Traditionally, Lent was a time for personal conversion leading up to Easter, during which Christians practiced the spiritual disciplines of fasting, praying and almsgiving to strip away all that is unnecessary and become more mindful of their ultimate dependence on God. Let’s recapture the true meaning of Lent in ways that are actually relevant to your life. Each day throughout Lent, starting on Ash Wednesday, the calendar’s link for that day will become active, revealing a Daily Jolt for spiritual contemplation relating to Lent, and new and practical ideas for fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

Oh, and we’ll have weekly prizes and a grand prize. By filling out a brief survey and sharing your contact info with us, you will be entered into random drawings for the weekly and grand prizes. (You can enter once a week, which also increases your chances of winning the grand prize.

Busted Halo’s^® Fast Pray Give Calendar is completely unflunkable, entirely relevant and totally inspiring. The idea isn’t to be perfect but to continue on our path, so if you slip up one day, don’t give up; simply begin again the next day. We hope you’ll join Busted Halo this year with our Fast Pray Give Lent calendar.

You sent us your ash photos and you voted for your favorites!

So, after 112 photos and hundreds of votes, without further ado, check out the winning 2013 Best Ash, as voted by you, and a slide show of the other prize categories awarded by the editors of Busted Halo.

February 14th — why is it known as Valentine’s Day? Why do those in love send each other valentines? And what feast does the Catholic Church celebrate on this day? Think you know the answers? Think again, because the truth is a lot more surprising than you’d imagine. Watch friend of Busted Halo, Fr. Jack Collins, CSP, wander the streets of New York asking the city’s star-crossed lovers if they know why we celebrate Valentine’s Day.

What is Lent? What are the three practices the Church suggests we do during Lent based on the teachings of Jesus? Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays and why is it called “Good” Friday, anyway? Fr. Jack Collins, CSP, is once again hitting the streets, this time on Ash Wednesday near St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, asking these questions and more.

Looking for a quick way to explain Ash Wednesday to your friends? Look no further than Busted Halo’s® two-minute video that describes the day which begins the season of Lent, and why Catholics and many Christians receive ashes on their foreheads.

You’ll see a lot of young adults in Church on Ash Wednesday. Let Busted Halo® help you keep them coming back!
As young adults make a turn in their spiritual journey toward your church on Ash Wednesday, download, print, and share this invitation to deepen their relationship with God. We’ve made a color and black and white version available below for downloading. You can personalize the sheet with your parish information at the bottom and invite people to volunteer to distribute it on Ash Wednesday. Busted Halo® is an online ministry. Your parish is the place they can turn to for an in-person encounter with their faith.
Don’t miss this opportunity for New Evangelization!…

As a thank you for being a part of the Busted Halo® community, we’re offering our users something special today.
This is the first in what will be a continuing series of monthly wallpapers featuring a thematic image of the Church season along with important dates to keep in mind for the coming month.
Downloads are available in sizes that will fit both widescreen and full screen monitors, as well as mobile devices.
With Ash Wednesday just 13 days away, we thought the Lenten image of the desert was the obvious choice to begin this series. Remember, Lent is coming.
Download the files directly below, mark your calendar, and enjoy this easy way to stay aware of important feasts and holy days heading your way.
Download:…

As the world watches its greatest athletes swim laps and nail landings, we’ll look at some gold medal winners in their own right. Each day of the Olympics we’ll feature a spiritual great and some advice for staying fit on your own spiritual journey.…

Merry Christmas from Busted Halo®!
A lot of people think Christmas only lasts one day, or worse yet, that December 25 ends the Christmas season. In fact, this date is just the beginning of Christmas in the Church, a season that actually lasts about 3 weeks.
In the tradition of receiving fun gifts, games and surprises on this holiest of days, we present you with Christmasopoly, a fun way to be informed about how long Christmastime really lasts. Use this as you journey through the 8, 12 and 20 days of the season, doing Christmas, all of it, the right way.
Click the image below to view a larger size, and click here for a printable version.

