A prominent couple married for seven years realize they are heading towards divorce. He is a firefighter who has his eye on an expensive boat, and an addiction to internet smut, she is a PR person for a major hospital with her eye on a charming doctor. They don’t speak, except to argue, neither feels […]

Ask a mother who home educates her children, ask which question she encounters most frequently and she will undoubtedly respond, “What about socialization?” In the decade since I began teaching my three daughters at home, this question has remained, even as other questions like, “Is that legal?” and “are you qualified to teach?” have vanished […]

Recognizing the promptings of the Holy Spirit is the first step in discerning how to live our faith out in the world.  Responding to these spiritual inspirations is how we apply sanctifying grace in our lives.  There are so many stories of the work begun under the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and their power to move […]

As host of Catholic Spotlight (not to be confused with C Spotlight), it was my privilege to talk with author Brennan Pursell about his new book Benedict of Bavaria.  In researching this book, Brennan actually spent significant time in Bavaria gathering information from sources not available to biographers working only in the US.  His biography of Pope Benedict […]

What happens to a happy-go-lucky ten-year-old girl when the bottom falls out of her world? When she looks around to see that things are changing for the worse all around her? If she’s an “American Girl”, she follows the advice of her father, “Kit, don’t let it beat you”. That’s the motto of Kit Kittredge […]

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell) is a pencil pushing bureaucrat in CONTROL, a US government spy agency. His moment has finally arrived. After eight attempts to pass the field agent’s exam, he eagerly awaits the good news that he has passed, and is finally given an assignment. To his disappointment, the Chief (Alan Arkin) says that […]

My father told me that he and his three brothers spent every Saturday afternoon in the 1940’s watching double features at the local cinema, usually Westerns and war films. His mother never had to check in her local Catholic paper to make certain that the films would not steal her sons’ innocence or bash the […]

The second film based on the Narnia books, “Prince Caspian,” roared like Aslan the lion at the box office in its first weekend, grossing an impressive $56 million in theaters, and supplanting “Iron Man” as the most successful movie in America.
Why the continued success of the “Chronicles of Narnia” films? Time movie reviewer Richard Corliss […]

I confess that when the producers of Ben Stein’s new documentary Expelled called, offering me a private screening, I was less than excited.
It is a reality of PC liberalism: There is only one credible side to an issue, and any dissent is not only rejected, it is scorned. Global warming. Gay “rights.” Abortion “rights.” On […]

Motherhood Interrupted: Stories of Healing and Hope after Abortion is a book of sixteen stories. Everyone, including the author’s is a heartbreaking account of how abortion affected the lives of women. These revealing stories underscore the impact of abortion on each individual, on her relationships and on her family. These courageous women have overcome their […]

(with Mike Hainsey)

Michael and Brenda Hainsey were grieving the loss of their son Chris.  They knew he was with God, but prayed for a connection.  What's the likelihood that a rare and fragile sand dollar would survive crashing ocean waves, and be discovered in answer to a prayer? This sets the stage for the fourth and latest story-song installment  by Keys2Heaven.com, leading up to release of the compiled 12 track CD, Stories of Faith: 12 Songs Inspired by You!

Note: This commentary was delivered by PFM President Mark Earley.

In about a month, Hollywood will bring the second book of C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia to the silver screen. And whether you are a parent introducing your kids to Narnia for the first time, or looking for an excuse to recapture the magical wonder of your own childhood, it is a good time to dust off a copy of Prince Caspian. While you will not find the spiritual lessons in Prince Caspian quite as obvious as those you remember from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you will find plenty of profound truths about the Christian faith-delivered in a way that only the master, C. S. Lewis, could do.

Brennan Pursell's Benedict of Bavaria is a warm, richly descriptive, and insightful portrait of Joseph Ratzinger, from his birth in his native Bavaria to his present day mission in the Chair of Peter. 

If a biographer is a kind of portraitist in words, Pursell treats his subject with the deep respect, affinity, and understanding of the best of artists. As he readily shares in his Introduction, there is a personal connection at work, a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to one whose writings had such an impact on his own conversion from a "California hedonist" to a committed Catholic. Perhaps due to this sense of personal connection, Pursell does not paint Benedict just from the outside, as a stranger would do. He paints him also from the inside, from an acquaintance born of long hours of study and personal contact with the places and people of Ratzinger's homeland.

If you're familiar with the world of Catholic music or live with a Catholic teen, you've likely been blessed by the music of Matt Maher.  You may even have sung along to Matt's hit "Your Grace Is Enough" at your local Life Teen mass and been touched by the wonder of this incredible songwriter's passion for our faith. 

