Site Seeing - David Palm

Rights, Rites and Insight Sites
Your road map for exploring Catholic Web sites on the information superhighway.

Human Life International
www.hli.org/
HLI is the largest and, IMO (that's online lingo for "in my opinion"), the best pro-life organization in the world. For anyone interested in pro-life issues, HLI's Web site deserves many visits.
True to its international scope, the site is accessible in English, French, Spanish and Polish. The Gateway to the World section pinpoints and describes the HLI branches internationally and provides statistical data pertinent to pro-life work for various regions/countries of the world. A Hot Topics section highlights the latest breaking news on life issues.
Since HLI's size allows it to capitalize on certain economies of scale, this ministry has been able to expand its influence to embrace a great many issues besides just abortion. Their site hosts a wealth of information on all topics related to a full-orbed and distinctly Catholic pro-life stance, including related sexual and social issues.
Abortion, contraception, fetal tissue research, assisted suicide and euthanasia get the expected major coverage. But homosexuality, chastity/sex education, population control, feminism, Planned Parenthood and the United Nations are also addressed, placed in their context vis-a-vis the teaching of the Catholic Church and the battle for the sanctity of life.
The articles available on HLI's site are always scholarly and well-documented, which makes them particularly valuable for use in apologetics or evangelization.

Byzantine Catholic Home Page
www.epix.net/~byzantin/byzan.html
There has been a lot of interest in Eastern Catholicism among certain faithful Catholics lately. One reason is that this segment of the Catholic Church has largely retained its liturgical sanity in the midst of the massive liturgical upheaval that has affected the Latin Rite. The Byzantine Catholic Home Page is a good place to become familiar with the basics of this distinctive branch of Catholicism.
The site contains concise explanations of some distinctive features of Eastern Catholicism. The liturgy, Byzantine prayers, the "holy mysteries" (sacraments), and even why the Sign of the Cross is made in the opposite direction from Western Catholics are all explained from an Eastern perspective. Icons play such an important part in the liturgical, devotional and architectural expression of Eastern Catholics, and appropriately, there is a link to a very fine collection of icons at the Saris Museum at Bardejov.
Probably the best way to become familiar with Byzantine Catholicism is to participate in their liturgical life. Eastern Catholics are in full communion with the bishop of Rome and attendance at a Byzantine Liturgy (Mass) fulfills your Sunday obligation. This site features contact information for all the Byzantine Catholic parishes in the United States. This is really the most useful section, since the distinctives of Eastern Catholicism really have to be experienced to be appreciated.

Mario Derksen's Catholic Insight
www.gate.net/~catholic/
If we all had Mario Derksen's zeal for Catholic apologetics and evangelization, there would be few non-Catholics left in the world -- and they'd be on the ropes. Catholic Insight shows what just one highly motivated individual can accomplish in defense of the Church.
I particularly like the upbeat feel of Catholic Insight. Derksen has a lot of fun being a Catholic apologist, and it shows in his site. You're greeted by rollicking opening "headlines" that are continually updated and the whole feel of the site is lighthearted, yet substantive.
One very interesting feature is a full-length, formal debate on the Eucharist between Derksen and "Ex-Catholic for Christ" Rebecca Sexton. The Web provides a brand new public forum for this kind of extended and rigorous discourse.
Catholic Insight spans a lot of topics including Mormonism, Fundamentalist/ Evangelical Protestantism, Seventh-Day Adventism and Jehovah's Witnesses. Most sections contain a combination of Derksen's original work along with selective links to valuable resources on other Web sites. Each section ends with a good bibliography suggesting further reading. The ubiquitous Links to Other Catholic Sites section contains loads of interesting entries, but the links are a bit too densely packed for pleasant browsing.
There's a lot of good information here. Catholic Insight is a fine example of a robust personal apostolate in apologetics.

Be sure to check out David Palm's Web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/home pages/djpalm.