Late Pope John Paul II Audio Cards

I never hide my deep love to the late Pope John Paul II. And now, I'm jealous that people in Italy can get this cool audio card and I can't:


Source: ANSA News

Here's the story of the audio card as reported by ANSA:

ROME (ANSA) - The enduring popularity of the late Pope John Paul II has been underlined yet again by the runaway success of a new gadget offering a blessing from the Polish pontiff at the press of a button.

Offered as a free gift with a new Catholic monthly, the palm-size device is comprised of a small picture of John Paul mounted on an electronic card which has his voice recorded on it digitally.

When pressure is applied, the user hears the pope's voice saying a blessing in Latin.

Read more...

So far, more than 35,000 people got a free copy of the audio card. But NOT ME. Still, I'm happy to know that people's love to the late Pope is still alive. That's all it counts.

Back To Church Campaign On YouTube

The YouTube site is popular for its weird and wild video clips. The Rt Rev. Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield in the U.K. has decided to use the site to broadcast his annual Evangelism Sunday message. The Scotsman reports:

A CHURCH leader has turned to a video-sharing website to encourage more people to attend Sunday services.

The Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, posted his first Sunday message of 2007 on YouTube, along with recordings of similar sermons from 2005 and 2006.
[...]
His spokesman, Gavin Drake, said: "The diocese designates the Sunday after Epiphany as Evangelism Sunday and the Bishop distributes a tape to encourage congregation members to consider the part they have to play in taking the good news of Jesus Christ to their communities, friends and neighbours.

"This year, for the first time, the bishop's message will be placed on the community video-sharing website YouTube."

Read more...

According to the article, the bishop is trying to reach out to the young people who don't attend church. I doubt it will work with young people. Still, I believe it's a good idea to broadcast his messages on YouTube as it has become THE MEDIUM these days.

Sisters of Providence Recycle Christmas Trees

Nuns never fail to amaze me when it comes to thinking outside the box. Here's the latest:

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - A religious order wants to give old Christmas trees a new use.

The Sisters of Providence, which operates St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, is looking for donations of Christmas trees that it can recycle into wood chips for mulch and fuel for the school's new biomass boiler.

The college's new biomass boiler runs on alternative energy sources instead of fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. The recycled trees will fuel the boiler, producing the steam that heats the college campus a few miles west of Terre Haute.

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Isn't that cool? They not only recycle the trees. They actually generate energy. You may guess it. This process will save the college money with gas prices going up these days.

The Carmelite Nuns and Godcasts

If you're into iTunes and iPod, then you definitely heard of podcasts. There's another term I learned today. It's Godcasting or Godcasts. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

"Godcasting" has already gone wide. Now it's going to the edges.

A community of Carmelite nuns in Indianapolis have started what's believed to be the first podcast from a cloistered community.

Or as some call them, Godcasts.
[...]
Sister Therese said her sisters started the podcast at the suggestion of the Indianapolis ad agency that does pro bono work for them. "We thought we could have a better outreach to young people," she said. "That seems to be the way everybody is going — they have their iPods, and they're pretty mobile."

In the first podcast, several nuns talk about how anyone can be contemplative. She said there are plans to do regular podcasts, as others do, probably once a month.

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The nuns also have a beautiful website, Pray The News. It amazes me how nuns can multitask. Something I've never been able to master. In short, nuns rock.

The Brain's God Spot

I admire the curiosity of scientists. Their latest interest in God spot is very interesting:

There is no specific area of the brain that mediates Christian mystical experiences, researchers say, following a study of 15 Canadian nuns.

A University of Montreal team found Christian mystical experiences are mediated by several brain regions.

Researchers asked 15 nuns to recount mystical experiences while studying them on MRI scanners, the journal, Neuroscience Letters reported.

Did they think a nun's brain has a blinking prayer spot? Blink blink, I'm praying. Can't you see the green light in my brain?

Fr Stephen Wang, a Catholic priest teaching at Allen Hall Seminary in London, has some words to those researchers:

"These brain studies can give us fascinating insights into how the human body and mind and spirit inter-connect, but they should not make us think that prayer and religious experience are just an activity in the brain.

"True Christian mysticism is an encounter with the living God. We meet him in the depths of our souls.

"It is an experience that goes far beyond the normal boundaries of human psychology and consciousness."

Exactly how I see it. I wonder what's next for the curious scientists!!! Do we have a soul?

Faith and Science at The Vatican

Reuters reported:

CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy - Everyone knows the Vatican is interested in Heaven but it may come as a surprise to some that it is also interested in the heavens.
...
"The Vatican wants to show its appreciation for science," said Father Chris Corbally, a soft-spoken Jesuit from Britain who is the observatory's vice-director and dean of its international summer school.
...
Popes have been intertwined with astronomy for centuries.

The Inquisition condemned Galileo for insisting that the earth revolved around the sun. It was just one step in a tango between faith and science that still goes on today.
...
"These students come here because they want to learn more science," said Corbally.

"The whole environment of the place invites reflection. But we don't ask what their faith is, or if they have any. What we do ask is what quality of person they are, what enthusiasm they have, what is the promise of continuing in research careers in astronomy or in astrobiology," he said.

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This is so cool. I hope Iraqi students get the chance to participate in this program.