This year, during the liturgical season of Easter, that blessing will come to an even fuller fruition with the release of Matt Maher's latest project Empty and Beautiful (Essential Records, Provident Label Group) on April 8^th.  For the past few years, Matt has been crisscrossing the country touching hearts and souls with his work as a "musical missionary".  Performing to crowds ranging from arenas to intimate worship settings, Matt encourages those who enjoy his music to make room for silent, prayerful worship in their lives.  This may seem ironic, coming from a prolific songwriter who is on the verge of releasing yet another CD and this time from a major label.  But in speaking with Matt, you can't help but hear the conviction in his heart for what he is doing - a conviction which is infectious and which obviously spills over into the art he is creating with his music.  In his work with Life Teen, with Adore Ministries, with Spirit and Song and other organizations, Matt Maher is a beacon of light and of faith for all of us.

On the front lines of the culture wars, where explosive salvos are fired routinely, accuracy is a requirement. Arguments cannot be won with major misstatements of fact. This is lost on Eric Alterman. In his new book "Why We're Liberals," he takes up the controversy generated by Hollywood, but only to malign and mischaracterize.

Alterman decries "the hysterical language conservatives routinely employ when pontificating about Hollywood." His first example of a hysterical conservative is… me. Horror of horrors. I'm attacked because I've ridiculed "political dilettantes" and "leftist celebrities" whose qualifications as political advisers "include starring in Hello Dolly and The Prince of Tides." This language comes from a column I wrote in 2002. At that time, Barbra Streisand had sent House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt a memo that misspelled his name "Gebhardt" and misquoted Shakespeare. I labeled Streisand a celebrity dilettante, because she is. That makes me a "hysterical conservative" in Alterman's mind.

Themes of faith and redemption abound in the films, TV/cable programs and books to be honored during the 59^th annual Christopher Awards gala at the McGraw-Hill Building in New York City, on April 10^th.

From the killing fields of Sierra Leone and hothouse chambers of 18^th century Parliament, to the skies over Afghanistan and sewers under Paris, this year's winners cover a broad spectrum but share a common denominator: they all "affirm the highest values of the human spirit."

First presented by The Christophers in 1949, the Christopher Awards salute media that remind audiences and readers of their worth, individuality and power to positively impact and shape our world.  To date, more than 1,300 films, books, broadcast TV and cable programs have won Christopher Awards.

I'm sitting at a worn desk in the headquarters of Grassroots Films in Brooklyn, NY.  Humming Macs surround me as the company dog, a sand-colored mutt named Daisy, wanders aimlessly around my feet.  Across the desk, Michael Campo is describing the experience of visiting a leper colony in Ghana. 

"At first I was a little afraid, because I didn't know what to expect," he reminisces.  "But all that fear was gone in five or ten minutes . . . they found such great joy and happiness together." 

Campo, 28, co-stars in Grassroots Films' latest project, The Human Experience. Fast-paced and modern, The Human Experience is a you-are-there documentary that claims to offer an unprecedented look at the human condition.  After being thoroughly excited by the trailer (available at www.grassrootsfilms.com), I had the pleasure of being invited to screen this film in Brooklyn, as well as speak to all of the major players at Grassroots Films. 

This Paschal season, and beyond, we might do well to ask ourselves "how can we come to know Our Lord in a deeper and more meaningful way?" In our life-long journey to Christ, who we know is the Light and Life, what could be more important?

The Church teaches us that we can deepen our experience of the Lord in many ways - through the Sacraments, the Liturgy, Sacred Scripture, through our prayer and devotional life, by studying the teachings of the Church, and through instruction by other faithful and learned members of the Church.

It seems as if we are busier than ever in today's society, and that we are living in an increasingly visual age. Time is precious but we know that we must make time for the truly important things. Although we are reading books less and less, while spending more time watching television and surfing the internet, the idea of spiritual reading and of "lectio divina" is a tradition of the Church that goes back to the earliest times. This practice was popularized by religious communities who acknowledged the profound value and benefit of it. In our increasingly secular and materialistic age, an age of so many distractions from our true path, why not make a return to a venerable tradition - one proven to help us grow in Christ? What have you read lately that has deepened your faith experience?

Joe Holoubek MD, a retired Louisiana physician who died in May, 2007, at the age of 91, wrote the most compelling passage of this novel-told-in-letters on Good Friday after leaving church services.
It recounts the last hours of Jesus, his sufferings and death, in exquisite, agonizing detail. And because Holoubek writes in the first person, the […]

How many TV shows have you seen about the conspiracy theory behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? Imagine if they had the technology now available to examine and re-examine the event from a multitude of vantage points.

That is the premise of this hard-hitting action film which is about a terrorist assassination plot of the President of the USA as he takes the podium to address a rally in Salamanca, Spain. At the center of the investigation is a Secret Service agent Thomas Barnes, (Dennis Quaid), who has taken a bullet for President Ashton (William Hurt) and is just re-entering active duty. Barnes' paranoia over concerns for the President's safety prove an obstacle in finding the perpetrators of the bombing, and it takes the tape on the camcorder of American tourist Howard Lewis (Forest Whittaker) to get Barnes on the right track. Lewis is an ordinary citizen who refuses to stand by and ‘let the authorities take care of the situation'. He knows he has seen something amiss, and films the action, putting himself at great risk.

