Our thoughts and prayers go out to the whole of the LDS church with the passing of President Hinckley this past weekend. As many of you will recall, it was the death of Pope John Paul II that spurred Sarah and I into producing the CMP.  Now, a few years removed from that event, we watch as the LDS Church goes through it's own transition of leadership.  On this day, I'm reminded of the kind words President Hinckley had to say regarding Pope John Paul II, "My beloved brothers and sisters, on behalf of the worldwide membership of this Church, I extend to our Catholic neighbors and friends our heartfelt sympathy at this time of great sorrow. Pope John Paul II has worked tirelessly to advance the cause of Christianity, to lift the burdens of the poor, and to speak fearlessly in behalf of moral values and human dignity. He will be greatly missed, particularly by the very many who have looked to him for leadership."  Now it is the Catholic Church's turn to echo those words.

While it was some time before the Catholic Church knew who would be called as the next Vicar of Christ, the LDS Church has a clear plan of succession from the President, to the First Counselor, to the Second Counselor.  Based on this plan of succession, it appears Thomas S. Monson will be/is the next President of the LDS Church.

Sarah and I would like to thank Father Roderick for mentioning the Catholic Mormon Podcast on his Daily Breakfast podcast #345... 

We continue to be amazed and humbled by the wonderful emails we receive and traffic that continues to come to the CMP website. Thank you to everyone who has written us and posted on the site.  By the pictures, you can see an example of what we've been doing rather than podcasting...  not to sound like a broken record, but one of these days we'll turn out a new show.  There are actually a few emails that I've been (and will continue) holding until we do the next show because they are just that good.

Again, thanks for stopping by and Peace be with you all...

--rob

Hello everyone, Sarah and I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend!  For us, it was very enjoyable with my family but WOW was it cold in Northeast Ohio... seriously, what's up with snow in April??? C'mon now, global warming....humm...  The kids just had to do the egg hunt inside grandma and grandpa's house this year!

I'd also like to thank my wonderful wife for allowing me to be a complete couch potato during the Masters.

Unfortunately Sarah was not able to go to Mass as our youngest son Billy had her up all night and wasn't feeling well enough to attend.  I do have to share with you one funny story though from Mass.  OK, so we (our two oldest children, my Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother-in-law and I) went to the 9am Mass and we're sitting there waiting...and waiting...  now it's 9:05 and nothing... then the Deacon came out to say that we'll begin the Mass as soon as the Celebrant arrives.  With that you could hear a low volume wave of chatting cross the entire church as people began to speculate as to what was going on.  A few minutes later, the Priest arrived and the enterance procession began.  The priest arrived at the front of the church and greeted everyone by saying "I'd like to welcome everyone to the 9:12 Mass."  and a slight chuckle crossed the church.   Fast forward to the homily...  now I love the homily and this perticular priest is fantastic.  He started out by saying "In today's world, we are so caught up with moving quickly through tasks...  We are a task based society, we even coined a new phrase, 'multitasking'." (by the way, this pretty much sums up my life, so it really captured my attention!)  He continued to say, 'You know what multitasking is, right?  It's like when you're sitting on your chair, drinking a cup of coffee, petting your dog, watching Meet the Press on tv and someone walks in to say - Father, you have the 9am Mass today."  What a great way to think on your feet!!!  Absolutely hilarious!!! 

So, how was your Easter?  I'd especially like to extend a welcome to those who entered into the Catholic Church this Easter!  It's Sarah's 5 year anniversary of becoming Catholic and it's still amazing to think about all of the events of that time in our life!  Please feel free to email or send some pictures of your Easter celebration. If you completed your journey of conversion this past weekend we'd love to hear from you and see pictures!

Hey Gang,

I wanted to get a quick not out to all of you to let ya know that Sarah and I had actually recorded a show on 3/18, but after we were finished, I discovered that they mic input wasn't set to the mixer and her laptops built in mic did a pretty crappy job of picking up our voices.  I'm working to clean and boost it as much as possible.  Don't want you thinking that we've dropped off the earth yet again so to speak...

