Beatifications, Blogmeets, & Video Contests!

Hello, my dear Coffee Talkers!

Whew -- it's been an exciting day in the world of an indie Catholic blogger! I guess it's partly because my girls and I stayed home sick today (nothing plague-like -- we're already feeling much better), but I came across so many wonderful and blog-worthy things to tell you about that it's hard to choose. Let me give a brief (but action-packed!) recap of my favorite finds of today:

1. In preparation for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1 in Rome, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) has prepared a 17-minute video commemoration of JP's pontificate -- it is lovely! So get out your coffee (or tea ... and maybe a tissue), and enjoy:

2. October 22 has been set as the date for the Feast of Blessed John Paul II, beginning this fall!

3. Archbishop Timothy Dolan recently announced a video competition called "iConfess" -- and a student from John Paul the Great Catholic University in San Diego made an amazing 1 minute video called "Get Clean." I hope she wins! I tried to embed the video here, but technology troubles have prevented me -- and perhaps it's just as well, because if you click here, you can see it on YouTube and click 'like' (if, of course, you did in fact like it) to help this student and JP Catholic win the competition!

4. The day after the Beatification of Pope John Paul II, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communication will be holding a meeting of Catholic bloggers...

...and after some friends had told me about the blogmeet, I decided to send a shot in the dark e-mail saying that I was interested in learning more about the event, and included a link to little old Coffee Talk. Well, lo and behold, I (along with hundreds of others around the world, but hey) got an e-mail from the Vatican early this morning! Here's what it said:

Dear Friends
By 8am Monday morning we had received over 400 requests.
On Wednesday 13 April we will close the application process and sort out requests into categories of language, geography, typology etc. and where necessary we will draw lots to make the final selection.
On Saturday a list of participants will be posted on www.pccs.va We are heartened by the widespread interest, and ask you all to be patient with this effort to increase dialogue with the blogging community, and also to support us with your prayers.
Richard Rouse & Ariel Beramendi

This means three crazy things: 1. I am considered among the nine trillion applicants; 2. someone from the Vatican is going to be reading my blog; 3. since this business of drawing lots might be taking place, I guess there is perhaps a little more than a snowball's chance in Louisiana of hitting this Catholic blogger lotto!

In any case, the e-mail alone was excitement enough for me, and you sitting in your pajamas reading this from home is just as good as a Vatican official, so no matter how this all plays out, I'll be more than satisfied. And for whatever bloggers do get chosen -- how very exciting! The meeting holds a lot of wonderful possibilities for Catholic social communications, and I commend the Vatican for thinking in this direction. Truly, the blogosphere is the place where, for so many people, faith meets the modern world.

I do promise to continue on with the "Hail WHO? - What Do Catholics Really Believe About Mary" series tomorrow night. We'll talk about Mary as co-redemptrix (a term that is often controversial and misunderstood, among Catholics and Protestant Christians alike!), so be sure to stay tuned.

As always, thank you for stopping by, and be assured of my prayers.

Peace and all good,
Leslie