The latest episodes of the Ignition podcast

Ignition: Talk 3, Part 5

14 June 2011 | 5:18 am
Tue Jun 14 05:18:57 2011

There was so much value in what Bishop Anthony Fisher had to say during the question-and-answer session following the 2007 NZ Catholic Lecture that we’re continuing with more in this week’s episode of Ignition. The lecture was entitled “Catholic Conscience …

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Ignition: Talk 3, Part 4

30 May 2011 | 11:44 pm
Mon May 30 23:44:36 2011

In this week’s episode of Ignition, we share some questions and answers following Bishop Anthony Fisher’s talk “Catholic Conscience in the 21st Century”, given as the inaugural NZ Catholic Lecture in 2007. Check the Ignition archives to listen to the …

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Ignition: Talk 3, Part 3

23 May 2011 | 5:33 am
Mon May 23 05:33:02 2011

In this week’s episode, we conclude Bishop Anthony Fisher’s address for the 2007 NZ Catholic Lecture entitled “Catholic Conscience in the 21st Century”. At that time, Bishop Fisher was preparing for World Youth Day in Sydney the following year, as …

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Ignition: Talk 3, Part 2

17 May 2011 | 12:31 am
Tue May 17 00:31:33 2011

In this week’s episode of Ignition, we release part two of Bishop Anthony Fisher’s talk “Catholic Conscience in the 21st Century”, given as the 2007 NZ Catholic Lecture. We will complete the lecture in the episode released next Monday.

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Ignition: Talk 3, Part 1

10 May 2011 | 12:25 am
Tue May 10 00:25:50 2011

In this new series from Ignition, we serialise the 2007 NZ Catholic Lecture, given by Bishop Anthony Fisher, OP. Bishop Fisher was then an Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney; he is now Bishop of Parramatta. This talk was entitled Catholic Conscience …

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For more posts, visit www.catholicsoapbox.com

While the soapbox metaphor obviously relates to the idea of Gavin getting on his soapbox to have his say, it will also allow for some special soap-themed posts. Keep an eye out for them.

The latest posts on the Catholic Soapbox

If you need more Gavin in your life…

21 February 2012 | 7:35 am
Tue Feb 21 07:35:17 2012

This morning, my latest little Catholic internet project went live as the first episode of The View from Down Here was released. The show features your truly and the brothers Malone having a chinwag about some of the big news stories from the United States that touch on Catholicism, politics or — better still — both. In the first episode, we talked about the controversy over President Obama’s contraceptive mandate as part of health care reform. We also had the … Continue reading →

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Monday is Fun-day

20 February 2012 | 11:00 am
Mon Feb 20 11:00:20 2012

For tonight’s post, I want to offer a bit of Catholic humour. We can often take ourselves far too seriously, and a lot of non-Catholics argue that we can’t laugh at ourselves, but here are two examples of Catholic witticism for your amusement. You’re welcome

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Hello, world

19 February 2012 | 8:20 am
Sun Feb 19 08:20:37 2012

Back in 1996, a young guy by the name of Eldrick Woods announced that he was going to become a professional golfer. You probably know him better as Tiger Woods, the name that he officially took on a couple of years later, and when he made the announcement, the commercials introducing him to the world had the catchphrase “Hello, World”. It was a pretty loud “hello”, given that Nike was one of the brands that was behind the media event. … Continue reading →

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The latest Internet meme

18 February 2012 | 12:21 pm
Sat Feb 18 12:21:04 2012

Every so often, a fun little Internet fad takes off. In recent weeks, it’s been a humorous series of images, most of which have six smaller images. According to multiple sources, this was the first example of the “What I Really Do” meme: There have been hundreds of people use the template to refer to their own industry or place in life. I’ve found some religious-themed one for you to enjoy this weekend. There were several atheist memes; the one … Continue reading →

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US Catholic voters prefer Mormon candidate

16 February 2012 | 12:46 pm
Thu Feb 16 12:46:35 2012

In an interesting new poll, Catholic voters appear to be moving away from President Barack Obama and comprehensively favour Mormon Republican candidate Mitt Romney in a head-to-head contest against the incumbent president. The Catholic News Agency gets into the nitty gritty: [Rasmussen Reports's] national telephone survey, conducted Feb. 6-12 amid controversy over the federal contraception mandate, found that 59 percent of likely Catholic voters at least “somewhat disapprove” of the Obama presidency. While 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama … Continue reading →

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For more posts, visit www.catholicsoapbox.com

As the network continues to grow and adapt, we thought it was a good idea to update the site. So, we’ve moved to a new server and set up a whole bunch of new functionality. You can now subscribe to individual podcasts as well as comment and contribute to the community, as well as connect with us on all the key social media sites.

So, head on over to www.station15.co.nz and check it out!

