Since I’ve now spent more than a year on this journey to Catholicism, I thought I’d share with you some of the many daily resources I’ve come across to stay up to date on all things Catholic. I thought it might save you the work of finding it all for yourself :).

Here are some of my favorite resources, both online and off, that keep my thirst for Catholicism at least partially quenched:

• National Catholic Register daily email – This is a newspaper that is published weekly; however, they have a great website with wonderful, very down to earth columnists/bloggers and they send out a daily email with the Catholic news of the day. Great way to stay updated on Pope Francis’ speeches and other activities. Sign up here (click Register for our E-Letter at the top). They also are calling for donations to keep them afloat and provide us with news from a Catholic perspective (so helpful!), so please help if you feel called: Donate to the National Catholic Register.
• Catholicism.About.com – This is another website who offers a regular email. They offer a very informed perspective on both daily Catholic news and the liturgical year. I like this one to keep me updated on novenas and special indulgence opportunities and thoughts on the liturgical year. Sign up here.
• ETWN TV – I just discovered EWTN TV during the Papal Conclave. I can’t believe I didn’t know about it before! It’s a tremendous resource not just for news (they offer daily shows in the evenings with a wrap up of Catholic news), but also Masses, rosaries and other prayers on TV. I’ve enjoyed shows so far about the saints and one during Lent from Bishop Timothy Dolan, as well as watched the announcement of the new Pope, his installation Mass and more. Good stuff. Check with your TV provider to see if they carry it. I have AT&T Uverse and it’s 562 on there. They also have good Catholic resources on their website.
• Pray More Novenas – This is an email that regularly sets up and encourages you to pray a select novena with thousands of other participants around the world. It’s helpful because they pray the particular novenas relevant to the liturgical season. For example, we prayed the Divine Mercy Novena leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday and we prayed a special novena during the Papal Conclave. They write and send the prayers every day and remind you to pray them. One of my favorites! Sign up here.
• Laudate iPad and iPhone App – Another of my favorites! This free app has tons of prayers, the entire New American Bible, the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church, Liturgy of the Hours/Daily Office prayers (which I try to do 1-2 times daily and it’s easy when it’s on my phone!), a digital rosary, the scripture readings for the day, a reading on the featured saint of the day and lots more. So handy! Our bishop actually just mentioned it in a recent column he wrote.
• For Christ and The Church Blog – This is the blog of one of my church’s priests. He updates usually daily both with information about our parish, as well as great videos, texts from the Pope, spiritual thoughts for the day, his homilies and just generally great food for thought.
• The “Little” Books – I was given a variety of these throughout my RCIA process and loved incorporating them into my daily routine. They are small paperback books and they make them for Lent, Easter and Advent, as well as reflections on the four books of the Gospel. The books give you a daily tidbit about Catholicism (maybe about a saint or an event that happened on that day) and then they reflect on the scripture reading for the day. It can be done in less than 5 minutes and is a great spiritual “shot” to boost you for the day. They are very inexpensive ($2 for one with $1 shipping!) and you can buy them here.

These are all resources that I use on a daily basis. How do I work it in? Usually I pray the Liturgy of the Hours around 9 a.m. and before bed, using the Laudate App on my iPad. I read my National Catholic Register and Catholicism.About.com emails, as well as any updates from the For Christ and the Church blog while waiting in line or after dinner and before the kids go to bed on my iPad or iPhone.

I usually set my DVR to record shows on EWTN that I’m interested in and then watch them when I have time. At noon, I take a work break and starting today am incorporating a prayerful hour daily (more to come on that). So I work in my Little Books daily read then along with any novena prayers that are relevant for the day, as well as the daily scripture readings and Saint of the Day on my Laudate app.

It really does not take all that much time when it’s all said and done with these very helpful Catholic resources.

What are your go-to resources for Catholicism? Please share! I love to find great new resources!

Here I am, less than one week away from becoming Catholic. This has been my desire for more than a year, yet somehow it’s all gone pretty fast!

I am bursting with excitement at how close I am to becoming a full member of the church and being able to enjoy more of the sacraments, most especially the Eucharist. I wonder how it will affect me — if it will be noticeable or just a subtle change.

I am thrilled that I have done First Reconciliation, which I was so nervous about. I feel like it’s all joy from here on out as I head into Holy Week and the Easter Vigil (the service where I join the church)!

I am amazed at how far I have come spiritually in just the span of a year. From a year and a half ago a nonbeliever to a full convert bursting with joy at what I have found … nothing short of a miracle.

