Hope you had a blessed Feast of the Most Sacred Heart ♥️ of Jesus!
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday.
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
“To sing is to pray twice”
—Saint Augustine
Music has the ability to infuse the human heart, mind, and soul with energy and joy. Singing has helped me on my toughest days. There exists a certain universal quality to music that draws all mankind together.
The Catholic Church promotes unity (one of its four chief characteristics). Music is an important facet of the faith. While one might first think of liturgical music, God can use many kinds of music to promote unity and truth. Father Mark Baumgarten is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia who uses his musical gifts to evangelize. I had the pleasure of talking with him about his debut album Now and Not Yet.
Fr. Mark wrote and performed the songs His music in the album ranges in style, due to his eclectic taste in music. The first half of the album is from his pre-seminary days and wrestle with philosophical questions about life, whereas the second half relates to his life as a priest.
The Australian priest showcases his skills as a musician, singer, and promoter of truth. Though his songs aren’t overtly Catholic in lyric, his music provides assurance about God’s Providence while being fun to listen to.
P.S. Fr. Mark was a semi-finalist in the 2021 International Songwriting Competition (unsigned category) with the song “World Grow Up”
“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” ― G.K. Chesterton
I’ve always been a fan of fairy tales and fantasy stories. The appeal initially began with the wonderful plots and scenery. But it’s the character development (at least in Disney renditions of the fairy tales) that continues to enchant me to revisit these tales. In the book A Catholic Field Guide to Fairy Tale Princesses: Modern Virtues in Tales as Old as Time, author Therese Zoe Williams examines a panoply of classic and modern princesses and the virtues they espouse.
One of the challenges Catholics faces is how to evangelize in a secular modern not in line with traditional Catholic Church teaching. Followers of Jesus know this world is not our home. It’s a pilgrimage towards the next reality― Heaven. But this doesn’t mean we should flee from worldly things completely or never engage with the present culture. Williams says it well, “If we are to be truly ‘in this world but not of it’ (cf. Romans 12:3), then we have to sincerely engage pop culture at large. The whisper of God is in everything” (p. 18).
Williams’ book is divided into four sections: The Official Disney Princesses, Other Notable Disney Princesses, Other Disney Women of Virtue, and Noteworthy Non-Disney Princesses. Each chapter includes a description and brief history of the fairy tale related to the princess. Williams also includes a section titled A Real-Life Fairy Tale where she focuses on a saint who exhibits the same virtue depicted by the fairy tale heroine. Chapters conclude with a prayer related to the virtue and/or saint.
This was a fun and quick read. Williams did a great job in showing how the virtues exhibited by Disney princesses are relevant to our lives today. I particularly enjoyed the Real-Life Fairy Tale section. Williams found appropriate saints throughout Church history to match their fairy tale counterparts.
If you’re a fan of fairy tales or Catholic hagiography you will find this book enjoyable. If you are a fan of both, then this is a must buy for you! Purchase your copy of A Catholic Field Guide to Fairy Tale Princesses: Modern Virtues in Tales as Old as Time today.
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Thank you for reading and hope you have a blessed day!
Hope you had a blessed weekend! 🙏😊
Time for another Catholic Meme Monday.
That’s all I have this week. Stay tuned for next week’s Catholic Meme Monday. Receive updates straight to your email inbox by subscribing to The Simple Catholic blog.
American author Maya Angelou wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Well, the untold story that welled up within me this past weekend as the great information and best practices I learned over the past several weeks of how to increase organic traffic to a blog. As a former teacher, and husband of a special education teacher, I have zeal for learning daily and sharing best practices with peers.
When I started The Simple Catholic blog back in 2015 I focused only on writing. That is normal for new bloggers. I mean should not writing be the PRIMARY aim of WRITING a blog! According to Bo Sanchez, “Education without execution is extinction.” In other words, you may have the greatest content, but without a strategy to deliver it to your audience your message does not travel! Some of my best written posts actually garnered little traffic. This does not mean that those posts are worse than the more popular posts. It simply meant I was still new in learning the process about blogging and outreach.
If I could start over my blog again I would incorporate these 3 simple SEO tactics to grow my traffic naturally. This post is especially written for new bloggers and even bloggers than desire more ways to market their content. Sharing of best practices helps out everyone!
Naturally the first thing your readers will see on a post will be the title. From watching videos of prominent bloggers and following my favorite blogs I discovered that extra fancy titles do not always equal an increase in traffic. The most important thing for your title is to accurately describe the content of the blog. Click-baity titles grab a person’s attention, but that only leads to a one-time visit by that viewer. Oftentimes, I click on a post in Facebook with an intriguing title only to be quickly disappointed that the headline was very misleading. Accuracy always trumps flair!
A second simple strategy to incorporate into a title is the usage of numbers. In the case of the title for this post I included 3 (since I am discussing three best practices) and the current year (since this information is pertinent for your now). The benefit of including a number in your title is two-fold: readers catch the attention of numbers and oftentimes internet searchers like to search the top things, advice, or strategies for the current year. In fact Neil Patel in his article The Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Powerful Headlines promotes the using of numbers as well (see the link for this resource in the related resource section at the end of this post).
Another simple, yet effective SEO best practice is including images in your blog article. This is a tip I wish I learned years earlier. Going back to my earliest blog posts make me cringe. Words go on and go without any picture to break up the text. I will refer to SEO expert Neil Patel again on this matter. In fact, he was a leading voice in the best practices. Patel writes in 11 Best Practices for Including Images in Your Blog Posts,
You’re a writer, not a photographer.So why do you need to add photos to your blog posts when your words should be enough to entice your audience, engage visitors, and persuade people that your content is great?
