Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

Fast-growing "FORMED" program harnesses the power and reach of "the new Roman road"

CWR Staff | The Dispatch

FORMED is a Netflix-like VOD and digital content service that features the best audio, video, e-books and feature-length films from Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, Word on Fire ministries, and others.

"There is a new Roman road today," says Dr. Tim Gray, president of the Augustine Institute, in explaining how the Catholic program "Formed" seeks to combine the zeal of the early Church with the tools of the digital age, "The new Roman road is the internet and the digital age. We need to take up these roads for the faith, for Jesus Christ.”

FORMED is one of the fastest growing Catholic programs today, described as "a Netflix-like VOD and digital content service for both seeker and believer that features the best audio, video, e-books and feature-length films from some of the world’s most credible Catholic sources, such as the Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, and Word on Fire ministries."

Augustine Institute says there are now more than 210,000 FORMED users in over 2,300 parishes in the United States, with the website—formed.org—having about 2 million page views each month. And more dioceses are using the FORMED program; in 2016, the dioceses of Baker, Cincinnati, Lincoln, Colorado Springs, Philadelphia and Cheyenne used the program with great success. Other dioceses to implement FORMED recently include Arlington, Birmingham and the Archdiocese of New York, the second-largest diocese in the U.S.. The 2.6 million parishioners in the 296 parishes in the Archdiocese of New York, have unlimited access to the expansive FORMED content, at no cost, for the next year.

On December 1st, Cardinal Timothy Dolan sent out his Advent message, encouraging Catholics to use FORMED. He wrote:

Can I suggest one way you might fit some Advent preparation into your busy schedule?  Spend some time on FORMED.org, if you haven’t already signed up.  Thanks to a generous benefactor, all parishes in the Archdiocese of New York are currently signed up for this online platform that provides Catholic content such as movies, E-books, audio talks, Bible studies, and more!  There is an Advent study, as well as a new program on the Sacrament of Confession, called Forgiven.  I especially encourage you to watch this and prepare for our Archdiocesan-wide Reconciliation Monday on December 19.

The featured content on FORMED includes the "Catholicism" series by Bishop Robert Barron and his Word on Fire apostolate; the 12-session video program "Beloved" that "uncovers the mystery and the meaning of the sacrament of marriage"; the classic movie "The Jeweler's Shop", which is based on St. Pope John Paul II's best-selling book

The content featured on FORMED includes Bishop Robert Barron’s entire Catholicism series; "Beloved", a 12-session video program that uncovers the mystery and the meaning of the sacrament of marriage; The Jeweler’s Shop, a classic movie based on St. Pope John Paul II’s bestselling book; and the popular conversion story, Rome Sweet Home, by Scott and Kimberly Hahn.

“The use of FORMED and the small group concept has transformed our parish community,” says Annie Grandell, who is the coordinator of senior high youth formation at St. Mary’s and St. Michael’s parishes in Stillwater, Minnesota. “We are using it to journey through the retreat experience of the Hearts Afire parish-based program, where we gather weekly and then watch the videos on FORMED. So many people’s lives are changing — it truly has been an extraordinary gift during this extraordinary Year of Mercy!”

FORMED is frequently adding new content, including the recent addition of "Forgiven: The Transforming Power of Confession", a sacramental preparation program that explores the grace and healing offered in confession, demonstrating how this sacrament of mercy reveals the depth and bounty of God’s love. The first two “Forgiven” sessions are now available on FORMED. Children’s content is coming soon, including three animated films from "Lumen", audio dramas on the lives of the saints, a video program that is a dramatization of "Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree", and e-books from Sophia Press.

In addition, the program will also soon feature "Brother Francis: The Barefoot Saint of Assisi", a 10-part audio drama from the Augustine Institute Radio Theatre about the life of Francis of Assisi, the fun-loving son of wealth and privilege who gave up everything for the sake of Christ.

To learn more about FORMED, please visit www.formed.org.

Editor's note: Catholic World Report readers who leave a comment on this story are automatically qualified for a special giveaway. The winner will receive a free one-year individual subscription to FORMED (about a $120 value), and two runner-up winners will receive copies of Augustine Institute President Dr. Tim Gray’s latest talk, “Can You Trust God?” Winners will be selected on Monday, December 12th.

"Kubo and the Two Strings" is brilliantly animated neo-pagan poison

by Nick Olszyk at The Dispatch at Catholic World Report

Along with recent films ParaNorman and Boxtrolls, the Laika studio has a notable track record of promoting New Age progressive spiritual values—and Kubo reaches a new low point.

MPAA Rating: PG
USCCB Rating:A-II
Reel Rating: (1 out of 5 reels)

In The Usual Suspects, Roger Kint stated that “the greatest trick the Devil ever played was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” That may have been true in the 20^th century, when fascism and communism terrorized the world, but now the Devil has shifted his strategy. In the 21^st century, his trick is getting people to believe that Jesus Christ promotes his agenda. Kubo and the Two Strings, the new and widely praised film from the Laika animation studio, is such a trap. Keep kids far, far away.

Snatching a trope from Disney, the story starts as the baby Kubo (Art Parkinson) is rescued by his goddess Mother (Charlize Theron), but not before his grandfather, the Moon King, kills his human father and rips out his left eye. They spend the next twelve years in a cave hiding, with Kubo earning money on the streets of rural Japan by telling stories with his shamisen. “Never go out after sunset,” Mother tells him, “or my sisters will find you and take your other eye.” Kubo is not only a great storyteller but also the possessor of special powers because of divine blood. As he plays the shamisen, origami figures come to life and dramatize his stories. While he has the admiration of the townspeople, his life is still a mystery. Injured in the rescue, his mother suffers from an unknown mental disorder, and it’s hard to discern whether her tales are true. As he learns more about his past the tables are upset again and again, culminating in a hero’s quest to find his father’s armor and confront his grandfather.

The spirituality starts out simple as well but becomes more complex before revealing its sinister nature in the third act.

Continue reading on The Dispatch.