 

On another note, I have been keeping up with everyone's posts and appreciate all the activity on the site!  Finally, I'm switching the catholicmormon.com domain name to Go Daddy and you may experience a brief interruption of this domain name resolving at some point in the next week.  Hopefully not, but just in case...  that's why.

 

Did you happen to see the Pope's affirmation that Hell really does exist?  If not, here's a link...  Does this come as a surprise to anyone? 

Well, the political season here in the good ole US of A is heating up... already.  Is it me or does this 'season' seem to be starting earlier and earlier every cycle?

While Sarah and I haven't yet recorded our next show, we've been kicking around some ideas and with the flurry of Presidential bids being announced, I thought I'd throw out my two cents and see what all of you out there are thinking… 

As you obviously gathered by the title of this posting and the graphic, I'm going to share some thoughts on the Presidential campaign of Mitt Romney (www.mittromney.com) which he announced today, February 13, 2007.  I don’t think it’s a big surprise that Mitt is LDS, right?  You knew that…  or did you?  I actually started writing this blog post prior to his formal announcement and speculated as to how (or if, for that matter) the media would make a big deal about his LDS faith.  Well, Mitt beat me to the posting and USA Today newspaper has already answered my question to some degree.  I’m actually writing this post from snowed in St. Louis… and wondering if I’m going to be able to get home to Cleveland tomorrow relatively on time - one can only hope!  This morning, I was very surprised to see a picture of Mitt and his Mormon faith on the cover page of the newspaper as I rolled out of bed and grabbed the paper that had been slid under my hotel door during the night. 

Now granted, I didn’t have any time today to watch the news on tv or gather any other sources, but that one event said to me that this will be 'an issue’ that will be discussed in the media.  Let’s face it, ‘news’ has become more about sensationalism than facts (at least in my opinion) and to that end, I’m fairly certain there will not be any shortage of ‘sensational’ stories should they decide to dig into Mitt’s family history and faith.  The big question is, how will Mitt address this and will this attention be a good thing or a bad thing for the LDS church?  How will exaggerations or misrepresentations be addressed by church leadership?  Should they be addressed by Church leadership?

Now, as a voter I’m going to share some thoughts with you in the hope of generating a good and open discussion on what’s in a vote.  As a general political philosophy, Sarah and I tend to side more often with Republicans than Democrats – So, I guess that makes us conservatives in nature and superseding all of that, we’re Catholics who make decisions based on principles.  No, we didn’t vote for John Kerry because he’s Catholic, actually, we didn’t vote for him at all.  In our opinion, he lacked personal ethics and consistency toward his faith given some of his political positions – not the lease of which is his stance on abortion!  I’m sorry, but I couldn’t buy the idea that I’m Catholic, but will choose to live my (political) life in a manner inconsistent with my Catholic faith.  You are the sum of all your parts – mind, body, history, faith, goals, blab la bla.  Are Sarah and I the only ones who see this as a MAJOR issue of personal integrity that should carry over to one’s political career?

OK, so now we have Mitt Romney in the race for the White House.  True that his values are much more in line with those of Sarah and I in terms of the value  of life, economic policy and the role of individuals verses ‘big government’.  Great.  But…  there is that religion issue.  Clearly Mitt would disagree with Sarah and I on the issue of who’s faith is established by God.  Technically, we don’t disagree a little – we disagree a lot!  Our faiths in the bluntest of terms are mutually exclusive – there is no shade of one in the other.  It’s either Catholic 100% right or LDS 100% right.  Either Our Lord’s Church has had an unbroken line of succession and the keys of God’s kingdom have been passed down through the Chair of Peter OR God took the keys away shortly after the death of the last of the twelve original Apostles and restored His Church through Joseph Smith…  black   or    white   …period. 