 …

In 2008, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith began an investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (or LCWR), the largest association in the United States of leaders of Catholic nuns and sisters in religious communities. During its study of the LCWR, the Vatican office analyzed how Catholic doctrine was being addressed within the organization. This past April, the results of the investigation were revealed.
This week, as the LCWR is meeting to develop a response to the Vatican’s investigation, we’re here on the street asking Catholics who are marching to support the sisters what they think.
[Published on: May 31, 2012]…

Not sure about the relationship between Advent and Christmas? You thought they were the same thing? Check out Busted Halo’s two-minute video that describes why we celebrate Advent and wait to celebrate Christmas.

Advent is a precious time in the Christian calendar. Completely avoiding the Christmas onslaught may be impossible, but we can make an effort to maintain some connection to the spiritual foundation of this season. Busted Halo’s 2012 Advent Surprise Calendar is here to help a little with that.

Ever wonder what the big deal is with Catholics and the Virgin Mary? Do they worship her or just pray to her? What’s the Annunciation? What’s the Immaculate Conception? What’s the Assumption? All these questions and more answered in this short two (okay, three) minute video.
You can download this video by right-clicking here and selecting “Save Link As…”…

Christmas is coming and Busted Halo longtime friend Fr. Jack Collins, CSP, hits the streets (and the local ice skating rink) to ask people what they know about that anticipatory season of waiting and preparation… Advent.

Thanks to everyone for your entries into #Haloween2012 — the Busted Halo-ween Costume Contest!
Here are the contest winners:
You can see more entries on our Twitter page: www.twitter.com/bustedhalo.…

Voting is important. And when elections roll around, there’s always a lot for voters to consider. Different issues are important to different people. However, the Church has never advocated its members to vote for a particular candidate or vote solely on one issue. In fact, Catholics are never single-issue voters. As Catholics our faith helps us sort out the many complicated issues facing us during election years and leads us to an informed decision about which candidate to vote for.
This Busted Halo original video looks at the U.S. Bishops’ guide to Faithful Citizenship – teachings on issues that are important to the Church. As a people of faith, it’s important that we remember…

Are you dressing up as one of the Avengers this year? Do you make the scariest Dracula or spooky saint on the block? Are your kids the cutest pumpkins at school? Break out your best costume for the first ever Busted Halo-ween Costume Contest!
The tradition of wearing costumes on All Hallow’s Eve (Halloween) has its earliest origins in 19th century Scotland. Children went door to door in guises on that day offering entertainment in exchange for various gifts (similar to our custom of trick-or-treating today). Show us how you celebrate this tradition by sending us photos of your best Halloween costumes!
Here’s what you do:
#1 Tweet us @BustedHalo with a photo of you, friends, or family members (this includes pets!)…

Fr. Jack Collins, CSP, hits the streets of New York City’s scary Greenwich Village, asking young adults what they know about the origins of Halloween — how it began, why people wear costumes, and the two Catholic holidays surrounding All Hallow’s Eve.

Fr. Steven Bell, CSP, makes his video debut (and eats a lot of sausage and peppers) while celebrating the San Gennaro Festival in New York’s Little Italy. The festival, which celebrates the patron saint of the people of Naples, is well known as one of the largest religious street festivals in the United States. 
San Gennaro, a.k.a. St. Januarius, was an Italian bishop martyred in 305 AD.  His remains were brought back to Naples, where he was celebrated for his faithfulness.  When the Napoli people immigrated to New York in 1926, they continued the celebration, which has expanded from a simple afternoon event into what is now an 11-day-long festival of food, fellowship and fun (and once again, a lot of food.)…

With the Feast of the Assumption approaching on August 15th, we sent our intrepid Paulist priest, friend and colleague, Fr. Jack Collins, CSP, out into New York City to find out the Assumption IQ of citizens on the street.