Charlie and Maura Weis were living on Long Island, NY while he worked as offensive coordinator for the New York Jets. Their life seemed ideal, it was springtime in the lovely community they called home, and they were blessed with two children, Charlie Jr. age 4 and a vivacious, blue-eyed daughter Hannah age 2.  Hannah's serious kidney problems at birth seemed a distant memory, and the road ahead looked smooth and uneventful. Then, one symptom at a time, it became obvious to Maura and Charlie that something was not right with her beautiful daughter. Not only that she wasn't developing at the rate of other children her age, but she was losing interest in her surroundings, and was upset easily. She was not the same child she had been only five months ago. Her preschool teacher said, "It's as if she's in a world of her own" (p19). At two and a half years of age, the dreaded diagnosis "autism" hit the Weis family like a Mack truck. Nothing in their lives would ever be the same.

Following the ancient tradition and practice of the Church, the season of the First Sacraments is approaching. It corresponds to the Paschal (Easter) season in the life of the Church although some parishes will continue to celebrate First Sacraments well into the Pentecost season.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us "The sacraments of Christian initiation — Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity." Catechism of the Catholic Church #1212.

Last October I attended a pre-screening of the first feature film of independent filmmakers at Grassroots Films, The Human Experience. I was familiar with their previous work: they had done an powerful infomercial on the priesthood called, Fishers of Men for the USCCB, and a short documentary about a Eucharistic Procession on the streets of New York City which was beautifully done. Both showed that these two men had great promise as Catholic filmmakers.

Since 1991, the Dove Foundation has been encouraging American movie studios to make uplifting, positive entertainment with its Family Approved Seal. This year, they've launched a new initiative, an annual awards presentation akin to the Academy Awards, to honor the "best of the best" family-friendly films. They call theirs the Crystal Dove Seal.
The Dove Foundation […]

St. Peter Damian, Monk, Bishop, Cardinal and Great Reformer, is probably the least well known of the Doctors of the Church. We celebrated his feast day in the Church on February 21. He was born in the year 1007 in Ravenna, Italy, the youngest child of a large family that struggled to make ends meet. […]

One of the hardest things to bear is the illness or loss of a child. I brushed up against this terrifying possibility briefly last December, when my five year old daughter with Down syndrome, normally so healthy, was suddenly stricken with double pneumonia.
For six days, we dwelt in the valley of the shadow of death […]

[The following is taken from a story appearing in The Minneapolis-St. Paul paper, the Star Tribune (January 21, 2007, Kara McGuire), and from the story submitted by Vernon's daughter, Linda Pollari, at www.keys2heaven.com. Tim O'Neill also interviewed Vernon and Rita.]
Linda Pollari shares, "My father, 89-year old Vernon Braun, always believed that if something was meant […]

Devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague is half a millennium old and popular throughout the world. This is evident not solely by the multitudes who pray the novena, the countless churches and organizations named for the Infant Jesus of Prague, but in the plethora of literature about the statue, the devotion, and the miracles […]

In the Academy Award-nominated film, The Kite Runner, the friendship of two boys is set in pre-war Afghanistan, in a wrenching, memorable drama of betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption.
Amir (Khalid Abdalla) a married Afghani immigrant in San Francisco is thrilled to receive a shipment of his first book in print. The moment is shattered by a […]

Harry Forbes, and his assistant John Mulderig, should be replaced as the film reviewers for the USCCB. But let's be clear: they should be replaced not because they are bad men, or "not Catholic" or "not Catholic enough"; they should be replaced because they are not doing their job.
Film-reviewing, like any form of art-reviewing, is […]

Harry Forbes, the Director of the USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting, who provoked disbelief from U.S. Catholics when he praised both "Brokeback Mountain" and the explicitly anti-Catholic "The Golden Compass," has again endorsed movies rife with explicit sexuality and extreme violence, this time in the USCCB's just released yearly top-10 movie listing.
The USCCB reviewer […]

Michael Clayton is gritty, divorced, forty-something gambler, who works for one of New York's most prestigious law firms as a fixer. When one of the high-priced clients of his law firm gets into trouble, Michael Clayton, son of one cop, and brother to another, cleans up the mess.
How did a Catholic school graduate, and former […]

Benjamin Franklin Gates reunites his scattered treasure-hunting team, Riley Poole(Justin Barth) a wanna-be celebrity author with financial problems, ex-girlfriend Abigail(Diane Krueger) and his father Patrick (Jon Voight) for another fast-paced historical adventure with looming disaster if the treasure isn't found. National Treasure has developed into a blockbuster movie serial, a la Indiana Jones, or Spider […]

