Category Archives: New Media

Annual Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe begins

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An annual post:

August 5th begins a novena to St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, one of my favorite saints for a myriad of reasons. One of them, and not the primary one, even, is his patronage of addicts. He was not an addict himself, but the Church in Her thinking has anointed him for that role by virtue of his death, for he was executed by a lethal injection.

His Feast Day is August 14th.

The following are links to a novena to him I wrote near the time when I began this blog:

The Novena to St. Maximilian Kolbe for Alcoholics and Addicts:

Novena Day 1 Novena Day 2 Novena Day 3 Novena Day 4 Novena Day 5 Novena Day 6 Novena Day 7 Novena Day 8 Novena Day 9

If you’d prefer an ‘official’ Novena from the Militia of the Immaculata, then you can download this PDF of one from them: Solemn Novena in Honor of St. Maximilian Kolbe.

There are numerous posts on Sober Catholic about him, the archive of them is here: St. Maximilian Kolbe Post Archive.

Although I said above that the novena begins on August 5th, I personally begin it on August 6th so that it can be said simultaneously with a Novena to the Immaculate Conception, which I say in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Feast of the Assumption is August 15th. Here is a novena for that: Novena in Honor of the Immaculate Conception with St. Maximilian Kolbe

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

33 Reasons NOT to walk the Camino

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If you have been reading this blog for the past several years and retain a good memory for certain oddities, then you would know that I hold an obsession regarding the film “The Way.” It is a film directed by Emilio Estevez and starred his father, Martin Sheen. It is about a man (Sheen) who’s son (Estevez) died one day into his 500-mile pilgrimage and how he went to Spain to retrieve his son’s body. While there, the father impulsively decided to walk the Camino himself, carrying his son’s ashes, so that the son could ‘complete’ the Camino. It has lead me to watching untold hours of You Tube videos on the Camino. Ideally, I will walk the Camino someday; practically, it ain’t gonna happen, so until then I will do it vicariously. (Incidentally, there are ‘virtual Caminos;’ once in a while in my Facebook feed I see ads for such things. It’s like an exercise app where you enroll and walk so many miles a day wherever you live, either in your home or around the neighborhood and town. You keep track of how far you walk. I think it’s a smartphone app or Apple Watch thing; I’m not sure because I haven’t done that, either. But it looks interesting.)

Now, on to the point of this post. Recently I subscribed to a You Tube channel that is about this couple doing their third Camino. What I just love about it is that it is one of the few Camino channels that is unabashedly Catholic and approaches the Camino from its origins and purposes as a CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL PILGRIMAGE. Almost all of the others focus on a non-denominational/quasi-pagan spiritual development, or its historical and cultural importance, or that it’s a fun and worthwhile thing to do. Mostly backpackers for whom it is ‘just another’ hiking thing like the Appalachian Trail or whatever.

The channel is here: Los Peregrinos. The pilgrims are a Filipino couple from Dallas, Texas (although originally from the Philippines.) The series of videos are subtitled “33 reason why Catholics should not walk the Camino.” It is a funny use of ‘reverse psychology’ as each reason is a good lesson on faith and growing closer to Jesus, using Camino metaphors and examples.

I have not finished the series yet, currently I’m on Day 25. Each day they relate what happened, where they went and how it was; and at some point within the video he gives that day’s “reason not to walk” it, along with a “Camino Saint of the Day,” typically a saint from the area they were in on that day who is tied to the Camino in some manner.

I am loving these videos (although sometimes I do get dizzy as the camera is moved much too fast when a site is shot. But a small price for such an edifying series of videos.)

There is another You Tube Channel created by Catholics who also walked the Camino; although they visit churches along the way and their Faith is important, their videos aren’t as religious (but still worthwhile!) The St. Max Media YouTube Channel is run by a Polish lady who went on Camino with her daughter. Their playlist is here:  Camino de Santiago – The Way of Saint James

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Catholic Recovery subreddit

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I love Reddit. Reddit is the self-described “front page of the Internet” and is the result of a massive grouping of forums, called ‘subreddits’ or just plain ‘subs,’ that are created by the online community. You name it, there’s a sub for it. Some are obviously more popular than others; one thing I love about Reddit is the vast array of diverse subs, including some obscure niche interests.

