Catholic.Net
Solid Catholic teaching is available everywhere: books,
magazines, newspapers — even the Web is seeing an abundance
of new Catholic content every day. You could spend hours
every day reading articles, documents, interviews, papers,
testimonials, prayer. But who has the time to sort through
it all?
Catholic.net, that’s who. And they do it for free!
Catholic.net grew from the Catholic Information Center
on the Internet (CICI), founded by James Mulholland in
1995. CICI was one of the first Catholic “portals” on
the Net. It was even blessed by our pope! In the year
2000, seeking to advance the Internet as a tool of the
New Evangelization, the site was revised and re-launched
as Catholic.net.
Executive director Angelo Matero recalls: “We didn’t need
another site publishing Church documents; there were many
good ones doing just that. My thought was this: What is
the unique contribution we can make to the Web? That’s
where the idea for offering a ‘best of the web’ site,
with more of a magazine presentation, came from.” The
best-of-the-web concept was perfect, because it built
upon the existing publishing focus of CICI — which carried
Crisis, Dossier, The Catholic Faith, Homiletic & Pastoral
Review, and Catholic World Report already.
According to Catholic.net editor Tim Drake: “We want to
make it easier for Catholics to zero in on those resources
which are most likely to have an impact on them and draw
them closer to Christ.” With that goal in mind, the editors
at this apostolate literally spend hours each day sifting
through the very best in Catholic writing. They will even
occasionally use secular sources, such as Yankee Magazine,
if they find a story that will further the culture of
life. Envoy, This Rock, Crisis Magazine, National Catholic
Register, Our Sunday Visitor, Faith and Family, At Home
Mothers, St. Joseph’s Messenger . . . these are just a
few of the publications they examine for use. (The postman
must love these folks!)
The wide range of channels on the site reflects the varied
sources they read: national news and international news,
Mass readings and saints’ lives, activism and debate,
spiritual matters and self-help. Eighteen channels cover
every topic that could even remotely affect your walk
with God and your life in His Church. Students, singles,
married, and religious all find their particular faith
issues addressed here.
The pages on Catholic.net are updated regularly — some
daily and others weekly. The site has excellent placement
in web search engines, bringing in visitors from a variety
of backgrounds. The readership of this apostolate has
grown steadily in six months. Building on the already
strong traffic of the CICI, Catholic.net has raised visitors
per month from 150,000 to 200,000, and from 450,000 page
views to 800,000 page views. The Spanish version site
is also thriving.
One frequent user comments: “ As a lay Catholic interested
in what my Church is doing, and how it is living its faith
out in the everyday lives of those in need, [I find that]
sources of information can be fragmented, incomplete,
or hard to find. Catholic.net has made searching for the
latest news about my faith easy.”
But ministry to nominal Catholics is the main motive behind
the work of Catholic.net. This eclectic mixture of faithful
Catholic literature has a way of putting new questions
into people’s minds. Reading often forces visitors to
reconsider their beliefs and reach out for some solid
answers. Judging from the emails to webmaster Mary Zurolo,
the articles on Catholic.net are fostering sincere discussion
and bringing people together.
In one case, for example, a woman was having a written
discussion about the mission of Planned Parenthood. She’d
depended on that organization to teach her about “protection”
when she was younger. This reader expressed great surprise
to hear that the organization doesn’t give mothers all
the facts regarding abortion. In another case, Catholic.net
helped a man get in contact with a particular priest with
whom his dad had lost touch, and the two scheduled a reunion.
How important is this apostolate’s mission? Perhaps Pope
John Paul II said it best. In his 1990 address on World
Communica-tions Day, he declared that “God’s faithful
people” must be “employing the full potential of the ‘computer
age’ to serve the human and transcendent vocation of every
person, and thus to give glory to the Father from whom
all good things come.” Take a look at how Catholic.net
is answering his challenge.
Catholic.net
is funded by the generosity of those who want to take
an active part in its mission. If you’re interested
in providing support, go to www.catholic.net.
Triumphant
Ministries
Has anyone ever handed you a religious tract? You know
the kind: usually a bi-fold leaflet with an eye-catching
illustration on the front. Inside, there are several
scripture quotes designed to convince you that if you
aren’t born again, you’re going to hell. This may be
followed by an invitation to ask Jesus into your heart,
and a suggested prayer to help you do so. Protestant
Christians in America have used this medium effectively
for years in their proselytizing efforts.
Michael Matthews, who was once a Baptist pastor, used
to make good use of such literature to win converts.
“As a fundamentalist minister,” he recalls, “I used
tracts extensively. If we were going door-to-door, and
the person either wasn’t home or couldn’t talk, a tract
was a means of still getting the message across.”
Then Matthews entered the Catholic Church, principally
through his involvement in Operation Rescue. Now he’s
a Catholic author, evangelist, and director of Triumphant
Ministries. And he’s found that Catholics can take advantage
of this communications medium as well.
Actually, Catholic religious tracts have been around
for centuries: Four hundred years ago, in Switzerland
Saint Francis de Sales created small leaflets and passed
them out from house to house, winning thousands of Calvinists
back to the Catholic fold. In a similar way, Matthews’
newfound love for Christ’s Church spurred him to look
around for Catholic aids to evangelization.
