2 months into school

Eh all. I've had my first midterm exam, my first big paper due, and all I can say is WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?

Oh, and by the way: the seminary has a new website - at least, a new face.

www.sck.ca

So last weekend eight of us climbed a mountain. Or, to be more exact, five of us climbed a mountain, and three others gave up on the way. Golden Ears is a 1500 meter peak around Maple Ridge. It's a two hour hike to the campsite, and a four hour hike to the summit. But, like so many hikes, this one had so many twists and turns that we had to go over about three other mountains to get to the highest one. Anyway, a good time was had by all, except for the blisters.



Oh, and one other thing: please pray for the repose of the soul of Colin Leach, an SCK graduate of '04.

On a lighter note

I watched what must have been the oddest film ever made the other day. It's a Russian art-house movie called "Russian Ark." The story is not really a story at all; rather it's a conversation between a 18th-century French Marquis and the director of the movie, one Alexandre Sukurov, about Russian culture and history.
That's the barebones of the film. The novel thing is that it takes you through 300 yeas of history surrounding the Hermitage Museum, the castle in St. Petersbourg that was home to Catherine the Great, the Tsars, etc. So you see all of these various time periods depicted as the two characters - the Marquis and the camera, narrated by the director, wander throughout this gigantic castle/museum.
Now, if that were'nt odd enough, the entire film has no editing whatsoever. In other words, the entire movie is one long, intricate, sleep-inducing (at parts!) single take. So that means that there were 2000 actors sitting around in this castle waiting for the camera to get to them so they could do their part... and if anyone flubbed anything, the entire film would be ruined. And yet they pulled it off.

So, if you're into the artsy-type of movies, this one'll blow your mind.

Summit with 500 youth

Eh all. Last saturday I went to a Eucharistic Adoration event called "The Summit." I think I've mentioned it before. This month it was at St. Mary's in Vancouver, and let me tell you it was awesome. They combined the teenager and college-level events together, and the result was 500 kids, many of whom were in tears (at times, that included me). At these events, young people bring up a vigil candle and place it on the altar beside the Blessed Sacrament while praise and worship music is sung.

I had the opportunity to film the event for S+L TV; they're interested in the footage for a special they're doing on eucharistic adoration. Those from Vancouver might remember last March when the monstrance blessed by JP2 was here; they came out and filmed that for the same story.

And then just yesterday I got to interview one of our local priests on the history of the devotion, for the same project.

So my work for S+L is only slightly hindered by not actually being in Toronto!
Anyway. Tomorrow is the life chain. I would encourage everybody to go out to witness to the tragedy of abortion.

updating sporadically throughout the year

Eh to all three of my devoted readers. I will be updating every so often - some more, some less - and I will try to keep you up to date on such things as school, S+L stuff, some interesting tidbits from the classes I'm taking, and stuff in general.

Here's something to whet your appetite:

"To adore the Lord in the Eucharist is to participate in the life of the Saints in heaven."

Which Saint/Blessed whose biography I'm currently reading said this?

I'll give you a hint: it's a modern incorruptible.

I'm on tonight at 7:00 ET and 8:00 PT

Eh everybody. If you get S+L, watch at 7:00 ET and 8:00 PT and you'll see me doing the evening news. And by doing it, I mean I'm actually on camera.




Don't snicker.

A quick tour around the studio

Richmond street. This building is owned by the Gagliano family, who own St. Joseph Communications, Salt and Light Media Foundation, and several magazines including Toronto Life and Brides Today. They are all in the same building:

Salt and Light TV has the first floor:

The reception area is run by Flan, whose appartment we helped move mid-august (see the post "What a way to spend a Saturday"):

First room you run into is our studio. It currently has two permanent sets, with a third to be completed shortly. Please excuse the mess, that's my fault:

Exit the studio, and on your right is our workspace:

This one's mine:

Walk around to the back of the station and you'll find this charming picture of our boss with... the Boss.

