Catholic Media for the “Practicing Catholic”

Today is Catholic Media Promotion Day, a day dedicated to promoting all kinds of Catholic media. Here are resources we’ve found helpful in our journeys as “Practicing Catholics.”

Catholic Blogs

We love Catholic blogs! Why? Because we have learned maintaining one is a lot of work! When you find a good one, you know the person running it is dedicated and passionate about their mission. Back in December, Joel highlighted seven blogs he enjoys reading. Head over to that post to read his favorites. I will add just two more to the list: ConversionDiary.com and FallibleBlogma.com.

Catholic Podcasts

I ran my first 20K (12+ miles!) last year, and for my training runs, I loaded my iPod with every religious podcast I could find. You name the topic, I found a corresponding podcast. Here are some of our favorites.

• Podcasts from Father John Riccardo, the pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Plymouth, Michigan, inspires us to live our Catholic faith out loud — really loud! He began podcasting homilies and presentations before it was cool, so he’s been a pioneer in the Catholic new media arena. As a cradle Catholic, I highly recommend his Catholicism for Cradle Catholics or RCIA for Catholics series.
• Equally edifying is Sister Ann Shields and her Food For the Journey podcasts. Sister Ann breaks open the daily readings like none other with her reflective yet challenging thoughts.  
• Finally, our friends Deacon Tom and Dee Fox have one of the best podcast titles around: Catholic Vitamins. Deacon Tom and Dee are faith-filled and faithful Catholics who enjoy sharing helpful information through their podcasts. Given Joel is in diaconate formation, we are so pleased that Deacon Tom and Dee are walking along our journey with us and have become prayer warriors for us.

Other Helpful Resources 

• We read information out of two resources nearly every day: the National Catholic Register and Magnificat prayer book. ‘Nuff said.
• Catholic radio has strengthened our faith immeasurably and broadened our knowledge of the Church, leading to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. Two of our favorite programs are EWTN’s Catholic Answers and The Catholic Channel’s The Catholics Next Door on Sirius/XM.
• CatholicVote.com provides the Catholic perspective on political issues of our time — every Catholic should become familiar with this site and content before stepping into the voting booth.
• She loves her faith, she loves her brew. See how they mix by heading over to our friend Sarah’s CatholicDrinkie.com site.

Our Project

We began ThePracticingCatholic.com in August 2010 and it has been an awesome vehicle to connect with other Catholics across the globe. We are still newbies and want to learn more, so we appreciate any feedback that will make this a better site for other practicing Catholics. If you “like” us, head over to our Facebook page and let us know.

Also, check back here around May 1 — we are attending the beatification of Pope John Paul II and will be posting real-time pictures and stories (as long as technology cooperates, that is!).