Apps Archives - Amazing Catechists

Catholic Words and Games, an App Review

Let’s face it, technology is not going away and kids love to play games using technology. But every now and then it’s be nice instead of playing Angry Birds they maybe played a game that they could learn from. Enter: Catholic Words and Games.
I downloaded it onto my iPhone and played, many times. There are five different games on the app: flash cards, memory match, tap it, spell it and name match. In theory, you could learn all the words using the Flash Card section and then move onto the other games. But that’s not how I roll. I just started playing. I made mistakes (on purpose people, c’mon now) and nothing bad happened. Sadly, I didn’t have anyone to play with but I think it’s great you can play the games with others.

Memory Match is my favorite and you can choose from six different sized boards, the more squares you choose the more challenging. The Name Match is fun as well. My least favorite is Spell it, mostly because I stink at spelling!
I would definitely have used this game with my children, instead, I’ll start having my faith formation students play with it while we wait for parents.
The app is available for both mobile and desktop devices, for windows and mac users, on iTunes or Google Play. For more information and a peek at graphics, go to the website, Catholic Words and Games.

2014 Catholic App Roundup

By John Clem

2014 offered a number of new and updated Catholic Apps:

1) CRS Ricebowl App: this is a wonderful app for Lent – just updated for Lent 2015 (iOS & Droid)

Thoughtful daily reflections
Easy to use tool to set and measure your Lenten sacrifices
Delicious meatless recipes from around the world
Built-in feature to share your Lenten experience

Website: https://www.crs.org/ricebowl-app/

2) Black Friars Media App: Dominican prayers, music, and video from the Dominicans of St. Joseph Province (iOS, Droid, Windows)

Website: https://www.opeast.org/2014/02/06/new-dominican-app-blackfriars-media/

3) Catholic Social Teaching App: many documents on Catholic social teachings (iOS)

Website: https://catholicsocialteaching.eppc.org/

4) Peace Quest App: contemplative prayer in a 3-D World (iOS)

Website: https://peacequest.com/

5) Lentsanity App: assistance in the season of Advent by FOCUS Campus Ministry (iOS & Droid)

Prayers
Reflections
Meat Police: Meatless reminders
Videos

Website: https://www.focus.org/lentsanity/#meatpolice

6) Church of the Nativity App: Tour virtual 3-D areas of the Church of the Nativity in Jerusalem (iOS)

Website: https://jerusalem.com/tour/nativity_church_3D

7) The Mass Explained App: learn many aspects of the Mass with this interactive and educational app (iOS – iPad only) updated 2014

Website: https://www.calltoholiness.us/2014/09/29/the-mass-explained-app/

8) St. Francis App: app about St. Francis of Assisi with daily reflections prayers, history, and Franciscan Spirituality (iOS & Droid)

Website: https://peaceandallgood.org/2014/11/new-st-francis-app/

9) Franciscan Apps: a number of apps exploring Franciscan Spirituality

Website: https://peaceandallgood.org/2014/04/franciscan-apps/

More Catholic Apps and also previous Catholic App Roundups available at my blog Call To Holiness

The Mass Explained App

By John Clem

The Mass Explained is a new app for that teaches the history, traditions, symbols, art, music, and spirit of the Mass. This app is currently only available for Apple’s iPad & iPad mini, and truly takes advantage of all the multimedia power of the iPad to bring the Mass to new light and understanding for the reader. This app may seem expensive at $24.99, but once you realize that it took years to develop with many resources that require royalty/copyright fees, this is quite a value that will be a worthwhile reference for years to come. Dan Gonzalez is the man behind the scenes who has assembled one of the finest Catholic Apps yet on the market. It is an amazing app that has the potential to get more people excited about “The Mass–the Source and Summit of our Catholic Faith”, offering over 300 multimedia pages:

