Catholics and people of good will speaking out for life.

Busted Halo Show (http://www.bustedhalo.com). Sirius XM Radio show and podcasts answering questions of faith and being Catholic today.

Lino at Large (http://catholicguy.com). Zany, fun Catholic comedy show with host, Lino Rulli.

SQPN (http://sqpn.com). Dozens of podcasts for Catholics young and old with a vigorous online community.

Catholic: Under the Hood ... The Fanclub! (http://catholicunderthehood.com). Priest and professor of history tells you everything you need to know about Catholic history.

Perpetual Divine Mercy Marathon. Join with others to pray the Divine Mercy chaplet year-round.

iPadre Catholic Podcast (http://www.ipadre.net). Father Jay Finelli answers your questions of faith with great compassion; has terrific music on podcast, too.

August 15, 2011 Worldwide Consecration to Jesus Through Mary. Join with others who are consecrating themselves and the world to Jesus through Mary.

Thy Daily Bread Forum (http://thydailybreadforum.proboards.com). Daily readings and prayers for spiritual nourishment every day.

Catholic News Service (http://www.catholicnews.com). World and national news from the US Bishops news service.

Debbie Post (facebook.com/Debbie.Jane.Post; http://debbiecatholic.blogspot.com). Friend me on Facebook to see how I am trying to have a Catholic presence.

Great Catholic Twitter Feeds

Twitter Goes Catholic:
Pope Calls for Christian Presence on Social Networking Sites

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-calls-for-christian-presence-on-social-networking-sites/

Facebook, MySpace and Twitter should be used by Christians looking to bring "truth, proclamation and authenticity of life" to the web today, the Pope said in his message for the 45th World Day of Social Communications. If technologies are used with wisdom, the Pope explained, "they can contribute to the satisfaction of the desire for meaning, truth and unity which remain the most profound aspirations of each human being."

I have used Twitter to share Catholic content, and currently follows 34 feeds on Twitter, and am followed by 61. Here are just a few of the excellent Christian Twitter feeds that I have found. Join today and start adding your own contribution of “meaning, truth and unity”.

CatholicNewsSvc: The daily news service of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

CatholicPriest: Catholic priest in the Society of St. Paul who tweets on scripture, liturgy, prayer, pop culture, morality, vocations to priesthood, religious life and marriage.

CatholicDadsHQ: Faith formation is job #1 with content to enrich the lives of Catholic dads, their families and communities.

RightToLifeCA: News from the group, “Right to Life of Central California”, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to restoring societal respect and effective legal protection for all human beings from conception to natural death.

BenedictineSis: News from the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, including information on saints, books, prayer, Bible quotes, and daily activities in their monasteries.

CatholicClimate: News from the Catholic Climate Covenant with quotes from papal statements, prayers, practical actions that families can take to “Care for Creation, Care for the Poor”

dspost: I use Twitter to repeat the content that I post here, kind of a "micro-blog" companion to this blog (http://twitter.com/dspost)

Catholic Youth Advocacy Day, Sacramento, March 22

Come to a gathering of young people of faith raising their voices in “sincere dialogue and with anxious interest seeking the common good.”

The California Catholic Conference (CCC) invites Catholic youth from all over California who are interested in exercising their “faithful citizenship” in their state’s Capitol. The CCC welcomes all who are interested in meeting with elected officials to speak on behalf of those who are poor, vulnerable or voiceless.

This one-day event will include a Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, information sessions, visits with legislators and a time to debrief with fellow students.

To register, visit: http://www.cacatholic.org, or contact Linda Wanner, 916-313-4017, lwanner@cacatholic.org

The full flyer is at: http://www.cacatholic.org/images/stories/pdfs/Youth-advocacy.pdf

If you live in a different state, check with the Catholic Conference of your own state bishops -- they should have an advocacy day at your state's capital.

Dress a Girl Around the World

A friend at church gave me an article about this charming charity, "Dress a Girl Around the World": http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.org/

Think of a world where every little girl has one pretty dress, instead of rags, to wear.

Being well dressed is important: girls are at risk from human traffickers.

If you like to sew, their website has dress patterns.

If you have spare pillowcases, box them up and send them to: Judy Conley, 311 Wyndale Rd., Rochester, NY 14617.

$25 Microloans Fight Poverty & Change Lives

I have been investing in small business women for several years now. Today, many loans had been repaid, so I turned the money around and re-lent it to others.

Meet the Kayonza Twimuke Group of Kyenjojo, Uganda. One of their members, Anna, needs a microloan to buy beans for resale. The Group has eleven members and all work together to guarantee the loan will be repaid. Anna is a farmer and has been in business for the last four years. Her desires include educating her children and building a permanent house.

Join me and a world-wide community dedicated to combating poverty on http://www.kiva.org

Kiva allows you to make small loans to entrepreneurs on five continents, leveraging just $25 to change a life.

Microloans allow people to help themselves; microloans are not a hand out, but a hand up -- I am a business partner with these people, and they are hard working.

"Marriage: Unique for a Reason" says Catholic Bishops

My own bishop, Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, was recently appointed the new chairman of the American Catholic bishops' Defense of Marriage Committee.

The Committee's campaign is titled, “Marriage: Unique for a Reason”.