There are quite a lot of Catholic subreddits on there. One of the newest is the Catholic Recovery subreddit. Yes, you heard that right, there is an entire sub devoted for us Catholics recovering from something! Here is their Group description:

“For Roman or Eastern Catholics struggling with mental health issues mild or severe, trauma, addiction of any kind, loss/grief, depression, spiritual malady, sin, scrupulosity, et cetera. We recognize the importance of spiritual redemption in recovery, the incredible framework of the Catholic faith in healing, and the miraculous power of the Eucharist as a “divine medicine” of God. Many of us sometimes cannot share with our parish these topics due to common societal stigma, so here we are.”

The minute I found out about it, I joined so fast Einstein might have had to revise his theory of relativity, had he known. I do not have anything to do with the running of the sub, I’m just a grateful and happy member.

Reddit has ‘social networking” functions. Although you cannot ‘friend’ anyone, you can ‘follow’ them. My Reddit account is Paulcoholic on Reddit.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Sober Catholic YouTube Channel (UPDATE)

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Just a quick post to let you know that I’ve just spent the last hour or so managing this blog’s YouTube Channel. All that is on there are subscriptions and playlists; I have no original videos uploaded. The main thing I did was to delete all playlists and subscriptions relating to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage as well as after all these years make my subscriptions “public.” All this time I thought people could see what I subscribed to; but alas, apparently not. Oh, well. No one told me after prior posts on the channel which included references to the subscriptions. There’s a bunch of subscriptions to various addiction recovery resources including porn. The Camino videos and subscriptions were due to my obsession with the film The Way by Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen. I thought that the pilgrimage was a nice metaphor for recovery; however as I viewed the channel Camino videos seemed to dominate the appearance and so I thought a change was in order, even though it might not have mattered given my ignorance regarding privacy settings.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Worshipping and Adoring in a time of Pandemic

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In my two previous posts, Sobriety in a Time of Pandemic and especially Faith in a time of Pandemic, I addressed several issues of interest to my Sober Catholic readers. In the last one I said that “This afternoon I’ll write one or two more posts on the matter.” Well, it’s the afternoon and here’s one of the posts. I also neglected to say exactly what I was going to actually blog about. This time, it’s “Worshipping and Adoring in a time of Pandemic.” Next post will be on Spiritual Communions.

I have found a number of websites that offer Mass online, in both the Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form. In case anyone cannot get to Mass because they’ve been cancelled to the public or you have legitimate concerns about spreading the virus, I found a bunch of them. There are many others, so this list is not exhaustive. If you know of others, add them to the comments; I’ll try and check in daily and approve any, if needed.

EWTN dominates, because I love them and have a devotion to Mother Angelica; I also provided links to their TV and radio program schedules. They do broadcast Masses via radio, too. It might be available through your local Catholic radio station.

There are also links to a few other Catholic networks and parishes; also, I’ve added links to online Eucharistic Adoration site. Finally, links to some “apps.”

EWTN:

Live Daily TV Mass and Readings

EWTN TV Schedule

EWTN TV Show Lineup

EWTN Radio

EWTN Radio Shows Lineup

EWTN Radio Live

EWTN Radio schedule

Traditional Latin Mass:

LiveMass from an FSSP Parish

St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff

TLM Missal (to follow along! Divinum Officium

Other Masses in the Ordinary Form:

Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

Marytown (Libertyville, Illinois, USA)  and Marytown, YouTube Channel  Schedule: View the Friars’ private Masses Sunday at 9:00 am and Monday-Saturday at 12:00 Noon (Central Time-USA)

CatholicTV Sunday Masses with links to others

CatholicTV Mass Schedule

The Vatican News site has Papal Masses. See Vatican News for details.