Behind you is the chapel. The top of the altar is from the base of the one used at the final Mass at Downsview for WYD02. The chair at the top right is the one the Pope used:

On your right is the dining room. The table is from Strawberry Island, and JP2 ate lunch off of it during his time there. This is the busyest place in the office at any given time:

Well, that's your quick tour around the office. I'm leaving tomorrow (the b-day of Our Lady, and also my own birthday) for Vancouver to start my fourth year of Philosophy studies at the seminary.

And this is me pretending to look like I know what I'm doing:

Anyhow, ciao for now.

One week until school...

It's that time of the year again. (Sigh) One week until I head home, and then a day more until I head back to the Seminary.

I must say it's been a great summer. The atmosphere at Salt and Light TV is fantastic. The people are friendly, smart, professional, Catholic, and most of them are under 30. (T-Ros is often asked why he's taking a chance on young people. He says that they called him crazy to entrust so much to them for World Youth Day, but the youth didn't let him down... many of them are even continuing to work with him at S+L. Besides, the youth are the future, you know -- get them while they're young.)

Oh, and by the way, I'll be makin my debut appearance on S+L... actually, you won't see me, but you'll hear me announcing the upcoming schedule for Catholic Focus, airing this weekend.
Aside from that, my major contribution this summer has been filming our 5-minute news show, Zoom, that airs every evening at 7:00. And helping our cameramen George and Wally set up/ take down sets and lighting.

I'll try to post pictures of the station in the upcoming days.

Steubenville trip

This weekend has been pretty cool. After a 15-hour bus ride, I got in to Steubenville at about 10:00. Joseph and Nicole have a beautiful 4-bedroom house they are renting for only 600 dollars a month (and it includes a pool. You can find a house for 40 thousand US):

The opening Mass for the university students was at 11:30; the bishop of Steubenville diocese was main celebrant and homilist. Mass was held in the athletic building because of the size of the congregation, which, fittingly, looks like a church, albeit a modern one:
Afterward we had lunch and toured the grounds:

where I found a replica of the Church of San Damiano (which is because the university is run by Franciscans):

then we went to the university bookstore where I bought Scott Hahn's latest book (he's a professor here.) Then we went home for dinner, after which we joined the weekly rosary walk organized by the Catholic families (and there are a lot of them) in the area. Joining us were Kimberly Hahn and hers and Scott's six kids (Scott was preparing his classes, which start on Tuesday) and three postulants of the Marian Fathers who live in the area.
Saturday we again went for Mass at the university (it was something of a charismatic Mass) and walked around the grounds. Then we went home and Joseph and Nicole invited the neighbourhood kids to play in the pool!

There's a great atmosphere at the university. Right of from the bat, the second and third-year students help the freshmen with settling in, and the parents, most of who come to see their children off, stay for the first few days of orientation and are given royal treatment. We met a family who were seeing their oldest son off. The father was Catholic and the mother was a converted Jew, and the son was entering a pre-theology program for those discerning the priesthood. The joy that the entire family showed was just inspirational.

Anyway. I'm leaving tomorrow for TO. Ciao for now.

A change in format

Eh, all. You can now post comments without having to log in to Blogger.com. Sorry about that. To leave a comment, scroll to the bottom of the post that you want to comment on, and click on "Comments." Then scroll to the bottom again and click "Post a Comment."

Off to Steubenville

I'm travelling to Steubenville to visit two friends of mine, Joseph and Nicole, who moved there very recently so that Joseph could teach as an assistant professor in the biology department of Franciscan U. So I'll be off blogging for at least a day (not that I've been very faithful, mea culpa) because it's a 14-hour ride from TO to a city in West Virginia where I'll be picked up.

This past week saw the return of the university students, with an opening Mass tomorrow that I hope to be there in time for. Hopefully I'll be able to put up pictures.

What a way to spend a Saturday

Quote of the Day:

"You can't argue with idiots." - George Hosek

Last Saturday was one of the best saturdays I've had yet. The morning was great - sleeping in until 11; mass at noon at the Cathedral in downtown Toronto; lunch about 2:00 with the guys (2 got back from New York that morning.) Then the call came.