Friendship, forgiveness, and chariots: The Ben-Hur team discusses their new film

From left to right: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Roma Downey, Rodrigo Santoro, and Morgan Freeman
attend the Mexico premiere of Paramount Pictures' "Ben-Hur" at the Metropolitan Theater on
August 9, 2016 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Image via facebook.com/BenHurFilm)

The actors and production crew behind Ben-Hur talk about their fresh take on a classic tale of betrayal and mercy | Jim Graves

Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures will release its remake of Ben-Hur on Friday, August 19. The movie is a retelling of the 1880 novel by retired Civil War Union General Lew Wallace, and it follows Jewish prince Judah Ben-Hur (played by Jack Huston) as he is betrayed into slavery by his friend, Roman officer Messala (Toby Kebbell). The film is set in and around Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and Judah encounters Christ at key moments in his life. 

The best-known presentation of Ben-Hur is the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston, which received 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The 2016 version follows the same general story line, with some significant differences. The modern version has a distinctly more Christian message, and unlike the 1959 version, Christ has a larger, speaking role.

That this version is more clearly religious is no doubt due to the influence of executive producers and husband-wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, known for their productions The Bible, A.D.: The Bible Continues, and Son of God. They describe themselves as “the noisiest Christians in Hollywood,” and admit that the new Ben-Hurengages in stealth evangelism, presenting Christ’s message of “love and forgiveness” to viewers who ordinarily would never darken the door of a church.

A classic story retold

The story opens depicting the close, adoptive-brother relationship between Judah Ben-Hur and Messala. In the opening scene the pair are racing horses for sport in the countryside, and Judah is thrown from his horse and injured. Messala leaps from his horse to care for his fallen friend, and ends up carrying him back to the city. During Judah’s recovery we learn that the house of Ben-Hur is a royal Jewish home, while Messala worships pagan gods.

Seeking adventure, Messala leaves Jerusalem to join the Roman army. He distinguishes himself as a soldier as he battles the Empire’s foes. He returns to Jerusalem three years later, and is happily welcomed home by Judah and his friend’s mother and sister. Messala is in love with Judah’s sister, which contributes to the animosity between Messala and Judah when their relationship sours.

Judah, meanwhile, enjoys the good life as a prince. In the new version of Ben-Hur, Judah’s wife Esther (portrayed by Iranian-born actress Nazanin Boniadi) has a larger role than in the 1959 film. Early on in the movie the pair first meet Christ while shopping in the marketplace. Judah is a pacifist, wanting nothing to do with the Jewish Zealots trying to overthrow Roman rule, but is clearly no fan of Roman brutality. Christ, while engaging in carpentry in the public square, introduces a novel concept to the pair: “Love your enemies.” It is an idea that Judah initially finds absurd.

Christ is portrayed by Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro. He was chosen to play Christ, Downey said, because “he’s got strength, kindness, and depth.”

Santoro said, “Billions of people all over the world have a very personal and intimate relationship with this man, with his image, with what he represents. It’s a tremendous responsibility, but it’s also a unique opportunity to have a chance to explore and to have a deeper understanding of what he went through, and try to practice his teachings.”

The most challenging scene for Santoro was near the end of the film, during Christ’s crucifixion. Filming took place on a “bitterly cold” day in the historic town of Matera, Italy. “When I was up there on that cross it was so cold it was almost unbearable,” Santoro said. “I was on the top of a cliff looking over all those people and Matera in the background, just waiting.”

“When they took me down from the cross, my body was involuntarily shaking; I couldn’t stop,” he continued. “It was probably the most emotionally charged experience I’ve ever had.”

Live-action excitement in the age of CGI

When Messala returns to Jerusalem after three years of warfare, he is a respected Roman officer. He tells Judah that Pontius Pilate, the new Roman governor, will be coming into the city and requests his help in identifying and arresting the Zealots among the people. Judah, who secretly—albeit reluctantly—helped an injured Zealot named Dismas, refuses. Dismas—the “Good Thief” on the cross alongside Christ—attempts to murder Pilate as he enters the city. Judah and his family are arrested, and the relationship between Judah and Messala is severed. Judah is sent to be a galley slave, chained to his seat and manning an oar, and his mother and sister are imprisoned.

The second part of the film includes its two great action sequences.

Continue reading on the Catholic World Report site.

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History | CWR Staff

Steve Ray, who has been working for 16 years on the ambitious "Footprints of God" series, discusses his vision, describes the difficulties, and asks for assistance as the project nears the finish line.

Author and apologist Stephen Ray (CatholicConvert.com) along with his wife Janet, entered the Catholic Church in 1994, a journey from the Baptist tradition to Catholicism described in Ray's first book, Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church. Since then he has kept busy with giving numerous talks, leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, and other locations, and writing more books, including Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary. 

Steve and Janet have also kept busy working on writing, filming, editing, and producing the award-winning video series for Ignatius Press titled ”The Footprints of God”. The Rays and their crew have completed eight of the ten films and are busy making preparations for the final two films, including raising money to help with the costs of filming on location in countries including Israel, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. 

Catholic World Report recently caught up with Steve shortly before he and Janet left the country to lead a pilgrimage in Rome and Assisi. 

CWR: You’ve been working on the “Footprints of God” film project for 16 years. Where did the idea come from and how did you get started on such an ambitious project?

Steve Ray: It started in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. Without any forethought I woke up with a start. I sat up in the pitch dark and grabbed my wife and began to shake her, "Janet, Janet! Wake up, we have to make a ten-part video series on the history of salvation from a Catholic perspective!" I had woken her up so abruptly she she was shaking from fright. When she finally realized what I was saying she responded, “What? Are you crazy? I thought the house was on fire or you were having a heart attack. You woke me up in the middle of the night and scared me half to death to tell us we have to make movie? We can't even take good pictures—how does God expect us to make movies? You're crazy, go back to sleep."

She rolled over and went back to sleep but I was wide awake—and I was on fire. For the rest of the night I was at my computer with fingers flying, getting it all down out of my head before it disappeared. The ideas flowed like a waterfall and by the time the sun came up I had the whole outline of the series figured out, along with the title. It was going to be called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation from Abraham to Augustine. It would consist of ten parts and each one would explain how God has come to his people to offer redemption and salvation—to the point that he even got his own feet dirty doing it!

