Reverb Culture Launched!!!

It's been awhile since I've written here, and for good reason. One of the most exhausting and stress inducing things I've ever done is finally out in the public. And I couldn't have done it on my own.Over the past several months, myself and an awesome team of Catholics have been talking, praying, working, and arguing about a project that is the result of a simple idea: What if we created a community of young adults striving to live out the Catechism in a wild and real way?

I've been blown away by the support, positive reactions, emails, tweets, and encouragement this project has received. Its been a huge undertaking, one that I have been nervously hiding from people for too long. The fear of rejection or the weight of self criticism can be stifling.

We launched ReverbCulture.com this past Saturday, after already gaining a small but punchy email list following (thanks all you early adopters!). The day before and day of the launch, I probably put in around 20+ hours total into the design/content of the site, with the help of a bunch of great people. I was worn out. Just a few hours after we launched, we threw an online party, the Epic Launch Party on google+ hangouts. It was live and recorded (you can watch the hour of epic awesome here) and a bunch of people showed up. It was such a blast and such a joy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9r_XyeGO4&feature=share]

We gave away a catechism and a book, had tons of laughs, people from Puerto Rico, Hungry, a postulant from a religious order, and all over the US showed up. I can't say enough how much fun it was!

You can learn more about Reverb Culture on the website, I just wanted to throw it out here ad let you know what's been going on recently. I would love to hear your feedback and would be overjoyed to have you become part of this strange thing called Reverb Culture.

We have some blogs coming out, podcasts, interviews, videos, and tons more in store. We are in this for the long haul. Praise God for the opportunity to share our love of the Faith in this fun way.

I'm tired. Talk to you later. ;)

+JMJ Edmund

The Catechism Movement* Secret Sign Up List

So a quick update.

I have gathered together a dream team of Catholics to help me with this super sweet project that has been weighing on my heart for the past two years.

The super good news is we are skipping the kickstarter campaign and getting right to the creating. Basically I realized that trying to raise money to fund this project is just another way of me putting it off. I don't want to tell you too much just yet about it, but I do want to let those of you that have been following me here join ahead of time.

Okay fine, I'll tell you a little more about it. Think of it as a most epic Catholic movement. Not just a website, but a community. A community of people doing epic things with the catechism. Culture, community, and credo collide to bring you a melting pot of awesomeness. The expression of a bunch of young adults giving their all to the Catechism, Jesus, and the Church, and figuring out how to do it better by living a life that is beautiful, compelling, and authentic to the entire faith.

Okay okay. I gotta stop. I don't want to ruin the surprise!

But surrrriously. If you are interested in hearing more and getting involved, we'll be sending out a few updates here and there so sign up to the mailing list and I'll keep you in the loop. You'll hear the details about the website and the launch before anyone else.

Keep us in your prayers. We'll talk to you soon! AMDG

Click here to check out the coming soon page and sign up to the email list.

Exciting Announcement!

In order to keep myself accountable, ensuring that every Saturday morning I am actually working on this, I want to tell you about a HUGE project I am working on with a few other holy souls.

Right now it is just called the catechism movement, but it is an idea I have been praying about, studying, reading, writing, and talking about for almost two years.

Part sexy website, part community for the counter-cultural, part dream team of Catholic evangelists, right now I am finally putting it all on paper (virtually) in a pdf manifesto that will hopefully be complete for limited viewing in the next two weeks. I'm also in touch with the USCCB (no one wants a copyright lawsuit...) and beginning to ask a few people to roll up their sleeves and joing me in creating this beast.

Once the manifesto is finished I'll be sending it out for review and asking more people to get involved. So pray for us and help me stay on top of this! Here is a rough timeline:

• Dec. 9, 2013 - the catechism movement Manifesto Finished and Select Viewing
• Late February 2014 - Kickstarter Campaign Launch
• October 2014 - the catechism movement Big Launch

If you don't hear anything by Dec. 9, you have permission to fill my driveway with cool whip.

+JMJ November 24, 2013 Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Pope Francis Approves of Rugby

Pope Francis met with the head of FIFA and the managers and players of rugby teams from Italy and Argentina today. Pope Francis took the opportunity to talk about the superiority and spiritual benefits of rugby (and not soccer for obvious reasons), because well, its the best game ever. I played rugby in college for a few years and agree whole heartedly with the Pope's reflections. I approve.