"We're helping Flan move and we're having trouble with the U-Haul truck."

First question: "Didn't you see the documentary that W-5 did?"

Well, apparently they hadn't. W-5, a Canadian TV station, documented a study done on U-Haul trucks. According to their findings, U-Haul is terrible for automobile quality - in fact, all of the trucks are insured out of Arizona, because Arizona has the lowest standard for auto safety measures, or something like that. At any rate, it's terrible.

So we all pile into the Frassati House van and drive down to Fran's old apartment. We get there and the U-Haul has been packed to the roof, literally. There's a few things that have to be put in the van because there's no room, so we load that in. Meanwhile Dave (a different Dave) is on the phone with U-Haul in Arizona, trying to get a mechanic to come and jump-start the truck.
Finally, we are told that a mechanic is on the way, so we all sit back to wait. 20 minutes pass, no phone call from the mechanic, nothing. So the Frassati boys decide to go pick up some jumper cables, first because the van didn't have a set, and second because we didn't know if "He'll be there in 15 minutes, (plus 10 for downtown traffic, and 10 for unseen problems)" meant 15 minutes or 4 hours. So they head out.

The mechanic got there on time (which was nice) and he got the truck up and running in no time. He warned us to let it run for 40 minutes before trying to turn it off and re-start it, so we sat back to wait for the Frassati guys to return, because we couldn't fit anyone but the driver and one passenger in the U-Haul. (There were 5 people that packed the truck, plus the four of us that showed up to help unpack.)

Anyway, the Frassati boys were taking their time returning with the (unneeded) jumper cables, so Dave and I decided to drive to the new apartment and start unloading, then the rest of the crew would show up later. Low and behold, in the middle of downtown traffic (in the middle of Chinatown, no less, on a 2-lane street) during a standstill in the traffic, the engine stops running. So I get out and start directing traffic while Dave phones up U-Haul, the Frassati guys, and the people back at the original apartment.

So we do the whole Arizona process again, and we find out that the mechanic is 40 minutes away. By this time, about 40 minutes has already passed, the Frassati van has tried jumping the truck (which didn't work) and Dave has gone looking for Asian girls (with no luck). So the Frassati van goes to the new apartment to at least unload what it's carrying, while Dave and I and Jasmin wait for the mechanic. Jasmin decides he want to get a picture of the mess, since we'll all look back and laugh at the moment, so he takes off on his bike to buy a disposable camera.

The mechanic finally gets to the truck, and instead of jumping it, we insist that he tow it to the new apartment, wait while we unload it, and then tow it back to the U-Haul place. So he tows it and we start unloading.

Meanwhile, Flan, who is handling all of the stress very well, is trying to figure out how she'll get to the airport because she's flying to Saskatchewan at eight o'clock that evening (by now it's about 6:00.) A well-timed move, let me tell you.

So we start moving things in, and we get the first four loads up the elevator when Flan comes rushing upstairs saying that we need to take the door off its hinges. It turns out that Flan inherited what my comrads called "The Monster": a huge, old, heirloom desk that ended up just barely fitting. But it's the last thing we brought up, and Flan got the airport on time, and we all ended up having a well-deserved beer (with a toast to Brett, Flan's husband, whom we toasted as "the luckiest man in Toronto" because he was away that weekend).

The moral of the story? Never rent a U-Haul truck.

But at least we didn't spend the Saturday lazing around.

AIDS conference

Hi all! It's a busy week with the AIDS conference here in TO. I went yesterday with a media pass to film an interview with a young lady named Tess who is involved with aids work in Malawi. She was a worker for WYD in TO four years ago, met her husband through it, got married last summer, and is now working for an NGO in Africa, where her husband also teaches high school.

