STUDIO CITY, Calif. - The feature films "Hugo" and "The Way," the documentary "I Am" and the television sitcom "Modern Family" have been named winners of this year's Catholics in Media Awards.

The Martin Scorsese film "Hugo," the filmmaker's first feature given the 3-D treatment, is getting the Film Award from Catholics in Media Associates, sponsors of the prizes for the 19th year. "Hugo" won five Academy Awards in February.

"The Way," starring Martin Sheen and directed by his son Emilio Estevez, won the group's Board of Directors Award. Both films were made available on DVD in February.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,” reads the Gospel of John. While this opening verse will always be true, I wonder what John would have to say about taking the Word and, well, texting it.

That was the challenge I embarked on this Lenten season with the “Texting through Lent” calendar. Designed as a daily devotional calendar for teens and young adults, it attempts to incorporate various multimedia devices, especially cellphones, into Lenten reflections. When I saw this calendar hanging in the walls of my former high school, I knew it was a challenge I had to accept.

OTTAWA - Colin Kerr used to believe Catholic bloggers in Canada were “a bunch of cranks.” But then he looked more closely and had to think again.

Kerr, an assistant professor of theology at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy in Barry’s Bay, Ont., found more than 100 English- language blogs in his investigation of the Canadian Catholic blogosphere. They included blogs by bishops (Edmonton Archbishop Richard Smith, Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and Montreal Bishop Thomas Dowd), blogs by priests and religious, blogs by organizations such as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, The Catholic Register and Salt + Light TV, blogs by homeschooling moms, blogs by pro-lifers, blogs on liturgy, theological reflections, parenthood and religious life inside a monastery.

LEVITTOWN, Pa. - The Catholic press in the United States and Canada is working to fulfill its mission of informing, educating and evangelizing Catholics by continuing to publish strong print publications while increasing their use of other media.

More and more people want their news and feature articles available in more ways, at more frequent intervals, editors agreed as they spoke of websites, electronic book platforms, podcasts and mobile apps.

There is a new social phenomenon affecting thousands of families. For many, it is bewildering, even infuriating. For others, it’s addictive.

I call this new phenomenon Together but Texting — people socializing through text messaging. We’ve all seen it and, quite likely, been with people while they’ve had their eyes, minds and fingers focussed on their cellphone, Blackberry or iPad. Sometimes it’s as if their very soul is immersed.

So, people constantly ask in exasperation, “What’s the world coming to?”

In the U.K., what it’s coming to are television and radio advertisements to promote private, for-profit abortion services. This regrettable development is the result of a regulatory change that, critics say, means abortion will be advertised into family homes as casually as toothpaste and breakfast cereal after new rules kick in April 30.

Contemplating Christian unity could get you an iPad 2 as part of this year’s Friar’s Essay Contest.

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 10th annual contest for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity co-sponsored by The Catholic Register and the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement-Graymoor in Toronto.

The theme for this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is “We will all be changed.” Students are asked to submit a 500-word essay answering the question: What must be changed in order to attain Christian unity in the Church?

In the early 1950s, Stephen Dunn spent his senior year of high school contemplating whether to become a priest or go into broadcasting.

Sixty years after deciding his vocation was to the media, his legacy spans three generations of Catholic television broadcasting in the Dunn family of Ancaster, Ont., near Hamilton.

SHERBROOKE, Que. - There is a “digital revolution” transforming today’s mass media in ways that pose both risks and opportunities for evangelization, says a Quebec communications expert.