Here is a link to the article I found with the most quotes from Francis' private audience. If anyone can find the complete text or more quotes from the audience, let me know.

This Story about Pope John Paul II is Changing My Life

I recently heard a remarkable and supposedly true story involving Blessed Pope John Paul II and his driver, and this story has been haunting me for the past few weeks.

The story goes that Pope John Paul II was getting out of a car and his driver accidentally slammed the Pope's fingers in the car door. What a great opportunity to see what someone is really made of. My Dad slammed my fingers in the trunk of a car one time, that was the first and last time I ever swore in front of my Dad. I'm still afraid of trunk space.

Legend has it that the first whispered words out of Pope John Paul II's mouth were: "Thank you, Lord, for loving me this way."

I don't know about you, but this story rocked my face off. In a situation where you are suddenly slammed into abrupt pain - stub your toe on a chair, poke yourself in the eye with your toothbrush, or reach down to pick up your shoe and slam your eyebrow on the kitchen counter - what comes out of your mouth comes straight from your heart. It is more a knee-jerk reaction than well thought out intellectual response. A lot of my reactions to situations like these seem to be four letter words...

This story reminds me of Jesus' words:

"The good man out of the treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:45

Situations like these are opportunities to see what you are really made of, and to see what is really in your heart. If you live a life like Pope John Paul II, you are constantly aware that every moment of your life is a gift from God. Your heart is overflowing with love for God, and a constant awareness of His love for you. Everything God allows to happen to you is for your good.

Suffering, pain, disappointment; these things are given to us to bear because these things will make us Saints. Becoming who we are created to be hurts, because we are weak and would rather seek pleasure than love. Even the small moments of life give us opportunity to grow closer to Christ, to love God more, and to overcome our little sufferings and crosses with the grace and love of Jesus Christ working in us.

The past few weeks I have been trying to respond to the little difficulties and sufferings in my life by quietly saying "Thank you, Lord, for loving me this way."

"The way of perfection passes by way of the cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes." Catechism of the Catholic Church 2015

Screwtape Letters and the Catechism of the Catholic Church

I'm all for using the Catechism of the Catholic Church, especially in unconventional ways. That's why when I came across this article by Marlon de la Torre about Using the Screwtape Letters to unpack the Catechism for high school students, I had to share it with y'all.

One of the biggest barriers between Catholics and the Catechism that I hear most often is that it isn't accessible. The language is either too complex or too theoretical.

In C.S. Lewis' renowned The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is a demon advising fellow demon Wormwood about how to tempt and lead a man to damnation. Marlon takes chunks of Screwtape's letters and lead the students in debunking his advise using the Catechism. Engaging the Catechism in this way makes the content immediately practical and exciting to read.

Read the whole article here to get a better feel for what a typical lesson of this type would look like.

As I did some more research, it turns out Marlon wrote a book that does just what he does in class: open up the Catechism using C.S. Lewis' mesmerizing book. Go buy it  here like I just did: Screwtape Teaches the Faith. This Marlon guy deserves a raise.

Check out Marlon's blog at Knowing is Doing.

(Hat tip to Marc Cardaronella of Evangelizing Catechesis who sent this article my way.)

Strange Notions: Atheist and Catholic Conversations

 You need to know about the launching of a new website, Strange Notions, spearheaded by Brandon Vogt who knows a thing or two about "new" media and the new evangelization. (Check out his book here: The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet)

After St. Paul preaches in the Areopagus in Athens to the intellectual elite, they respond saying "May we learn what this new teaching is that you speak of? You bring some strange notions to our ears, we should like to know what these things mean." (Acts 17:19-20)

[youtube=http://youtu.be/ieDRMoxhySo]

With a website trailer like that, the adrenaline is already flowing just at the idea of a site that sets out to bring intellectual conversations between atheists and Catholics to an internet in dire need of it.

StrangeNotions.com is designed to be the central place of dialogue online between Catholics and atheists.

Its implicit goal is to bring non-Catholics to faith--especially followers of the so-called New Atheism. As a 'digital Areopagus', the site will include intelligent articles, compelling video, and rich discussion through its comment boxes.

The site is laid out in blog post format, with by-topic articles from a team of contributors presumably written with an atheist audience in mind.

The list of main contributors for the site is world class, with some of the best of the best as far as Catholic writers and thinkers go. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best lineups I've ever seen for a Catholic website of this nature.

