iRosary - Rosary on your iPhone (Early, Early Beta...)

I've been toying around with the idea of creating an application for the iPhone for some time now. I just needed a good idea. Lately, I've been thinking of how people have so many devices/things in their pockets, and sometimes people don't want to carry a rosary with them when they have phones, iPods, wallets and other trinkets taking up valuable pocket space.

For these Catholics (myself included), I'm working on 'iRosary' (that might not be the final name, as someone else has gone that route already):

It's the iRosary—the Rosary for people on the go. For the first beta release (which I hope to have out sometime in Fall 2008), it will be ready for people to start praying the basic mysteries of the Rosary and the Chaplet. However, there are a ton of features that I hope to be including in the future including:

• Meditations (spoken or written) for each mystery of the Rosary; possibly spoken by different people (selectable by the user).
• A 'Prayer-Tracker,' which tracks how many Rosaries you've said and/or allows you to write in intentions for future Rosaries (because there's always something to pray for!).
• A function that allows you to not have to look at the screen at all to pray the Rosary; it would use the motion sensor and the vibration feedback features to allow you to pray even more meditatively.
• Different sets of images for meditation during mysteries of the Rosary (including stained glass, paintings and etchings).

Like I said, I'm in the early, early beta stages... I'm still trying to freshen up my coding skills to write in the Objective-C language for this app—and even when that's finished, I need to still wait for the iPod/iPhone App Store to get on its feet. My projection for a 1.0 version of this software is August 2008 at the earliest, and December 2008 at the latest.

And I'm sure you'd want to know about pricing... well, I'm not looking to make any profit, so if anything, it might cost about $1.99 or so, just to cover any development costs; any profits would likely be donated to the Seminary or another worthy organization.

A Few Facts About Archbishop Burke's New Appointment [UPDATED x2]

A few facts about Archbishop Raymond Burke's appointment as Prelate of the Apostolic Signatura:

• The appointment took place at noon in Rome (5 a.m. Central time), and was effective immediately. (So, technically, Raymond Leo Burke is already the Prefect, and no longer Archbishop of Saint Louis).
• Archbishop Burke will begin moving to Rome during the month of July, but will still be in and out of Saint Louis and the U.S. until early August.
• This afternoon, an Archdiocesan Administrator will be chosen to help run the day-to-day affairs of the Archdiocese until a new Archbishop arrives.
• Archbishop Burke will still be present for the Dedication week at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Cross, Wisconsin.

Please pray for Archbishop Burke during this time of transition! More will likely be revealed at the 11:00 a.m. press conference, held at the Rigali Center.

(P.S. Rome will be getting a 'Saint Louis Cardinal,' if Archbishop Burke becomes one as part of his job!).

From the Archbishop's Mouth: Check out the story (and video) on Archstl.org.

• Archdiocesan Q&A regarding Archbishop Burke's Appointment
• Press Release regarding Archbishop Burke's Appointment
• Archbishop Burke's Biography

Here's his statement, transcribed on Archstl.org:

Today, at noon in Rome (5 a.m. CDT), it was announced that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named me prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, effective immediately. With the announcement, I ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis.

I am deeply humbled by the trust which His Holiness has placed in me, and, in priestly obedience, I have pledged to serve our Holy Father to the best of my abilities. Although you will no longer pray for me as your archbishop, especially during the celebration of the Holy Mass, I ask your prayers for me, that I may faithfully and generously cooperate with God's grace in fulfilling my new responsibilities.

Leaving the service of the Church in the Archdiocese of St. Louis is most sad for me. It has been an honor and gift for me to serve the archdiocese over the past four years and five months. It had been my hope to serve here for a long time, but, as the bishop who called me to priestly ordination often remarked, "Man proposes, but God disposes." I trust that doing what our Holy Father has asked me to do will bring blessings to the Archdiocese of St. Louis and to me. St. Louis is a great archdiocese which will always have a treasured place in my heart.

In a particular way, I am saddened to leave my fellow priests, whom I have so much grown to esteem and love. Often, I have spoken about the remarkable unity and loyalty of our presbyterate. For me, it has been a special grace to work with them in the service of God's flock in the archdiocese. I thank them for the priestly fraternity which they have always shown me, and for the generous obedience with which they have responded to my pastoral care and governance of our beloved archdiocese.

With regard to the governance of the archdiocese, the College of Consultors will meet to elect an archdiocesan administrator who, with the help of the consultors, will govern the archdiocese, until the new archbishop is appointed and installed. Please pray for the College of Consultors and for the archdiocesan administrator whom they will elect.

Again, I ask your prayers. You can count upon my daily prayers for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, always.

Archbishop Raymond Burke to Leave St. Louis - Named Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura [UPDATED x3]

[UPDATE 3: Auxiliary Bishop Robert Hermann has been chosen as the temporary Archdiocesan Administrator - please pray for him as he takes on this new role!]

I woke up this morning to some of the saddest news of the year in our Archdiocese; I received a text message and an email announcing the departure of Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, the former spiritual father of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Effective at 5 a.m. CDT today, he became the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (press release from the Vatican).

All of us in St. Louis will surely miss this great Archbishop, who was truly a Father to his people! Please pray to the Holy Spirit for our Archdiocese, so we can get a new archbishop who has the same devotion to his faithful and example to all the people in this Archdiocese.

[UPDATES: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has picked up this story, and, of course, they are mentioning his 'controversial actions' in St. Louis; expect some dissension from certain parts of the media... There will be a press conference at 11:00 a.m. today. (I'll link you to a transcript, if one becomes available).]

Also, here are a few links to more coverage of Archbishop Burke's departure:

• Rome of the West
• St. Louis Catholic
• Catholic News Service
• The New Liturgical Movement
• Whispers in the Loggia
• St. Louis Review
• St. Louis Post Dispatch (summary of commentary)

Omaha = City of Severe Thunderstorms

Well, only a little over a week since my last post, I've found that Omaha is still a city full of severe weather. We haven't had tornadoes lately, but we have had a couple more very charged storms roll through: yesterday a large amount of rain, this morning a torrential downpour, and later tonight, we'll have another severe thunderstorm (which is, as I type this, barrelling through central Nebraska).

I am posting below a picture from this morning storm, taken around 11:15 a.m. Notice how you can barely see the tall building in the distance; that building is only about 250 yards from the building I was in. The rain came down hard!

God-willing, I'll make it through this summer alive. This weekend, I hope to see Wall•E and visit Omaha's Zoo—I hope to post some pictures afterwards! I also plan on making pilgrimages (along with my camera) to some of the nice area churches, especially St. Cecilia's Cathedral and the inside of the college church on-campus here at Creighton University.

Omaha = City of the Tornadoes?

Tonight in and around Omaha, NE, there have been numerous tornadoes in one of the largest storms I've ever witnessed. The IPF seminarians were just about to begin a holy hour when the sirens went off the first of three times. We had a storm drop about 2-3" of rain over the Omaha metro area, and there were reported deaths and injuries as a result of this storm. Below is a picture of the storm just a little while after the bulk of it passed through Omaha:

Since I've come here, there's been a storm (major or minor) about once every other day! I'm surprised, and apparently native Omaha residents are, too, to have such activity during the month of June.