featured – Page 18 – Restless Pilgrim

The Mobile Challenge

June 12, 2012 pilgrim 6 comments

I saw someone post this on Facebook and thought it was simply brilliant:

Everyone puts their phones in the middle of the table. Whoever cracks first by touching their phone, pays for the entire meal.

The purpose of the game was to get everyone off their phones, away from twitter, facebook, texting, etc and to encourage conversations. In other words, help cure the “Anti-Social Social Media Craziness”. Here are the rules:

1. The game starts after everyone sits down.

2. Everybody places their phone in the middle of the table.

3. The first person to touch their phone loses the game.

4. Loser of the game pays the bill for everyone’s meal.

5. If the bill comes before anyone has touched their phone, everybody is declared a winner and pays for their own meal.

Are You Game?

Catholicism

Top Five Ways to be a Rockstar Godparent

August 15, 2015 pilgrim 2 comments

Over the last few years I’ve had the honour of sponsoring several people for Baptism and Confirmation. Over my time as a godparent, I’ve asked other sponsors what they do to live out this special vocation.

In today’s post I’ve assembled all the advice I’ve heard from other godparents and sponsors and come up with the top five ways to godparent like a rockstar…
Read more

Catholicism

The Garter Alternative

October 27, 2012 pilgrim 2 comments

There is one wedding “tradition” which I had never come across prior to coming to the United States. It’s the “tossing of the garter” where, in front of all guests, the groom takes off his bride’s garter (sometimes using only with his teeth) and then tosses it to all the single guys, much in the same way as a bride throws a bouquet:

Now, maybe I’m overly sensitive or maybe it’s just because I’m English, but I think this is a custom which is both extremely tacky and undignified:

Catholicism

Biblical Mary: The Ark of the New Covenant

July 14, 2010 pilgrim 60 comments

The other day I wrote about the trials of trying to be an “Ecumenical Apologist“, so today I would like to write a post about something rather controversial, or rather someone rather controversial – Jesus’ mother, Mary.

Mary is something of a source of contention between Catholics and non-Catholics. At best, Catholics are told that the attention they give to Mary draws glory away from God. At worst, Catholics are charged with unbiblical doctrine, necromancy and idolatry.

In this post I will not attempt to try and convince any non-Catholics of the veracity of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her Assumption or any of the other particularly Catholic Marian doctrines. I would simply like to show you a scriptural perspective on Mary of which you may be unaware. My aim is that after reading this post you would be awed at the cohesiveness of God’s master plan and declare that Mary truly is “blessed” (Lk 1:48-49)

Apologetics

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 5 (“Winter”, …)

December 12, 2016 pilgrim Leave a comment

Now that I’ve built a preliminary glossary of Islamic terms, it’s time to read some more chapters of the Qur’an! Today I’m reading suwar 106, 101, 75, 104, 77, 50 and 90.

Surah 106 – “Winter” (Quraish)
This chapter addresses the Quraysh the tribe who dwell in Mecca. Allah says that because of the blessing He has given them, they should worship Him.

Questions

Q1. In what sense is the Ka’bah Allah’s “House”? Does he dwell there in any special sense as Yahweh did in the Jerusalem Temple?

Catholicism

What works in your diocese?

May 28, 2015 pilgrim 3 comments

I know that a lot of people who read this blog don’t live in San Diego. I also know that many of you are involved in ministry in some way, especially youth and young adult ministry. Therefore, I thought I’d do a post outlining some of the things we do here in San Diego which have proven popular, in case you wanted to try the same thing in your Diocese.

1. Theology On Tap
I expect most areas of the country have implemented a Theology On Tap programme. Simply put, you take over a restaurant or bar and have a speaker present on a topic for 45 minutes. There’s usually some Q&A and some group discussion. If you want a good turn-out make sure you do a talk on relationships every now and again 🙂

2. The Mega Series
This was something that we came up with in this diocese. Very often Catholics can feel isolated. This is particularly true of young Catholics when most of the people in their parish are significantly older. What the Mega Series attempts to do is bring large numbers of young adults together in traditional devotions, followed by a social. The goal of this is to remind Catholics that they are not alone and are part of a much larger Church. The three main “mega” events we’ve had have been:

(a) Mega Mass

(b) Mega Adoration

3. Bible Study
One of the most popular events in the Diocese is the Young Adult Bible study and it’s very often one of the first “spiritual” events new arrivals attend. Given this, it’s important that the Bible study has a strong social and welcoming dimension.

4. Rosary and Adoration
Very often we try complicated, clever things to attract young adults and youths. However, I’ve seen time and again that simply having a night of adoration or recitation of the rosary attracts significant numbers of people.

5. Holiday Parties
The Young Adult Christmas Party in San Diego this is the social event of the year. Everyone gets dressed up, has dinner together and dances the night away. The other major holidays of the year (Memorial Day etc.) are likewise marked with a substantial gathering.

6. Sports
Here is San Diego there is a thriving Catholic Ultimate Frisbee community, in addition to many other sports.

7. Dancing
About four times a year I teach a dance lesson in the Diocese, usually either Salsa or Swing, and there’s always a solid turn-out.

Do any San Diegans have any other thoughts on what works well in our Diocese? What about those of you from elsewhere in the country? What events seem to be most engaging?