Needless to say, the "global village" at the AIDS conference, which was open to all the public, was rather grotesque. Instead of anything informative, as most of the rest of the conference tried to be, (many come to get the most recent research on HIV/AIDS, such as a young lady from Catholic Charities in Houston, whom we also interviewed) the "global village" was geared toward teens and hypocritical "safe" sex. It completely demeaned the beauty of sex, lowering it to a game (and getting HIV was "game over,") with innumerable stands selling (or shelling out) condoms, pamphlets, posters, etc.
I'm told that the actual conferences were more focused on the problem - combatting and preventing the spread of AIDS - and while much vitriol was spouted against the promotion of abstinence, some progress was made, I'm told, in favour of "empowering women" (which has largely been touted as supplying women with condoms, but in practice has more to do with education and recognition of the dignity of the female person, which is exactly what is lacking in Africa.)

And much vitriol has been spouted against the church. Imagine this: tomorrow the church allows condoms, and suddenly the AIDS crisis in Africa is over, and everyone lives happily ever after. It's the same logic as the Da Vinci Code: "exposing Christianity as a fraud will lead to stopping the oppression of women worldwide and lead to peace among nations, in saecula saeculorum, Amen." Give me a break. If the church allowed condoms, what would it stop? Anything? The practicing Catholics in Africa already practice abstinence and fidelity; they're not the ones infected/infecting. how would a Catholic reversal of the teaching on contraceptives stop anyone from getting HIV/AIDS?!? And yet the Church is called "complicit in the mass slaughter of Africans through AIDS because of its 'ridiculous'[sic] stance on condoms."
Again: how would allowing condoms change anything, especially considering the sexual practices in such cultures? Women have no control over sex, and these victimized women are the ones our liberal brethren want to throw condoms at. Instead, both the women and the men must be educated on dignity and sexual ethics. We're talking about fundamental cultural change here. It will take time, but it's the only way. Condoms will not help the situation. (Sorry, Melinda.)

Anyway. I'm filming one last interview on Friday for the "AIDS and the Catholic Church" Focus episode, and that will be the end of the conference.

I've got a big weekend coming up. As I previously mentioned, I'm travelling to the Midlands tomorrow with one of our producers, John, and our programming director Justyna. Following that, on Sunday I am visiting a Lebanese parish for Mass and also to film a procession.

Another of our producers, himself Lebanese, has just returned to TO after spending a month in Lebanon, including the first two weeks of the Israel-Hezbollah war. He was making a documentary on Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian prisons (as Syria had occupied Lebanon for a time after the war in the '80s.) He was scheduled to leave shortly after all hell broke loose, and he ended up fleeing to the north and eventually got out.

Please pray for the end to the war in Lebanon, and an end to all terrorism.

On a lighter note, T-Ros flew to Saskatchewan to preside over the wedding of yet another of our producers, G. After that, he's flying to Sydney to meet with the people in charge of the next biggest gathering of Catholic youth the world has ever seen.

Apparently he's pleased with the direction the Australian bishops are taking: "They're saying that it will be the start of a 20-year pastoral plan for the renewal of the faith in Australia." Please pray for their efforts. And GO TO WYD SYD!

Thought of the day

I suppose I should have realized it before, but man-oh-man, making tv shows really takes the magic out of it all.

Today we filmed two FOCUS episodes, one on the Vocations Crisis and a second on Angels. I'm learning about lighting and image composition, as well as learning the editing program, Avid.

On Saturday I'm going to the Midlands, to the site of the martyrdom of St John Brebeuf, to film the end of a week-long walking pilgrimage that the Polish community does every year. I'm pretty excited because SJB is one of my favourite saints.

Other than that, I'm just under a month away from coming home, and then the start of the school year...

Week 2

A little update from my work at S + L:

I've been involved over the past weeks in several areas - I've been to several location shoots for FOCUS programs, and also behind the camera a few times for "Zoom," which is a five-minute news program airing at 7:00 pm, re-capping the daily news from a Catholic perspective. I've also been doing research on films and TV movies that our station is interested in broadcasting. All in all, work is never boring.

