Cathal BarryAmid the imposed and often fast-paced routine of everyday life, an app is giving people a reason to quiet their minds through light meditation and prayer.
PeaceQuest is an immersive 3-D app designed to take users on a spiritual journey and allow them to establish a deeper connection with God and with themselves.
Fr Stephen Fichter, a research associate at the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate, and Kathe Carson, president of the video production company Kathe Carson Inc., created the app in December 2013.
Fr Fichter said their motivation came from recognising the “constant intrusion” of technology in people’s lives.
“The idea when we created the app was a recognition that people nowadays just live such hectic lives, we’re all running from one place to the other,” Fr Fichter said.
“So recognising the fact that so many people were basically living in this digital world… we wanted to kind of bring God into that environment.”
The app runs as a 10-minute video that transports users into a serene, pastoral landscape lush with greenery and chirping birds.
www.peacequest.com
Priest says talking "selfies" and posting them is a way to connect with students
As the Catholic Campus Ministry director at the Newman Centre on the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh campus, Fr Jason Blahnik is always looking for new ways to engage young people and attract them to his Catholic ministry.
This summer, he discovered a new one. While walking alongside the Fox River on a hot day, he was struck by the humour of a sign warning, “Danger, thin ice.” He thought, “I bet people would get a good laugh out of this.”
He took a “selfie” – a photo of himself – with the sign and posted it on his Facebook page.
The selfie prompted the amused response he had hoped for from students who were not on campus for the summer. He then started posting selfies of himself standing near university landmarks that the absent students would recognise.
“With the students gone, this was a way to connect them with UW-Oshkosh and the Catholic ministry even if they weren’t there,” Fr Blahnik told The Compass newspaper of the Green Bay Diocese.
“Kids do a lot of selfies and snapshots. It’s me putting a foot into their world. It endears them a little bit more to the ministry.”
He said that now that school is back after a mid-term break, students are taking selfies of themselves at the Newman Centre and are posting them as well.
SVP launches new website
The society of St Vincent de Paul has recently launched a new website in order to help meet the demand for information about the society’s assistance programmes for the general public.
The SVP’s previous website was launched in 2008 and proved to be a good platform for the society to promote its work and allow people to easily access services and request assistance where needed.
The new site is much more interactive and will host an array of media such as videos, blogs, podcasts and image galleries. It’s ‘searchability’ has been vastly improved, making it much easier to navigate and source information specifically relating to named regions.
This allows the SVP’s 11,000 volunteers to use the site to promote their conference-centred events, news, fundraisers and volunteer drives, giving it a more personal and local feel.
www.svp.ie