Rosary Multi-Touch iPad E-Book

UpWord Studios Launches The Rosary Multi-Touch eBook on iTunes, Bringing Together Catholic Teachings and New Media Functionality
One of the first multi-touch ebooks available on iTunes, the inaugural project of non-profit UpWord Studios offers a fresh example of how digital technology is being applied to serve the Catholic community

UpWord Studios (http://www.upwordstudios.org), a non-profit organization that supports and funds the creation of Catholic new media, today launched The Rosary multi-touch ebook on iTunes. As one of the first interactive digital books available on iTunes, this inaugural project by UpWord Studios demonstrates how digital technology can enhance religious teachings and practice in the Catholic Church and other religious denominations.

Working with content licensed from ACTA Publications, Loyola Press, and Carrick Ministries, The Rosary was designed to serve as a participative praying and teaching aid for the iPad. It can be utilized by everyone from ministers and educators to laypeople and non-Catholic seekers to learn how to fully experience praying the rosary, which is one of the most popular of all Catholic devotions.

The Rosary multi-touch ebook features:

Interactive content, including embedded graphics, video, and audio
Animations and dynamic diagrams that change with touch gestures
Flash cards and glossary
Interactive quizzes

This Multi-Touch ebook also leverages the iPad feature set, including landscape and portrait modes, pinch-to-zoom, color highlight and annotation, and digital notes.

“Today’s technologies like the iPad’s digital books enable people to learn about, participate in, and share Catholic teachings with greater involvement and effectiveness,” said Fred Fosnacht, founder of UpWord Studios. “We’re pleased to work with ACTA, Loyola Press and Carrick Ministries to deliver The Rosary as our first Catholic new media project, and to bring an innovative and important new tool to the experience of learning about and praying the rosary.”

UpWord Studios’ project pipeline includes work with a variety of collaborators on Catholic new media initiatives, including:

iPhone and iPad apps
Interactive games
Webcasts and live video streaming
Podcasts and videocasts
Virtual event experiences
Online communities

Pricing and Availability
The Rosary multi-touch ebook is now available for download on the iTunes store for US$14.99.

Catholic Summer Reading Program Underway

Local owned and nationally recognized Catholic bookstore Aquinas and More Catholic Goods (www.aquinasandmore.com) has announced the winners of its annual Catholic Summer Reading Program.

The program officially launched June 15, and held two weeks of voting for Catholic readers to choose their favorite titles in two categories of books, Adult and Teen.

“The purpose of our Catholic Summer Reading Program is to keep Catholics reading and engaged with their faith during the summer vacation season, to expose them to new titles in all genres, and also to the Catholic novel – something that is becoming a rarity”, said Ian Rutherford, President of Aquinas and More.

The program features downloadable discussion guides for the winners, flyers that Catholic retailers can download and use in their stores, and much more. Parishes can even can use them to start up summer reading groups. There is also a suggested reading list for kids, complete with coloring pages.

This years' winners from the Adult Category include: “At the Heart of the Gospel”, a non-fiction work by Christopher West, who is an expert on John Paul II's Theology of the Body; “Christopher”, a novel about a potential convert by David Athey, and “The Power and the Glory” by Graham Greene, which is

especially timely considering the release of the movie “For Greater Glory.”

Teen Category winners include perennial favorites: “The Screwtape Letters”, by C.S. Lewis, “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien, and “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen.

“Our program is a reminder that summer reading can actually be a fortifier for your soul instead of just a distraction for your mind. Many Catholics will find what we offer to be more accessible than some other alternatives which can be more time and commitment intensive.”, said Rutherford.

You can find all the information you need to get started at (www.catholicsummerreading.com). There is also a forum available for Catholics to discuss the books at (www.catholicbookdiscussion.com).

Aquinas and More Catholic Goods is the largest Catholic store on-line and was the first Catholic on-line store to offer digital media for sale and the first to offer its own line of e-books.

Ancient icon makes its video streaming debut

One of the world’s oldest, miraculous images of the Madonna and Child is now viewable to people all over the world for the very first time.

The original icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help, which dates back to the 1400s, can now be seen on a live video feed from inside the Redemptorist mother church of Sant’ Alfonso in Rome, Italy where this sacred masterpiece has been venerated since 1866.

For Christians around the world who have a devotion to Mary under this title, this will be the very first time the majority of them will be able to view the original image -- live, up close and personal – through the video stream!

With a simple click on the video player (www.maryprayforus.org), admirers from around the world, and those seeking answers to their prayers through Mary’s powerful intercession, can now spend time with this holy icon in the quiet of their own homes.

When he entrusted the original icon to the Redemptorists in 1866, Blessed Pope Pius IX did so with one stipulation: ‘make her known throughout the world.’ “We believe the Holy Father would be very pleased to see how we have delivered on his mandate over the past 146 years and particularly today with this video streaming announcement,” said Father Harry Grile, C.Ss.R., provincial superior of the Denver Province.

For more information on the icon please visit www.maryprayforus.org.

The CatholicTV Network to Air Special July Fourth Programming

WATERTOWN, MA (July 3, 2012) – In honor of Independence Day and “Fortnight for Freedom,” a 14-day period of prayer, education and action in support of religious freedom, from June 21-July 4, 2012 CatholicTV will broadcast special events.

In support of this call to action the CatholicTV Network, along with the Archdiocese of Boston focused “the energies of the Catholic community" to heighten people’s awareness of the most cherished liberty: Religious Freedom, by hosting a special “Fortnight for Freedom” event.

The event, an hour-long discussion on the challenges to our religious liberty will air on Wednesday, July 4, 2012 to honor Independence Day and close out “Fortnight for Freedom” at 1:30 PM ET and 8PM ET. A panel of experts including Carl Anderson, Kim Daniels, Dr. Angela Franks, John Garvey, and Cardinal Sean O'Malley discuss the ways that Americans can promote and defend religious freedom.

President of the CatholicTV Network Father Robert Reed will also premiere “A Rosary for Our Nation”. The Rosary will premiere on Wednesday, July 4, 2012, at 10AM ET and 6:30PM ET.

"Our Faith and our citizenship as Americans are so closely tied and, as a Catholic people, we entrust our land to Mary, the Immaculate Conception. At this time perhaps more than any in our lifetime it is so important to ask the Mother of God to pray for our leaders and all the people of these United States."

On Wednesday, July 4, 2012, CatholicTV will also provide closing Mass Coverage beginning at noon from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception with celebrant Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington and homilist Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, OFM Cap.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl is the Archbishop of Washington and was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. He is known nationally for his catechetical and teaching ministry and for his efforts on behalf of Catholic education. He serves on numerous national and international bodies and is chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, chancellor of The Catholic University of America and chairman of the board of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Foundation and The Papal Foundation.

Join the CatholicTV Network as we celebrate Religious Liberty and pray urgently for a new birth of freedom in our beloved country on July 4, 2012.

All Independence Day programming can also be seen live at www.CatholicTV.com.