Catholic Techie Andrew Weyrich

Today's Catholic Techie is one of those amazing guys who makes me happy to be alive. I was introduced to his work back at the beginning of Lent, when I marked it as an app to deepen your Lent.

Andrew Weyrich has been a serial entrepreneur for 15 years and is the guy behind Weyrich Enterprises. He says his small claim to fame was when CatholicMatch.com acquired the dating site he had built.

Andrew says he's had more failures than successes but that he has "learned so much in those failures." Amen, brother!

He has three current ventures, one of which is the Sinner2Saint app, an app that works on helping you develop virtue from your tendencies to sin. As improbable as it sounds, it's a goal we should all share, and I applaud Andrew for his ongoing work--the app has been greatly improved since its initial release, and his overall vision for it is astounding.

He also is behind SellPin, which he calls "the Ebay of Pinterest," and the Divalicious app, which I can only describe as glory for a shop-hater like me.

What I'm most impressed with, though, is how Andrew remains true to his roots. He doesn't seem to forget from whence he comes and where he's headed.

Tell us about yourself in five words or less.

Ambitious, Fun, Driven, Self-Depricating, Never Satisfied with Mediocrity.

Of your pursuits, what's your favorite?

I am extremely passionate in four areas:

1. Catholic Faith,
2. Sports: Redskins and Wizards,
3. Entrepreneurship/Business, and
4. Tech and Gadgets.

My Catholic faith is #1 in any of those - because the other three don't fulfill me the way that God can.  (I just hope they have the Super Bowl every day in heaven and the Redskins are playing.  Probably in purgatory you get a preseason game over and over and over (terrible joke). :)

When you think of the New Evangelization from your approach as a "Catholic Techie," what excites you? What makes you want to continue?

Another one of my projects is directly related to Evangelization and Technology.  It is a 501c3 nonprofit called '25000 Days'.  The premise is that even if you don't believe in Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church - we all share the same fate - we have 25000 days (70 years) or less to choose good or evil.  And those daily choices determine the type of good or bad life we have now and in the next life.  25000 Days makes edgy Catholic TV Commercials aimed at the smartphone generation.  Here is the website. And below is one of the commercials, "Best Date Ever":

[youtube_sc url="http://youtu.be/x6Dd7m0ErhA"]

What's the most rewarding aspect of your work?

I love giving back and helping people.  I also love creating - I am a graphic designer by trade and fairly techie so I combine those two skill sets to create new digital products all the time.

And I love hearing from people that use my products and services and hearing that they truly helped them in some way.  Sinner2Saint and 25000 Days are my most important work yet, because they help to turn people away from sin and evil, and I can't think of any more important work there is.

Sinner2Saint got 5000 downloads pretty quickly after being released on Ash Wednesday.  If it turned even one or 50 people away from a particular sin they have been struggling from for good or at least alleviate the tendency toward temptation, then the entire project was a success.

In your spare time, what are we likely to find you doing? Do you have a gadget in hand or do you go native and screenless?

In my spare time I go to church a lot and pray, and I like to work out, hang out with my mom and see my nephews who always make me laugh.  I also like to visit friends; I am always up for anything low key and fun.

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Copyright 2014 Sarah Reinhard