I've also been to several bbqs over the past 2 weeks - namely, one that saw a number of Toronto officials gather to celebrate the 4th anniversary of WYD2002 (people from the municipal government, from the police force, from the ministry of transportation, etc.) which was a resounding success - as well as a S+L staff bbq at one of our producer's houses, and a third where a group of teachers and principles gathered whom T-Ros taught a religious-ed course to a decade ago. Tonight is a fourth bbq, tomorrow is a wedding, and Sunday we're going over to the house of the owner of the TV station. Me thinks that T. knows too many people.

Mulier in Aqua

In the self-obsessed kingdom of Hollywood, no filmmaker has drawn more attention so quickly than a 36-year old East Indian director named M. Night Shyamalan. In a short five years he wrote and directed four films, which grossed a combined total of more than $700 million in North America alone. Each of these films explored the supernatural - first ghosts, then comic-book heroes, then aliens. His latest, "Lady in the Water," promised more of the same - it has been marketed as a bed-time horror-story - but early screenings had critics panning the movie as being too unconventional for its own good. I'm inclined to agree.

To be fair, M. Night Shyamalan is a master at the craft. He has the ability to mix the thrilling and touching, the emotional with a sense of dread; and "Lady in the Water" is no different. Unfortunately, the film presented difficulties to the viewer that his previous movies did not. We are asked to believe in the supernatural, as we are in his other films; but whereas the average person believes in ghosts, a la The Sixth Sense, aliens like in Signs, and people with extraordinary gifts such as in Unbreakable, being asked to believe in the Friendly Green Giant or Mickey Mouse is very different.

In this case, the supernatural beings in question are narves, a kind of mermaid without fins and slightly blue skin around the eyes. Oh, and very bland expressions. In fact, no expression at all, not even when being chased by a scrunt, the villain in the story. Scrunts are shadowy, camouflauged creatures that move like the monsters from "Brotherhood of the Wolf." According to legend, a scrunt can only harm narves when they are out of the water: "there are rules," we are told. A set of three demi-gods act as the lawmakers, and only fear of these creatures keep the scrunts at bay.

A somewhat confusing opening animation, drawn as though for a children's book, roughly explains the back story: the narves are water dwellers who lived in harmony with men until man's materialism took him inland and eventually to war against his fellow man. The narves send their young maidens to contact man, but "man does not listen." Meanwhile scrunts hunt down and kill many of the mermaids.

If you're kind of lost, you realize what the viewer is up against. It doesn't help that twenty minutes of useless, drizzling dialogue commences following the meeting of our main characters, Story (Bryce Dallas Howard), and Mr. Heep (Paul Giamatti.)

As we eventually learn, Story is a narf sent to Paul Giamatti's pool. She must seek for a writer (played my Shyamalan himself, in his best cameo yet) whom she will inspire to write a book that will change the course of history.

Giamatti is good as a stuttering, nervous superintendant who helps Story fulfill her mission. Howard, on the other hand, has nothing to do. She is bland, undeveloped as a character, and spends most of the movie huddling in a shower stall.

Then there's Shyamalan himself. His acting is very good - he actually looks like a movie star. Unfortuantely, his role displays the same egotism that was prevalent in Signs and The Village - the filmmaker's character in this movie is the real hero, the one who will change history, (according to Story's prophecy), just as in Signs his character was the reason for the chain reaction that brought the film to its conclusion; and in The Village he represented the one with the control to keep his fellow movie characters locked in their medieval soceity. It's an interesting commentary on the filmmaker's ability to "create" and rule the lives in his films. I see it as egotism, and a childish obsession to control, like Neitzsche's Will to Power.

Storyline aside, there's some genuinely good humor (another Shyamalan trademark) concerning quirky characters. First there is the ill-humored film reviewer; then, the man who works out only one side of his body; then the Chinese student and her mother. Some of the best comedic moments revolve around Giamatti's relationship to the older Chinese lady.

