Ellen Gable's Blog, page 107

AmazingCatechists.com Declares: “No topic off limits!”

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CONTACT: Lisa Mladinich

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For Immediate Release

AmazingCatechists.com Declares: “No topic off limits!”

New York, USA – Just four months after the popular site underwent an exciting re-design, AmazingCatechists.com has established itself as a premiere haven for catechetical leaders, catechists, and parents for connecting and exploring topics of urgent importance.

“Our readers like us because we believe two things: 1) That absolutely anything can be illumined in the light of our Catholic faith; and 2) that teaching and learning the Catholic faith can and should be thrilling!” says the site’s founder, Lisa Mladinich, author of Our Sunday Visitor’s highly-regarded catechetical series, “Be an Amazing Catechist.”

“It’s a phenomenally vibrant and engaging team of contributors,” says Mladinich. “Many of the site’s 25 veteran catechists and catechetical leaders are also active in the Church as authors, bloggers, podcasters, speakers, and retreat leaders.”

A special column in the Catholic portal at Patheos.com this week called, ‘Faith, Sex, and Suicide: Nothing We Won’t Talk About,’ highlights the distinctive flavor of the site, achieved through a wide variety of faithfully Catholic approaches to teaching, living, and learning the Catholic faith, and provides links to help readers join in the conversation.

Hot topics addressed in recent postings include: the spiritual effects of voluntary sterilization, talking to teens about suicide, the power of the Passion, the dangers of yoga, finding a slice of heaven on earth, evangelizing through storytelling, and much more.

http://amazingcatechists.com

Amazing Catechists TM

Sons of Cain by Val Bianco

Sons of Cain by Val Bianco begins with a prologue describing Pope Leo’s horrifying vision of Hell, the vision that prompted him to write his famous “St. Michael Prayer.”

Misery loves company. One need only look at the present state of the world to see that Satan is hard at work trying to gain souls to keep him company for all eternity. Those who do not believe in the devil will think twice after reading this compelling and frighteningly realistic novel.

The cover is eye-catching and enticing. I was easily swept up in the story. The setting is well done. Characters are well-developed and believable; I especially enjoyed Fr. Picora (and I guessed early on who this character is supposed to be). Bianco’s writing style is solid and easy to read. Although the author uses a lot of back story (which I normally don’t like), I understand why he did. Extensive background is needed to understand the plot. The “good” characters are well-developed (although not perfect). The evil characters are evil. There’s no sugar coating or watering down objective truth. Catholic teaching is inherent in the story without being preachy.

My favorite quote from this book is “The completion of a life well-lived, no matter how untimely the death, is the beginning of eternal bliss.” I also liked the term “Christ-like masculinity” to describe the main character, Nick Rieper, and his fellow Knights of Longinus, who have pledged their lives, their fortunes and their honor to battle international Satanism. Too often in our secular society females are attracted to womanizers who can’t say no to sex (i.e. Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind; James Bond, to name a few).

True masculinity, “Christ-like” masculinity, is embodied in Nick Rieper, a handsome, muscular, strong, Mass attending, rosary carrying ex-Navy Seal who embraces the virtues.

One minor criticism: a few times, a chapter would take place in one setting, then the next chapter takes place in a different setting the day before. I found this confusing and it made me stop for a moment to figure out what was going on.

The bottom line, however, is that this is an incredibly good read. I especially encourage readers to check out the “What’s Real” section on the author’s website. Fascinating information! Sons of Cain is available in Kindle or print from Amazon.

Highly recommend!

(With thanks to the author, who provided me with a free Kindle copy of his book.)

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Family Life Humor

Cartoon copyright 2012 James and Ellen Hrkach/Full Quiver Publishing

Sunday Snippets – April 15

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn’s Place for Sunday Snippets where we share posts from the previous week.

Here are my posts:

Marketing Your Self-Published Book My latest post at the Catholic Writers Guild Blog.

7 Quick Takes Friday – Wow Moments

Photo and text copyright Ellen Gable Hrkach

7 Quick Takes Friday – Wow Moments

Join me and other Catholic Bloggers at Conversion Diary for 7 Quick Takes Friday.

My post today is entitled “Wow Moments.”

1. Although it’s been five years since my mom’s passing, I recently discovered her special box: Click here to read the entire post about my mom’s special box.

2. This photo shows my oldest son holding his youngest brother a week or so after his birth. My youngest son is now the age of my oldest son in this photograph.

