Theo, a free Catholic prayer and meditation app for children and their parents, plans to host the largest Advent celebration for children to help them discover the true meaning of the season.
Now through Dec. 24, more than 1 million children are expected to take part in a 25-day journey filled with stories, songs, activities and reflections.
The Advent campaign will be led by Theodore, a cheerful animated donkey who is described as a direct descendant of the donkey that carried the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bethlehem. It will also feature several special guests, including Catholic actor David Henrie and Father Ambrose Criste, among others.
Participants will read through the first two chapters of Luke, which will be accompanied by some meditations and reflection questions for children to do with their parents as well as hearing the stories of several saints, listening to songs, and explaining activities that parents and children can do together.
Francisco Cornejo, CEO of Theo, told CNA in an interview that this campaign will help children “hear the word of God” and “prepare their hearts for the birth of Jesus.”
“We prepared these four weeks in a way that is engaging; it’s fun, but it’s also educational,” he added.
While Theo can be used for children of all ages, Cornejo pointed out that the Advent campaign is best suited for children between the ages of 4 and 12.
“The content tends to be on the more mature side of things, I would say, meaning 6 to 8 and older, but again this is the beauty of creating an app that is for the parent and the child – if the theme or the topic is a little hard to grasp or we want to go deeper in the learning, you have your parent by your side,” Cornejo said. “So you can discuss that and we’ll provide those discussion points and all the guidance there.”
Theo launched seven months ago and already has over 2 million users. Cornejo attributes the app’s success first and foremost to God but also to the need among Catholics families for a tool like this.
“We’ve seen over the last few years how families and how parents specifically wanted to have something like Theo because it’s not enough to take kids to Mass every Sunday or to get them through holy Communion preparation or confirmation preparation,” he said. “What happens every other day of the year or of their lives? So we really wanted to create a tool that makes faith accessible and teachings accessible for everyday kids and families regardless of where they are in their faith journey.”
He added: “It’s not meant to replace all the good things that we parents have to do, but it’s meant to help make faith an everyday thing. Something that kids want to hear more because it’s packed in a way that it’s accessible for them.”
The content on Theo includes daily Scripture readings, prayers, bedtime stories, faith-based affirmations, meditations, novenas, stories of the saints, the rosary, and much more.
Cornejo also highlighted the importance of having both child and parent involved in using the app, because “education needs to be done together.”
“You need to exemplify what you want to try to teach, and you have to do it with your kids – that’s the domestic Church. That’s what we are meant to do as parents,” he added.
As for what he hopes children and their parents will take away from participating in the Advent campaign, Cornejo said: “I think the main thing is remembering and living the actual meaning of Advent – the waiting for Jesus’ birth, preparing our hearts as the manger to welcome Jesus into our hearts” and that participants “forget about the fluff and the gifts and the ‘me, me, me’ and start thinking about what this actually represents.”
— Francesca Pollio Fenton, Catholic News Agency
From grief to grace
Nixon spent four months creating this relief sculpture depicting the Assumption of Mary. He believes his late wife Francesca sent the vision for this image his way, and like everything his wife was a part of, he loves it. He said, “I truly believe she is a saint.” (Troy C. Hull | Catholic News Herald)GREENSBORO — Francesca and Paul Nixon’s love story continues beyond the grave through two recently crafted relief sculptures installed on the sanctuary walls of Our Lady of Grace Church that depict the Ascension of the Lord and the Assumption of Mary.
Francesca, the love of Paul Nixon’s life, tragically died after falling from a horse last year. He still gets glimpses of her in dreams and visions as she guides Nixon’s healing through the talent she unlocked in him – his art.
Now, when parishioners raise their hearts and minds toward the heavens, they get a peek of the couple’s love layered within the sculptures.
“I did this from my heart, for my wife,” Nixon said. “God gave me the gift I didn’t see. Francesca saw that gift and brought it out of me. What better place to compliment both God and my wife?”
The intricate works of art, each measuring three feet by two feet, took four months to complete. The depictions were hand-sculpted from clay and then hardened with cement for texture.
“I was sitting one day writing, and then all of a sudden this thought popped into my head, ‘I need to do a panel of the Assumption.’ The idea came to me through her,” Nixon recalled.
The relief panel is a three-dimensional image of Mary being carried to the heavens by five angels, each sculpted in clay and then cast in a high-grade sculptors’ cement. The background shows 10 more angels surrounding the Queen of Heaven. The top of the wooden frame is an upcycled piece of a Victorian couch
“I couldn’t just do the one panel. It wouldn’t make sense. Then the thought of doing the Ascension came into my mind,” Nixon said.
The hand carved centered “OLG” on each frame was an afterthought that tied the two pieces together as did the antique white coloring.
He showed his sculpture to Father Casey Coleman, pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, and received the same enthusiastic response he now witnesses from people in the pews.
“I’ve already watched people reach out, touch and stare at them,” he said. “And I know this is exactly what she wants from me.”
Nixon, an auto mechanic who became an acclaimed artist in his late 40s after a huge nudge by his late wife, has his fingerprints all over Our Lady of Grace Church – from the confessionals’ woodwork and stained glass to the intricate shrine boxes and hymnal stand.
Bishops worldwide carry his hand-carved croziers, and his hand-sculpted totem poles and memorial sculptures are scattered across the Carolinas. Some of his best work is in glass-enclosed cases in the Yeats Memorial Building in Sligo, Ireland.
Yet Nixon doesn’t credit his own hands, but Francesca, who pushed him to discover the potential God created in him. Before his wife’s encouragement, his life was on a dramatically different path.
Originally from Dublin, he spent his 20s and 30s on wild adventures sailing the seas, ballroom dancing, working as a stunt double, and riding bikes alongside the Hell’s Angels.
“I realized I could no longer do all this by myself,” Nixon said. “I had all these wonderful experiences but no one to share them with.”
So he flipped a coin at an Irish bar and landed in New York.
There he met Francesca. When she dropped off her car at the auto shop where he worked, his heart hit the floor. It was love at first sight.
Three months later, they married. He was 40, and she was 38. They quickly started a family, adopting an infant from Guatemala. That child motivated Francesca to become Catholic.
“She told me she wanted to convert to Catholicism because we were adopting a little girl and we needed to all be on the same page,” Nixon said. “In doing that, she actually brought me back into the Church.”
Francesca and Paul Nixon were married for 29 years before her death. This is Paul’s favorite picture, taken at an art venue a few years ago.Francesca knew Nixon had artistic ability and asked him to create a gift for their aunt: a cane.
“I worked on that cane for three months and hated every moment of it, until the day we presented it to Aunt Mary and the outpouring of tears and joy,” he recalled. “To do something from your heart and get that type of human emotion, I knew that was my purpose.”
The reaction brought Nixon clarity. He needed to nurture his ability to sculpt. He slowly put down his mechanics tools and has now come to adore his whittling knife.
He doesn’t allow his fingers too much rest these days, constantly occupying himself with a novel creation – anything that he thinks would make Francesa smile.
He has some sleepless nights and can at times cut his loneliness with a knife. Yet, he stays busy, now creating 30 new pieces for an upcoming local art gallery.
“Even though she is gone, and I do still have many, many tearful nights, there is such an inspiration, there is such a drive now because I know this is for her and this is what she would want for me,” Nixon said. “And, in all our 30 years together, I never wanted to fail her in any way.”
— Lisa M. Geraci