I just wanted to alert you to a teaching series I have recently finished at my parish (St. Mary Magdalen in Altamonte Springs, FL) on Catholic Social Teaching.

We've put together a website which contains the audio recordings of each of the four talks we gave. The website also contains each of the PowerPoint presentations, links to other Catholic Social Teaching information around the internet, and--maybe of the most worth--a collection of book recommendations to explore these themes more fully.

There are few solid websites dealing with Catholic Social Teaching and social justice, specifically from a Catholic perspective. By putting up this website, we're seeking to contribute to Pope John Paul II's "new evangelization" and Pope Benedict XVI's call to harness the capabilities of the internet in order to evangelize the "digital continent". We hope the site will introduce these "best kept secrets" of Catholic spirituality to many people beyond even our own parish.

The four sessions were as follows:

• Session #1 - "Introduction" and "The Life and Dignity of the Human Person"
• Session #2 - "Call to Family, Community, and Participation" and "Rights and Responsibilities"
• Session #3 - "Option for the Poor and Vulnerable" and "The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers"
• Session #4 - "Solidarity" and "Care for God's Creation"

I co-taught the sessions with Monsignor Ed Thompson and popular Catholic author and Saint-expert Bert Ghezzi. For each session, Fr. Ed spoke on the Biblical basis for that night's themes, Bert detailed the lives of some lesser-known Saints that personified those themes, and I explored the themes further in light of Tradition and history, finally offering ways that we--'average' Christians in the 'average' pews--can live them out today.

The whole series of talks was framed not only by the Seven Major Themes of Catholic Social Teaching (as defined by the U.S. Bishops in 1998), but also by the elements of "story". We talked about the reality that we are all in this great Story, each with a crucial role to play. What is that role? Catholic Social Teaching says that our role, our mission, is to participate in the "putting together again of the world". Jesus ignited a rescue mission for the world, and we are joining along, sailing towards the Story's grand conclusion: the uniting of all of the world back to God. So how do we fit into this Story? And what is our Role? These sessions dived into those questions.

The website, with the audio and all of the resources, can be found at: www.StMaryMagdalen.org/CST

Feel free to share on Sonitus Sanctus or with anyone you know! Thanks!

Your brother,
Brandon Vogt