I was able to attend last Sunday’s Catholic New Media Celebration in Atlanta and had a blast! One attendee has posted a short video of the event on her blog, Catholic in Film School. Nicely done, Rebecca!

If you listen to the Rosary Army Catholic Show, you may remember Greg Willits’ recent decision to no longer drink his favorite brand of beer, Sierra Nevada, because he learned that the company provided some funding to an abortion clinic.

A listener named Chia (sorry if I misspelled the name) from California left some audio feedback on Rosary Army Episode 235. She recommended that rather than boycotting Sierra Nevada, we instead actively support beers made by Trappist monks. She explained that several monasteries make their own beer and sell it as an important source of income.

The listener did not specify a particular brand, so I did an Internet search to find out a few labels. Wikipedia has an article on Trappist beer stating that only seven of the world’s 171 Trappist monasteries produce beer: six in Belgium and one in The Netherlands. I’ll have to check out a local package store to see if they carry these import labels.

I really have nothing to say…

Dr. Francis Beckwith has an interesting article on What’s Wrong With The World titled “Barack Obama: Religious Citizens Must Sit In the Back of the Secular Bus.” Thanks to The Opinionated Catholic for bringing this one to my attention.

The wrong Bulldogs team won tonight: Fresno State beat Georgia 19-10, which forces Game 3 for the national championship. I’ll be cheering for UGA tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Go Georgia!

Georgia beat Fresno State tonight in the first game of the College World Series championship round 7-6. Game two will be tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

It’s an all Dawg College World Series: my Georgia Bulldogs against the Fresno State Bulldogs. Game 1 in the best-of-three series will start in a few. Go UGA!!!!

We had a great time today at the Atlanta Eucharistic Congress. Just some random observations:

• Parking: Jammed! But I guess this is a good thing: the event is getting more popular (I suspect that the final attendance will far exceed last year’s 20,000). Last year, we were able to park at the Georgia International Congress Center, where the event was held. This year, we had to go to one of the airport parking vendors across the street. Fortunately, they provided shuttle service to the convention. And when we left, there was no charge. What a pleasant surprise! I’m not sure if the lot comped it since it was a religious event, or if the Congress Center or Archbishop picked up the tab, but it was much appreciated.
• Lost Phone Fiasco: Early in the day, my wife’s phoned was lost, which put a damper on the day. It never turned up at lost-and-found when we were there. Fortunately, a security guard called around 8:30 tonight and told us that he found the phone! Awesome! We thought we’d have to buy a new one. My wife’s prayers to St. Antony worked!
• Speaker Accessibility: No prima donnas by any stretch of the imagination. All were approachable, friendly and genuinely wanted to strike up a conversation. I got the chance to speak for a while with Steve Ray and Bob Evans (a.k.a. The Donut Man). While not speakers today, I also was able to easily flag down Fr. Roderick and Greg Willits of SQPN.
• Mass: Wow! I’ve never been to a mass with so many people. Archbishop Gregory presided. ‘Nuff said!

All around, an excellent event. We’re looking forward to next year.

It’s no surprise that Protestants outnumber Catholics here in the Deep South. But I suspect that this is due in part to some tactical errors in Catholic evangelistic strategy. As a native Georgian and a former Protestant, I think I have a unique perspective and can offer some fresh thinking on Catholic evangelistic outreach in these parts.

Not to offend any of my fellow Southerners, but one must admit that many stereotypes are at least in part rooted in reality. Let’s take the prototypical Southern male, who for the sake of this example we will name Billy Bob.

If Billy Bob starts to feel drawn by the Lord into a deeper spiritual life, he might briefly survey the various congregations in his town. And of all the prospects, the last on his list will be some church with a traditionally Catholic name, like, oh let’s say Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. No disrespect toward the founder of the Franciscan Order is intended either by me or our imaginary friend, but Billy Bob’s initial reaction upon seeing a painting or statue might be something like, “A guy named Francis? Well, he sure looks like a-sissy to me in that dress!”

My point is that the name of the local parish can have an influence on whether or not Billy Bob ever sets foot there.

Based on a quick Google search, I found that two Southern parishes have done a fine job in selecting their names, whether intentionally or not. I’m talking about Saint Cletus Catholic Church in Gretna, Louisiana and Saint Clement parish in Calhoun, Georgia. Cletus and Clem sound like good ol’ boys. The kinda fellas you might want to go fishin’ with. Name the parish after either of these men, or even both – Saints Cletus and Clem Catholic Church, for example – and we Southern boys will feel right at home, or at least feel much more welcomed. (If you don’t know, Sts. Cletus and Clement were the third and fourth Bishops of Rome, respectively – early Popes that sound like they’d fit right in here in the South.)

It would also be quite easy to further serve the needs of your local community by making mass times a bit flexible – check the local fishing forecast to make sure mass doesn’t overlap prime fishin’ times. These times will vary each day, of course (see the following):

This makes sure the avid fisherman will have time to fulfill his Sunday obligation without conflict. Employing this variable-schedule technique can improve mass attendance significantly.

If you have a hunting-and-fishing apostolate affiliated with your parish – call it something like “Fishin’ at Cletus and Clem’s” and maybe hold it in conjunction with the Lenten fish fries – you can probably anticipate an annual membership recruitment rate well into the double digits.

My Dawgs rallied to beat Stanford 4-3 in Omaha. The last time UGA won the first two games in the College World Series was back in 1990, when we won it all. Go DAWGS!