In 40 Hours, Family Theater Productions’ newest faith-based family film, the characters find out about the importance of prayer is when faced with difficult circumstances.
Rev. David Guffey, C.S.C., national director of Family Theater, wrote and directed the movie based on his experiences at André House, a soup kitchen and homeless center in Phoenix founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers. "The drama is based on various experiences that occurred when I managed André House,": Fr. Guffey said. "These powerful moments continually showed us the power of prayer and God’s love. I knew my experiences would make a great story someday."
40 Hours follows the continuing story of Cristina, a 16-year-old high school student who was first featured in Family Dinner, released by Family Theater Productions last year. In the most recent film, she must volunteer for 40 hours at a charitable organization for one of her classes.
Cristina hopes to just put in her time, but becomes close to people she would normally never meet. She quickly makes friends with other volunteers and homeless guests, especially, Kat, a girl about her age. When Kat relapses into old and dangerous habits, Cristina tries to help her, but she resists and Cristina soon learns that sometimes the only thing you can do is to pray and let God do the rest.
"Prayer helps us have hope in the ways God's grace works so that we can see the resurrection moments in our lives every day," Fr. Guffey said.
This powerful drama relates to scripture and the First Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, The Resurrection. The film is ideal for families looking to deepen their faith while exploring the spiritual side of topical issues and how they relate to the life of Christ. It is part of a DVD series for teens and families and can be used in faith formation programs.
To find out more about the film and to watch the trailer, check out www.FamilyTheater.org/40Hours. For more on Andre House, visit www.andrehouse.org.
Holy Cross Family Ministries, the parent of Family Theater, and Ave Maria Press are apostolates of the U.S. Province.
With the release of the new annual prayer book Sacred Reading: The 2016 Guide to Daily Prayer, Ave Maria Press asked author Doug Leonard, executive director of the Apostleship of Prayer—“the pope’s prayer group”—to reflect on its uniqueness and the overall importance of daily prayer in our lives.
Ave Maria Press: What is unique about Sacred Reading?
Douglas Leonard: It's a unique mix of Ignatian prayer practices: reminding yourself that you are already in the presence of God as you begin to pray; God is also present to pray through you; the Scripture is the daily Gospel which revolves around Jesus, himself the Word of God; you read the passage with your whole being—mind, emotions, imagination, etc.; you pray beginning with what jumps out at you (prompted by the Spirit, one trusts); your prayer can involve any or all modes of prayer—asking for things, praising, worshipping, interceding, thanking, and/or just being present with God; you take time to listen to what the Lord has to say to you; and finally you ask God to show you how to live today so the prayer experience makes a difference in your daily life.
What is unique about the book is that it prompts the reader to pray—it doesn't try to do the praying for the reader. The prompts are also an effort to get the Holy Spirit involved in the prayer. It's all about openness to God's leading. You may be moved to sing or dance! Those can be prayer too.
Question: Lectio Divina is an ancient practice. How can Catholics make it relevant for their lives today?
Leonard: Lectio Divina is just Latin for ‘sacred reading’ and people have been doing in as long as there has been scripture. Any part of the Bible can be used—Genesis through Revelation. Some people pray with other spiritual texts as well, like Thomas a Kempis' Imitation of Christ. Sacred Reading is relevant for anyone who seeks to encounter God and grow in his or her relationship with God.
Question: Why is a prayer practice such as this so important to work into our daily lives?
Leonard: Doing it daily makes it an ongoing relationship rather than a weekly or occasional experience. Prayer is the key to knowing and loving God. If we love someone, we want to communicate with him or her every day. Without prayer, we have no relationship with God (though God always has a relationship with us and every person in the world).
Doing Sacred Reading every day makes it a cumulative experience because you carry your experience of previous days into this day. In that way, Sacred Reading becomes an increasingly rich experience. This is one good reason to do it with a journal—writing your words and God's words. That spiritual notebook over time becomes your spiritual autobiography. After my mother died I found among her papers some prayers she'd written down and she'd even recorded what God was saying to her. What God said to her was very precious.
Question: How does Sacred Reading fit into the overall mission of the Apostleship of Prayer?
Leonard: Sacred Reading fits the mission of the Apostleship of Prayer because we encourage people to offer themselves to God each day for the good of themselves, those in need, all people, those who serve Christ and his Church. That offering of self to God is a natural thing to do while engaged in sacred reading. If Jesus says, “follow me” you will respond “I am doing it, Lord. How may I serve you today?” Sacred Reading tries to encourage people to serve others, not just pray for them—though it starts with prayer. Everything starts with prayer.
Question: Is this kind of prayer practice hard to do? Does it get boring? How long does it take?