The Committee's website is full of information, brochures, videos": www.marriageuniqueforareason.org

The picture at right is a mosaic of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joachim and St. Anne. How sweet!

“Marriage and the family are the essential coordinates for society. How well we as a society protect and promote marriage and the family is the measure of how well we stand for the inviolable dignity and good of every individual in our society, without exception. The consequences for our future—especially that of our nation’s children—cannot be greater and must not be ignored,” said Bishop Cordileone.

Homeboy Industries Turns Lives Around

He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. -- Psalm 72:14

Recently, Fr. Gregory Boyle spoke to parishes around the San Francisco Bay Area about Homeboy Industries, a ministry that provides jobs and training for ex-prison inmates.

This is an excellent example of the importance of intervening in the lives prisoners, so they go on to become productive members of society; we need to break the downward spiral into poverty and crime.

Learn more at: http://www.homeboy-industries.org, 323-526-1254, gboylesj@aol.com.

Catholic Bishops Announces National Migration Week, January 2-8, 2011

Migration and Refugee Services of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced "Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice" as the theme for National Migration Week celebrated the first week of January (2-8, 2011).

Learn more at their website: http://www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw/index.shtml

They have a spiritual Rosary for world unity, brochures, and bulletin inserts for parishes.

When I went through the "JustFaith" program a few years ago, I learned that the vast majority of migrants would have preferred to remain home, just like you or I. Only really tough conditions can drive people out of their homes, e.g. devastatingly bad economy, political oppression (real torture and death), environmental catastrophe.

My own great, great grandparents on all sides of my family are migrants to America. They came from England, Scotland, France and Germany. Many were fleeing the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. What about your family?

The Catholic Social Teaching of "Solidarity" talks about us being responsible for one another globally: "We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that “if you want peace, work for justice.”1 The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict. "

Children's Book Review: "Care for Creation" by Christy Baldwin

I was recently given the opportunity to review this new children's book, "Care for Creation" by Christy Baldwin from Tribute Books. http://www.tribute-books.com/careforcreation/index.html

This is a delightful book that clearly explains how caring for God's creation is our job as Christians. Each page has a clear description about some aspect of caring for the environment, a Bible verse, and an illustration of children caring for creation. The book gives practical suggestions that families and children can do, e.g. use less water, clean up a local park, recycle.

My guess is that this book is for about age 8-12, but can benefit younger and older. Parents, I'll leave it to you. This book would also work well for children's "Sunday School" or faith formation classes -- it has activities and discussion questions at the end.

The Bible verses come from a paraphrase translation called "The Message" described on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Message_%28Bible%29) or you can google "The Message Bible Paraphrase". This idiomatic paraphrase should be very easy for children to understand, but you may also want to look up the verses in the New American Bible translation (used at Masses in the USA) to compare.

To learn more about Catholic Social Teaching and specifically Caring for God's Creation, see the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: scroll down -- caring for creation is the seventh theme of Catholic Social Teaching.

Care for God's Creation: Recycle Your Christmas Tree

You and your family can practice the Catholic Social Teaching of caring for God’s creation by recycling your Christmas tree. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, between 25 and 30 million fresh-cut Christmas trees are sold in the United States every year. Christmas tree recycling helps return a renewable resource back to the environment.

For Christmas tree recycling in your city, enter your zipcode into the Earth 911 website: http://earth911.com/recycling/garden/christmas-trees

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishop's summarizes the Catholic Social Teaching of "Care for God’s Creation": "We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored."

"Religious Freedom: The Path to Peace” is Pope’s Theme for World Day of Peace, January 1, 2011

I found this on the Vatican Radio website and the Vatican website: "In many parts of the world there exist various forms of restrictions or denials of religious freedom, from discrimination and marginalization based on religion, to acts of violence against religious minorities. Religious freedom is rooted in the equal and inherent dignity of man, it is oriented toward the search for unchangeable truth, and thus can rightly be presented as the freedom of freedoms."

See the Vatican website for the full text of the Pope’s message to be posted soon (http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/index_en.htm).

Or read more at the Vatican Radio website (http://storico.radiovaticana.org/en1/storico/2010-07/407824_pope_picks_religious_freedom_as_theme_for_2011_peace_message.html).

How to Shop for Fair Trade Crafts, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate

To buy fairly traded coffee, tea or chocolate, next time you go to the grocery store (Safeway, Nob Hill, Lucky, Albertson's, etc.) or Target or CostCo, just look for these logos clearly displayed on the front of the package:

Fair Trade Certified

Fair Trade Federation

Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade

Rainforest Alliance Certified

Whole Trade Guarantee

To shop for Christmas gift items, phone Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade at 1-800-685-7572 for a free catalog, or online and click “Products” at: http://www.crsfairtrade.org

Your purchases really do help the artisans and farmers make a living wage. I have found the crafts to be beautiful and at about half the price for similar items at, say, Pier 1 Imports or a department store. The coffee and tea are the same price and quality as other products from the particular brand, e.g. Yuban, Seattle's Best Coffee, Peet's, Stash, Numi, etc. Do not compromise quality or price to buy fairly traded items.

Feel good about what you buy. Help someone help themselves up and out of poverty. Buy fairly traded goods.