St. Mary’s Parish, Navan, Ireland

For Canadians and those who love them 😉

Salt+Light TV Live

Salt+Light Schedule

Salt+Light TV Ways to Watch

LIVE ONLINE EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

Marytown (Libertyville, Illinois, USA)  and Marytown, YouTube Channel

EWTN Adoration Chapel

St. Mary’s Parish, Navan, Ireland

St. Martin of Tours Parish, Louisville, KY

No Masses, but they’re good, too:

Ave Maria Radio

Ave Maria Radio Schedule

Vatican:

Vatican Radio Schedule

Vatican TV

Vatican News

Device Apps:

Look these up on your device’s App Store (Android, iOS and Amazon Fire).

EWTN Apps

Ave Maria Radio App

iCatholicRadio

iCatholicMusic

CatholicTV Ways to Watch

So, there’s no reason not to remain connected to the Church and the Mass. It isn’t the same as physically being there and receiving Him in Communion, but it is better than nothing. You do receive graces.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

“Called Out of Darkness,” a new recovery blog by a Catholic!

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I received an email the other day from Meagan M., a recovering heroin addict. She told me about her blog, Called Out of Darkness. It’s fairly new, just a few months old.

Please go to the link above and read her story. Support her! Encourage her to continue blogging! Not only does she share her story, but Meagan is also a street evangelist, calling all the souls that she encounters to Holy Mother Church (that’s the Catholic Church, the only one He founded…) She writes about that, too.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

St. Maximilian Kolbe: martyr, patron of addicts, died 75 years ago today

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NOTE: This is an edited version of a post previously published to “Paul Sofranko’s Blog”

St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe was executed in the Nazi German concentration camp at Auschwitz seventy-five years ago today for being a Catholic priest.

He was a Conventual Franciscan friar and Guardian (leader, administrator) of Niepokalanow, then the world’s largest friary and a major Catholic media center. It is located some distance west of Warsaw, Poland.

He was canonized a saint by the Church in October 1982.

In late July 1941 a prisoner escaped and as was Nazi policy, ten men from that cell block were randomly selected to be sentenced to a starvation bunker until the escapee was found (dead or alive.) In reality, the ten condemned wouldn’t be released at all, regardless of the escapee’s status.

Death by starvation and dehydration is a very slow and very painful way to die. The ten were stripped naked and placed in a cell that measured three meters by three meters (that about 9 feet on a side.)

One of the ten was a Polish Army sergeant by the name of Franciszek Gajowniczek, who, upon being selected, wailed that he was a husband and father and bemoaned the fate of his family. Upon hearing this, Fr. Kolbe stepped out of line, went forward to the commander and offered to take the sergeant’s place.

The Nazi officer was duly astounded. Perhaps taken aback and confused by this act of selfless sacrifice, he accepted Kolbe’s offer and the Gajowniczek was excused. He survived the war.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the ten died, one-by-one. Every day an attendant would go into the cell to retrieve the dead.

Prison guards and camp survivors reported that while there would typically be sounds or rage and anger, of wailing and crying and begging, during the two weeks that Fr. Kolbe was imprisoned in the cell with the others, the sounds were quite different. Hymns were sung. Rosaries said. It was as if Fr. Kolbe had turned the bunker into a chapel. On August 14th, seeing that he was still alive, the Nazis got impatient that he wasn’t dying fast enough and had him injected with carbolic acid. For this reason, he is considered a patron saint of addicts.

When he volunteered to take the sergeant’s place, the Nazi asked Fr. Kolbe who he was. His answer?

“I am a Catholic priest.”

This was his identity, it was who he was. He died for being a priest; he died being a priest, ministering to his fellow condemned.

Week48IAmACatholicPriest

(Image via MI Canada)

Being a priest was enough to have him targeted by the Nazis; however there was more to him than that. For nearly twenty years he published “Knight of the Immaculata,” a monthly magazine dedicated to being the voice of the Militia of the Immaculata movement he founded in 1917 (more on that, later.) This publishing venture, begun in 1922, gradually expanded over the 1920s and ‘30s to include other periodicals and a daily newspaper. Circulation was amongst the largest in pre-WW2 Poland (and significant amongst global circulations, too.) Fr. Kolbe had already launched a shortwave radio station, although it was limited at first to just being on the Amateur bands. He also had plans for a TV station. Expansion of the radio station to non-amateur broadcasting and the TV enterprise were halted by the Nazi and Soviet invasion of September 1939. Fr. Kolbe also had plans for a motion picture studio.