Leonard: No, you cannot make a mistake. This prayer relies on God. It's open ended. There is no script, just prompts. Even the same passage will jump out at you in different ways, as the Spirit moves. It takes as little as five minutes, I suppose, but even as much as an hour. It depends how long you are able to talk to God. Sometimes we need to “pray through” a particularly difficult challenge in our lives or our faith. This is a great way to pray through.
Question: Is Sacred Reading a contemplative prayer method?
Leonard: Yes. Contemplation and meditation are many things to many people. With practice, you become better at contemplation and meditation. This book seeks to give you practice in contemplation every day. In fact, I developed this method of sacred reading for my own prayer life. I really wanted to involve the best of everything into one daily experience. This is how I pray and, glory to God, I feel the Lord meets me, teaches me, talks to me, loves me, and guides me every day. God also hears my prayers for others.
Two high school religion textbooks published by Ave Maria Press have been added to our iBookstore catalog.
Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching: Living as a Disciple of Christ, the most recently released textbook in the new Encountering Jesus series, is organized around the seven principles of Catholic social teaching and helps students gain a greater understanding of the roots of social teaching in the Church, its context in the Bible and the Catechism, and real-life examples of charity and justice in action.
Download this eTextbook on the iBookstore today.
Foundations of Catholic Social Teaching is in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and fulfills the requirements of Elective C of the USCCB Curriculum Framework.
Encountering Jesus in the New Testament, our most popular textbook, also has been added to the iBookstore. The content and detail in Encountering Jesus in the New Testament is unparalleled for introductory high school Scripture courses and offers support for the introductory courses of the USCCB Curriculum Framework. This text is a combination of Christology—a complete study of the person and divinity of Jesus Christ—with an overview of the books of the New Testament.
Download this eTextbook on the iBookstore today.
Encountering Jesus in the New Testament has been found in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
You can download free samples of both textbooks from the iBooks app. The complete digital textbook of each book can be downloaded for $12.99.
Other Ave texbooks available in the iBookstore include; Exploring the Religions of Our World (Elective E), Jesus Christ: God’s Revelation to the World (Course I), Jesus Christ: His Mission and Ministry (Course II), Jesus Christ: Source of Our Salvation (Course III), Meeting Jesus in the Sacraments (Course V), and Your Life in Christ: Foundations in Catholic Morality (Course VI).
NOTRE DAME, Ind.—With joy and gratitude, the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, celebrated the First Profession of Vows of nine men in the District of East Africa on July 16th.
According to Rev. Michael M. DeLaney, C.S.C., new director of the Holy Cross Mission Center, one newly professed—Bwambale Barnaba—is a brother in the Moreau Province of Holy Cross; the others are members of the U.S. Province. This class consists of three religious from each of the three countries of the District: Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. They are:
Bwambale Barnabas, C.S.C.
Erasto Moshi Mao, C.S.C.
Fedinard Odiwuor Aliet, C.S.C.
Kityo Gerald, C.S.C.
Nichodemus Hassan Guerino, C.S.C.
Paul Musyoki Wavinya, C.S.C.
Peter A. Qorro, C.S.C.
Ssemaganda John Baptist, C.S.C.
Innocent Wambua Muasya, C.S.C
The vows were received by Rev. Bernard Amani, C.S.C., district steward. He also presided at preached at the Mass. Members of the formation staff at the Novitiate in Uganda who have accompanied the men through this stage of their formation are Revs. Tom Smith, C.S.C., Dick Stout, C.S.C., and Francis Mukasa, C.S.C.
Fr. DeLaney also noted that the Holy Cross Mission Center also has a new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/csc.mission.center.
EASTON, Mass.—Holy Cross Family Ministries and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University teamed up for a four-part study on Catholic parents and families leading up the World Meeting of Families in September.
The first report, an overview called "The Catholic Family: 21st Century Challenges in the United States," was released at the Catholic Media Convention on June 26.
"Deepening our knowledge and understanding of these young families is central to our development of activities and initiatives that enhance their spiritual well-being and health." said Rev. Willy Raymond, C.S.C., president of Holy Cross Family Ministries. "They are the future of our Church and society. Some of the data is remarkably different from the studies on Catholic adults as a whole. This information is invaluable as we plan and grow our outreach to families. It will also be of great benefit to all those who are ministering to these young families."
Last fall, CARA conducted a national poll of more than a thousand adult Catholic parents ages 25 to 45 to measure the practice of faith and use of media in families.
"This study gives us specific insight into what is happening in Catholic families today," said Mark Gray, CARA senior research associate. "We don’t often have the opportunity to do an entire survey on one sub-group of the Catholic population. However, doing this research during the Synods on the Family seemed especially important. I’m glad we were able to do it because we ended up being surprised by many of the findings."
Among the results:
Catholic families are more racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse than the overall Catholic population. About 53 percent of all Catholic parents self-identified as Hispanic or Latino compared with 32 percent of all Catholics.