As a voter, I’m now presented with the question of how much I should value the personal religion of a political candidate.  True, I like what he stands for on the political issues.  I’m sure he’s a good, well intentioned, honest man.  I’m not questioning that at all.  However, after having studied and experienced the LDS religion, I have formed opinions which (if I am to be consistent in my overall principles for living my life in an integrated fashion with my religion) should also be considered with casting my support for one man.  Call it what you want, I’m not bashing on Mitt or the LDS religion, but I will probably be looking for another candidate to vote for during this election season should he get the Republican nomination.  I simply cannot bring myself to vote for a person who holds such different views of who God is and holds very different opinions on Christianity.

I suspect this will be a major MAJOR issue has his political opponents trickle information to the media.  It’s going to be interesting to see what the media picks up on and how he responds, but one thing is now clear to me – this will come up.

What are your thoughts – is this a big deal to you?  Do you think it will be a big deal in the media?  Do you think it’s even fair for us to consider the faith of a man when choosing a leader… 

 

ooohhh boy has it been a long time... and ooooh boy oh boy has that come across loud and clear in the posts from the previous show (and gmail).

OK, now for the reason... Well, truth be told, there isn't a good one. I guess you could say that we burned ourselves out in the first year, flickered through most of 2006 and now we find ourselves plopped smack dab at the start of 2007. I know this probably isn't the reason some of you may have been looking for or whatever the case may be, but it's the truth.  That said, Sarah and I do feel very bad about 'leaving you hanging' and going AWOL for so long (including Christmas...).

So, this presents us with a few questions that we (y'all too!) need to answer... First, is the CMP worth continuing in it's current or some new form? I tend to think it is, but needs to change form to something easier to produce. Secondly, is there any new or broader perspective that we should introduce such as a side-bar focus on other faiths? The second question is a little tougher as it may expand our audience participation, but sacrifice this little niche that we've carved out for ourselves, not to mention that neither Sarah nor I really know enough to put half-way decent content together.  I, personally, vote for keeping the CMP focused on C and M for the P...but who knows, maybe others want to know a little more about J, I, L, B, or other religions...  (incase anyone was wondering, I had in mind Judaism, Islam, Lutheran and Baptist in mind when I wrote the letters...)

At this point, there are a few truths I know.  First, there's no question about our faith.  Please don't mistake the absence of the show for anything other than a lapse of passion to produce it coupled with a need to focus on our family.  Second, the supportive emails and posts on the blog are greatly appreciated and partially responsible for us wanting to 'do something' once again!  Third, we miss you guys...  honestly, it's like something has been missing in our lives too.  However, this time around I'm going to try to maintain more of a balance in show related activities and family related activities.  Looking back at some of the posts from previous shows, it was obvious that I suffered from CBPS - Constant Blog Posting Syndrom.  Seriously...  what the heck was I doing posting at all hours of the day and night???  loco...  Now, I'm out of CBPS rehab and going to get my feet wet again.

So, what do ya think?  Willing to give the CMP another try?

Take care and thanks for sticking with us... 

--rob

Hey Gang, the well is dry currently for July's Conversion Cast. Will this be the first month without one??? Who's going to answer the call??? Don't just expect the other lister to send in theirs!!!

On a brighter note, we have received a great Saint related email for our next show, thanks to Jason for stepping up!

Thanks gang for your help, we all benefit.

--rob

A rainbow is seen in the sky as the Pope Benedict XVI pays his respect to the victims of the former Birkenau Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland May 28, 2006. Calling himself 'a son of Germany,' Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this 'valley of darkness.' REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Looks like Apple's imaging product 'Shake' was used for developing some special effects shots in an upcoming movie about the life of Joseph Smith. 

http://www.apple.com/pro/film/rowland/

I'm always amazed at the advancements in digital special effects.  I'll have to look for a release date - if anyone knows anything else, I'd love to hear from you!

