Here’s today’s first installment of the CatholicMom.com News Roundup:

• Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Screening in Rome – The amazing Lisa Wheeler invites those who may be in or around Rome to attend the screening of a wonderful new film on the life and work of Archbishop Sheen on April 26 and 27 in Rome.  To register, visit http://www.catholicscreenings.com/.  And if you’d like to take a friend, I’m available!
• Win The Handbook for Catholic Moms – Blogger and friend Mary Ellen Barrett is offering her readers the chance to win a copy of my book.  Register to win by tomorrow at Mary Ellen’s site, Tales from the Bonny Blue House.
• Children’s Music – If you’re looking for some great music to use in your Children’s Religious Education classes, homeschooling, or just for easy listening, check out Children for a Peaceful World, which offers free downloads of some very uplifting tunes for kids.
• Department of Labor Outlook for Writers – For those interested in writing and editing professionally, check out this link shared by my friend and fellow blogger Roxane Salonen.  Projections look relatively good for writers, but not so great for editors…
• Spiritual Direction - Looking for a spiritual director?  Twitter friend Patty messaged me to share her services.  Check her out here.
• CatholicTV Wins Big – Congratulations to CatholicTV for their Gabriel Award as “Religious Television Station of the Year” – no surprise with the great work being done by Fr. Reed and his awesome crew!
• Jonas Mom – Guideposts wrote to share this interesting article written by Denise Jonas, the mom of the famous Jonas Brothers.  Check out some of her words of wisdom – I concur on the Drum Set advice.

That’s it for today – stay tuned for future installments of the CatholicMom.com News Roundup and please help us spread the word by sharing these items on your blogs and networks.

Just in from IRS…..Haiti Relief Donations qualify for Immediate Tax Relief.  Taxpayers that itemize deductions on their 2009 return qualify for this special provision.  ONLY cash contributions made to these charities AFTER January 11, 2010 and BEFORE March 1, 2010 are eligible.  Includes contributions made by text message, check, credit or debit card.  Taxpayers have the option to deduct these contributions on EITHER 2009 or 2010 returns, but not both.

Find more helpful financial information from Lesley at her website or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

St. Thomas the Apostle School, 1429 Wilcox Park Drive SE, and at Lisa Gooch’s business, Hair Force, 1557 Michigan Ave. NE. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can also connect with Blare Gooch via Facebook for additional information.

Go to the newly redesigned and very spiffy website of Aftermass Records to read all about this team effort.  Fifteen awesome songs, two uplifting videos and your opportunity to help make a difference with your prayers and support – it all awaits you at www.aftermassrecords.com.  As I’m writing this, I’m jamming to some great music by some of my favorites and a few newly discovered friends too. I have to say that I’m absolutely in love with “Simple Song” by Rich Dittus, and the Popple guys already know how much I LOVE “Salt & Light”.  With this download you’ll get these, and tons of other great songs as well – lots of different styles, but all great music!

I hope we’ll all support this amazing effort – if you’re a blogger, please help me share this good news by posting this on your site, or share it with your friends at Facebook.  Great job Aftermass!

Just in case you missed the story, you can get caught up on the latest details, including the happy resolution, here at CNN.

What’s your take on today’s events and the media craze that surrounded this story?

Catholic Charities Atlanta,
Attn:  Flood Relief
680 W. Peachtree St. NW
Atlanta, GA  30308

Please join me in praying for Mary, Rod, their families and all others suffering loss and sorrow during this difficult time!

“Rosary Stars: Praying the Gospel” features champion athletes, actors, film directors, TV hosts, recording stars, authors and lecturers who emphasize the power of daily prayer of the Rosary and encourage viewers to live the Mysteries of the Rosary daily.

This uplifting series features such stars as 2006 World Series pitcher Jeff Suppan; five-time Major League All-Star Mike Sweeney; actor Matthew Marsden (Rambo and the upcoming Transformer sequel Revenge of the Fallen);  actress Jessica Rey,  TV host Matt Gallant (Animal Planet’s The Planet’s Funniest Animals); humanitarian, author and Rwandan genocide survivor Immaculée Ilibagiza; and Ali Landry, actress and former Miss America.

“Rosary Stars: Praying the Gospel” is a produced by Family Theater Productions. Father Patrick Peyton,CSC,  through Family Theater produced more than 700 radio and TV programs that had some 10,000 broadcasts. He died on June 3, 1992, and his cause for sainthood was announced on June 1, 2001. Family Theater Productions, a division of Holy Cross Family Ministries continues Father Peyton’s media mission as a member of Holy Cross Family Ministries, Easton, Mass., sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Holy Cross Family Ministries serves Jesus Christ and His Church throughout the world by promoting and supporting the spiritual well-being of the family.

