What to get the gadget-loving friend, relative or Secret Santa who has everything? A donation in their honor to DeSales Media’s Bright Christmas Fund, of course! Read about the impact The Bright Christmas Fund makes in families’ and young students’ lives in Brooklyn and Queens. Any donation makes a difference to those in need.
And, in case you do have some last-minute Christmas presents yet to purchase, we’ve got you covered with this gift guide to Catholic tech:
Hallow App
Hallow is a stylish new prayer app that launched last fall whose goal is to bring “peace to your quiet.” Hallow offers guided meditations from a wide variety of Catholic prayer traditions, like the Ignatian Examen, the Rosary, Taize, and Lectio Divina.
This beautifully designed app caters to a young working audience and offers customizations so that you can curate 5-15 minute prayer sessions, complete with peaceful background music, to fit into your schedule. The app also offers “praylists,” which subscribers can pray over the course of a week or two, that compile a prayer program focused on a particular virtue or point of spiritual growth.
Created by faithful young Catholics, Hallow is worth making space for on an overcrowded phone or calendar! The app is free to download, and subscriptions come in either monthly or yearly packages. You can purchase a gift card via their website to easily treat a friend to Hallow this Christmas.
McGrath Institue for Church Life STEP Online Courses
The Catholic intellectual tradition is a gift you can never reach the end of! The McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame offers a plethora of online courses for Catholics interested in deepening their intellectual understanding of their faith. It’s been a while since most of us studied Church teachings in school or in sacrament prep, so the McGrath Institute’s Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP) steps into the knowledge gap. Through six weeks of study, you can approach your faith with a new level of insight.
If you have a mother with lots of questions or a friend who always has their nose in the latest encyclical or Commonweal issue, consider treating them to one of the McGrath Institue’s plethora of spring semester online courses. Study the meaning of the Creed, learn about the Theology of the Body or dive into the history and theology of the papacy. Equip yourself to answer the tough questions of science and faith, or get to know Jesus through biblical study and intellectual inquiry.
The courses feature top Catholic educators and small class sizes of around twenty students. There’s no better New Year’s resolution than to grow in faith and seek understanding.
Evangelization & Culture: Journal of the Word on Fire Institute
Whether you need a gift for someone who’s a Pope Francis fanboy or someone who goes to Mass only when their grandma makes them, fill their
stockings with Word on Fire’s newest creation, Evangelization & Culture! Bishop Robert Barron’s Journal of Evangelization & Culture aims to be the most beautiful Catholic journal on the market. So far, it looks like they’re succeeding!
Featuring rich artwork, thought-provoking and accessible content from Catholic thought leaders, Evangelization & Culture is a magazine that will enrich any reader’s journey of faith and make the riches of Catholic theology relevant to contemporary issues and pressing cultural questions.
Subscribe to Evangelization & Culture (or subscribe your Secret Santa) by joining the Word on Fire Institute. Joining the Institute gives you access not only to the journal but to classes and much, much more. Join now!
Formed App
Formed, the Augustine Institute’s “Catholic Netflix,” is a one-stop-shop for Catholic media on the go! The Formed platform features audiobooks, movies, and learning content from a variety of Catholic companies: the Augustine Institue and Ascension Press, among others. It aims to bring family-friendly, high-quality content that you can stream directly to a SmartTV, laptop, or phone.
Just as its name suggests, Formed offers a media platform to parishes, parents, and families that not only entertains but also forms viewers in the faith. The content on Formed ranges from children’s videos about the saints to lecture series on the Eucharist.
Formed also offers daily meditations and devotionals delivered via email. To learn more or sign up, visit the website.
Saint-of-the-Month Box
The Saint-of-the-Month box is an entertaining and edifying subscription box program that aims to deepen your relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ—the saints!
Each box, delivered by the first week of each month, features weekly goal cards that feature a task or challenge (e.g., write a poem, send a letter to a friend) and small gifts for each week. The boxes are of high quality and contain gifts that we’ve already added to our lists: t-shirts, books about the saints, candles, and more.
This is an exciting subscription program for people of all ages who want a fun and engaging way to learn more about the saints and to grow in virtue with a community of fellow subscribers. Also, Saint-of-the-Month Box also has gifting options. This is a great option for a newly-confirmed Catholic or someone who wants to deepen their relationship and knowledge of the saints!
(Interested in gifting multiple subscription boxes? You can get some ideas for other subscription box gift ideas here.)