I also like the extensive recommended books list that doesn't pull punches and is intellectually demanding.

I'm very interested to be watching this site unfold and participating in the conversations.

I do wonder, however, what will draw intelligent atheists to this site and the conversations and not just your normal trolls that lurk on Catholic websites. It would be great to see this website reach out to atheist bloggers and speakers to engage them in open dialogue in a way that goes beyond just the comment box. To have a thinking atheist write a response or article defending his position would add to the website's claim to be an open forum of reason and dialogue. Maybe even a HuffPoLive-esque Google Hangout would work well.

This is a site to watch and get involved with, learn a thing or two, and even send to your skeptical atheist friends challenging them to engage in dialogue with the authors and thinkers. Pray for this "digital areopagus", because it is a much needed space in the mission territory of the internet.

The Brains Behind It All:

Brandon Vogt is an award-winning author, blogger, in speaker. In 2011 he released his first book titled The Church and New Media: Blogging Converts, Online Activists, and Bishops Who Tweet (Our Sunday Visitor). The book includes a Foreword by Cardinal Sean O'Malley, an Afterword by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and was endorsed by a several other cardinals, bishops, and leading Catholic thinkers.

Since then he’s established himself as an expert on Catholic new media and in May 2011, Vatican officials invited him to Rome to discuss social media. At the meeting, Archbishop Claudio Celli explained that the Church's mission today is to "open a conversation with the world." That's precisely what StrangeNotions.com is designed to do.

What if I Were Drunk ALL the Time?

Waiting on four pepperoni HARs (hot and readys) to be...well...ready (Little Ceasar's was back-logged) I moseyed over to the bar next door to find a bar bathroom. I found and entered a small closet with two urinals and a stall and an older gentleman followed close behind and grabbed a urinal before I did.

Now I have to tell you that the events that transpired were not normal Edmund-Bathroom Protocol. Normally in a two-urinal-one-occupied situation I choose the stall. I take the high road. I take one for the team.

I normally go with the stall to give the urinal man some peace of mind and free flowage. Its an act of charity. A humanitarian endeavor. Have some courtesy. No man wants to stand inches away from a stranger who is also urinating.

But today was different. Today I felt sassy.

Plus the stall looked dirty and gross.

So I went with the urinal right next to him. And the most amazing thing happened. Staring at a wall full of ads, a bar calendar, business cards, and other pleasantries, the guy broke the tension: "Boy, April sure has flown by fast."

He was right. April had flown by fast.

Caught off guard by his candor and insightful observation, and noticing that I could practically taste the beer he'd been drinking, I went into talking-with-intoxicated-strangers mode. I love talking to intoxicated strangers. Okay let me clarify. This guy was about two beers away from swimming, so he was not really drunk-drunk. A better description would be "I love everyone in this bar and want to talk to everyone because I'm happy" intoxicated.

Let me tell you, for those few golden moments while relieving ourselves, we chatted up a STORM. Your Church rosary making group had nothing on us that day. I mean we were REALLY communicating on a deeply personal level. Chuckles were had. Heartfelt questions were asked. Comradery abounded. No eye contact though. That'd be weird.

As we parted ways, I couldn't help feeling that my life was just a smidge better than before I entered the bar. Instead of entering a crowded room full of people and pretending all of them were as real as Manti Te’o's girlfriend, I actually existed in a personal way in a room full of crowded people. Okay, in the bathroom next to a room full of crowded people.

Jefferey Kahn argues that beer gave us civilization because of its ability to put us all on the same social "playing field" by lowering our inhibitions. Which made me realize, a lot of the greatest Saints went through life sans inhibitions. In fact, the first Christians were  mistaken for 4 a.m. Waffle House customers. (Look up Acts 2:13, I'm loosely paraphrasing sort of.)

Which made me THEN realize, all Saints are just drunk people!

Think about it. What made St. John Chrysostom call out the Emperor's wife publicly? Lack of inhibition. What caused St. Nicholas to think it was perfectly okay to slap the ever-living heresy out of Arius? Lack of inhibition. What made St. Francis Xavier travel door to door in a foreign land telling thousands of natives that they should make hamburgers instead of worshiping cows? Lack of inhibition. It goes on an on.

Its like Jesus is saying "Let them come to me, for the kingdom belongs to such drunks as these."