Unfortunately, the good acting and periodic comedy is not enough to save the story. It is made as a bed-time story - we know that it will all work out in the end, we know that the main characters must survive, we know that justice will be done. Indeed, the film ends like a Greek comedy, with the gods coming down from the sky to right wrongs and save the day, which is all fine and dandy until you consider that THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN'S MOVIE. It is not marketed towards children, despite the theme; it does not contain cute and cuddly protagonists, and contains internal and external conflicts that have no place in an under-13 movie. It is meant to be entertaining and original. Unfortunately, entertaining it is not. Shyamalan uses long, drawn-out takes with little audio, which worked well in The Sixth Sense, but which just bores us here. Asked if he could figure out a puzzle, the film reviewer responds, "There's no originality anymore,"every story is a regurgitation or re-imagining of a previous regurgitation of a novel idea that had been dreampt up 1500 years earlier. The critic claims to be able to figure out the puzzle, and even though he is wrong, we have already stopped caring.

The film slowly unveils the legend, piece by piece as recounted by the Chinese lady. It allows for some red herrings and more comedic moments, but it also causes the film to drag. The more Heep learns, the more people he draws to himself, and the more unbelievable the film becomes. Never mind the legend - it is incredulous to think that Heep could convince anybody that his story was true, much less the fifteen or twenty people he recruits to help him.

Again, many of Shyamalan's films contain the theme of "purpose." The characters in the films all are part of a larger plan, and their quirks are part of their purposes. The theme reoccurs in "Lady in the Water," but the problem is that we've seen it all before - and done much better - in "Signs." The characters are more believable, the conflicts more interesting, and personal dynamics more engaging in Signs than in Shyamalan's latest offering. The most important scene - invoking a Christian image, as Story is "resurrected" - sees Giamatti let go of his bottled-up anger at himself and ask forgiveness of the people he harmed by his neglect. The "energy" he releases allows the dying Story to be healed at the moment of death. (At this point in the movie, I leaned over to the guy I went with, his hands clutched as though in prayer, and asked, "is this a religious experience for you?" Unfortunately, although that was the point, it failed miserably.)

"Some stories are real!" one character desperately says. Then again, some are not, and this is a story that should never have been told. Stay away from the supernatural, Shyamalan, and bring "Life of Pi" to birth.

Top Ten Signs that this TV station is Catholic

Hmmm... Let's start with the lifesize paintings of Saints - young Saints - as you enter through the door. How about the poster of "the Passion of the Christ" on the wall? Or the computer-generated image of the facade of St. Peter's Basilica that hangs over my computer?

Stoll along the bookshelves, and instead of books you'll find tapes labelled, "WYD2000"; "Papal Funeral Mass;" and "Molla Family interviews".

How about the fact that there is a rather large - comparitively speaking - chapel built right in the middle of the station?

Or photos of JP2 with most of my co-workers?

Or that the CEO is a priest?

There's also all of the World Youth Day paraphernilia. And at least 3 icons of Christos Pantokrator in various places. And very old sheets, behind glass, of Gregorian Chant displayed on the walls.

And that's just the beginning.

Welcome to Salt and Light TV. Available on Bell Express-Vu and Rogers digital cable. We need to work on Shaw cable so that we can be displayed in the Western provinces. They consider us Catholics a "sect" and, I guess, too brainwashed to be exposed to the general public. Never mind that 45% of Canada is nominally Catholic.

Well, I've been here nearly three days now. I've got my feet wet in a few departments - marketing, production, post-production. Today I transcripted a "Catholic Focus" episode called "Pro-Life Toolkit," featuring (to my pleasant surprise) a certain young woman named Stephanie who is very actively involved with Pro-Life work. The "Catholic Focus" series has become the signature piece for this TV station, and the transcription work had to be done because an American TV station (not EWTN) wants to broadcast them and they require closed-captioning.

So that's the start of my work. I hope to update again soon.