The Catholic Soapbox will provide a daily Kiwi Catholic perspective on global news and events, tackling Catholic issues as well as mainstream issues from a Catholic perspective.  Gavin Abraham, a journalist for more than a dozen years who has spent most of the last six years working in Catholic media, will be the site’s principal author, though others may chime in from time to time.

While the soapbox metaphor obviously relates to the idea of Gavin getting on his soapbox to have his say, it will also allow for some special soap-themed posts. Keep an eye out for them.

The latest episodes from the Catechiwi

Catechiwi: The Commandments, Episode 3

14 July 2011 | 9:24 pm

Fr Merv Duffy, SM, and Gavin continue to work through the Ten Commandments in the July episode of Catechiwi. This month, it’s commandments five and seven: Thou shall not kill and Thou shall not steal. As we’ve found with the …

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Catechiwi: The Commandments, Episode 2

1 June 2011 | 4:57 am

In this month’s Catechiwi episode, we continue our series on The Ten Commandments started last month. Fr Merv Duffy, SM, talks to Gavin about the third and fourth commandments: Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day and Honour your father …

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Catechiwi: The Commandments, Episode 1

1 May 2011 | 10:35 am

Catechiwi returns on a new date — the first of the month –  as we start a series of podcasts on The Ten Commandments. Fr Merv Duffy, SM, the dean of studies at Good Shepherd College in Auckland, returns as …

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Catechiwi is moving

11 April 2011 | 8:35 pm

Hi friends, Just a quick note to advise you that Catechiwi, our educational podcast — though you learn something from all our shows, right? — is moving from its old spot of the 8th of the month to the 1st …

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Catechiwi: The ministerial priesthood

9 December 2010 | 7:29 am

In our final episode of 2010, Catechiwi welcomes back Bishop Patrick Dunn as he talks about a topic he literally wrote a book on: Priesthood. Bishop Dunn speaks about some of the theological aspects of the priesthood as well as …

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For more episodes, visit www.station15.co.nz

Are you a talented writer or graphic designer? Are you an opinionated person just looking for a soapbox from which to pontificate? Do you have a booming radio voice?

Whatever your talent is — and we all have one or more talents — Icon Media would be keen to bring you on board. Please send us your ideas and your embryonic plans and we’ll see how we can bring them to fruition.

What better way could there be to use your talents than to help spread the Gospel message?

Come check out our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iconmedianz), “Like” us, and then take part in the discussion on workers to the harvest.  Even if you only have a couple of free minutes a week to give to digital ministry – we’ll take that and add it to the pile of others and before you know it, we’ll have some serious time available to help spread God’s message further!

Is God calling you to help?

The bishop’s message is but a taste of the kind of great content, interviews and messages that Icon Media is planning to launch on its new YouTube presence, which we are targeting for this Easter season.

You can follow the bishop on his Facebook page: facebook.com/bishoppatrick.

The mission of Icon Media has been well summed up by the Holy Father’s message for the 44th World Communications Day, released in January 2010.

[H]elp the men and women of the digital age to sense the Lord’s presence, to grow in expectation and hope, and to draw near to the Word of God which offers salvation and fosters an integral human development.

— Pope Benedict XVI

While the Pontiff’s message was aimed at priests, we are sure that he would ask lay people committed to using online media to spread Christ’s message would seek those same outcomes.

With that in mind, Icon Media has formulated the following mission statement:

With Christ as its guide, Icon Media aims to help — and help others — spread His message to the world by informing, educating, challenging, inspiring and entertaining His followers and those who do not yet know him.

With skills available within the team and from our partners, Icon is equipped to handle any Internet-based projects.  We are ready to tackle the challenges that face the Church with regards to utilising the ever-changing tools of the media trade to get the Good News of Christ to as many Kiwis and people from around the world as possible!

The podcast tackles some of the issues at the core of being Catholic, pro-life and pro-family. Issues covered in previous episodes include:

- Is adultery the the “exception” to the Catholic teachings which oppose divorce?
- Do you have any practical tips on how to go about having a family prayer time?
- Can you provide practical advice about raising the birds and the bees with children?
- What do we do if we have a child who doesn’t want to go to church anymore?
- Does the Catholic Church have any teachings about whether it should be the husband or the wife who goes out to work and earn money for the family?

The aim of livingtheword is simple: to encourage Young Adults with a scripture resource they can use personally or in a group. A download of readings / reflection document is on-line every Tuesday afternoon 2pm. Subscribe if you wish to have it delivered straight into your inbox. Easy!

Hearing and Sharing is relatively easy, but what about living what we hear? This brings us to the pair of feet on the front page. One of the issues for young adults is that Christian faith and Catholic teachings can just become a lot of ‘words’. And the bible can be simply a huge collection of ‘words’. The shoes are symbolic. It is easy to stand still, shrug shoulders, stand apart, resist getting involved. Criticise. Complain…. more words! How can we move beyond this trap to get moving?

For more posts, visit www.livingtheword.org.nz