I love it when I run across a great book that I can wholeheartedly recommend without reservation. So many books have engrossing plotlines, but may contain objectionable material or adult themes. Others are squeaky clean, but don't capture the reader's attention. One of my favorite recent reads is Dear Jane Letters by first time author […]

Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, the best selling DVD of all time, which sold 50 million copies, is admittedly a tough act to follow, but The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything valiantly takes up the challenge. Not that its heroes look promising at first. Elliott known to Veggie Tales fans as Larry Boy, Sedgewick, who […]

On January 29 and 30, "Jerry Springer–The Opera" will be performed at Carnegie Hall. The first act is a parody of the Jerry Springer Show; the second act depicts the television personality in Hell attempting to bridge a resolution between Jesus and Satan.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue laced into the show today:
"When this opera […]

A rollicking fantasy about the world's most famous mystery monster, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep is set at a mansion on the shores of Loch Ness in 1942. Angus (Alex Etel), a boy too timid to swim in the lake, spends his days picking up treasures on the shore and his nights listening […]

If you haven't thought much lately about just how rapidly the very nature of the family is changing, consider this: It is now possible for a child to have five parents. That includes egg donor, sperm donor, surrogate mother, and the mother and father who raise him. It is not only possible, but for some […]

Juno the film which has wowed the critics and is at number five in the nation (despite only being shown in a quarter the number of the top four's screens) joins Bella, Waitress, and even the raunchy Knocked Up, as part of a refreshing new genre of ‘she's going to have the baby anyway' films, […]

It was encouraging, almost a decade ago, when it was announced that some corporate advertisers had banded together to offer their corporate support for television shows that were more friendly to viewing by entire families. The group was called the Family Friendly Programming Forum, and over the years its presence certainly has helped bring some […]

One TV movie production LifeSiteNews.com can wholeheartedly endorse is the Veggie Tale series by Big Idea Productions.  What began in 1993 as a direct-to-video option for Saturday-morning fare is now, 27 episodes later, the world's best-selling faith-and-values-based property that is beloved by kids and trusted by parents.
On January 11, 2008, Universal Pictures and Big Idea, […]

Two nationally known jingle writers have repackaged their Grammy Award-nominated Rosary Tapes so it appeals not only to Catholics but also to all Christians.
Bill Gildenstern and John Giaier of Gt TechnoTracks are releasing The Mysteries of Light on CD this month after more than five years of writing and re-writing. All meditations, set to […]

If you purchased your copy of the groundbreaking DVD Champions of Faith then you may have noticed the beautiful orchestral score throughout the film. Composer Stephen Kaminski has been writing and producing music for TV, radio and films for over 20 years and owes his career to his faith, a faith that he attributes to […]

Harry Forbes, director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Office of Film and Broadcasting, has given a positive review to the homosexually-themed Rent.
Forbes, whose initial positive review of Brokeback Mountain two years' ago was subsequently modified by the USCCB, became the center of controversy earlier this month after the USCCB withdrew his […]

The glowing review for the anti-Catholic film 'The Golden Compass' issued November 29 by the Office of Film and Broadcasting of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is still causing problems even after being officially withdrawn at the behest of the USCCB.  The December 23 Christmas edition of Canada's largest Catholic newspaper, The Catholic […]

When I began working with Catholic Exchange on the upcoming woman's study that will celebrate the 20th anniversary of John Paul's Apostolic Letter on the Dignity of Women, I knew I wanted everything about the study to reflect a female presence — including the music that would begin the weekly podcasts. 
As always, when I'm […]

In light of the fact that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Office for Film and Broadcasting withdrew its positive review for The Golden Compass, Catholic leaders are reissuing a call for the Bishops to fire their film office director.  Harry Forbes, the director of the USCCB, was listed as primary author for the […]

Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented today on the box office results for The Golden Compass:
"Our goal was to stop The Golden Compass from meeting box office expectations, and we succeeded. The anti-Narnia flick pulled in $26.1 million in the U.S. and Canada. Now compare that to The Chronicles of Narnia: it took in $65.5 […]

Well, I finally saw The Golden Compass Friday. I was asked by several concerned Catholic and pro-life organizations to review the film, which I did with another pro-life activist (a Calvinist preacher). It tries to whitewash the books, which are the bigger danger.
As far as anti-Christian content, it wasn't completely stripped from the film. But it […]

The film Noëlle arrives in American theaters on December 7. On the upside, its haunting music and beautiful cinematography set the mood for a Christmas mystery in New England. Noëlle also treats viewers to a few good laughs. Finally, David Wall - Noëlle's writer, producer, director and lead actor - is a captivating performer.
On the […]