God Bless,
Dave

2 TV movies about Pope John Paul 2

In the months following the death of John Paul, television studios rushed to be the first to produce a film about his life. There was also the inflated hype over a bio-pic by Mel Gibson, after rumors were circulated that he had sent a crew to film the funeral.

The first film to be completed was actually an Italian movie, produced by Taudue Films, entitled "Karol: a Man who became Pope." Directed by Giacomo Battiato, it told the story of Karol Wojtyla's younger years under Nazi occupation, then as a priest and bishop. The film ends with his election to the papacy, actually using TV footage of the real pope's speech to the people of Rome. The movie had been started before his death, and completed shortly after.

The second TV movie I came across was a film, simply titled "Pope John Paul II,"(available on DVD from CBS, $50) starring Jon Voight and Cary Elwes (as the older and younger Wojtyla, respectively.) This film spanned his entire life, starting at roughly the same time period as "Karol."

Following the death of John Paul, the makers of "Karol" decided to complete the story and film his papacy, in a movie called "Karol: the Pope, the Man."(The complete miniseries is available in Canada on DVD August 4th for about $30.) Taking up where the previous film left off, it documents his struggle against communism (he visited Poland twice before its collapse, and once immediately after,) as well as pivotal moments of his papacy (such as the assassination attempt.) The film also documents several other prominent Catholics and their relations with John Paul, including Archbishop Oscar Romero, Polish priest and martyr Jerzy Popieluszko, and Mother Teresa, in subplots intertwined with the main story.

The "Karol" miniseries is undoubtably the finer of the two films. Perhaps its greatest strength is the believability of Piotr Adamczyk, a 34-year-old Polish actor who carries the role of Pope John Paul to perfection. Unlike the "other" film, this one actor (who presumably didn't expect to make an entire second film under old-age makeup) makes Karol endearing, courageous, funny - he simply brings to life this Pope we all had a connection with. You feel you've known the guy your whole life.

Where the Voight film supercedes "Karol" is in its attention to historical details. For instance, the writers of "Karol" found it necessary to invent a main character, one Father Tomasz Zaleski, who I think is a composite character. In the words of George Weigel, he was "a complete invention;" also doctored were details surrounding his close friend Hania, as well as a Jewish childhood friend (this film seems to confuse Jerzy Kluger with Roman, another Jew who meets Karol in Rome after two decades apart.) But in the greater scheme of things, this is all nitpicking.

Both films take a positive view of John Paul and his papacy; neither tries to take potshots at him for his socially "conservative" views - the heads at CBS must have really had to hold their noses greenlighting the script - and nobody tried to put words in his mouth about this or that. Interesting in both films is John Paul's battle against abortion - in "Karol" he is confronted by a (Canadian, of course) woman who wants the church to liberalize its stance on contraception to help AIDS sufferers; his response is both encouraging and paternal, explaining the Church's position in a compassionate manner but without any wishy-washiness; in "Pope John Paul," the film's response is a short excerpt from "Letter to Women," showing his love and concern for the dignity of women and how respect for life and motherhood is ultimately wrapped up with a genuine respect for women.

Also of note is the films' treatment of Cardinal Ratzinger. In "John Paul," Ratzinger's appointment as head of the CDF is explained as a help to "bringing the Church into the new millenium of peace and love" (I cringed at the line, but it's a very interesting comment on the filmmakers' view of the CDF.) Ratzinger (played for some reason by a Polish actor, but who looks impeccably like Pope Benedict) is by John Paul's side for the remainder of the movie, and is never portayed as anything less than a well- respected Cardinal.
That was "John Paul." For some reason, "karol" doesn't mention him at all. Whether this is a comment on his character, or because the film cannot cram much more into its 3-hour run time, I don't know- but even a simple mention of Ratzinger could have been possible without needing much explanation, especially considering their close friendship. The only time we see him is during a wordless montage of real footage from JP2's funeral.

