Catholics have long enjoyed the work of papal videographer Alberto Michelini. Now, under a special arrangement with the Vatican, a four DVD set on the life of Blessed John Paul II has been made available. It contains five hours of dramatic documentary footage, organized by topic into ten films that are each 30 minutes in […]
The Mighty Macs is the kind of film that makes you want to cheer from your seats. It’s a Cinderella in basketball sneakers story of an underdog earning the crown. The film is based on the true story of the 1971-72 Immaculata University women’s basketball team. This small — under 800 students — Catholic women’s […]
The Tripods Attack! is the first book in the Young Chesterton Chronicles, an adventure series aimed at middle and high-school age boys. Its main character is a fictional, teenaged GK Chesterton. In The Tripods Attack! Gilbert fights off an alien invasion with the help of his mentor, Father Brown, and his best friend, the youthful […]
As I walked into the theater for a screening of Snowmen, the film’s publicist handed me materials and remarked that there was no sex and no explosions, “just cute kids in snow.” She was right, but that doesn’t fully explain why this movie is good. Goodness cannot be defined by what it is not. In […]
There are many wonderful books about Catholic saints available. Most of you probably own some of them. Perhaps you even have some collecting dust in your home. They looked so interesting, but you never found the time to read them. So, why should you purchase another one? Because in the new A Book of Saints […]
How would you like to be splashed with water as you walk down the street? In Poland, that’s how they say, “Happy Easter!” If you had read last Easter’s issue of St. Mary’s Messenger magazine for children, you would have known that. I recently stumbled upon St. Mary’s Messenger through a phone call from Kris […]
A friend once said to me that all religions are by nature conservative and so are people who take religion seriously because religion exists to bring something from the more or less distant past forward into the future. G. K. Chesterton said that “the Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from […]
Some things are meant to be shared. Friendship with Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta is one of those things. I personally know three people who were friends with Mother Teresa and like a second-class relic, those second-class friendships leave me feeling somehow closer to her. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle is one of those friends who was […]
In the midst of living your vocation did you ever wonder what became of some of your college classmates? Since graduating in 1992 I have been continually surprised at how fellow Franciscan University alums have popped up on the radar — locally and nationally. Seeing Regina Doman’s books on the shelf of a local Catholic […]
Lately it seems that many of my friends are either returning from a pilgrimage to a holy site in Europe or planning one. I long to make a pilgrimage too, but since it’s not in the budget right now, I’ll have to settle for living vicariously. Fortunately, a new movie titled The Way, starring Martin […]
Imagine for a minute you are the mayor of a small town. Your country, which has been occupied by a foreign power for many years, has been liberated by a second foreign power. But, your liberators have decided to stay. You have traded one occupier for another. The foreign government demands your allegiance and cooperation in […]
Draw yourself an organization chart representing the Catholic Church. What you’ll get is a sketch of an ecclesiastical institution that on paper looks like a genuine world class internal communication machine. Those boxes and lines could lead the beholder to suppose that if the Pope says something on Monday morning, then by the following Sunday […]
There’s a brutal invasion sweeping across our country, attacking our decency and humanity from the inside out. While we enjoy eating fresh produce, consuming chocolate candy, staying at a clean hotel, or getting our nails done, human trafficking has often been crouching in the background as a ruthless supplier for these goods and services. Other […]
I received a press release yesterday about a new film project. In part it read: Paramount Pictures and New Regency Productions jointly announced today that Academy Award nominated director Darren Aronofsky will direct the feature film Noah, with Academy Award nominated screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) coming aboard to re-write the script by Aronofsky & […]
Today, October 4th is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. Last year, on a pilgrimage to see the Shroud of Turin, north of Assisi in Italy, my travel companions (three teenage girls) and I got to spend a few special hours in Assisi. Seeing the Shroud left an indelible impression on me and spending time in […]
Robert Guillaume, 83 years young, provides the unique voice of Rafiki in Disney’s classic film The Lion King. Mr. Guillaume’s 50-plus year career includes accolades in both theater and TV. He won two Emmys (for Soap and Benson) and received a Tony nomination for his role in Guys and Dolls. I recently interviewed the charming […]
One of the most vivid childhood memories is sitting in my parish church, gazing up at a large fresco of the Child Jesus and St Josephworking in their carpentry shop. I wondered what the pair discussed amid the rasping of their tools and fragrant wood shavings. My childish faith imagination helped me forge a deep […]
I attended the opening night of Courageous with some trepidation. I had seen Fireproof, made by the same filmmakers, and I had not cared for it. Fireproof was just “okay” and I gave it an “A for Effort,” but, to my mind, the Christian message was too on-the-nose. But, last Friday night, some friends wanted […]
The media likes 40 Days for Life — and we have the abortion industry to thank. No, I have not lost my mind just four days into the campaign! Yes, I know at the national level, the media seems to have an agenda that’s radically in favor of abortion. But I’m seeing 40 Days for […]
There are all kind of theories floating around about what life must have been like between Adam and Eve and the animals in the pre-fall Garden of Eden, but I wonder if it looked quite a bit like what I saw at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium last week. This impressive facility is the real-world setting […]
“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.” —Terence Mann (played by James Earl Jones), Field of Dreams For over 100 years, baseball has been a cultural reference point for millions of Americans. Just as certain songs are associated with special times in our lives, so many of us remember our past […]
Like many of my generation, my knowledge of Kung Fu and Shaolin priests was formed almost entirely by David Carradine’s portrayal of Kwai Chang Caine in the iconic television series “Kung Fu,” which aired 1972-1975. Caine was so cool. He made self-control look attractive. As a biracial fugitive in the American West, Caine tried to […]
If knowledge is, as they say, power, then you will find great empowerment in Teresa Tomeo’s latest book Extreme Makeover (Ignatius Press, October, 2011). Extreme Makeover: Women Transformed by Christ, Not Conformed to the Culture offers an excellent combination of facts, statistics, and personal testimonies to make this the sort of book that any reader […]
In a textbook example of blooming where you are planted, Long Island mom Lisa Mladinich is quietly building a successful second career by sharing what she has learned about passing the Catholic faith on to future generations. It’s hard to avoid the suspicion that she must have been a child prodigy in her first career. […]
