Free Webinar on the Catechism and Cocktails

Hey. Its been awhile since we've talked. This ^^ is my new office and my new standing desk. And this is my new hands position I make when I'm testing out a camera angle. I've been super busy lately resurrecting Reverb Culture from its dusty hibernation. We've made a lot of podcasts, and one of our articles made it onto Patheos (and the front page of New Advent). And I'm working on a few other super cool projects that fall under Reverb Culture's evolving banner: reaching young adults and creating a culture of wild living based in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Its weird. And amorphous. But I keep doing it for (hopefully) the best reason: because I love it. Its not a ministry or an apostolate or new evangelization. I just really like making stuff. And maybe, like hipsters, because its not claiming to be these things, it therefore is all these things.

Or maybe not.

But hey, I'm really excited for the next experiment straight out of Reverb Culture. Its a free live webinar! Coming to you live 7:00pm CST on Thursday May 21!

Over the past four years, I've

learned a heck of a lot about the catechism, both in theory and in practice. I've researched and read a whole shelf-full of books, homilies, and communio articles on the catechism. I've stalked the web for tools and resources. I've used the catechism every week in catechesis (I'm a youth minister, remember?), in young adult settings, at Diocesan Conferences, men's retreats, RCIA, Theology on Tap, and catechist trainings.

You might be thinking "Whoopty doo dee doo! You read the catechism and talk about the faith. Big deal."

Yeah, that's what I used to think too. But after four years of reading the catechism and reading holier people than me talk about the catechism (Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, Ratzinger, Fr. John Hardon, Fr. Eugene Kevane, Barbara Morgan, Pope St. John Paul II, etc) I began to start praying the catechism. Then slowly the catechism became a framework, a way of life, and finally a style of being Christian that seemed to all originate back with Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching, to the breaking of the bread, to communal life, and to prayer."

I want to share this way of being a disciple of Jesus through devotion to the deposit of faith in a way that rouses the heart of modern man. It is in no way boring or stale or heady. Sure, the Four Pillar Life starts with reading what seems at first glance to be dry, inside baseball, theological language. But its when we start taking the Deposit of Faith and incarnating it in our lives that our Christianity can really become interesting, and deep, and invincible. It becomes unswayed by popular opinion or scandal or fear. I'm not championing an ignorant shutting out of the world and clinging to closed-minded dogmas. I'm talking about spending a little less time with the popular arguments and a little more time returning to the deep wells of the Deposit of Faith that seem untapped as sources to draw out and base the culture we build off of. If we meditated on the Trinity only half as much as we meditated on sex, I think we'd have better music, and art, and beer, and sex.

We have been summoned to return to a way of devotion to the Deposit. A return to allowing the echo of Faith to reverberate in our lives. To build a Culture of Reverb. (I'm sure you didn't see what I just did there...) In this way I hope Reverb Culture answers the challenge to engage the world and with the catechism to "retransform the letter into a living voice."

This webinar is a first step. Training wheels almost. I hope it represents this idea of an Acts 2:42/Catechism/Reverb Culture way of doing things. And I also hope that it makes the catechism seem less intimidating and honestly, more fun and raw and engaging.

The hour and a half webinar is really just an experiment, so I don't know if you'll ever be able to watch it again after we do it live. I'm really trying to make something I don't see out there. I'll give some pointers on the catechism, take audience questions from y'all, show you two of my favorite cocktail recipes, and send you some free pdf downloads to help you turn into an expert catechism wielder. It will be fun. Bring a beer.

So if you're interested, check out the webinar landing page and sign up to join and reserve your spot. When you sign up I'll send you details on how to join the webinar when we get closer to May 21. Be sure to tell your friends.

Click here to check out the nifty spiffy landing page for the webinar.