CWR: How did Ignatius Press get involved in the project?

Steve Ray: We called Ignatius Press to tell them our idea. They invited my wife and I out to San Francisco for lunch and a meeting. I presented my idea. By the end of the lunch we had their approval and the funding for the first movie Peter, Keeper of the Keys. Within six weeks we were flying over the land of the Bible in helicopters getting the aerial footage, and six weeks later we were filming Peter in Israel and Rome. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the unflagging support and funding from Fr. Joseph Fessio, Mark Brumley, and Tony Ryan of Ignatius Press.

These movies couldn’t be like anything else out there. We wanted them to be unique and one of kind—and they are! 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Spielberg's enchanting take on Dahl's endearing BFG

Spielberg's enchanting take on Dahl's endearing BFG | Lauren Enk Mann | CWR

While Steven Spielberg apparently couldn’t resist inserting some strange and unnecessary additions, "BFG" is refreshingly free of agenda and is filled with spectacular visual details.

Film adaptations of storyteller Roald Dahl’s work have always been rather hit or miss; his quirky sense of humor, fanciful stories, and typically one-dimensional characters are difficult to translate effectively to the screen. Moreover, Dahl’s original tales are often punctuated by a morbidity akin to Grimm’s fairy tales and foreign to modern children’s stories, and are thus difficult to recreate convincingly as family film fare. Nonetheless, many other quirky geniuses, like Tim Burton and Wes Anderson, have tried their hands at adapting his work, from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to Matilda to Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Now, The BFG, perhaps the most endearing of Dahl’s tales, gets its turn at the hands of Hollywood’s moguls, in a summer blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg. And Spielberg’s BFG neither departs wildly from nor adheres slavishly to Dahl’s story, making it about as enjoyable and faithful an adaptation of the book as could possibly have been hoped.

From the start, the film’s obvious crowning achievement is certainly the BFG himself. The homely giant is a masterpiece of animation, with his giant wiggling ears and his gangly legs balancing out his soulful eyes and kindly wrinkled face. His most lovable trait—his mixed up way of speaking—is reproduced here exactly as in the book, voiced to perfection by Mark Rylance. Loping about the London streets at night, hooded and cloaked, with a bag of dreams and a trumpet to blow them into the rooms of sleeping children, the BFG is a combination of mythical creature and homely secret philanthropist. Easily keeping pace with the larger-than-life BFG is Ruby Barnhill, absolutely perfect as the intrepid and practical bookworm orphan named Sophie. Barnhill captures Sophie’s bravery and obvious precociousness (how many ten year olds typically read Nicholas Nickleby?) with innocent and unaffected charm.

Yet it is the chemistry between the appealingly articulate Sophie and the fumbling giant that arguably keeps the film afloat in Dahl’s at times ridiculous plotline. The bravehearted and intelligent little girl is a fitting companion and counterpoint to the misspeaking, kind-hearted Big Friendly Giant; like him, she is something of an outcast, awake alone at night. He treats her with gentleness and kindness, and she in turn gives him respect and encouragement. While at times their relationship may wander into the saccharine, Sophie’s youthful boldness and the BFG’s tender, grandfatherly care for her makes their friendship blossom onscreen, even when threatened by the destructive invasions of the BFG’s home by the oafish, man-eating giants like Bloodbottler and Fleshlumpeater.

In this unlikely friendship, moral themes regarding courage, transgression, and reparation make an appearance.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

New: "All That Remains", the inspiring film about a Nagasaki Atomic bomb survivor and Catholic convert

Now available from Ignatius Press:

All That Remains

Produced by Ian and Dominic Higgins, makers of the acclaimed Fatima film, The 13th Day, this movie tells the inspiring life story of Nagasaki Atomic bomb survivor and Catholic convert, Dr. Takashi Nagai. A rich, stylistic blend of live action, CGI and archive footage, All That Remains brings to life the amazing story of a forgotten hero in the West—but deeply beloved in Japan—and a pivotal moment in history for a new generation, and takes the viewer on a visceral journey of discovery and revelations.

Nagai, a descendent of a Samurai family, a patriot and a pioneering scientist embarks upon a quest for the "ultimate truth"—the meaning to life and death. It is a journey that starts at his mother's deathbed, and leads him to discover the "hidden Christians" of Nagasaki and meet Midori, the woman whom will finally transform a skeptical man of intellect, into a man of the heart and faith. As Takashi struggles with his new faith, storm clouds gather in Japan as militarists take control of the government, and drag Japan into a long, bloody war with China.

When Japan declares war on England and America, Takashi is convinced that X-ray technology will be in high demand and absorbs himself in his work, risking his health and neglecting his family. But everything changes in a blinding flash, as the atomic bomb is detonated over Nagasaki. Midori is one of the 80,000 souls killed instantly. Takashi, now battling leukemia, left alone to raise their two young children, turns to God for help, and is inspired to rebuild Nagasaki from the rubble and ash. Becoming increasingly bedridden, he begins to write about his experiences. It is through his profound words as a revered man of peace, that a country defeated and demoralized by war re-discovers the healing of power of love.

This DVD contains the following languages: English audio with English or Spanish subtitles.

Special Features:

Documentary film - The Story of Dr. Takashi Nagai: Told by Fr. Paul Glynn, SM
Animated Short Film - The 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki
16-page color Collector's Booklet

“Christ is risen!”: The Big Bang within Time and Space

“Christ is risen!”: The Big Bang within Time and Space | Carl E. Olson | Catholic World Report

The movie Risen, now out on DVD, captures, in cinematic and artistic form, some key points I make in Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?

A few months ago, while writing Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?, I was able to watch the movie Risen, which releases today on DVD. It was fortuitous as the film captures, in cinematic and artistic form, some key points that I emphasize in my book.