He was “New Evangelization” before anyone else thought of it. If you wish to get the gist of what he did and also what he planned, what Mother Angelica did in Alabama 50 years later is essentially that.

I have also blogged about him before, numerous times (he has become my favorite saint.) Read more of my stuff about him here: St. Maximilian Kolbe post archives.

There is a special group of links for St. Maximilian Kolbe and his Militia of the Immaculata in the sidebar.
But for starters:

Militia of the Immaculata in the USA
The global Militia
“Niepokalanow”
another official Niepokalanow site

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Awestruck’s “Life on the Rock” appearance!

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I watched on You Tube an episode of EWTN’s show, “Life on the Rock,” which featured the guys behind a new and growing Catholic Social Network, “Awestruck.”

A little bit about Awestruck (from the network’s “About” page):

“The main-stream media is not in the business of promoting the Church nor the message of the Gospel. Giant social networks like Facebook, because of their necessarily inclusive approach, often overstep the mark by tolerating and even promoting content radically opposed to the faith and to good morals. For example: Vimeo and Tumblr are infested with porn and repeated attempts to close a number of hate groups on Facebook have not been successful. This situation calls for a niche social network dedicated to celebrating the faith and promoting the Church. A trusted space where Catholics can feel “at home”, discover trusted Catholic content through our feeds, and have the tools to easily share this content to networks outside of Awestruck. That’s Awestruck in a nutshell.”

The place also has a lot of useful tools and functions for Catholic bloggers and organizations. I’ve written about that here: Awestruck for Catholic Bloggers

I highly recommend and strongly suggest that if you’re Catholic, join up! If you had before, but didn’t do much with it, try again! The place has evolved from what it looked like a few months ago, site functions and navigation are very good. It is a great place to meet and interact with Catholics from around the world! Right here: Awestruck.

The video is here:

And: My Profile.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Awestruck Network USA Tour 2014

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UPDATED (see below after the strikethrough):

Some South African Catholics who’ve started the “Awestruck Catholic Social Network” will be travelling to the USA in November to film a guest spot on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” show. This is a wonderful opportunity for you all to engage in some Works of Mercy, meet people from a far country and help the Church fill a critical need.

First, a little bit about Awestruck (from the network’s “About” page):

“The main-stream media is not in the business of promoting the Church nor the message of the Gospel. Giant social networks like Facebook, because of their necessarily inclusive approach, often overstep the mark by tolerating and even promoting content radically opposed to the faith and to good morals. For example: Vimeo and Tumblr are infested with porn and repeated attempts to close a number of hate groups on Facebook have not been successful. This situation calls for a niche social network dedicated to celebrating the faith and promoting the Church. A trusted space where Catholics can feel “at home”, discover trusted Catholic content through our feeds, and have the tools to easily share this content to networks outside of Awestruck. That’s Awestruck in a nutshell.”

The network was started a few years ago and has grown steadily. One upcoming boost in its global profile and exposure will be their appearance on EWTN next month. And hence the reason for this post.

Norm and Cris (the two “Awestruckers” appearing on the show) will be doing some travelling about the States while here. They are travelling with almost no money – trusting in Divine Providence and remembering that He sent the 12 out with not even a change of cloak!

As we read in the Gospels:

Matthew 10:10 “…no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick.”

And remember: Matthew 10: 11-13 “Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.

And here’s a biggie: Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…”

Have you ever read those passages and wondered what you might have done if people sent by Our Lord and Saviour Himself appeared in your town and perhaps your door and needed a place to stay or some other help? Or what if the visitor was Him? Now’s your chance! While not implying that Norm and Cris are the equvalent to the Apostles or Jesus (but they are disciples of Jesus, as are you and I), they are taking upon themselves an enormous challenge in travelling all the way from South Africa to the United States on this mission that benefits the Church and Catholics worldwide.