Most Catholic children are being raised by married Catholic parents—about eight in ten Catholic mothers and fathers are married and less than 1 percent are widowed, while about 3 percent have never been married and 13 percent are singled and living with a partner.
Frequency of Mass attendance is similar between Catholic parents and all adult Catholics—about 22 percent—yet a larger proportion of Catholic parents attend Mass less than once a week. Catholic parents with three or more children are much more likely to attend Mass at least once a month.
While more than 93 percent of parents say it is very important for their children to celebrate Sacraments, most Catholic parents do not have their children enrolled in Catholic school-based or a parish-based religious education programs. In all, more than two-thirds, 68 percent, do not have any of their children enrolled in formal Catholic religious education.
About 66 percent of parents say that it is very important for their children to celebrate First Communion, while only 61 give the same importance to Confirmation.
Overall, 71 percent of parents agree “somewhat” or “strongly” that prayer is essential to their faith. Only about 36 percent pray at least once a day, however. An additional 23 percent pray at least once a week.
And when they pray, parents most commonly pray for the wellbeing of their families (83 percent). Only 16 percent of parents say they pray the Rosary at least once a month.
More than four in ten Catholic parents read their church bulletin.
Other HCFM/CARA reports and their release month are:
The Catholic Family Today, July;
Practice of Faith in the Catholic Family, August; and
Catholic Families and Media Use, September.
Read the first report and subscribe to receive the other reports on the HCFM website.
HCFM and Ave Maria Press are apostolates of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers.
Three Ave Maria Press authors are among those speaking during the annual Notre Dame Summer Retreat sponsored by Holy Cross Family Ministries.
The retreat will be Aug. 7 to 9 at the University of Notre Dame.
Families are invited to come together for a weekend of prayer, spirituality, and fun in a pastoral setting. The retreat includes presentations to promote individual and family prayer, candlelight processions, recreation, and Masses at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Speakers include Sr. Terry Rickard, O.P., executive director of RENEW International, and author of Daily Devotions for Lent 2014 and the forthcoming Daily Devotions for Advent 2015; and Greg and Lisa Popcak, authors of Just Married and Then Comes Baby. Former Notre Dame football coach Gerry Faust is also speaking during the event.
Complete packages with housing and meals are available for families at affordable costs. For details, go to www.FamilyRosary.org/Events, call Ann Melanson at 800-299-7729 or email amelanson@hcfm.org.
Ave Maria Press and Holy Cross Family Ministries are apostolates of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers.
BUFFALO, N.Y.—Ave Maria Press authors and staff were among those honored Friday night by the Catholic Press Association during its annual conference.
Two first-time authors, Arleen Spenceley and Eve Tushnet, took first place in their respective book categories. Spenceley earned top honors in the teen and young adult category for Chastity Is for Lovers, while Tushnet won in the gender issues category for Gay and Catholic.
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell also won first place in the family life category for her book Mortal Blessings.
Lisa Hendey and Sarah Reinhard captured first place for best group or association blog for CatholicMom.com.
Marge Fenelon, author of Imitating Mary and the forthcoming Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, won a prestigous Egan Journalism Fellowship from Catholic Relief Services to allow her to report from the Phillippines, one of 101 countries where CRS works. More on the Egan Fellowship is available on the CRS website.
Other CPA winners included:
Jon M. Sweeney; When Saint Francis Saved the Church; second place for history. Sweeney was also among five reviewers who received a first-place award for best review section in America for its “Fall Books 1” entry.
Daniel P. Horan, OFM.; The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton; third place for biography.
Brian Doyle; A Book of Uncommon Prayer; honorable mention for soft cover spirituality. Doyle also won third place in best essay originating from a general interest magazine for “Suffering Children,” which was published by America. He won a first-place award for best essay originating in a prayer and spirituality magazine for “Miriam” published by Give Us This Day.
Heather Glenn (manager) and Chris Tobin (designer); third place for best trade/seasonal catalog for the Ave Maria Press Fall 2014 Trade Catalog.
Elizabeth Scalia took second place for best regular spiritual life column for “Ora Pro Nobis” published by The Catholic Answer.
The complete list of 2015 book and journalism winners is available on the Catholic Press Association website.
A CatholicTV video by the bestselling authors of Rebuilt has won a 36th annual People’s Telly Award.
Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran, authors of Rebuilt, Tools for Rebuilding, and the upcoming Rebuilding Your Message, were featured in a January 2014 video produced by Catholic TV where they discuss lining up an understanding of money with the Gospel. It was selected for a Telly Award among 12,000 entries from all 50 states and many foreign countries.
Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards honor outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and web commercials, videos and films. The Telly Awards annually showcase the work of advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments. Other 2014 winners included E! Entertainment, Disney, Discovery, CNN, CNBC, Coca-Cola, ESPN, and Showtime.