Prior to seeing Risen, I was concerned that the film might fall into a some of the traps that trip up many films made from a Christian perspective. One of those is a certain gauzy piety, which can make real people and events appear as if they exist and occur in another realm and world, almost completely divorced from the grind and grit of reality. Another common flaw is a heavy-handed preachiness, in which a central character launches into an Al Pacino-like soliloquy in which All Is Explained, thus eliminating any real sense of narrative and mystery. A third problem in some Christian cinema is poor production, or uneven acting and writing.

 

While viewers of good will can and will disagree about certain details in Risen, I think the movie both avoids those three problems and, at times, has moments of real cinematic brilliance. Right from the start, the film is rooted in the dusty and often violent chaos of first century Palestine under Roman rule. There is no romanticizing or sugarcoating of the poverty, brutality, and fear faced by so many ordinary Jews of the time. Death and difficulty are common fare, and they have a deep and lasting impact on Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), the Roman military tribune who is tasked by Pilate to investigate the startling disappearance of a the body of the crucified Jesus (Cliff Curtis).

Secondly, while there is plenty of dialogue—the film is presented (at least on one level) as a sort of a detective story, so much discussion ensues—there really isn’t much if any preaching. Even when Clavius and Jesus have a conversation toward the end of the film, the point is usually more about posing the right questions than providing tidy answers. It’s not that the film doesn’t point to good answers. Rather, it’s approach is somewhat similar to novelist Walker Percy’s tactic of being “diagnostic” rather than didactic. And, in fact, the film has a strong existential quality to it, as it begins and ends with Clavius alone and in the desert, still pondering the great Mystery he has encountered through a seemingly ordinary mystery.

The production and acting in Risen are excellent, and Fiennes, in particular, delivers an impressive performance. The movie, in the end, rests squarely on his shoulders, and he conveys a serious mixture of Roman roughness and spiritual restlessness. He is meant, it seems to me, to represent the serious modern skeptic, who has profound doubts but is also open to something more than just a short life without any real meaning.

At the start of my book, I emphasize that the Resurrection has, from the start, both scandalized and divided.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"Miracles from Heaven" and the Problem of Theodicy

Jennifer Garner, Queen Latifah and Kylie Rogers star in a scene from the movie "Miracles From Heaven." (CNS photo/Columbia Pictures)

"Miracles from Heaven" and the Problem of Theodicy | Bishop Robert Barron | CWR's The Dispatch

As any apologist worth his/her salt will tell you, the great objection to the proposition that God exists is the fact of innocent suffering. If you want a particularly vivid presentation of this complaint, go on YouTube and look up Stephen Fry's disquisition on why he doesn't believe in God. (Then right afterward, please, do look at my answer to Fry). But the anguished question of an army of non-believers remains: how could an all-loving and all-powerful God possibly allow the horrific suffering endured by those who simply don't deserve it? Say all you want, these critics hold, about God's plan and good coming from evil, but the disproportion between evil and the benefits that might flow from it simply rules out the plausibility of religious faith. The skilled and experienced apologist will also tell you that, in the face of this problem, there is no single, unequivocal "answer," no clinching argument that will leave the doubter stunned into acquiescence. The best approach is to walk slowly around the issue, in the manner of the phenomenologists, illuminating now this aspect, now that.

It is precisely this method that is on display in the surprisingly thoughtful and affecting film Miracles from Heaven. The true story revolves around the devout Beam family from Burleson, Texas: Christy, Kevin, and their three daughters. At the age of ten, their middle child, Annabelle, develops a devastating disease whereby her intestines are no longer able to process food. After consulting local physicians and surgeons to no avail, Christy and her mother make their way to Boston to see a nationally renowned children's doctor. But after many more months of treatment, her condition remains grave. During this horrific ordeal, Christy's faith in God is seriously shaken, since her ardent prayers have remained, it appears, unanswered. In fact, she explicitly voices to her pastor the confounding puzzle referenced above: how can a loving God permit this innocent and God-fearing child to suffer? 

When it seems that things cannot get any worse, Annabelle suffers a freak accident, falling headlong down the trunk of a hollowed-out tree. When she comes around after being unconscious for many hours, she is, against all expectations, cured. Unable to account for the sudden improvement, the Boston specialist declares that she is in "complete remission," just the medical way, he says, of explaining what cannot be explained. Annabelle herself, however, tells of an out of the body experience, a journey to heaven, and God's assurance that she would be fine.

I would like simply to explore a few of the aspects of the problem of suffering—theodicy, to give it its formal title—that are illuminated in the course of this film.

Continue reading on The Dispatch at CWR.

Three Reasons I Enjoyed "Risen"

Three Reasons I Enjoyed "Risen" | Nick Olszyk | CWR

Director Kevin Reynolds understands that evidence does not automatically equal faith and gives Clavius (and the audience) times to ponder what the mysterious events involving Jesus of Nazareth really mean.

MPAA Rating: PG-13
USCCB Rating: A-III
Reel Rating: (4 out of 5 reels):

Risen begins as a proto-detective story about a first-century Sherlock Holmes investigating the claims of Resurrection hours after its supposed happening. It’s a fascinating premise, so it’s a bit a jolt when the puzzle is solved less than an hour into its screen time. Yet it is even more surprising that the story becomes more interesting, not less. As a piece of craftsmanship, there are some flaws, but as a theological narrative and history mystery there is much to glean, as Bishop Barron has noted. Like the evidence itself, it lingers, even after acceptance.

There are three reasons in particular why I enjoyed Risen.

First, because of the “detective”. He is Roman tribune Clavius (Joseph Fiennes), Pilate’s “enforcer” who squashes any Judean dissent with violent retribution. A weathered veteran of many wars, he freely admits in a moment of rare vulnerability that all he wants is “peace…a day without death.” When Pilate asks him to supervise the crucifixion of three criminals, he carries out the task with all the zeal of notarizing an envelope. Yet, only days later, there is a rumor that one of these men has risen from the dead. “We must have a body,” Pilate sneers. Clavius goes to great lengths to find it: interviewing disciples, visiting the site, and even digging up graves. The answer seems easy at first, but a keen eye and cool intellect leads him to into places that question the “official story” and reveal something extraordinary.