3. This was one of those “Wow moments” that caused me to age about ten years. My middle son (below, on bottom) had a job working at the local parachuting club and one of the perks was free skydiving. I prayed a lot and gained more than a few gray hairs in those 20 minutes or so. I later wrote an article about the experience and it was the featured article in Family Foundations magazine.

4. No matter how many times I see St. Joseph’s Oratory, I still say “Wow.” My second oldest son attends Concordia University near this beautiful church in Montreal. Set on a hilltop, it can be seen from virtually any part of the city.

5. It was sad when my stepdad passed away a few months ago. We will all miss his gentle and quiet humor. Just before the funeral, my siblings and I were surprised to find out that my sister’s entire novice class would be attending the funeral. (My sister is a novice with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville). Dressed in white and exuding an infectious enthusiasm for the faith, these beautiful young women made quite an impression. This is a photo from the funeral reception.

6. Now that some of my sons are living away from home, I always feel like it’s a “wow” moment when we’re all together (and that happened recently on my husband’s birthday).

7. Our wedding day, 30 years ago, was the happiest day of my life.

For more “Quick Takes,” visit Conversion Diary.

Next week: More Wow Moments

Photos copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach and Josh Hrkach

Text copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship FREE Today and Tomorrow

My third book, Come My Beloved: Inspiring Stories of Catholic Courtship is FREE today and tomorrow on Amazon Kindle. I was happy to work with Kathy Cassanto in editing this wonderful book of true love stories.

Below are just a few of the many positive reviews this book has received:

"This truly beautiful collection of Catholic courtship stories is a must-read for anyone discerning a vocation, especially the call to marriage; and for those courting, engaged, already married or widowed. Highly recommend!" Lisa Mladinich, author "Be An Amazing Catechist," founder, AmazingCatechists.com

"...whether you're courting, engaged, newlyweds or celebrating your jubilee years together, this terrific resource offers something for anyone looking to grow closer to God and to one another."

Lisa M. Hendey, author "A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms," founder, CatholicMom.com

To read more reviews and watch a book trailer, here is the book's website:

Come My Beloved website

Marketing Your Self-Published Book

My recent post at the Catholic Writers Guild Blog talks about marketing the self-published book:

After years of creating, editing, polishing and many revisions, the last line of your book is written. You have sent it off to the printer. You are finally finished! Now you can sit back, kick up your feet and relax while your book becomes a bestseller.

Wrong.

For the self-published author, the writing of his or her book only comprises 10% of the work. In my experience, 90% has been promotion and marketing.

I've put together some pointers that might help the novice self-published author. These are things that I have learned from ten years experience as a self-published author, things that will help you to market your book.

One: Produce a quality book There is no substitute for a quality book. Don't take short cuts! Hire a professional editor and cover designer. Hire a book coach…please produce a quality book. If you publish a poor quality or mediocre book, no amount of marketing is going to help it sell.

Two: Create a website for your book, along with a book trailer. Here is my second novel's website and book trailer:

Three: Attend local Catholic conferences Since I was writing Catholic fiction, the first thing I did as a new author many years ago was to attend a local Catholic conference. I sold 22 books at that conference. I use the word "local" because obviously there will be expenses for attending out-of-town conferences and an author must weigh the cost of attending to the possible income to be made.

Four: Ask friends, relatives and anyone who is willing to write a review of your book. This has been helpful, although friends and relatives can sometimes go overboard writing gushing reviews.

Five: Social networking/Web Presence Ten years ago, the only social networking sites available were blogs. I didn't have time to start writing a blog, but I did join Facebook way back in 2006 in order to keep any eye on my teenagers. As my friend list grew, it turned out to be a wonderful marketing and promotion tool. Join Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Linked in, Google plus. (BTW, feel free to follow me on any of these sites and I will follow you back!) Make a Facebook page for your book.

Social networking takes time, but these websites can be a tremendous help in promoting your book. Once my boys grew a bit older, I began writing a blog. I also write columns for four different websites and I try to comment frequently on other blogs.

Six: Enter your book in book award contests A major award has the potential of selling books. I entered my first book, Emily's Hope, in the 2006 IPPY Awards. Although I didn't walk away with a medal, they sent me an "Honorable Mention" certificate and a few stickers. When I entered my second book,, in the 2010 IPPY Awards, I had no aspirations of winning anything. When I found out I was a finalist, I automatically assumed I would receive a Bronze medal. Later, I was shocked to discover my book had won the Gold Medal!