Exactly! Bloggers write. Photographers shoot photos. Is not my word(s) enough? That was my mentality before opening myself up to the wisdom of people much wiser and smarter than me. Even now, I am improving, I am by far an expert, but I know enough to recognize best practices when I come across them. Since the inclusion of images in my blog posts, I have seen an increase in traffic.
One of the primary benefits Patel mentions about including images is that they allow text to be broken up in smaller chunks. Modern readers tend to skim texts. Long paragraphs with no images to break up the onslaught of the words is a huge turn-off for internet surfers. I came across a Facebook status that took me 15 seconds to scroll down! You heard me correctly. Fifteen seconds will no pictures. I did not bother reading that post as the sheer verbosity overwhelmed me.
Include images to break up the text. Make you post as easy to read for your readers. They will return the favor by returning to read your content!
Along with creating an accurate headline and incorporating images in your posts, having a consistent blog schedule will improve your audience following. As a father of four children with a full-time job, publishing content daily is not realistic. However, what I have learned is that consist blog posting is more important that the number of articles you post weekly. It is far more important to continue to post the same amount each week versus posting 20 posts one week, going dormant for a week and then posting 10 more posts the next.
Why does having a publication schedule matter? Patel says, “If you want to continually grow your blog, you need to learn to blog on a consistent basis.” Whenever I discover a blog that interests me, I always look forward to new content! I get bummed out whenever a favorite blogger of mine goes dormant. The same will be true of your readers if you erratically post. Maybe you are single and have the time to write more often. Make a goal to post 3-4 times a week. Maybe you family or other obligations and 4 posts are not feasible. Shoot for only 1-2 posts a week. The key is achieving that frequency next week, and the week after than, and so on.
Remember that best practices will continue to evolve and so will your writing. Developing accurate titles with numbers, including images to break up long text blocks, and maintaining a consistent publication schedule will help improve your organic search results to your blog. I will continue to learn about SEO and writing strategies to improve The Simple Catholic blog. Any simple strategies I come across I will share. I hope you pass this information on to other nascent bloggers as well. Please feel free to post your best SEO practices in the comments section!
https://neilpatel.com/blog/the-step-by-step-guide-to-writing-powerful-headlines/
By: Erica L. Cerasale
Deciding on which college to attend is a large part of a high schooler’s life. So much time and pressure are spent boosting our GPA, participating in extracurriculars, and volunteering so that we get accepted into our ‘’dream school.’’
I was not one of those people.
My GPA was good, but I didn’t have to put in much effort to earn it. The only extracurricular activity that I was involved with was theatre. And for volunteering, I spent some summers helping the public library in my town plus being one of the leaders for Vacation Bible School at the local church.
I applied to four colleges in my state: a private Jesuit university, a private Catholic university, and two public state universities. I ended up deciding on attending Western Connecticut State University. It’s public state college about 45 minutes from my hometown. I picked WCSU because of the financial aid they awarded me, its smaller size, and the opportunity to have a fresh start.
When move-in-day finally arrived, I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to college. In a matter of weeks, I was able to walk around campus without getting lost. Plus, I had found a group of friends to hang out with.
Around the end of September, however, my entire life was changed when I was introduced to my university’s Newman Center.
The Western Connecticut State University Newman Center.
At the time, I was a Catholic at surface level. I was raised in the faith as a child and attended religious education classes. I also received the sacraments of First Holy Communion, Reconciliation, and Confirmation. However, I did not have my own personal relationship with God. Daily prayer was something that I did not partake in. Nor did I attempt to go to Confession or read the Bible.
The only time that I thought about Jesus was once a week.
Four FOCUS missionaries resided at the Newman Center. It was the first time I witnessed young adults live out their Catholic faith. All the missionaries prayed daily, went to Mass daily, and received Confession often. What was more amazing was the fact that they interacted with others in a welcoming manner. Not only that, but everything they consumed, said and did was for the glory of the Lord. Their actions reminded me of this Bible verse:
Finally, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ―Philippians 4:8
As I spent more time at Newman, I got to experience many things that I have never experienced before: engaging in fellowship, attending a Bible study; being in the presence of the Lord during Adoration. By learning and growing in faith, I realized that I must do a very important thing; the most challenging thing that I have ever done (or ever will do): being of the Word and not of the world.
Attending a small, secular, state school has made this no easy feat.
Being a Catholic at a college where faith isn’t a priority in many students’ lives can be frustrating. I have encountered the following challenges along the way:
Honestly, there have been times I’ve been upset and wished I attended a Catholic university. In the moment, it seemed ‘easier’ to be surrounded by people who were just like me.
But walking with Christ has never been (or never will be) easy. If it was, then we wouldn’t be able to grow in our faith. The temptation to go with the crowd and abandon my beliefs is something that I will always have to fight against.
But it is something that’s worth fighting for.
No matter what my peers say about the Church, I will continue to advocate for Her. I have experienced faith, fellowship, love, and servitude, and I know just how beautiful it can be. More than ever, college students are chasing sin to fulfill the emptiness in their hearts. But what they don’t realize is that those desires of being seen, wanted, and loved can be satisfied in Christ.
The Lord wanted me to attend a secular college so I can discover Him in a non-traditional setting and to become a vessel of His love for the campus community.
For a girl who never obsessed about which college to attend, I ended up at the school where I was meant to be. And that’s all because of Jesus.
Erica Lynn is a third-year Communication and Marketing student at Western Connecticut State University and is Secretary of her college’s Newman Club. Erica is passionate about fellowship and the power of social media to evangelize within the Church. Follow her on Instagram @_catholit_ to see more Catholic content.