Secondly, the gritty realism.

Continue reading on CWR's The Dispatch.

"Risen" and the Reality of the Resurrection

"Risen" and the Reality of the Resurrection |  Bishop Robert Barron

Certain scenes in the new movie starring Joseph Fiennes reminded me of debates that were fashionable in theological circles when I was doing my studies in the 1970's and 1980's.

[Editor's note: Spoiler alert!]

When I saw the coming attractions for the new film Risen—which deals with a Roman tribune searching for the body of Jesus after reports of the resurrection—I thought that it would leave the audience in suspense, intrigued but unsure whether these reports were justified or not. I was surprised and delighted to discover that the movie is, in fact, robustly Christian and substantially faithful to the Biblical account of what transpired after the death of Jesus.

My favorite scene shows tribune Clavius (played by the always convincing Joseph Fiennes) bursting into the Upper Room, intent upon arresting Jesus' most intimate followers. As he takes in the people in the room, he spies Jesus, at whose crucifixion he had presided and whose face in death he had closely examined. But was he seeing straight? Was this even possible? He slinks down to the ground, fascinated, incredulous, wondering, anguished. As I watched the scene unfold, the camera sweeping across the various faces, I was as puzzled as Clavius: was that really Jesus? It must indeed have been like that for the first witnesses of the Risen One, their confusion and disorientation hinted at in the Scriptures themselves: "They worshipped, but some doubted." Once Thomas enters the room, embraces his Lord and probes Jesus' wounds, all doubt, both for Clavius and for the viewer, appropriately enough, is removed.

I specially appreciated this scene, not only because of its clever composition, but because it reminded me of debates that were fashionable in theological circles when I was doing my studies in the 1970's and 1980's. Scholars who were skeptical of the bodily facticity of Jesus' resurrection would pose the question, "What would someone outside of the circle of Jesus' disciples have seen had he been present at the tomb on Easter morning or in the Upper Room on Easter evening?" The implied answer to the query was "well, nothing." The academics posing the question were suggesting that what the Bible calls resurrection designated nothing that took place in the real world, nothing that an objective observer would notice or dispassionate historian recount, but rather an event within the subjectivity of those who remembered the Lord and loved him.

For example, the extremely influential and widely-read Belgian theologian Edward Schillebeeckx opined that, after the death of Jesus, his disciples, reeling in guilt from their cowardice and betrayal of their master, nevertheless felt forgiven by the Lord.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

"Risen" Depicts the Resurrection as Historical and Theological Mystery

Joseph Fiennes stars as a Roman centurion trying to find out what happened to the body of the crucified Christ (Sony Pictures)

"Risen" Depicts the Resurrection as Historical and Theological Mystery | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report

The cast and crew talk about AFFIRM Film’s new movie, starring Joseph Fiennes, which follows a Roman centurion’s hunt for the risen Christ

The Biblical epic, once a mainstay in the film industry of a bygone era, may be poised for a comeback. 2014 saw the release of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah as well as Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. While these large scale films were being developed to give Old Testament stories a cinematic facelift for a post-Lord of the Rings audience, AFFIRM Films—Sony Pictures’ faith-based production house—had been tinkering around with a project pitched loosely as a follow-up to Mel Gibson’s landmark 2004 film The Passion of the Christ. That film, set to be released on February 19^th, is Risen.

The film follows a hardened Roman Centurion named Clavius, played by Joseph Fiennes, who is tasked by Pontius Pilate with tracking down the stolen body of Yeshua, the recently crucified “Nazarene” whose followers claim has risen from the dead. Taking a page from such classics as The Robe, the film abstains from following a straightforward Resurrection narrative that might remain focused on Christ and the disciples, instead opting to frame the story from the perspective of a non-believing Roman.

Making a film that harkened back to the age of the religious epic is precisely what producer Micky Liddell had intended to do. “I grew up on The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur and all those incredible movies,” says Liddell. Trying to recapture films of those caliber is in fact one the reasons the producer embarked into Hollywood. “They’re why I wanted to move here. But when I got here, for some reason, I felt like there was a backlash and people were not making those movies at that kind of quality. So that was the goal of it, was to try to emulate some of those great movies of the past that are loved and play every year and still hold up.”

Liddell’s company LD Entertainment is helping to distribute the film alongside Columbia Pictures. The film’s production is nearly ten years in the making, as the script ran through some overhauls as development unfolded. The team vetted the story with everyone from priests to academics to try and whittle it down to the most authentic representation of time, place, and characterization. “There have been, over ten years, so many drafts it would take over ten minutes to name all the people we had shown them to,” says Pete Shilaimon, another producer on the film. “It was really important to get as many people’s feedback before we started shooting this movie with this script.”

While approaching the story of Christ from the perspective of an outsider character has a firm precedent in classics such as Ben Hur and The Robe, taking a modern film in this direction could have the faith-based target audience cautious about “artistic license”. With films such as Noah and Exodus: Gods and Kings taking liberties with the Old Testament to make their films more accessible to wider audiences, such a concern is not completely unfounded.

There’s no proselytizing agenda, but we do want to present the creative vision of the writer, director and the producers,” says Rich Peluso, Senior Vice President at AFFIRM.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

"The Revenant" and the Search for a Higher Justice

"The Revenant" and the Search for a Higher Justice | Bishop Robert Barron | The Dispatch

Alejandro Iñárritu's new film carries a crucially important message, especially for our secularist time

Alejandro Iñárritu's new film The Revenant is one of the most talked about movies, and for good reason. The opening twenty minutes, which feature a frighteningly realistic Indian attack and a horrifically vivid mauling by a grizzly bear, are absolutely compelling viewing. And the remainder of the film is so involving that this viewer at least felt physically sick as he followed the sufferings of the main character. 

