Yesterday was the 41st World Communications Day. I suggest that you to visit this website from the Ponitifcal Council for Social Communications: http://www.pccs.it/Doc_GMCS_eng.htm The following is a commentary on Pope Benedict XVI’s Address for this special day that asks us to consider the mediated world in which we live, in freedom and responsibility. Please note the list on the website of all the talks given over the last 41 years. This site is for all those who are interested in and/or concerned... Read more

Friends have been calling or emailing to ask about the fire that began yesterday at Griffith Park/Griffith Park Observatory. We are located about 13 miles due west of the park. Sister Frances was driving home along the I-10 just after the fire started and when she got home told us of how high the flames were burning. I looked out of an upstairs window and could see what looked like a huge mushroom shaped cloud rising from the park beginning... Read more

A Film Study Guide to Spider-Man 3 By Sr. Rose Pacatte, [email protected]   The 2007 summer movie season will be known as a season of “threes”: Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Rush Hour 3, and films that are third in their franchises: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Ocean’s Thirteen and The Bourne Ultimatum. Spider-Man 3 launches the summer box office with a bang. This essay explores what makes Spider-Man 3 interesting to believers and people of good will... Read more

ADAM’S APPLES (released in 2005 in Germany) is the story of a neo-Nazi, Adam (Ulrich Thomsen last seen in Kingdom of Heaven and Mostly Martha) who gets out of jail and is paroled to a Christian pastor, Ivan (Mads Mikkleson), and his church in rural Denmark (it is in Danish with English sub-titles). The parolee is tough, silent, and bewildered by the pastor who at first seems eccentric, and who we discover lives in a perpetual state of denial because he is barely able to keep himself... Read more

The 2007 theme,  “iPods, Blogs and Beyond: Evolving Media Literacy for the 21st Century” – will be explored in more than 75 conference events, including keynotes, workshops, special interest caucuses and more. Workshop titles include:    – Using Media and Technology in the Language Arts Classroom Educating Media Educators for the 21st Century Classroom — Media Literacy in Pre-Service Teacher Education Programs Let’s Write a Movie!  Teaching Language Arts Skills Through Scriptwriting Media Literacy and Service Learning in the Classroom... Read more

In 1971 Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) makes his way to Philadelphia from North Carolina to apply for a job as a swimming coach at the prestigious Mainline Academy. Coach Bink (Tom Arnold) is rude and rejects him. Ellis applies for a job as a teacher in the public school system but is hired to close the decrepit Marcus Foster Recreation Center instead because young people no longer use it. As African-American kids shoot hoops in the yard, the director, grumpy... Read more

I just got home from Johannesburg, South Africa from the 5th World Summit on Media and Children and I hope to be sharing some information with you soon about that. But I wanted to take a moment and tell you about one of the finest films I have seen in a very long time: The Lives of Others. It won the Oscar for best foreign language film this year; German with English subtitles. Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mule) is a... Read more

  Theme: The City: A State of Mind and Sacred Space   Date: Friday, July 6 – Sunday, July 8, 2007 (The deadline for registration is June 25, 2007)     Location: Pauline Center for Media Studies 3908 Sepulveda Blvd Culver City, CA90230 [email protected]   Please visit the web site for registration, accomodation, directions: National Film Retreat (http://www.daughtersofstpaul.com/mediastudies/events/filmretreat.html)     Film Slate Batman Begins Amelie City Lights In America Smoke    The National Film Retreat is a project of the Partnership... Read more

This particular 180 minute film/miniseries version of the life of Pope John Paul II (played by Cary Elwes in his younger years and then by Jon Voight) was released on DVD only yesterday and it is a lavish production. It aired on CBS in 2005 (along with two other versions) and of the three, I like it the most. The reason for this has nothing to do with the actual mini-series, but with Jon Voight whom I was privileged to... Read more

As you can see, The Nativity Story is being released on DVD on March 20th. If you search the archives of my blog for December 2006 you’ll find plenty of commentary and links on this lovely film. I think The Nativity Story is a perfect Scriptural reflection for Lent as we consider the public life of Jesus and the events that led to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The characters who populate the Gospels asked: Who is this man, this Jesus of Nazareth?... Read more