CNA<\/a>).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services.<\/p>\n\t\u201cThe whole idea was to bring the Catholic Church to those troops who don\u2019t have a chaplain available to them,\u201d said Cheri Lomonte, founder of the Frontline Faith Project.<\/p>\n
\tThe project was initially founded in response to a shortage of Catholic chaplains in the military. Working as the co-host of Mary\u2019s Touch radio program, Lomonte received a prayer request for a listener\u2019s son who had been in Afghanistan for nine months without seeing a Catholic chaplain.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI had to do something about this,\u201d she told CNA in an Oct. 31 interview, adding that she \u201cknew right then it was the Holy Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tLomonte had previously been involved in efforts to give MP3 players with recorded stories to the homeless in Austin, Texas, and decided to apply this idea to the military to \u201cmake sure that they can hear a Mass and a Rosary,\u201d even if they cannot access a chaplain.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf we can\u2019t bring them the Catholic Church, we have to bring them something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\tShe began to look for material and ask for permission to use it. She eventually assembled more than seven hours of material, including a presentation that Archbishop Fulton Sheen gave at West Point, an examination of conscience, a recording of a Mass celebrated by Military Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio and a recitation of the Rosary.<\/p>\n
\tThe MP3 player also includes Church music, children reading letters that they wrote to members of the armed forces and inspiring military stories.<\/p>\n
\tSoon, she said, Protestant chaplains were calling her to request a non-denominational Christian version. The result was a second set of recordings, with talks, stories, songs, reflections and letters, but without distinctively Catholic features such as the Mass and Rosary.<\/p>\n
\tSince 2010, the Frontline Faith Project has sent out some 30,000 MP3 players, and Lomonte said they are \u201cjust getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe organization focuses on sending the players to those who are deployed, soon to be deployed or are wounded and in a veteran\u2019s hospital. Unlike a book, she explained, the MP3 players do not require light to use, they are not bulky or heavy to carry around and they use technology that many members of the military are already familiar with.<\/p>\n
\tIn her work to assemble the recordings, Lomonte also talked to numerous military wives and saw the \u201chuge sacrifice\u201d made by all the members of a military family. This sparked an idea to make something for military families and eventually led to the creation of a 2-CD set entitled, \u201cOn the Home Front.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThe responses have been pretty amazing,\u201d she said, pointing to notes of gratitude from soldiers and family members.<\/p>\n
\tChaplains have also given Lomonte their thanks, with one referring to the MP3 player as \u201cthe best weapon they\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tLomonte does not charge to send the players to the troops but instead collects money through online fundraising at the Frontline Faith Project website. Each MP3 player costs about 24 dollars to send.<\/p>\n
\tIn the last eight months, donations have dropped because people think the war in Afghanistan is over, she noted.<\/p>\n
\tHowever, troops are still being deployed and \u201cwe have military all over the world,\u201d she said, explaining that chaplains have requested hundreds of MP3 players for U.S. troops being deployed in December.<\/p>\n
\tAs a result, Lomonte reported that the group has \u201cmore orders than we can fill,\u201d and \u201cwhen we can\u2019t fill them, it hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tShe explained that \u201cwe have these military putting their lives on the line for us. I think as Americans, we have a responsibility to them. They make sure we have our freedoms and we are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tFor Veteran\u2019s Day, which is observed on Nov. 11, the Frontline Faith Project is asking Americans to join in \u201cAn American Moment,\u201d pausing at noon local time for a moment of silent prayer \u2013 giving thanks for veterans, remembering those who have been killed in combat and praying for those who are alive.<\/p>\n
\tThe current Year of Faith is a good time to come together in love for God and country, said Lomonte, adding that after the bitter divisions of this election season, she hopes the effort can help \u201cbring us all back together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n
![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\")
<\/a>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews\/~4\/DtfgHVaGVF8\")
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services.<\/p>\n
\t“T…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/\",\"name\":\"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines","description":"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines","og_description":"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/","name":"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-11-02T08:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Nov 2, 2012 \/ 02:17 am (CNA).- For more than two years, the Frontline Faith Project has worked to send MP3 players with Catholic content to U.S. troops, who may not be have regular access to a chaplain or religious services. “T...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/project-sends-spiritual-relief-to-the-frontlines\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Project sends spiritual relief to the frontlines"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}