This weekend, the sisters of Sound Mind & Spirit are going on a little road trip together to the lovely city of San Antonio TX with our mother. Shelly & I are very excited to be attending the Catholic New Media Celebration sponsored by the Star Quest Production Network, SQPN. The 2009 Catholic New Media Celebration (CNMC) is an international conference which focuses on evangelization of the Roman Catholic faith using New Media. It is a day to Learn, Share, and Explore how New Media can help the Catholic Church in the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II.

I discovered SQPN a couple of years ago while searching Catholic sites on the net. While I had recently been given an iPod by my wonderful husband, it never occurred to me that Catholic priests, deacons, and laypersons put out podcasts about faith, family, life, and anything else that might interest you. Then I stumbled on SQPN. A whole new world of podcasts and blogs about our faith was open to me. For the last two years I have enjoyed a multitude of Catholic podcasts covering just about every subject, including homilies, the rosary, saints and the daily musings of a dutch priest. Some of my favorites include podcasts by husband and wife hosts and a Catholic Mom.

To be honest, finding these podcasts and blogs has opened my eyes to a whole new world of Catholic culture. The internet and new media is not where I was expecting to find this spiritual community that would help me connect to my faith, but there it is, just waiting for us. And as strange as it may seem, I’ve embraced it. And encouraged my sister and mom to also!

So off we go to the CNMC this weekend to meet many of the podcasters, bloggers, and other members of this new media community. We are also excited to find out that some of our favorite non-SQPN bloggers whose links are on this page are hosting workshops on Saturday, along with our favorite SQPN hosts. We will also be able to connect with several Catholic vendors, including The Catholic Company, for whom we are an official product reviewer.

I’m sure we will have a report about what we’ve learned in the workshops with lots of great stories and pictures to share when we return. And, as excited as I am to be going to the CNMC, I’m really thrilled to be sharing it and the weekend with my sister and mom.