(Photos property of CBS) “Why do bad things happen to good people?” is a question that philosophers, theologians, and ordinary people have grappled with for ages. For believers, this can be an especially challenging issue since we insist that a good and loving God created the universe. Part of the answer, at least, is that God gave human beings free will because He doesn’t want to force us to do anything. That freedom is a loving gift. What we choose... Read more
(The following is an entry from volume 50 of The Christophers’ annual book “Three Minutes a Day”): It’s natural for people to emphasize their strong points. But, strengths taken to extremes can turn into weaknesses. Hollywood producer Dore Schary had this to say on the topic: “A person who calls himself frank and candid can very easily find himself becoming tactless and cruel. A person who prides himself on being tactful can find eventually that he has become evasive and... Read more
(Logo property of Scripps National Spelling Bee) Last Thursday’s Scripps National Spelling Bee finals were another nail-biter that once again ended in co-champions, Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga. The knowledge these kids possess was amazing to watch on words most people have never even heard of. A couple of the words they spelled even had some Christian background. Top 10 finalist Snehaa Ganesh Kumar was asked to spell “pneumatomachy,” which is defined as “a denial of the deity of the... Read more
The movie “Risen” was released on DVD this week, so I want to give it a brief review. In a nutshell, it’s the story of a Roman tribune named Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), who oversees the crucifixion of Jesus and then is tasked with finding his body after it disappears. Of course, anyone familiar with the gospels knows that the body Clavius finds won’t be in the decaying shape he expects. Fiennes’ performance impressed me the most about “Risen.” He is... Read more
What kind of man intentionally crashes his airplane behind enemy lines during wartime to save a friend? That’s the question that New York Times best-selling author Adam Makos set out to answer in his book “Devotion,” about the bond between two Navy pilots during the Korean War: Tom Hudner, a white New Englander from the country-club scene, and Jesse Brown, an African American sharecropper’s son from Mississippi. As Makos recalled during a “Christopher Closeup” interview with me, “On December 4th,... Read more
This was the first year that we promoted the hashtag #ChristopherAwards at the ceremony and more extensively online, and it was a success. While we didn’t trend on Twitter, we got to the point where you typed in #chri – and #ChristopherAwards was the second option under #ChrisBrown. So, yay us. Part of our Twitter success is owed to the Hearties, fans of our Christopher Spirit Award-winning TV series from the Hallmark Channel, “When Calls the Heart.” They’ve been hankering... Read more
After months of preparation, the 67th annual Christopher Awards took place in New York City last night to honor storytellers who highlight the better angels of our nature. Based on what guests told me afterwards, a wonderful time was had by all and the food was excellent as well. (Some day, I’m actually going to have time to eat at one of these parties. All I had was a cookie and a piece of asparagus wrapped in prosciutto.) Father Jonathan... Read more
When it aired on NBC in December 2015, “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” turned out to be the highest rated TV movie since 2011. Much of its appeal had to do with the fact that it told a compelling story grounded in love of God and family. It was, of course, inspired by Dolly’s classic song about growing up in a poor family in East Tennessee, and having a mom who sewed her a coat made out of different... Read more
(The following is the text of the Christopher News Note “How Sports Can Help You Win at Life” [which was written by a freelancer]. If you’d like a pdf or hard copy, see the end of this post.) “Give thanks to God for the gift of sport, in which the human person exercises his body, intellect and will, recognizing these abilities as so many gifts of his Creator.” — Saint John Paul II Sports are a gift from God. They... Read more
Never call yourself a bad person, but rather “a saint-in-training.” That’s the advice of former Director of The Christophers Father John Catoir, and it’s a truth he learned from his years counseling people as part of his priestly ministry. Father Catoir led The Christophers from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, and the job was a dream come true for him. I recently interviewed him on “Christopher Closeup,” and we took a short stroll down memory lane. He recalled being... Read more
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