This is possibly one of the funniest parody videos out there and I just had to share with with you.

Baby got book

It's been way way wayyyyy too long since we put out a new show, but we are pulling one together this evening. WE PROMISE!

Hey Gang, it's that time of the month again. Sarah and I would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has voted for the CMP and continued to maintain our Top 100 position in the Podcast Alley rankings out of over 14,000 podcasts!!! UNREAL! THANK YOU...

VOTE At PodcastAlley!

Enter your email address:

OK CMP'ers, we would like to ask you to email us digital pictures. As a true community, it cannot just be Sarah and I sharring photos! We'd love to see all of you in action too! Load us up!!! We have 2 GB of disk space with Gmail and I'd love to see it full with your pictures! No limits or specific topics, just send away... Sarah and I have been kicking around some ideas on how to continue to grow this great community we all belong to and it's time to pull all of you in even more!

As if you didn't know it already, our email address is catholicmormon@gmail.com

Ohh, by the way... GO STEELERS!!!

Well CMP'ers... Sarah and I started to record a show on Friday night (our only real chance during the weekend) and our mixer died about three minutes into the show. It runs on a 9v battery - I know...pretty cheap, but it gets the job done - and we were amazed to find that NONE of the kids toys used a 9v battery that I could borrow.

Sooo... that's why we have nothing new for this past weekend. We are VERY sorry about this as we know how many of you look forward to a new show.

We will have January's conversion cast and other fun stuff for you at the end of this week.

A HUGE thanks to everyone who has voted for us at Podcast Alley and please keep the audio clips, Gizmo phone calls (678-292-0191) and other emails coming! We promise to make this up to you very very soon. In the meantime, you can check out some of the Christmas photos I uploaded to our Flickr acocunt by clicking on any of the pictures to the left on our website or the other great Catholic podcasts at Disciples with Microphones!

Sorry folks, but the snow came and the weekend plans changed. We'd like to thank everyone for the positive feedback on the December Conversion Cast and all of the votes for the CMP at Podcast Alley...

Abby brings this peace offering of a snowball to all of you in exchange for the week off. We have uploaded many new pictures to the Flickr photo page. You can link directly to the photos by clicking on any of the Flickr images on the left side of the blog page.

Please continue to send in your family traditions for the CMP Christmas Show!

YES!!! In an effort to make life as easy as possible for sending in those voicemails, we (ok, Rob...) forked out the cash to setup a Gizmo Project phone number!

Got something to say? Give us a buzz anytime day or night and leave a voice mail with your thoughts.

Normal long distance charges will apply and the phone number is based out of Atlanta, GA USA, but if you live in the United States and have free long distance (like many cell phone plans) then the call is virtually free.

Alternately, you can download Gizmo to call us totally free using your computer. Our screen name is catholicmormon (as if you expected it to be anything else).

Hope to hear from you soon!!!

Oh yea, one more thing... we also just signed up with MySpace, so stop by and add youself there is you want! The link is myspace.com/catholicmormon.

Now this is very cool... Use the banner below to pin point the town you live in and see where other CMP'ers are around the world.



If you're a listener of the CMP, please take a moment to tell us where you're from and take a look at what other people are saying around the world!

Thanks to Michael from Disciples with Microphones for the tip!

Hard to believe that it was four years ago today Sarah and I were married. My how the time goes by! Four years married; three children born, moved twice in two different states, got a dog (and lost two cats)...and ohh..by the way, we started this little thing called the Catholic Mormon Podcast!

Thanks for continuing to be a part of our lives and journey with us! --rob

As I mentioned in our podcast for October 16th, we're interested in knowing where our listeners are around the world. We appreciate everyone's participation in the CMP and invite you to tell us a little about where you're from, what faith you currently belong to or whatever else you feel like sharing.

We've got an amazing community of listeners and this is just one way for us to share and get to know each other a little more.