“Rosary Stars” will air at these times (Eastern): Tuesday-11:30AM; Wednesday-5AM; Friday-8AM; Sunday-10:30PM.

Both Jessica Rey and Immaculée Ilibagiza have been featured on the CatholicTV talk show “This is the Day”.

This article was submitted by CatholicTV.

St. Francis of Assisi:  Patron Saint of Animals and Ecology

An overview of the Roman Catholic Church’s teachings on animals and animal protection

Additional Animals & Religion related resources from a variety of religious perspectives

On Friday, July 10th, Pope Benedict will meet with President Barack Obama in Rome. Coverage of this Vatican event will be televised on CatholicTV.com and on CatholicTV where available.

CatholicTV is a nationally-broadcasted television network headquartered near Boston. CatholicTV streams its broadcast simultaneously, 24 hours a day at www.CatholicTV.com

Once they’ve allowed the photographers their opportunity, Pope Benedict and President Obama will speak alone and in private for what will likely be less than one hour.

The meeting between the Pope and President Obama will be broadcast on July 10th, at noon (Eastern) and will be rebroadcast at 8PM.

About CatholicTV:
CatholicTV provides family-friendly, religious, news, and educational programming 24 hours daily. Founded over 50 years ago, CatholicTV is available in selected areas on cable in the United States and Canada, via Sky Angel and online via a live stream anytime, everywhere at the station’s web site www.CatholicTV.com. Father Robert Reed, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, is the Director of CatholicTV. Click here to paste this into your browser to find out how to watch CatholicTV where you live: http://www.CatholicTV.org/schedule/where-to-watch.aspx

This year, my Adam read the diary for the first time.  His take on the musings of a girl his age was the source of many mother son conversations this Spring, as he started to keep his own journal.

This week, it was announced that in commemoration of what would have been her 80th birthday, the entire collection of Anne’s original writings will now be on rotating display in the museum that was once her “Secret Annexe”.  You can learn more about the collection here.

With summer upon us, it’s a great time to pick up Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and share it with our older children.  It’s also the perfect time to give them the gift of their own diary or journal and to encourage them to share what’s on their mind.  Anne once wrote, “And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me.”  Her gift continues to inspire others!

Cheryl has done such a terrific job with the creation and editing of Catholic Exchange’s Today’s Catholic Woman channel.  Along with Mary Kochan, Cheryl is providing plenty of opportunity for each of us to grow in our faith.  Thanks, Cheryl, for mentioning me in your article and for the great work you are doing.  It’s a blessing to be a part of your team!

Interested in your opinions!

More importantly, Sarah is also hosting the Mary Moments Carnival today, so be sure to spend time at Sarah’s place soaking in the Marian goodness.  Thanks Sarah for your kind comments and the opportunity to count you as a friend!

Blessedly, the wonderful Lisa Wheeler has shared a blog post today that gives voice to many of the sentiments I’ve been carrying around.  I hope you can find ten minutes today to read Lisa’s post and share it with a friend.  Regardless of whether you new Michael or have friends who are involved in LC or RC, this post is a good one to savor when you have that “Why am I even bothering?” feeling that so frequently plagues us.  Many days, when I wonder why I spend so much time at my keyboard, messages like Lisa’s post find their way to me and give me fuel for my fire.

Thank you Lisa for sharing your heart in this post and for saying what I wanted to and doing so much more eloquently than I every could have dreamed of doing.  Our prayers continue, and we each look for our own Little Way to answer that great Call.

Officials from Vatican Television and Google announced the channel Friday, January 23rd, because it’s when the Holy City celebrates the annual “Social Communications Day.”

The Pontiff praised the benefits social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace to build friendships and understanding.

In my book, Fr. Finelli represents the embodiment of the Church using social networking to the highest possible end, so it’s fitting that his commentary on this topic was sought.  Great job Fr. Jay!  If you’re not already a subscriber, please check out Fr. Jay’s iPadre podcast on SQPN, which is one of my favorites!

This channel offers news coverage of the main activities of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and of relevant Vatican event.  It is updated daily.  Video images are produced by Centro Televisio Vaticano (CTV), texts by Vatican Radio (RV) and CTV.  This video-news presents the Catholic Churchs position regarding the principal issues of the world today.  Links give access to the full and official texts of cited documents.

Embedding of the videos in our blogs has been disabled, so I would suggest subscribing to the Vatican’s videos at YouTube so that you are notified when new videos are added.  Also, just a reminder that you can always follow the Catholic headlines on our Catholic News page here at CatholicMom.com.

Vatican YouTube Channel