This takes guts and heroism. Cape Town is nearly 8,000 miles (14,000 km) from New York City. A long trip, and they’re traveling another few thousand after arriving!

Their itinerary:

  • Arriving in the US on 5 November – first stop New York City for 3 nights.
  • Flying to Pittsburgh, PA on 8 November for 2 nights to visit the nearby Franciscan University of Steubenville.
  • Leaving for Dallas, TX on 10 November and staying for 1 night.
  • Onward to Birmingham, AL and EWTN on 11 November for 3 nights.
  • Then on to Atlanta, GA on 14 November from where Cris will return to Cape Town.
  • Norm to remain for the night of 14 November in Atlanta from where he will leave for home on 15 November.

***The guys are really needing some help in Pittsburgh/Steubenville, Dallas and Atlanta. Anyone around those places who can support their cause with beds and meals?***

UPDATE: They have places to sleep in all of their stops, although Dallas had to be dropped. But there is still the issue of money, for some meals and also some travel expenses.

So, since some of their material needs are being met (beds) can you help out financially? You can do this by several ways:

  • joining up at Awestruck and providing a financial contribution through a PayPal button. How to join? Again, quoting from their network on signing up: “Join thousands of fellow Catholics. The easiest way to register is to simply “Login with Facebook”, then, access all sites on the network, make friends, follow feeds, create open or closed social networks for your parish/group/organization, discover, post and share from the stream at will.” But you needn’t use your Facebook login (I didn’t, I registered and created an account separately. But that’s easy, too!) Awestruck is found here: “Awestruck”.
  • If you’re not willing to join Awestruck, you can send a donation to me through PayPal, my donation button is near the top of the blog, you can’t miss it. Please just make a notation as to what it is for (the “Awestruck Tour” will do). I will then transfer it along to them ASAP.

And if you do join, you can find me here and send a Friend Request: My profile.

This endeavor has a Group on Awestruck that you can join and learn more or give advice:
Awestruck USA Tour 2014

I sincerely hope that if you are reading this you can do several things:

  • Support Awestruck in some way, either by sending a financial contribution to their PayPal
  • and/or by helping out the intrepid Awestruck travellers in some way.
  • Just joining the network, help it grow by spreading the word about it
  • Make use of it in some way! Make it an integral part of your online life!

Finally, a greeting from Awestruck:

“Awestruck will be shooting a “Life on the Rock” show on 13 November at EWTN Studios, Birmingham which will be aired on 10 December 2014!
We are extremely keen to meet up (socially) with any Awestruckers along the way. Coffee anyone?”

Coffee?!?!? Did someone mention coffee?????

Special thanks to Awestrucker Ana St. Paul for some of the information for this post. (I hope you didn’t mind my copy/pasting of your stuff. 😉 )

Let me know what you can do via the comments or by email (sobercatholic at gmail dot com).

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Sober Catholic on YouTube

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This blog now has an “expanded presence” online: a YouTube Channel! See:

Sober Catholic on YouTube.

I have not, nor am likely to in the near future, upload videos. But I have subscribed to a number of channels that might be of interest to Catholics recovering from alcoholism and other addictions. I don’t necessarily agree fully with any specifically Catholic content, but I added them as they should get a viewing. I am particularly referring to the videos by Johnny Garcia, of the now offline “Sober for Christ” website. There are a number of other videos from a Catholic perspective, but I have not viewed them all. Discern for yourself.

So, wander on over there and see what’s available and perhaps you can not only subscribe to the Sober Catholic Channel, but to many of the subscriptions I’ve added. Many involve pornography addiction, which is a much more critical and serious issue plaguing Catholics than alcoholism. This was something that I had learned to my surprise way back n 2002 and 2003 when I was searching online for resources for Catholic alcoholics.

I have a new book! "The Sober Catholic Way" is a handbook on how anyone can live a sober life, drawn from over 17 years of SoberCatholic posts! It's out now on "Amazon," "Apple Books," "B&N" and and others!"!

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)