23 Chapters offering deeper knowledge and understanding of The Mass
Writings from The New American Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
3-D Objects can be rotated with your finger
Interactive Maps
360 Panoramas of Holy Sites
Videos to enrich content
Audio of music and prayers
Artwork with scalable images

Educational Discount

I really think that the Mass Explained App offers a new chapter in catechesis. Schools and groups interested in learning about the Mass in RCIA, study groups, and schools should look into this opportunity for discounted app to make this more affordable. This App offers a great experience for the reader, learner, and teacher to learn many aspects of the Mass in Gospel and Liturgy. The app is available through Apple’s Volume Purchase Program (VPP) allowing your school, class, institution, parish or group to receive a 50% discount when purchasing the app in quantities of 20 or more. When purchased through Apple’s VPP, Mass Explained can be distributed to your students or group members through redeemable codes or installed over the air automatically without user interaction. VPP purchases may be made using purchase orders, credit cards or PayPal. For more information on Apple’s VPP, visit www.apple.com/education/it/vpp/

NOTE: The Mass Explained App is all self-contained and does not need internet connection for its content, so it can be used in any classroom. It is a large app and needs 299MB of memory space.

This is a nice introductory video offering a sampling of its content.

Take a look at the links below for more information, and to see the many endorsements and praises this app is receiving. The blog also offers printable kids crafts, and book & video resources. There is one book not mentioned that is one of the best books about The Mass: The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Dr. Scott Hahn. This app reminds me of this book that first sparked my awakening to the history, beauty, truth, and goodness of The Mass.

LINKS

Mass Explained App website

The Mass Explained Blog

John Clem, O.F.S.

Amazing Catechists welcomes guest blogger John Clem, O.F.S. who will be contributing reviews of technology that can aid in catechesis. John Clem, O.F.S is the Director and Media Minister at Catholic Web Services (https://catholicws.com/). John is a professed member of the Secular Franciscan Order, and loves to share his talents in faith, technology, and journalism in service to the church. John also writes a blog entitled Call To Holiness (https://www.calltoholiness.us/).

iPieta App – one of the best resources for Catholics

By John Clem

iPieta is one of the best resources for Catholics, and is practically like having the Vatican Library in your pocket. iPieta only costs $.99, but offers writings that would cost hundreds of dollars if bought in a bookstore. Kudos to iVerbum, the company who produces this app, and they constantly offer FREE updates. The App is constantly updated with new content and recently added the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva and St. Bridgett of Sweden. This App offers The Douay-Rheims Bible, a Novus Ordo (Catholic) Calendar through the year 2050, a large list of prayers, and many writings of the Saints and Popes.

The Veritas section of the App has a tremendous number of books from many Catholic theologians and saints. A sampling of some of the writings include Saint Francis DeSales “Introduction to the Devout Life”, Saint Teresa of Jesus’ “Interior Castle”, Saint Thomas Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica”, Saint John of the Cross’ “Dark Night of the Soul”, and Saint Augustine’s “City of God”.

In the section of Papal writings, there are books and encyclicals from 18 Popes. These include Pope Benedict XVI: Spe Salvi (Christian Hope), Deus Caritas Est (Christian Love), and Caritas In Veritate (Charity In Truth), and Blessed Pope John Paul II has 17 encyclicals including Vertatis Splendor (The Splendor of Truth) and Redemptoris Mater (about the Blessed Virginia Mary and the Life of the Pilgrim Church). The latest writings of Pope Francis are also included in this App.

iPieta is available for the iOS and Driod and it is available in Spanish and offers adjustable sizes for text. Optional free audio is available for many prayers and novenas. The huge library of Catholic writings that are held in this one app offer a lifetime of readings that will constantly challenge and lift your spirit. This is also a wonderful resource for catechists and RCIA students & teachers.

Note: All content can be obtained through the app and does not require internet connection, so it can be used in any classroom, or even on camping trips.

Update July 2014: The latest version (8.0) allows audio to be stored within the app with many new audio supports and files.

More information available at www.ipieta.com