Although it doesn't claim to be all-inclusive, this link contains a list of self-publishing contests to enter: http://www.selfpublishingreview.com/blog/2009/01/self-published-book-contests/ Be aware that most of these require an entry fee.

Seven: Release your book as an e-book at a reasonable price (more on e-book pricing in a future post). I wrote about Kindle books in a post last year on this blog.

Putting my books on Kindle has been the single most important marketing device for me. To illustrate this, let me state that in the first six years of my writing career, I sold a total of about 2000 print books, and these sales were mostly from conferences I attended. Last year alone, I sold 5000 e-books and 500 print books (not too bad for a relatively unknown author). In the last six months, over 60,000 people have downloaded my books. Some of these were free promotional downloads, but after the free promotions were over, I saw a spike in sales for all three of my novels (5,000 books SOLD in nearly two weeks). All three of my novels have been in the top ten of Religious and Liturgical Drama for three months, and most of the time, they are in the top four.

Because a self-published author doesn't have a publisher to help them market, we should add "marketing" to the long list of things we must do ourselves.

You may have just written a literary masterpiece. But if you don't promote it, it will be destined for oblivion.

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

Image purchased from iStock.

Sunday Snippets – Easter Sunday

Alleluia! He is Risen! Happy Easter, Everyone!

Please join me and other Catholic bloggers at RAnn's Place for Sunday Snippets where we share posts from the previous week.

This past week, my posts have focused on the immorality of contraception. I did this purposefully.

It was six years ago that a young, famous Protestant couple renounced their moral position on Natural Family Planning. Before this, they had been enthusiastic promoters of NFP, even writing a book called "Open Embrace." In 2006, they issued an open letter stating that NFP and abstinence were harmful to their marriage. It is no coincidence that they issued this letter during Holy Week. In my experience, Satan increases his attacks during this time. Tragically, this couple is now divorced. Both are now attending liberal churches and both think that contraception is "okay." Contraception is NOT okay. It is a serious sin and harms marriages.

Here are my posts:

The Spiritual Consequences of Sterilization : My latest post at Amazing Catechists

Lessons in the Journey Book Review : Leave a comment at this post to be entered to win a free Kindle copy.

The Spiritual Malaise Behind Contraception: (Guest Post by Barb Schoeneberger)

Changing Hearts on Contraception: (Guest Post by Barb Schoeneberger)

The Power of the Rosary encourages all people to pray the rosary on Good Friday.

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

The Power of the Rosary

I received the following email from several friends and wanted to pass it along to readers of my blog:

Imagine what might happen if every Catholic in the world would pray a Rosary on the same day! We have an example in October of 1573, when Europe was saved from the invasion of the mighty Turkish fleet, by the praying of the Rosary by all Christians!

On Good Friday, April 6th 2012, let us all pray a Rosary for peace in the world and the return of moral values into our communities. If possible, please pray your Rosary between Noon and 3:00 pm.

Let's unite in praying one of the most powerful prayers in existence, for these intentions, on one of the holiest days in our Church year.

If you're not familiar with how to recite the rosary, here is a helpful link: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/prayers/rosary/how_to.htm

Photo purchased on iStock

Changing Hearts on Contraception – Guest Post

Special thanks again to Barb Schoeneberger for allowing me to reprint her beautifully written post from last week entitled "Changing Hearts on Contraception."

Yesterday I opened the subject of The Spiritual Malaise Behind Contraception. Sandro Magister called the dichotomy between Church teaching and behavior of observant Catholics proof of "the relentless advance of secularization." We have always been told that temptations come from the world, the flesh and the devil. In the case of contraception all three are at work, but the enormous pressure from the world (secularization) can't be withstood by Catholics who have either lost or never had that profound connection with devout spiritual practices that gave us so many saints throughout the centuries.

Signs of estrangement

Language is powerful. The words we use say a lot about us and where we are in our relationship with God. Let's take a look at some typical statements I've seen on the internet from Catholics regarding contraception to illustrate what I mean:

I don't want the Church telling me what to do.

The Catholic Church is wrong and should get with the times.

I'll quit contracepting when the Pope pays for my children's education.

The bishop should stay out of my bedroom.