Howdy CMP listeners, although we only asked for one week off, time seems to have gotten away from us a little and we're going to need to hit the 'snooze button' until later this week. Thanks to everyone for all of your support and for all of the emails we received wondering when the next show would be coming out... the number of emails asking has been amazing! Ya'all are the greatest!

Sorry CMP listeners, Sarah and I got a little busy this weekend. We plan on recording / posting a new show Monday night.

By the way, does anybody know how to make an iTunes "Subscribe" icon we can add to our home page? HELP!!!

It's a new month - Please remember to VOTE at Podcast Alley for ALL of your favorite podcasts.

Hey CMP listeners, it appears that we're having a problem with our iTunes subscription.

In the directory, we are listed twice. One of the feeds lists our show #16 (uploaded this past Sunday), but the other for some reason has not updated and only runs through show #15. I noticed it only because I subscribe to the 'broken' link and have since subscribed to the correct one. Until this problem is resolved, it may be a good idea to subscribe to both feeds from iTunes.

I'll keep you posted on what happens. Thanks! --rob

Sarah and Rob welcome all iTunes listeners to the Catholic Mormon Podcast sometimes referred to as the CMP. We've had a lot of fun producing this show and see no end in sight. Sarah was born in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church) and remained a faithful member until her conversion to the Catholic Church in 2002 while Rob was born Catholic, but didn't really know a whole heck of a lot about the faith and was (more or less) challenged to rediscover the Catholic Church while exploring the possibility that the Mormon Faith may be the 'True Church'

The show is designed around the personal experiences we had as we tried to search for the true church. This wasn't easy and certainly didn't happen overnight - infact, it was a two year process which took us down soooo many paths for education and soul searching.

Now, it is our pleasure to share our experiences with you in a deeply personal manner sometimes with the hope that something mentioned on the show answers a question or perhaps sparks inquiry and motivates you in whatever direction is right (whatever the heck that means?) This isn't one of those stuffy type religious shows - we have fun and enjoy sharing the path we walked (and continue to walk)toward the Catholic Church.

We usually shoot to have a new show posted each Saturday night / Sunday morning although this week is our first exception due to some personal events of the weekend.

Anyway, we're really glad you subscribed to our podcast and always welcome your comments, suggestions or whatever it is you feel motivated to share.

Peace,
--sarah and rob

Hey Catholic Mormon Podcast listeners, Sarah and I are curious to know more about you!

Where are you from???

What attracted you to the show?

You can click the 'comments' link under the Earth picture to respond. Thanks for sharing! --rob

Thank you to every member of the United States armed services, past and present, who have made sacrifices in the defense of Liberty and especially to those who gave their life. You are forever in our prayers.

FDR's D-Day Prayer Text

This link will take you to a special photo page from Glenn Beck's 2003 Memorial Day Rally for America.

Please send photos of any service members to catholicmormon@gmail.com and add Memorial Day Photo in the subject. We would be honored to post a picture of anyone who has served our country in a special section of our photo pages.

May God Bless the USA!

In our latest podcast, we mistakingly referred to the conception of Jesus as the 'Immaculate Conception' when infact, it is correctly referred to as the 'Virgin Birth'. Thanks to Joel for pointing out this all too common point of confusion. We will be sure to correct this error in terminology in the follow-up podcast later this week.

Here is a link to opening remarksby Gordon B. Hinckley about Pope John Paul II.

Click this link for a detailed description of why a Mormon Baptism is not recognized by the Catholic Church.

Obscure Patron Saint of the Day link here

Sarah and Rob can be contacted using Skype... Our user name is 'catholicmormon' and we're usually online during the weekends. If you see us online and it's not an ungodly hour of the night (Eastern timezone), give us a call! If you don't know what Skype is, think of it as an Internet phone which can be used in similar fashion to any Instant Messaging program except for the fact that we get to talk to each other in real time rather than type messages back and forth.