The story revolves around a fur trapper from the early 19th century named Hugh Glass (very convincingly played by Leonardo DiCaprio). After being nearly killed by a bear protecting its cubs (in the mauling referenced above), Glass is bandaged up and then carried on a crudely constructed litter through miles and miles of rugged country in the middle of winter. So sick is he and such an encumbrance to his colleagues that many in the party wonder whether it might be better simply to kill him. But Glass's son, a half-white, half-Indian teenager named Hawk, vigorously defends his father. Eventually, however, Fitzgerald, one of the strongest advocates for eliminating Glass, makes his move, murdering Hawk in cold blood and placing Glass in a shallow grave, convinced that the profoundly injured man would never manage to extricate himself.

But in the first of a number of resurrection/re-birth scenes, Glass crawls out of his grave and despite his appalling injuries manages to make his way. What follows is like something out of Dante's Inferno or the book of Job.

Continue reading on The Dispatch at Catholic World Report. 

The Reality of Myth and the Force of Star Wars

The Reality of Myth and the Force of Star Wars | Dr. Christopher S. Morrissey | CWR

The deepest lesson of myth cannot be that good and evil are morally and metaphysically equivalent but that peace and justice are realized in the bringing of good out of evil

If I told you that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the best Star Wars movie ever made, you wouldn’t want to believe me. The original trilogy of films, the first two especially, have become so sacrosanct in the memory of many, nothing could ever rival their definitive status.

But the new Star Wars film from J.J. Abrams is a beautiful achievement, and not just because it returns the saga to perfectly paced, fast-moving fun, propelled by plenty of humor. In a deeper way, it explores the mythology of Star Wars by asking us to consider the meaning of our memories of the original films.

As Fr. Robert J. Spitzer argues in his new book, The Soul’s Upward Yearning: Clues to Our Transcendent Nature from Experience and Reason (Ignatius Press, 2015), Star Wars is technically a myth. Myths, due to the way they address the transcendent nature of human beings, are a unique form of story-telling.

“Though a myth is fictional, it is not fiction,” writes Spitzer. “The objective of myths is to express ultimate truth and meaning … and reveal the source of truth and meaning—that is, ultimate reality. Not only this, but myths must also reveal how and why ultimate reality connects with this world—and the people within it.”

As its title might suggest, The Force Awakens lays claim to definitively showing us how the Force works. It does so by taking the filmmakers’ biggest disadvantage — the fact that Episode VII comes after the hallowed originals — and using this to its advantage.

Thanks to its conscious repetition of the immortal story elements from the best Star Wars movies — a close family member has gone over to the Dark Side, and a planet-destroying technological threat must be resisted by rebel underdogs — we are invited to consider more deeply how the Force actually works in the cycles of history.

If every generation has to contend with an adjacent-generation family member going over to the Dark Side, and if every generation has to defeat an existential threat of Death Star-sized proportions, then either nothing is new under the sun (on Jakku or Tatooine), or else the Force is somehow perpetually able to awaken that which is new and beautiful and good.

People may criticize this new movie on the grounds that it has far too little that is new. The easiest critical remark to make is that it recycles too many beloved plot elements from the first two Star Wars movies. It is a blatantly overindulgent, hugely expensive exercise in nostalgia, they may say, trying to relive what can never be relived. Its repeated acts of homage to the originals overwhelm whatever initially promising innovations it may offer. It is finally crushed beneath the burden of everyone’s impossible expectations. Or so they may say.

If so, then I believe they are missing the point.

Continue reading on the CWR site.

"Bridge of Spies" and the Path to Virtue

Tom Hanks stars in a scene from the movie "Bridge of Spies." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13. (CNS photo/DreamWorks)

"Bridge of Spies" and the Path to Virtue | Bishop Robert Barron | The Dispatch at CWR

In recent years, Steven Spielberg has emerged as a latter-day Frank Capra, a celebrator of core values and the courage required to defend them

My great mentor Msgr. Robert Sokolowski told a class of eager philosophy students many years ago that we should read Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics every year of our lives. As we grew older, he explained, new dimensions of the book would continually present themselves.

I can't say that I've followed Sokolowski's advice perfectly, but I have indeed returned often to Aristotle's great text for inspiration and clarification. One of the Philosopher's principal insights is that the best way to understand virtue is not through abstract study but rather by watching the virtuous man in action. Learning the moral life is, for Aristotle, something like acquiring artistic skill through apprenticeship or like becoming an actor through understudying to an established thespian. Finding a master and striving to imitate him is the key. It seems only fitting, by the way, that I learned the craft of philosophizing largely by watching Sokolowski in action.

I thought of all of this as I watched Steven Spielberg's latest film Bridge of Spies. Especially in recent years, Spielberg has emerged as a latter-day Frank Capra, a celebrator of core values and the courage required to defend them. In this most recent movie, Tom Hanks (the Jimmy Stewart of our time) plays James B. Donovan, a New York insurance lawyer who is pressed into service to provide a defense for Rudolf Abel, a man very credibly accused of spying for the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Donovan does this, not because he's convinced Abel is innocent, but because he believes in the moral principal that, in a free society, everyone deserves a fair trial. In so doing, he exemplifies the most fundamental of the classical virtues, namely, justice. Plato famously defined justice as "rendering to each his due," and Thomas Aquinas refined that definition as "a constant will to render to another his right." To state it as simply as possible, it is doing the upright thing.

So Donovan defends Abel because Abel is owed this privilege; to give him legal counsel is due to him.

Continue reading at CatholicWorldReport.com.

The Pope and the Animator

The Pope and the Animator | John Herreid | IPNovels.com

What the films of Hayao Miyazaki can reveal about Laudato Si’

“The aesthetic of the Pope’s reflections (on the tension between man and nature, the tendency of man to use technology to dominate others and the environment, and the ideal of an integral ecology) remind me of the films of Hayao Miyazaki. I think Miyazaki explores similar themes, although from a very different perspective.”

That’s what my wife Aletheia posted online after starting to read Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. But how much in common do the views of a Japanese animator and an Argentinian pontiff really have? Let’s take a look.

Who is Hayao Miyazaki?