Both films are worth watching. Indeed, perhaps the best reason to watch them is for the acting. Christopher Lee plays the role of Cardinal Wyzynski in "John Paul II"; his work is rivalled by the actor from "Karol" in the same role. James Cromwell plays a memorable Cardinal Sapieha (a character not mentioned in "karol") and Voight is nearly as good as Piotr Adamczyk in the role of John Paul II. Another fine performance is that of Hristo Shopov, an unfamiliar name but very familiar face -- he played Pilate in The Passion of the Christ. In "Karol," he portrays Julian Kordek, the communist who harasses Cardinals Wyzynski and Wojtyla, and the only man who knew the potential of "the proletariat priest who lacks organizational and leadership skills."

In short - if you haven't already - I encourage you to watch the films. Thumbs up especially for "Karol."

And to Mel Gibson: we're waiting for that movie!

WYD SYD 2008

If you're interested in World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, I encourage you to check out their official website. And for extra reading, the "ePilgrimage" newsletter is chock full of information, including what's happening in Australia to prepare, a testimony by a young WYD veteran, info on St. Edith Stein (the patron saint of WYD SYD 08) and excerpts from Fides et Ratio. You can also sign up to receive it by email.

Reflections on the Communion of Saints

Before thinking about reviving this site, I spent a bit of time reading other Catholic blogs. What really got me thinking was the connection I felt with such bloggers as Fr. Stephanos and The Anchoress, Fr. Tim, and American Papist, who I've never met nor communicated with (but who know me through a video of mine, posted online here), and Dilexitprior (who I know personally, and to whom I owe profound thanks for the proliferation of the aforementioned video.) There's something great about knowing that a person halfway around the world shares your beliefs and world vision, and yet is comfortable in his/her individuality (as opposed to the scourge of individualism) even as a Catholic.
I remember, during WYD 2005 in the week before the Cologne activities, we were in Munich, where a good 10,000 WYD-goers were staying. During a late night, while my buddies were off at a beer hall, I wandered around Marienplatz, the center square of downtown Munich, where a number of Catholics had congregated and milled about, each group doing its own thing. I felt the same connection there, chatting with a bunch of French pilgrims (trying vainly to speak in my poor Quebec French; they didn't understand, either way!); I had the same feeling when surrounded by Catholics on the metro system in Cologne. At any rate, a street comedian a few blocks away did his impression of "Those Catholics at Marienplatz": when alone, he implied, they cringed like cowards, but together... and he *almost* did the Goose Step.

The irony. He must not have known any Catholics. Or any knowledge of history - the unrevised kind, that is. But of course, there's a grain of truth to what he said -- the oft-used cliche of "together we stand, divided...we fall" and that togetherness is what I seem to draw from my fellow Catholic bloggers.

Which brings us to the Communion of Saints. As I understand the doctrine, the Communion of Saints refers to all baptized members of the Christian family ,who share a special connection as members of the Body of Christ, the Church -- a connection strengthened to each other and to Christ by partaking in the Body of Christ, the Eucharist. Of course, this connection cannot be destroyed by death, since we have both the hope of the resurrection of the body, and the belief in the immortal soul at rest in God (and "alive in Christ.") As such, just as we ask those around us to intercede with Christ for us through their prayers, so we ask the Saints in heaven (whose prayers are so much more potent, as it were, since the "prayer of the righteous man is powerful indeed" (James 5)) to pray for us.

And we, in turn, pray that the candidates for Sainthood may be canonized.

Please pray for Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, Bl. Kateri Tekatwitha, Bl. Mother Theresa, and the Servants of God John Paul II, Pius XII, and George Vanier.

God Bless,
Dave

Back again - 2 years less a month later.

I first started this blog in August 2004, as a way to connect with my seminary friends. Unfortunately, that never happened. My first and last blog post (up to now) consisted of:

"This is my first post, so I'll keep it short."

Hardy-har-har.

At any rate, I hope to keep this blog alive and well. I'll be travelling to Toronto in 3 weeks to start an internship at Salt and Light TV, and I will *try* to document my time there.

Anyway, God Bless the Catholic blogging community and I hope to get back to you soon.