Culture
Family Theater makes steps back toward TV production
Family Theater Productions -- the entertainment-with-a-message arm of Holy Cross Family Ministries, was first known in the pre-TV era for its weekly "Family Theater" radio anthology, in which stars of the day acted out radio scripts.
Books explore the changing and evolving reality of marriage
In these months after the first phase of the synod on the family in Rome, we have an important opportunity to reflect and pray about what the bishops have been considering, and we can take this time to focus on understanding what marriage is and isn't and the challenges it faces today.
Books explore the changing and evolving reality of marriage
In their own way, the authors of three books see the picture of marriage changing not necessarily for the better. They use different lenses to analyze why and to attempt to address the problems they see.
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
All creatures great and small, including some long-dead humans, spring to life when the sun goes down in "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" (Fox), the third film in the popular franchise.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
With "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" (Warner Bros.), director Peter Jackson's trilogy of films based on Catholic writer J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 fantasy novel "The Hobbit, or There and Back Again" reaches a rousing finale.
Author offers readable biography of anti-Nazi Lutheran theologian
In "Strange Glory," Charles Marsh has written a definitive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the most inspiring Christian minds of the 20th century.
‘Top Five’ bottoms out with its look of love
The Chris Rock film is well intentioned but comes wrapped in layers of smutty humor that suffocate its fundamentally honorable message about the redeeming power of love.
‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ epic in scope, but a bit boring
Characters pale before the big-budget 3D effects of the latest biblical blockbuster. Viewers will wander in the desert with Moses for two and a half hours, though it might seem like 40 years.
New books illuminate St. Katharine’s interior life
This Christmas season offers two new biographies of St. Katharine Drexel, each of which contributes in different ways to a fuller understanding of Philadelphia’s only home-grown saint.
Sacred and human: New Washington art exhibit shows both sides of Mary
If the saints, because of their sheer holiness, can sometimes seem hard to relate to, the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, can seem even more distant. But a new exhibition of Western European artwork portraying Mary during the 14th through the 17th centuries shows her in another light and reminds viewers that she was indeed human.