Japanese animation was regarded in the West for many years as exemplifying cheapness. To cut costs, American animation studios would outsource to Japan. A number of Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s and 1980s were animated in this way, with fairly uninspiring storylines and pedestrian animation. One of the people who would help change all this was a young animator named Hayao Miyazaki. Cutting his teeth working on different series, he quickly rose to director status. Early work included the first half-dozen episodes of Sherlock Hound, an adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories recast with animals, featuring glimpses of what would become Miyazaki’s visual hallmark: inventive depictions of fantastic machinery set against a bucolic environment.

When Hayao Miyazaki was a small child his father ran a factory making parts for war planes, including rudders for the famed Mitsubishi Zero. The contrast between the beauty of flight and the destructive power of such weaponry seems to have made a large impact on Miyazaki’s perception of the world. A recurring theme in his animated films is how men and women are easily seduced into thinking they can control nature via technology. In Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, people try to use a genetically modified giant to eradicate a threat. InPrincess Mononoke, the industrialist Lady Eboshi attempts to kill a forest spirit who threatens her ironworks. In both cases powers beyond man’s control are unleashed.

Another theme is how selfish choices have an impact beyond the individual, and how finding an adult path in life cannot come through acts of rebellion.

Continue reading on the Ignatius Press Novels site.

The Actor, the Author, and the Real ‘Father Brown’

The Actor, the Author, and the Real ‘Father Brown’ | K.V. Turley | Catholic World Report

The priest who was the inspiration for Chesterton's great detective also played a central role in the conversion of Chesterton and many others

Crime fiction fans are well aware of G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown and his place in the Pantheon of great detectives. Nevertheless, in contrast with the seemingly endless speculation as to the ‘real Sherlock Holmes’, there has been little such debate about the origin of the priest sleuth. However, a recent book, The Elusive Father Brown (Gracewing, 2010), by Laura Smith, goes some way to rectifying this, detailing as it does the life of the cleric who formed the basis upon which Chesterton’s characterization was based, and who played a part in at least two very public conversions.

But, before the denouement, as in the best detective yarns, let's recap what clues there may be within the Father Brown stories. On reflection, it is easier to say what we don’t have because when you join up any clues found therein they lead precisely to nowhere. Whereas Conan Doyle left bits and pieces to make up the history and character of his hero, Chesterton did no such thing. In fact one could say that H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man comes to mind more than the Great Detective when considering Fr. Brown. And yet there are clues, but, as in all the best detective fiction, you have to read the text closely to discover them.

What so we know? Fr. Brown is English, from rural Essex. One suspects that this region, known for a particularly flat landscape, was deliberately chosen for someone as self-effacing as he is non-descript, remembered more for his unruly umbrella than his face. In each story he is far from being the center of attention—not to begin with anyway—but for all his lack of ‘presence’ there is a curious air about him. Interestingly, this appears to have nothing to do with the supernatural per se as his powers of deduction are always purely logical, even when others have jumped to conclusions that are not of this world. His powers of observation are second to none; he misses nothing, especially when something is ever so slightly amiss, and it is this that often leads to the culprit being discovered.

Nevertheless, there is little if anything of physical description given to the character: ‘he had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling; he had eyes as empty as the North Sea.’ That's little help if one is waiting at a London train station to meet this priest—but we would meet him nonetheless, and the clue is in that last word: priest. He is undoubtedly that; his manner, his movements, and his speech all betray his vocation. Take, for instance, the ending of “The Hammer of God”. It is the solving of a crime and the unveiling of a murderer, but also, paradoxically, and, in the end more importantly, the saving of a soul. Rest assured no one suspects Fr. Brownof being anything other than a priest.

Perhaps that is because the character was modeled upon a real priest Chesterton had met in 1903.

Continue reading...

Journeying with Abraham, the Father of Faith

Steve and Janet Ray on location, working on the filming of the 10-part video series "The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation From Abraham to Augustine"

Journeying with Abraham, the Father of Faith | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report

Author and filmmaker Stephen Ray discusses his ambitious video series, traveling in Iraq, filming in the Holy Land, and delving into the incredible life of Abraham

Stephen K. Ray was raised in a devout Baptist family and was very involved in the Baptist denomination as a teacher of Biblical studies. Steve and his wife Janet entered the Catholic Church in 1994. Since that time, Steve has been active as an author, speaker, blogger, apologist, and film producer. He is the author of Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church, Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary, all published by Ignatius Press.

Steve and Janet are currently writing and producing a 10-video series for Ignatius Press called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation From Abraham to Augustine, filmed on location in the Holy Land and other parts of the Middle East. His website is www.catholic-convert.com. The most recent film, titled Abraham: Father of Faith and Works, is now available from Ignatius Press. He corresponded recently with Catholic World Report, shortly before departing for another trip to the Holy Land.

CWR: This movie about Abraham is the eighth of 10 videos in this long and challenging project. When did you start filming this series and what sort of time, energy, and effort has gone into the project?

Ray: Long and challenging, indeed! It all began in 1995, the year after we converted to the Catholic Church from Evangelical Protestants. We took our family to Israel to see land of Our Lord and Lady, the land of the Bible and Catholic history. When I stepped off the plane in Tel Aviv I fell to the tarmac and kissed the ground with tears welling up in my eyes. This adventure with our family had a profound impact on all of us. It made me want to share the land and its story with everyone.

The next step came in the year 2000 when I woke up in the middle of the night. I am not certain to this day whether it was a dream, a revelation, an angel, or simply indigestion. But it was all in my head and I knew exactly what I had to do.

As soon as I woke up I grabbed my wife Janet and shook her and said, "We have to do a video documentary on the whole story of salvation for my Catholic perspective!” Shaking and scared since I woke her up so quickly, she said, “You woke me up in the middle of the night, scaring me to death, to tell me that! We can’t even take good pictures — how does God expect us to make movies? Go back to sleep!"

But I couldn’t sleep. I was inspired and trembling. I jumped out of bed and ran to my computer. By the time the sun came up that morning I had put together the outline for the documentary series. I knew the titles, the biblical people we would feature, the places we would film, and the whole drama I wanted to present. My target audience would be the Catholic family. It could not be a boring “talking head” documentary but had to be a rollicking adventure. We wanted to bring the lands of the Bible and the Catholic Church into the homes of every Catholic family.

