On May 3, 2013, myself and three others, launched a new app into the world of iOS. We have been working on this app for what seems like forever. This app crosses over into my personal life, as well as business.

Two years ago, my wife and I were trying to teach our kids a little more about the rich history the church has with Saints. Some of the more famous ones come to mind: St. Mary, St. Joseph, St. Christopher, things from my childhood, typical Catholic Saints. Together we couldn't remember much. Since both of us are practicing Catholics, we wanted to share this with our kids. The trouble was, there just wasn't much out there that we found useful for our 3-7 year olds, that wasn't too graphic, too long, or very 'modern'. It was also spread out all over the place, and wasn't easy to keep coming back to. We wanted something handy, something that our kids could play with.

I started out by trying to learn xcode, but by the time I learned enough to get about half way into the design of the app, the OS was updated. I wasn't familiar with Objective C at all, so it was a bit of stretch. After three frustrating attempts, I decided I wanted the App to come out before, phones went away, and we were all wearing watches or glass. 

I turned to hire a developer to help me out, and things finally started to move forward. A long story short we had launched this past Friday. The next project I am aiming is to pick up the code for the Diocese App of opensourcecatholic and bring it into a couple of my web projects.

Pope Benedict XVI released his message for this year's World Communications Day (which will be May 12th), with the theme Social Networks: portals of truth and faith; new spaces for evangelization.

...At times the gentle voice of reason can be overwhelmed by the din of excessive information and it fails to attract attention which is given instead to those who express themselves in a more persuasive manner. The social media thus need the commitment of all who are conscious of the value of dialogue, reasoned debate and logical argumentation; of people who strive to cultivate forms of discourse and expression which appeal to the noblest aspirations of those engaged in the communication process. Dialogue and debate can also flourish and grow when we converse with and take seriously people whose ideas are different from our own....

Read the whole thing here: Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI for the 47th World Communications Day.

Hat tip to Whispers in the Loggia.

Apparently, on December 3, the Holy See Press Office will hold a press conference announcing the Pope's official entry into the Twitterverse. From the Vatican Information Service:

Vatican City, 29 November 2012 (VIS) – Benedict XVI will be present on Twitter. All related information will be reported on Monday 3 December at a press conference to be held in the Holy See Press Office, with the participation of Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Msgr. Paul Tighe, secretary of the same dicastery, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J., director of the Holy See Press Office, Professor Gian Maria Vian, editor of “L'Osservatore Romano”, and Greg Burke, Media Advisor to the Secretariat of State.

The Pope has already used the 140 character “tweet” format when, in June 2011, he launched the Vatican information portal www.news.va., with the words: “Dear friends, I just launched News.va. Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI”.