John Lamansky

It’s finally done! Version 4 of the Disciples with Microphones website has been released. This update to the website of the world’s first Catholic podcast network includes:

• A new layout.
• A categorized Catholic podcast directory.
• The Catholic Podcast Voteomatic, which lets you vote for Catholic podcasts on Podcast Alley, iTunes, and Digg Podcasts. (You can also sign up for monthly Podcast Alley voting reminder emails.)
• The Catholic Podcast Banner Network, which lets you add a rotating banner (at the top of this post) to your blog or website.
• The Start a Podcast Wizard, which takes you step-by-step through, well, starting a podcast.
• Revamped episodes section.
• And a lot more!

There are a still some things to iron out, such as rendering issues under Internet Explorer 6. But for the most part it’s operational.

Please check it out!

According to a Catholic News Service article, employees from Vatican Radio have presented Pope Benedict XVI with a specially-loaded iPod nano to honor the pope’s first visit to the Vatican Radio broadcasting headquarters.

Now that Vatican Radio offers podcasts in eight different languages, the pope has the technological capability to plug in and import the radio’s audio files.

[…]

Though the white iPod nano is tiny, it still made an impression on the pope. When the head of the radio’s technical and computer support department, Mauro Milita, identified himself and handed the pope the boxed iPod, the pope was said to have replied, “Computer technology is the future.”

The pope’s new 2-gigabyte digital audio player already was loaded with a sampling of the radio’s programming in English, Italian and German and musical compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky. The stainless steel back was engraved with the words “To His Holiness, Benedict XVI” in Italian.

Yippee! I received the Sacrament of Confirmation last weekend! Receiving the sacrament was a very wonderful experience. I chose St. John Vianney as my Confirmation saint, for many different reasons:

• We share the same first name.
• He’s the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, in which I live.
• His middle name is Mary.
• He’s the patron saint of priests and confessors.
• He had a very difficult time with Latin while in seminary. I guess that means he would be a good saint to ask for assistance if I’m having trouble with my Latin schoolwork.

I also received many neat spiritual books and many wonderful cards from friends and family. I haven’t had this many interesting books to read for a long time!

As some readers will know, Pope John Paul II had given “themes” to certain years. The “Year of the Rosary” was October 2003 to October 2004, and the “Year of the Eucharist” is October 2004 to October 2005. I think it’s highly possible that Benedict XVI will continue this tradition. If so, I’m going to make a wild guess as to the theme… I’ll say, “Year of the Priesthood.” I’ll find out if I’m right or wrong in two months :-). I haven’t seen or read any other predictions for the October 2005-2006 theme yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some other people have made this or other guesses. Do you have a theme prediction? If so, what is it?

According to this blog post from the Young and Catholic blog, the location for World Youth Day 2008 is “semi-official”: Sydney, Australia. According to the blog post:

The “official”, official announcement won’t be made until the end of the Mass and activities taking place at Marienfeld on August 21.

For World Youth Day 2005 coverage, I suggest you check out the Catholic Insider podcast, which is a member of Disciples with Microphones.

Perhaps you’ve noticed the link on the sidebar under the “Sites I Designed” category. Perhaps you’ve visited the site when searching for Catholic podcasts. If you haven’t visited the site, you should check it out. If you’re a Catholic podcaster who’s not already a member, you should definately check it out. Disciples with Microphones is a group consisting of a good majority of the Catholic podcasters out there, plus many other wonderful people who don’t podcast. Here’s a quote from the “About Us” page:

Disciples with Microphones is a loose gathering of Catholics who want to bring NPR-style broadcast standards to Catholic radio. We started in late 2004 after Carlos Briceno wrote a column for the National Catholic Register, articulating the vision for this form of evangelization. He asked interested parties to contact him; some people did, a Yahoo! discussion group was started, and we were off and running.

I have had the pleasure of designing a website for the group at discipleswithmicrophones.org. The site is still a work in progress, although it does contain a podcast episode and series directory plus an RSS parser, a member center, and a forum. Be sure to visit the site’s “Podcast Series” page for a list of podcasts that are part of Disciples with Microphones.

Unfortunately, I still don’t have a podcast to contribute to the site. I’m working on it, though. I have ideas for two podcasts actually, and I have ideas for (what I think are) two awesome podcast names!