CWR: Speaking of adventures, what was it like filming in Iraq, Turkey, and Israel?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"The Avengers" and Friedrich Nietzsche

Robert Downey Jr. stars in a scene from the movie "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

"The Avengers" and Friedrich Nietzsche | Very Rev. Robert Barron | CWR blog

Joss Whedon’s “Avenger” films work as a sort of antidote to Tolkien and Lewis, shaping the imaginations of young people so as to receive a distinctly different message

C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their colleagues in the Inklings wanted to write fiction that would effectively “evangelize the imagination,” accustoming the minds, especially of young people, to the hearing of the Christian Gospel. Accordingly, Tolkien’s Gandalf is a figure of Jesus the prophet and Lewis’s Aslan a representation of Christ as both sacrificial victim and victorious king. Happily, the film versions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia have proven to be wildly popular all over the world.

Not so happily, Joss Whedon’s “Avenger” films, the second of which has just appeared, work as a sort of antidote to Tolkien and Lewis, shaping the imaginations of young people so as to receive a distinctly different message. It is certainly relevant to my purpose here to note that Whedon, the auteur behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and many other well-received films and television programs, is a self-avowed atheist and has, on many occasions, signaled his particular dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church.

I won’t rehearse in too much detail the plot of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Suffice it to say that the world is threatened by an artificial intelligence, by the name of Ultron, who has run amok and incarnated himself in a particularly nasty robotic body. Ultron wants to destroy the human race and has produced an army of robots as his posse. Enter the Avengers—Tony Stark (Iron Man), the Hulk, Black Widow, Captain America, Hawkeye, and Thor—to do battle with the dark forces.

There is an awful lot of CGI bumping and banging and blowing things up, but when the rubble settles, we see that the real struggle is over a perfect body—a synthesis of machine and flesh—that Ultron, with the help of brainwashed scientists, is designing for himself.

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Wolfe, Innocence, Literature, and Rock Monsters

Wolfe, Innocence, Literature, and Rock Monsters | John Herreid | IPNovels.com

In the past week I’ve ended up saving a number of links to read and re-read, and in the hopes that others may also get some enjoyment and interest from them I’m sharing them with you.

First up, there’s a short piece in the New Yorker about science-fiction writer Gene Wolfe, titled Sci-Fi’s Difficult Genius:

Moments [in his books] have turned many of Wolfe’s fans into something like Biblical exegetes, who dig deep into his texts in the hope of finding clues not only to the plots and the characters but to Wolfe’s larger intentions. Partly what readers are excavating is Wolfe’s Catholicism, which he is quick to say figures into his writing. “What is impossible is to keep it out,” he told me. “The author cannot prevent the work being his or hers.”

Continue reading here.

Over at The Catholic Thing, Daniel McInerney writes about Catholic Literature and the discussion about it between writers such as Gregory Wolfe, Paul Elie, and Dana Gioia. I’m not so sure I agree with his take on it, but it’s an interesting contribution to the discussion.

Continue reading at www.IPNovels.com.

The Faith to Move Mountains—And to Make Movies About Faith

Eduardo Verástegui presents a copy of the film "Little Boy" to Pope Francis on Friday, April 17th.

The movie opens in theaters nationwide on April 24th. (Photo: Metanoia Films)

The Faith to Move Mountains—And to Make Movies About Faith  | CWR Staff 

“At the end of the day,” says actor and producer Eduardo Verástegui, “if you take faith out of the equation, you collapse.”

Eduardo Verástegui is a man of many talents: singer, model, actor, producer, pro-life speaker. After a successful career in music as a young man, he began acting in Mexican telenovelas, earning the nickname “the Brad Pitt of Mexico”. After moving to Hollywood to pursue a career in films he returned to the Catholic faith of his youth. He then co-founded Metanoia Films with Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and Leo Severino. In 2006, the company released its first film, “Bella,” which was directed by Monteverde and starred Verástegui; it won the “People's Choice Award” at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival.

Metanoia Films' second film, “Little Boy”, opens tomorrow in theaters nationwide. It stars Jakob Salvati, David Henrie, Kevin James, Emily Watson, Ted Levine, Michael Rapaport, Ali Landry and Ben Chaplin, and is distributed by Open Road Films. (You can read Catholic World Report's review of the movie here.)

Verástegui spoke with Catholic World Report this week about his career, working in Hollywood, the success of “Bella”, the making of “Little Boy”, and the necessity of faith in every aspect of life.

CWR: When “Bella” was released in 2006, you said, "Hollywood doesn’t belong to the studios. Hollywood belongs to God.” How would you describe “Hollywood”? And what have you learned about it over the years?

Verástegui: Hollywood is a great platform that gives you an opportunity to send a message through art to the whole world; it's like a megaphone—when you speak through a megaphone, like the megaphone of Hollywood, the whole world listens to you. But at the same time that can be very dangerous because anyone can go there and say whatever they want, but it does not mean that any message that comes forward is truth.

In my opinion, a high percentage of what is coming out of Hollywood is very disconnected from the reality of who we are in this country and what families are—and that can poison the minds of the youth. At the same time Hollywood can be a great platform to do something good, and that's what I am trying to do—to be involved in projects that are rich. My goal is to produce movies that have potential to make a difference in society. My hope as a filmmaker is that as people leave the theater they will be moved, touched, and inspired to do the right thing.

In particular, with “Little Boy”, I hope that people will leave theaters full of hope, faith, and love. I believe art has the power to heal and bring people together. All of that exists in “Little Boy”. It surpasses those elements that are important for me to share with the audience. I am doing this not just to make movies, but to spark a movement of love, a movement of hope through the expression of art. Through art we can elevate the intellect toward what is good, beautiful, and true.

CWR: You've also indicated that “Bella” wasn’t meant to be a “religious film” but a film with universal themes appealing to a wide range of people. Did the success of “Bella” confirm the need for such an approach? And was the same approach taken with “Little Boy”?

Verástegui: Yes, Metanoia Films produces films for everyone, not just one group. 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.