But it makes you wonder, what if we chose to act that way all the time? What if we chose to not have social inhibitions? (You weird extroverts that act this way on a regular basis can stop reading, this is for the rest of us. We can still be friends. Lower your voice. Yes, you can tell that one story again.)

In an increasingly technological society (how often have you heard THAT paragraph opener...) where we are more virtually connected than ever, we are also more physically disconnected than ever. When it comes to human interaction, inhibitions abound. Why am I more comfortable tweeting to thousands of strangers about my son pooping an uncomfortable amount, but I am super uncomfortable talking to strangers who say "Hey"?

Drunk people LOVE social interaction. They love talking to people they just met about anything. Some guy in a bar asked me what fancy store I got my jacket from. I told him Goodwill. He then proceeded to tell me all the articles of clothing he was wearing from Goodwill as well. Now THAT'S some social interaction for you people. We were the Goodwill crew from then on up in that place. We were companions.

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa devotes a whole book to this drunkeness thing, echoing Pope Paul VI who echoed St. Ambrose during a world congress of charismatic renewal in 1975: "Let us drink the sober intoxication of the Spirit with joy!"

"Prudence is the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it" says the Catechism. And if our conscience is that desire to do good and avoid evil, shouldn't it make sense that the devil would have a sort of anti-virtue to fight our conscience? An impulse that tells us to avoid the good?

You are right, being drunk is a sin. We are talking here about a sober intoxication. I'm being metaphorical and incendiary. I'm feeling sassy. But there is obviously some connection between what happens to a drunk person and what happens to a person filled with the Holy Spirit and consumed with love of Christ. Otherwise St. Ambrose is just being silly. This intoxication we are talking about knows no restraint from pursuing the good, it knows only wild reckless love. St. Paul tells us to be a fool for Christ in 1 Corinthians 4:10 for goodness sakes.

I hope this rant has taught you a few key life principles.

1) In a two-urinal-one-occupied situation, go for the free urinal. No one goes for the free urinal. You may be delightfully surprised. Or scarred for life. Who knows!

2) Talk to people! Be outgoing and friendly and if people get weirded out, just tell them you are sloshed, or soberly intoxicated, or in love with Jesus Christ. Whatever.

3) Stop avoiding human interaction. In an increasingly privatized, digitized, secularized world, human interaction is a saving antidote. People who drink beer know this well. Why do more people go to bars and drink over priced cocktails when they could be at home drinking the same thing at a fraction of the cost? Its not the peanuts. Its the human interaction. Bars are a refuge for the lonely. Being drunk is an excuse to know people and be known by people. So get out there and start giving people some attention!

4) The next time you feel some inhibition sneaking up in your skull, ask the Holy Spirit if this is your conscience trying to warn you to avoid evil, or if this is your weak flesh trying to tell you to stay comfortable, soft, and warm.

Stay soberly intoxicated, my friends.

[Video] Introduction to the Catechism of the Catholic Church

http://youtu.be/pCXrMBejH2c I came across this fantastic intro to the Catechism created by the Diocese of Birmingham Catechetical Institute. David Anders (Ph.D, Church History) provides some revealing insights into the origins and structure of the Catechism, with some very practical tips on how to use it and pray with it.

USE THE CATECHISM!

The Home Rory Owns

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/39346243 w=500&h=281] Home - Rory from Mick Kirkman on Vimeo.

Owning property is a natural human longing. You can't beat it out of human persons. And maybe Rory is refusing to own property precisely so he can really own property.

The appropriation of property is legitimate for guaranteeing the freedom and dignity of persons...

The right to private property, acquired or received in a just way, does not do away with the original gift of the earth to the whole of mankind. The universal destination of goodsremains primordial, even if the promotion of the common good requires respect for the right to private property and its exercise.

"In his use of things man should regard the external goods he legitimately owns not merely as exclusive to himself but common to others also, in the sense that they can benefit others as well as himself." The ownership of any property makes its holder a steward of Providence, with the task of making it fruitful and communicating its benefits to others, first of all his family.

Catechism 2402-2404

G.K. Chesterton wrote “property is merely the art of democracy.” For him, property means that “every man should have something that he can shape in his own image, as he is shaped in the image of heaven. But because he is not God, but only a graven image of God, his self-expression must deal with limits; property with limits that are strict and even small.”

Just give me three acres and a cow.