I look forward to becoming more active in the church. So many times I’ve been interested in doing something but thought to myself “nope, let’s work on actually becoming Catholic first… then I can add more of these activities.” I hope to get involved in some of our church’s groups and programs and perhaps become a reader.

I have participated as fully as I can as a non-Catholic from going to mass weekly and on Holy Days and to daily mass when my kids’ school schedules permit it to adding prayer to my daily life and guiding my kids in the beginnings of their Catholic journey.

I have learned so much over the last year, but yet am so eager for more. It truly is a “thirst”. I find myself often sad at the fact that I cannot just sit in church or read a spiritual text or pray. Work and day-to-day life get in the way, but I’m working it in as much as I can and I hope I find the capacity to add to it.

I look forward in the coming year to continuing to work on my personal flaws and am so happy to be aided in that process by the sacrament of reconciliation. I also fully intend to commit myself to service to others in a regular fashion in the wonderful model of our new Pope Francis.

I also hope to take a short pilgrimage to St. Therese of Lisieux’s national shrine in the U.S., not too far from me outside of Chicago. Maybe a good summer trip…

So much to do… so little time… I will continue to blog as my first year as a Catholic and share all the new joys and experiences that come my way. Please join me!

So my anxious waiting brought forth fruit yesterday in the form of our new pope: Pope Francis! As I mentioned yesterday, I am so excited this time around as I am about to enter the church right at the same time we have a new leader of the church.

Over the last 24 hours, I’ve been reading whatever I can on him and I so look forward to his leadership. Pope Francis brings with him a focus on simplicity and humility which I absolutely love. I personally struggle with humility and how wonderful it is to have a such a role model to emulate.

Simplicity is also something I am working on. Over the past year, I have slowly tried to simplify my life in subtle ways. Removing fruitless ambition, being content with what I have, giving away when I want to get, being grateful for the normalcy of a day and dialing back the busy-ness of my life as much as possible to be more quiet, internal and prayerful.

I have never been a person about the material things in life and I struggle to relate to others who are so outside-focused. I never cared much for stylish clothes (I still own — and wear — clothes I had in college!), jewelry (I have worn the same simple gold earrings most days of my adult life :)), make-up or nice cars. I would instead prefer if I am going to splurge to do so on travel. The joys of my life are being outdoors in nature, prayer, Mass, reading, spending time with my family, and whenever possible traveling (though that doesn’t happen much these days). I used to be focused on climbing the entrepreneurial ladder, but I have let that go and decided to follow God’s lead. How much more peaceful it is :).

My choice of St. Therese of Lisieux as my confirmation saint is also furthering me on this path, as her way of life is known as “the little way” and she focuses on small tasks in honor of God. Another wonderful role model.

I love the reports that Pope Francis lives in a humble abode, takes public transportation, cooks his own meals. What an incredible and rare example for such a materialistic world. I’ve also heard him compared to Mother Teresa in his simplicity and focus on the poorest of the poor. They say he is not a charismatic speaker or personality, but neither was Mother Teresa. Too often it’s the charismatic ones who get us into trouble 🙂 — a good speaker does not necessarily make a good person.

Taking the name of Francis of Assisi is also inspiring. Another saint of simplicity, poverty, focusing on the simplest of things, a love of nature and animals.

I look forward to learning more about our new pope and watching how he leads the church. Consider me a faithful follower now and “officially” as of Easter :).

I truly remember next to nothing about the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Catholicism and certainly the new pope was not on my mind. But  my how things have changed!

This time, I am completely and utterly fascinated, maybe even too much so :). It reminds me of March Madness with games of my favorite teams up while I try to work. I discovered EWTN, which I had come across on some level in the past year but didn’t realize it was entire TV channel. How exciting! I found it on our cable network (Catholic programming 24/7!) and have all the conclave coverage running live on my computer during key ceremonies and voting times, including the Smoke Cam (yes there’s a smoke cam!).

Why I am so excited? Because I am about to become Catholic. I am a mere 17 days away. As the new pope is chosen, so will I be chosen among the elect to be Catholic and how special and historic that is. This pope will be MY pope.  I can follow his papacy from the start along with the start of my Catholic journey. I am so anxious to learn about him and watch as he leads the world (and me!) in persona Christi.

How lucky I am to witness this event on the eve of my confirmation. The election of a pope happens so rarely and what amazement of this timing and what joy this Easter!

Are you following the coverage of the conclave? Are you like me — running it on your computer while you work ;-)? Well, I’d better get back to my EWTN programming — another vote is coming soon!