The CatholiCity Message
Volume XI, Number 5 – June 11, 2007
Dear CatholiCity Citizen,
Ah, summer. Our warmest welcome to all our readers, longtime and brand new. We've got a variety of things for you, including quotes, a joke, a prayer, summer reading, and a great recommendation for free or almost free Catholic CDs.
1. YOUR TIME ONLINE
Several months ago we heard about a study which revealed that Americans spend over 500% more time watching television than they do surfing the Internet. It turns out most people spend less than 200 hours per year online, yet over 1000 hours watching television. Additionally, they spend slightly more time listening to the radio than watching television. We're not surprised. We've noticed here at CatholiCity for many years now that Catholics surf the Internet less frequently during the summer months, unless there's a big story (such as the Passion of the Christ movie, the election of Pope Benedict, or the Schiavo Case) that touches a nerve. We suspect this is because our lives revolve around our families. When the weather is nice and school is out, we spend time with each other, not with computers. Even TV watching is often a family activity. After more than a decade of hype, the Internet, for all its value as an instant news/weather/sports source, massive (and often unreliable) information storage bin, communication device (mostly through email), and convenient shopping tool, is running a distant third to television and radio. And that's fine by us.
2. THE BALTIMORE CATECHISM ONLINE
We recently uploaded an Easy-Search online version of the Baltimore Catechism onto CatholiCity.com as a complement to our online Catholic Encyclopedia, the Catechism Simplified, and the classic Introduction to the Devout Life. After all these years, the Baltimore "Cat" remains an excellent way to explore your Catholic faith or look up specific topics because of its simple Q&A format. In short, we've made what is still considered one of the most accessible Catholic resources all the more accessible. It's worth a bookmark and you can find it here:
http://www.catholicity.com/resources/
3. WHILE WE WERE AT IT: CATHOLIC BABY NAMES ONLINE
Catholics parents have a wonderful tradition of naming their children after Catholic saints. If you're expecting a child, you might want to browse our new Catholic Baby Names page, also found on the link above.
4. CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS CDs
"Apologetics" is the study of the Catholic faith with the goal of being able to understand and defend the teachings of the Church from attacks and false claims. We recommend the recordings of a Catholic organization called the Bible Christian Society. For a nominal donation ($1 per CD or tape) you can order excellent explanations of the faith on topics ranging from the Bible to Salvation. They also have helpful online resources such as printable pamphlets and MP3 downloads. Find out more here:
http://www.biblechristiansociety.com/
5. FOR YOUR SUMMER READING
You really can't go wrong with the free Catholic novels from Saint Jude Media. You can have them in your hands, lickety split, ready for your beach time or for cozying up with on the couch with iced tea as the warm breeze blows in, but only if you order online today. A million-plus satisfied readers can't be wrong:
http://www.catholicity.com/novels/
6. LONDON (and BRISBANE and WINNIPEG) CALLING
For almost two decades we have shipped our free Catholic CDs and novels to English-speaking Catholics all over the world. Even allowing for a required break-even donation to cover the cost of airmail shipping, your CDs will arrive for next to nothing, often in less than a week (and for our beloved Canadian friends, about as fast as to any address in the U.S). So don't be shy if you're an Aussie, Brit, Scot, Welsh, Irish, South African, Canadian (or if you understand English and live anywhere on the planet). Help yourself:
http://www.catholicity.com/gifts/
7. A MATTER OF TASTE
As just an aside, our first-ever and never-again Paradoxical Advertising Campaign Award goes to Coke Zero. Coke Zero tastes like "zero"--brown water. That its advertisements claim it tastes just like real Coke is bizarre.
8. AS LONG AS WE'RE ONLINE TOGETHER...
...lets all of us, tens of thousands of us together, repent. Please join us and your fellow CatholiCity Citizens all over the world in saying the Act of Contrition, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:
O my God, I am heartfully sorry for having offended thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishment, but most of all because I have offended Thee my God, Who is all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more, and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas
"It is not enough that you suffer with the Church, or for the Church; no, faith requires that you must suffer from the Church."
Fr. Sertillanges, French Dominican
A BIBLE QUOTE THAT IS RARELY QUOTED IN FULL
"The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Jesus (Matthew 9:37-38)
THE WORST PUN JOKE EVER
(Our thanks and regrets to Steve D. from NJ for the following.)
A group of chess enthusiasts check into a posh hotel and stand in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After an hour, the concierge comes out and asks them to disperse.
"But why?" they protested.
"Because," the concierge replies with a huff, "we simply will not tolerate chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."
Thanks for reading. We'll be back in a few weeks. Pray. Learn. Work. Love. Receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Laugh. Enjoy the gift of life.
With Christ,
Your Friends at CatholiCity
