I guess you’ve noticed there’s a new coat of paint on the site now.

There’s a also few changes under the hood, and some upcoming changes in my content approach.

First, under the hood–this weekend I switched from Standard Theme to the Genesis Framework and the Metro child theme.

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. The latest upgrade of Standard wasn’t working like it used to, and the promised child themes never materialized.

I know most of you don’t care about this technical stuff, so here’s what’s in it for you. All the best design practices are built in so it should be easier to read. And everything works great, right out of the box. For instance, anywhere you see orange…that’s a clickable. It goes somewhere. I had that working on my other theme but then it started breaking in some places.

And, it’s WIDE. I love the wide format. One of the things I hate on blogs is really small type. You can barely read it. This new theme fills up the screen. Why restrict your text to a tiny, narrow window with text you can barely read? Now I’ve got a super-wide 1152 pixels to display content.

This theme is also completely mobile responsive…meaning the site resizes for phones, tablets, small and large screens. Standard said it was mobile responsive but it never looked right. So, if you’re reading this on a smartphone or tablet, I hope you’re enjoying it. I think it looks awesome.

On the content side–I’m not using the tagline Evangelizing Catechesis. I’m still going to write a ton about evangelizing catechesis. But I’m expanding to more than classroom catechesis. I analyzed the numbers for last year, and I’ve realized my non-catechetical posts are some of the most popular. Particularly the posts on faith, spirituality, and Catholic parenting. My gig at CatholicMom.com has me excited about helping Catholic parents hand on the Faith to their kids. There may be much more on the horizon for me in this area with other projects too.

I’m still all about evangelization. I want my main focus to be exploring how to transmit the Faith in a way that truly grabs people. A way that really makes people sit up, take notice, and share what they’ve learned. I want to explore that for catechists, teachers, religious educators, as well as, parents and those teaching/evangelizing adults. I also want to explore aspects of faith and how to grow in spirituality and prayer. I don’t have all the answers but I’m always looking for new and better ones. I want to share that thought and research with you.

With this new blog theme, I’ll be able to highlight content in new ways to bring out more of these extra dimensions. Look for that in the future. I also want to create some new tutorials and highlight my older posts in different ways.

Hopefully, I’m responding to where I’ve seen your interests lie. I’m looking at the clicks and adjusting where I see the trends. As always, I’m open to input. If there’s anything you’d like me to write about, let me know. I want this site to help you.

Thanks for sticking with me. I hope you enjoy the content in the coming year…and the new coat of paint.

A few weeks ago I did an interview on the Life Lines Show with Melinda Knight from Living Bread Radio, a Catholic radio station out of Canton, Ohio.

We talked about some familiar topics from the blog like my conversion story, evangelization, catechesis, the Year of Faith, and the most important thing you’ll never do for it.

All things I talk about way too much…not that I’m going to stop anytime soon.

We also talked about conversions in the RCIA, and how I avoid lengthy apologetics arguments that go nowhere by strategically “stacking the deck” with my curriculum.

You can listen to the interview here. Hope you enjoy it!

Drop me a line in the comments and let me know what you think.

Interconnected Marian dogmas are like a tapestry

Picture a large, 10 foot wide, Medieval tapestry depicting some hunting trip in the English countryside.

What would happen if you pulled out one thread from the side of this tapestry?

Could you do it without affecting many of the other threads and ruining the whole picture?

The Catholic Faith is like a rich tapestry of intricately interwoven theological threads all connected, tied, and attached to each other.

No where is that more prevalent than in the doctrines concerning Mary.

Many people are tempted to toss aside the Marian dogmas because they seem insignificant. What difference could Mary make in the large scheme of things?

But toss aside the theological truths about Mary (in particular the Immaculate Conception) and you mar the whole picture of Catholic theology. That’s because, surprisingly, the truth about Mary is tied to everything, particularly the destiny and greatness of the human person.
[Read more...]

Army Chaplain, Capt. John Barkemeyer gives communion in Ramadi, Iraq

For Veteran’s Day, I wanted to think about faith and evangelization in the military.

I was in the Navy for 10 years. I flew SH-60B Seahawk helicopters.

Looking back on my military career, I’m shocked at how harsh Navy life was toward developing a spiritual life.

All the more shocking is that I actually did have a spiritual awakening in the Navy.

In this post, we’ll see how The Frontline Faith Project might help other servicemen like me.
[Read more...]

In this video, Dr. Scott Hahn comments on the importance of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Year of Faith marks the 20th anniversary of the Catechism.

We take for granted how amazing a resource like this is–one volume tells us the essence of what we are to believe.

Other Christian churches stumble around and reinterpret their beliefs ad nauseum trying to find the correct meaning. We have it laid out systematically in one easy [Read more...]

Effective catechesis depends on a knowledge of salvation history.

The understanding of God’s actions in history and  his dealings with mankind reveal the inner truth of who God is–Father, Guardian, Lover.

A few months ago, I heard Dr. John Bergsma speak at Franciscan University, and I was very impressed with the way he presented covenant theory and salvation history.

I think his method, laid out in his new book Bible Basics for Catholics, will be extremely useful for catechists wanting to teach salvation history.
[Read more...]

“But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:14

Great preachers, teachers, and speakers are essential for spreading and deepening the Catholic Faith.

That’s just a fact.

You can find just about any answer to any question about Catholicism in books. It’s probably all there somewhere.

But without an expert to guide you [Read more...]

The Africa eBook project ended last week and it was a overwhelming success!

The goal was to raise $4,000 and provide 2,000 CD’s loaded with Catholic books for seminarians in Cameroon.

That was exceeded in the first week.

In the end, the project totaled $18,050! I think everyone was surprised at that.

Thanks to everyone who contributed. It was really an amazing response.

What’s next? Well, there was some talk that Cardinal Arinze wanted the same thing to happen in Nigeria! And, if the Cardinal wants it…

Who knows? We may have to go another round.