Now, for every italicized word, substitute the word "God." A tenet of the Catholic Faith is that Sacred Scripture is truth, the Word of God, and Catholic Tradition which finds its roots in Sacred Scripture comes from God. When the Pope and the bishops in union with him teach the truth God revealed, they speak with the authority of God. So people are really saying, "I don't want God telling me what to do; God is wrong and should get with the times; I'll quit contracepting when God pays for my children's education; God should stay out of my bedroom."

As to the third statement, it is a fact that everything, including money, belongs to God who dispenses it through whatever means He sees fit, so God indeed provides for children's education and all else that parents may need. For the rest, very, very scary is the spirit of the world. It wants NO relationship with God. These statements are indicative of the spiritual blindness afflicting us.

The role of the Capital Sins

If I had to pick among the Seven Capital Sins that facilitate our fascination with the world to the point that we contracept, they would be:

Greed

Lust

Pride

Greed makes us willing to trade children for status and things. It makes us decide that a certain standard of living is more important that accepting what God wants us to have. It drives us to "keep up with the Joneses." It's behind us "needing" to have the latest electronic gadget, entertainment center, dinner at the most upscale restaurant around, a lot of fine jewelry, etc.

The politics of scarcity feeds greed to the point that the United Nations and the U.S. government are trying to force birth control on as many nations as possible. The Malthusians have already been proven wrong, yet nations still try to bully other lesser powers into stunting their population growth, the greater powers eying the natural resources lesser powers have. Greed seeks to deny nations their greatest natural resource, their children.

Lust turns others into objects to be used for our pleasure with no responsibility or respect for the dignity of the person. What is more demeaning to the person than to become an object for someone else's pleasure?

Pride hides behind the quotes above, and behind lust, placing our opinions and ideas above anyone else's, especially God's. Pride cares about what others think, not about what God thinks. And if we don't care what God thinks, then what kind of relationship do we have with Him in the first place?

These sins are in service to secularization. The more we give in to them the blinder we become. We slowly forget God. We arrive at the point where we believe all that we have and accomplish are through our own intelligence and talent. We are just plain full of ourselves with no room for God.

The antidote to secularization

In recent weeks a number of priests have either written or commented on how hard it is to speak on the subject of contraception. They want to teach the truth and have a genuine fear of turning people off or incurring the wrath of the harpies in the parish. If I may be so bold, I offer to them my insight: Church teaching on contraception will fail to ignite the hearts of the faithful unless it becomes part of the whole of developing the virtues of humility and trust in God. This is our starting point and goes for overcoming addiction to any mortal sin. Unless we get to this most basic level of relationship with God, we can forget about getting people to accept anything except what they want to – the "cafeteria Catholic."

Humility and trust in God are nothing more than pretty and useless words, though, without sound spiritual practice. What can we do beyond what the Church requires (the precepts of the Church) to develop humility and trust in God? I'll offer a couple of things here that have taken me a long way:

Commit to examining our consciences every day and go to Confession more than once a month. Once a month just isn't enough for people addicted to mortal sin. Really, if we are trying to strengthen our relationship with God, we need to be thinking about what to do that pleases Him and not what we do that pleases ourselves. The end of the day before going to sleep is the best time to do examine our conscience, accompanied by an act of contrition. Confession – Its Fruitful Practice (With an Examination of Conscience) is a handy booklet to help us face our sins and amend our lives.

Make a habit of practicing awareness of the presence of God. It becomes more and more difficult to sin if we habitually recall the presence of God. Ignatian spirituality calls for stopping what we're doing a couple of times a day to reflect on how we have encountered God that day, praying about what He wants from us here and now, and thanking Him for His graces. With today's wristwatches being capable of setting off an alarm, it's easy to set a time to do this, and the time involved is only about 10 minutes. How complicated is that?

Pray the Traditional Morning Offering from The Apostleship of Prayer. Offering everything of our day to God starts us out on the right foot and combats sinful intentions as we go about our business.

These three simple spiritual practices will lead to others and draw a person slowly but surely into putting God first. Combating secularization gets easier as we seek God's will in our lives and look to why the Church teaches what she does. We will find ourselves seeking more "God time" daily and find ourselves becoming more humble and trustful of God. We will develop a profound sense of who we really are as children of God. After awhile, the attraction to sins like contraception become weaker and weaker.

Is it easy? No, because it requires firm commitment and a willingness to conform ourselves to the will of God. Is it simple? Yes. What do we have to lose? Hell.

V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever!

Again, I'd like to thank Barb for allowing me to repost her beautifully written, timely articles! Please visit her website at www.sufferingwithjoy.com