UPDATED (see below after the strikethrough):

Some South African Catholics who’ve started the “Awestruck Catholic Social Network” will be travelling to the USA in November to film a guest spot on EWTN’s “Life on the Rock” show. This is a wonderful opportunity for you all to engage in some Works of Mercy, meet people from a far country and help the Church fill a critical need.

First, a little bit about Awestruck (from the network’s “About” page):

“The main-stream media is not in the business of promoting the Church nor the message of the Gospel. Giant social networks like Facebook, because of their necessarily inclusive approach, often overstep the mark by tolerating and even promoting content radically opposed to the faith and to good morals. For example: Vimeo and Tumblr are infested with porn and repeated attempts to close a number of hate groups on Facebook have not been successful. This situation calls for a niche social network dedicated to celebrating the faith and promoting the Church. A trusted space where Catholics can feel “at home”, discover trusted Catholic content through our feeds, and have the tools to easily share this content to networks outside of Awestruck. That’s Awestruck in a nutshell.”

The network was started a few years ago and has grown steadily. One upcoming boost in its global profile and exposure will be their appearance on EWTN next month. And hence the reason for this post.

Norm and Cris (the two “Awestruckers” appearing on the show) will be doing some travelling about the States while here. They are travelling with almost no money – trusting in Divine Providence and remembering that He sent the 12 out with not even a change of cloak!

As we read in the Gospels:

Matthew 10:10 “…no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick.”

And remember: Matthew 10: 11-13 “Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you.

And here’s a biggie: Matthew 25:35 “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me…”

Have you ever read those passages and wondered what you might have done if people sent by Our Lord and Saviour Himself appeared in your town and perhaps your door and needed a place to stay or some other help? Or what if the visitor was Him? Now’s your chance! While not implying that Norm and Cris are the equvalent to the Apostles or Jesus (but they are disciples of Jesus, as are you and I), they are taking upon themselves an enormous challenge in travelling all the way from South Africa to the United States on this mission that benefits the Church and Catholics worldwide.

This takes guts and heroism. Cape Town is nearly 8,000 miles (14,000 km) from New York City. A long trip, and they’re traveling another few thousand after arriving!

Their itinerary:

• Arriving in the US on 5 November – first stop New York City for 3 nights.
• Flying to Pittsburgh, PA on 8 November for 2 nights to visit the nearby Franciscan University of Steubenville.
• Leaving for Dallas, TX on 10 November and staying for 1 night.
• Onward to Birmingham, AL and EWTN on 11 November for 3 nights.
• Then on to Atlanta, GA on 14 November from where Cris will return to Cape Town.
• Norm to remain for the night of 14 November in Atlanta from where he will leave for home on 15 November.

***The guys are really needing some help in Pittsburgh/Steubenville, Dallas and Atlanta. Anyone around those places who can support their cause with beds and meals?***

UPDATE: They have places to sleep in all of their stops, although Dallas had to be dropped. But there is still the issue of money, for some meals and also some travel expenses.

So, since some of their material needs are being met (beds) can you help out financially? You can do this by several ways:

• joining up at Awestruck and providing a financial contribution through a PayPal button. How to join? Again, quoting from their network on signing up: “Join thousands of fellow Catholics. The easiest way to register is to simply “Login with Facebook”, then, access all sites on the network, make friends, follow feeds, create open or closed social networks for your parish/group/organization, discover, post and share from the stream at will.” But you needn’t use your Facebook login (I didn’t, I registered and created an account separately. But that’s easy, too!) Awestruck is found here: “Awestruck”.
• If you’re not willing to join Awestruck, you can send a donation to me through PayPal, my donation button is near the top of the blog, you can’t miss it. Please just make a notation as to what it is for (the “Awestruck Tour” will do). I will then transfer it along to them ASAP.

And if you do join, you can find me here and send a Friend Request: My profile.

This endeavor has a Group on Awestruck that you can join and learn more or give advice:
Awestruck USA Tour 2014

I sincerely hope that if you are reading this you can do several things:

• Support Awestruck in some way, either by sending a financial contribution to their PayPal
• and/or by helping out the intrepid Awestruck travellers in some way.
• Just joining the network, help it grow by spreading the word about it
• Make use of it in some way! Make it an integral part of your online life!

Finally, a greeting from Awestruck:

“Awestruck will be shooting a “Life on the Rock” show on 13 November at EWTN Studios, Birmingham which will be aired on 10 December 2014!
We are extremely keen to meet up (socially) with any Awestruckers along the way. Coffee anyone?”

Coffee?!?!? Did someone mention coffee?????

Special thanks to Awestrucker Ana St. Paul for some of the information for this post. (I hope you didn’t mind my copy/pasting of your stuff. 😉 )

Let me know what you can do via the comments or by email (sobercatholic at gmail dot com).

My two other books are still available! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)