Today begins a 3-part series on media ministry and the technology that we can use to serve in our churches. My first conversation comes after a conversation I had with a friend and associate in Texas. She works in campus ministry, and raved about how much Flocknote has been helping her stay connected to the students in which she ministers. I myself use Flocknote in my local parish, but I also know that it’s a company that some parishes do not currently use. I reached out to Flocknote to see if they’d be willing to explore the ins and outs of the software, and thankfully, they were willing. And so I sat down and spoke with Matthew Sewell. Matthew is the Diocesan sales lead at Flocknote and has worked there for almost 7 years. He shared some of the growth that Flocknote has experienced since the global pandemic of COVID-19, and how Flocknote can help us stay connected to our faithful parishioners – and non-parishioners – especially at a time like today.

Today on the podcast we take a moment to reflect on the impact that we, as Catholics, can have for our climate and our world today. With the upcoming Earth Day celebration, as well as Pope Francis’s recent encyclical, Laudato Sí, we reached out to our friends at the Catholic Climate Covenant to discuss the responsibility that we, as Catholics, have to the care of our earth. Where does care for creation lie within the Church’s Catholic social teaching? What can we do to raise awareness?

Jose Aguto was kind enough to sit down and discuss all of these things with me today. Jose is the Associate Director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, a nonprofit based in Washington, DC that seeks to care for both creation and the poor.

Lastly, please note that this interview was made into a video podcast as well! You can watch the video version of this episode, including a slide show presented by Jose. The video version of this episode can be found on NPM’s YouTube channel, NPM Livestream, and can also be found here in the “show notes” of this episode.

It’s Monday of Holy Week. And we know that for most of our listeners, this means that we have a long week ahead of us.

For many of us, our music is (mostly) prepared at this point, all of the liturgy committee meetings are done, and Victimae Paschali Laudes is practiced and ready. And yet, there are still things to do.

Where are we, ourselves, on our own to-do lists? Have we devoted enough time to prepare, spiritually, for our Triduum journey this week?

I asked Mary Birmingham to share some thoughts about how we, as pastoral ministers, can slow down at the beginning of this holiest of weeks and meditate on the journey ahead.