“Evangelism is a part of me,” he insists. “I had specialized
in evangelism as a Protestant, and I was looking for
ways to bring that into my vocation as a Catholic. But
many of the booklets out there now are too expensive
for people to purchase in large quantities. I wanted
something that could be purchased in bulk quantities
of a hundred or more.”
So Matthews decided to create his own tracts to meet
the average Catholic’s need for good apologetics and
solid teaching. Triumphant Ministries has printed two
tracts so far. The first is called Eight Reasons to
Become Catholic . . . Or Stay That Way. The other is
entitled Something About Mary. Coming soon: Are Catholics
Really Saved? and Purgatory: A Biblical View.
A Catholic tract is a little piece of paper bursting
with truth that can be left at restaurants with the
tip, stuffed in with utility bill payments, or left
in phone booths. It can awaken a desire for Christ,
defend the Faith, or define a misunderstood truth. Matthews
insists: “If all that happens is that someone reconsiders
a position on Catholicism because that person realizes
there really are some scriptural reasons for what the
Church teaches, then it was well worth the cost of the
tract.”
For as little as fifteen cents apiece, you can blanket
your world with these little tracts of truth. Matthews
also encourages you to keep a few in your pocket and
give them as a little reminder to people you talk to
about the Faith.
“Tracts are a concrete reminder of a discussion,” he
notes. “People can carry them around and refer back
to them, remembering your witness. They are a constant
reminder of the need to accept Christ and the Church
He founded.”
To order tracts or inquire about Michael Matthews’ speaking
and teaching schedule, write: Triumphant Ministries,
P.O. Box 424, Carrollton, VA 23314; email: triumph@e3mil.com.
Catholic
Distance University
Under the inspiration of Vatican II, new generations
of lay people have hungered to know more about the Catholic
faith. People are becoming serious about what they believe
— and they want some serious teaching to help them grow
spiritually.
Since 1983, the Catholic Distance University (CDU) has
offered rewarding study for Catholics who want to go
deeper in understanding their faith. With the official
approval of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy,
CDU offers several courses of study through distance
learning. At the core of its program lies the Catechetical
Diploma, earned by completing a curriculum of regular
college courses that can be taken for credit. CDU has
also developed one undergraduate program and two vigorous
Master’s programs in Religious Studies.
In 1997, the Holy Father’s call for the New Evangelization
inspired the staff of CDU to reach out beyond academic
circles to people in the pew. The result of this inspiration
was the university’s continuing education courses: short
six-to-eight-week non-credit courses geared to help
parents, catechists, school teachers, and others study
their faith in a systematic way. Many catechists enroll
in these courses to obtain diocesan-required certification.
According to Marianne Mount, director of the university,
distance learning offers great advantages: “It is truly
a learner-centered education. It is especially attractive
to adults, because they have complete autonomy over
their studies. They can spend extra time on a subject
that interests them, or they can even skip over material
that they are already familiar with.”
People limited in their educational options by health
problems or geography — even people working in the mission
field — appreciate this approach especially because
it brings the advantages of religious study to them
wherever they are. Through this fully accredited institution,
they can grow spiritually as well as academically.
Printed course lectures come to the students, along
with the lessons and other materials needed for study.
Each carefully prepared lesson commences with a set
of goals and keywords. Readings are followed by written
assignments, which are turned in to the instructor for
grading. Even though CDU is primarily print-based, students
can use email and fax for submitting assignments. In
addition, the university is now offering continuing
education courses through EWTN.
The course material relies heavily on the Catechism
of the Catholic Church and the documents of Vatican
II, as well as the writings of Church doctors and the
saints. CDU students also have access to the staff theologian
at the school.
Through another new initiative, the online seminar,
large diocesan or parish groups can train many people
for very little cost. Students interact with the instructor
and each other; resources for the course are published
online; and keynote addresses are uploaded for each
course.
Mount says she often hears students say that they feel
their course work is more like praying than studying.
In fact, CDU is producing students who fall in love
with the Church through their studies. “They see the
wisdom in things they didn’t understand before,” Mount
notes. “It changes them. They want to go out and tell
others.”
One student comments: “I am an avid reader, and this
has imposed some order on my otherwise chaotic reading
habits. My prayer life has greatly benefited also.”
Another student got much more than she bargained for.
“Much to my surprise,” she reports, “academic knowledge
was not all I was gaining through my ongoing study.
. . .The course that touched me the most was the one
dealing with Christian marriage. . . . Even if I had
gained no other benefits from my studies, the effects
of that one course on my seventeen-year marriage would
have been enough.”
CDU is serving the Church worldwide through a variety
of programs accessible to everyone. Higher education
in religion: It’s not just for clergy and theologians
anymore.
Contact
Catholic Distance University for a course catalog and
pricing information. Go to www.cdu.edu;
call toll-free 888-254-4CDU (in Virginia, 540-338-2700);
email: cdu@cdu.edu.
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