Protestants have been on the marketing bandwagon for a long time, but our Catholic friends have not embrace it until recently. This video is from Father Vic on the behalf of the Roman Catholic churches of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. This was part of a “confessional campaign” to drive people to confession before Easter. The video was featured on their campaign microsite www.soulwow.com. Yes, this is for real. center this I’m going to give them props for trying something new and funny. It got me to watch all the way through and it made me smile. And that’s a feat considering I don’t usually make through most church videos no matter how short they are. What’s your take on Father Vic and his “ShamWow” parochial parish parody? (sorry, but I could not resist.)

Last week I picked up a copy of “Quitting Church. Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to do about it.” This is the latest book from Julia Duin who is the Religion Editor for The Washington Times. I had high hopes for the book since it promised to help church leaders to answer the tough question: how to stop people from leaving our churches. Sadly, Julia never fully answered that question. The majority of the book focused on the well-researched statistics the author gathered about church exodus in America (most mainline denominational churches–nothing new here) and a few anecdotal examples from Ms. Duin’s own friends and associates . But even in recounting her struggles with the local churches she’s attended over the years as well as her friends’ issues, Julia fails to give the reader answers. The one constant in “Quitting Church” is the author’s inability to find a…