2 Beautiful iPad Apps for Catholic Educators [and Free Wallpaper]

iCatholic Magazine
iCatholic Magazine

On the same day CNS reported Pope Benedict’s announcement of a 2012 synod on the theme of “new evangelization,” my wife surprised me with an iPad for my birthday. In keeping with the spirit of the Holy Father’s announcement, I’d like to share a few iPad apps that might interest Catholic educators. The following apps are designed to be used with the iPad, taking advantage of its large screen and WiFi connectivity.

iCatholic [Free] – CatholicTV is on the forefront of new evangelization, and their iPad app is just another example of the kind of high quality work the Archdiocese of Boston is producing. The iCatholic app allows the user to read CatholicTV’s monthly magazine. You can download the entire magazine, or read it as it streams into the app page by page. Either way, you’re in for a visual treat as the full color photos and artwork brilliantly illustrate the content. More than just a monthly preview of upcoming programming, iCatholic delves into relevant topics of interest to today’s Catholic.

As I perused the November 2010 issue, I especially appreciated the article on how those with Celiac Disease deal with their allergy to the communion host. My sister has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease for over 30 years, and I was captivated by the stories of other Catholics who have learned to adjust to life without gluten. The November issue also covered baby boomers, the liturgical year, and cyber security.

The app takes full advantage of the iPad’s connectivity. Articles are enhanced with web links and videos that can be opened with a simple double tap. Neither the videos nor the links take you out of the application. Instead, they open in a convenient pop-up tab that can be expanded to the full screen.

All in all, every Catholic educator with an iPad should read iCatholic. But if you don’t have an iPad, don’t worry. The same content can be viewed online at CatholicTV’s website.

iBreviary Pro [Free] – The Liturgy of the Hours is one of the most beautiful but complex prayers available to Catholics. The Divine Office brings out the sacredness in each moment of the day and unites us in prayer with the whole Church. In order to pray it fully, a person usually needs a thick prayer book called a breviary, along with a fairly sophisticated understanding of the liturgical year. Someday we may have an adult Catholic population that is knowledgeable enough to maneuver the ribbons and rubrics of the Divine Office, but until then, the iBreviary app is a godsend.

iBreviary makes each day’s prayers available against a beautiful parchment background with no need to move ribbons or flip back and forth between sections. Available in English, Italian, Spanish, French and Latin, the free app uses official texts and also provides the daily Mass readings, not to mention an impressive collection of prayers and blessings.

While nothing can replace the feel of an elegantly bound prayer book, the visual appeal of iBreviary enhances the reader’s experience of using the iPad to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s unbelievable that an app this beautiful, useful and comprehensive should be free. There is no reason for any Catholic iPad owner to avoid downloading iBreviary.

Free Wallpaper – One of the first things I did after charging up my new iPad was change the main screen wallpaper. One of my favorite images is Sassoferrato’s Mary, and it makes a beautiful background for the app icons. The following picture links to the 1024×1024 image (799kb) that I use for my iPad. If you like it, feel free to download it. The best way to say thanks is by subscribing to Catholic School Chronicle, either by RSS or by email. I’d also appreciate it if you could tell all the Catholic educators you know about the Chronicle.

Sassoferrato Mary for iPad
Sassoferrato Mary for iPad

8 Replies to “2 Beautiful iPad Apps for Catholic Educators [and Free Wallpaper]”

  1. Wow – Happy birthday to you! Someday I’ll use those fun iToys. The articles about Celiac disease sound very interesting to me too. We’ve had similar family issues. I’ll check out the website.

    Any specific suggestions on how to use these apps in the classroom?

  2. Both apps are more for teacher development, but there are ways they could be used with students. First, I think it’s good for students to see that the Church embraces modern technology. Yesterday I showed the iPad to my reading classes and discussed the future of reading–especially after Amazon’s news that ebooks outsold all paper books in the last 30 days. I can see doing something similar with my Religion class, asking them if they ever considered using their iPods for prayer. Many students have an iPod touch, which can use the same apps.

    iCatholic can be used to bring relevant issues to students’ attention. A teacher could mention an article, read a bit from it, and then direct students to the iCatholic web site to read the rest of it. Or a teacher might assign reading the online magazine as homework, asking students to comment on one or two issues the magazine raises.

    iBreviary is an interesting way to introduce students to the Divine Office. Students are always more motivated by a lesson that uses technology, so putting an iPad under a document camera and showing them the app might induce them to give Morning Prayer a try. Especially if they know they can download it for free on their own iPod touch.

  3. Interesting uses for the iPad in the classroom. Good idea to maybe direct the students to the web to read an article. I wonder, do you see schools ever going to ebooks exclusively? Seems like it would be too expensive for the hardware. I wonder if the savings in electronic format textbooks would outweigh the cost of the devices?

  4. I don’t know about Catholic schools ever going with ebooks, but there’s a Florida public high school that’s in its second month of a pilot program where every student was given a Kindle. See the fascinating details at The Kindle Chronicles podcast episode 117. As far as hardware costs, a new Kindle 3G is $189. The total cost of a set of new 8th grade texts in print form at our school is $466. With the new CK12 open source textbook initiative, it’s conceivable that some etextbooks would be free. I downloaded a free Kindle edition 8th grade CK12 Earth science text that’s incredible–pictures, diagrams, charts, study questions–quite impressive.

  5. Yeah, that’s what I was thinking about. I was wondering if the cost of etextbooks was so much less than regular print textbooks that it would be worth the cost of a device like a Kindle for every student. That is very interesting.

  6. What is interesting is that Apple has Road Shows where they will work with educators on how to use their tools – iPods, iPads, laptops, etc. in an educational setting. I attended one in Tampa and I was amazed at what could be done with these tools. Perhaps it is time to engage Apple in doing these types of Road Shows/workshops for Religion Teachers. For those who are interested, let’s collaborate and ask Apple to come to INTERACTIVE CONNECTIONS 2012. They could do a whole pre or post-conference workshop.

  7. Dear Nick,
    hi, I was looking for the image of the Blessed Virgin you offer for iPad, and I found yours is the best in the whole internet… at least for a beginner like me.
    I have been looking for it because a friend of mine would like to use that immage for a “memoir” of his ordination (a prayer card he will be giving as a souvenir for those who attend the event).
    Do you have a version of the same immage in a higher resolution? Would it be too much to ask you to send me a copy?
    Thank you very much. I’m sorry I’m not able to give any idea to your discussion…

  8. Sorry for the late reply. Check your email and you should have it soon.

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