Archive for the ‘Entertainment’ Category

Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest who’s written numerous books, blog posts and appeared on Comedy Central, describes “a longing for a connection with God and for a way to make that connection real in the world,” in today’s USA Today. In ancient days the church told Gospel stories with pictures in stained-glass windows. Now it’s the Web and TV. Says Martin, 49: “Everyone needs a medium. Mine is popular culture.” Read more insights from Father Martin along with a discussion of his new book, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: The Spirituality of Real Life, here. You can also listen to Father Martin discuss his new book during a podcast with America Magazine here.

Jesuit Fr. VanEecke (center) performs as St. Ignatius in a production of “For the Greater Glory of God” at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in January. (Photo by Michael Dames)

It’s usually not a good thing for a 62-year old dancer to experience Achilles issues. But Jesuit Father Robert VerEecke used it to his advantage as he performed as St. Ignatius in a production of “For the Greater Glory of God” at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus in January.

It’s a show, based on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, that Father VerEecke has choreographed for nearly 20 years and performed in a dozen or so Jesuit colleges. In what may be the final live production of the show, Father VerEecke as St. Ignatius spent much of it at a desk, narrating the action of dancers who performed to songs of praise, forgiveness, the Passion and resurrection, and the yearning for peace.

In the final segment, an exuberant Gloria, Father VerEecke as St. Ignatius rose and joined the dance, graceful yet struggling with some of the movements. His dance mimicked the historic Ignatius, whose famous conversion took place after a leg was pierced by a cannonball when he was a soldier in the service of the Spanish king.

The struggling movement is a metaphor, Father VerEecke said, of Ignatius reflecting, through the Spiritual Exercises, the “power of God and his own personal limitations as well.”

Father VerEecke, a native New Yorker and graduate of Regis High School, is a New England Province Jesuit and pastor of St. Ignatius Church near the campus of Boston College and temporary administrator of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Roxbury. He also finds time to be a part-time instructor of dance at Boston College, a long-term interest. As a boy growing up in Floral Park, Long Island, he always danced but figured when he entered the Jesuits in 1966 that those days were over.

Yet while serving as a theology professor he had opportunity to study classical ballet one summer at Santa Clara University. “For me it was an epiphany experience. It opened up the physical and spiritual,” he said.

The more he formally studied dance, he discovered its roots through the Jesuit schools that played a significant role in the development of classical dance in France and Germany.

“For the Greater Glory of God” has undergone many permutations through the years. The Fordham production featured two alumni of the Fordham/Alvin Ailey program. Dancers have changed, the music has evolved, but the theme remains the same: “To open people up to the overall dynamics of the Spiritual Exercises,” said Father VerEecke.

While Father VerEecke expects the Fordham production to be the final live presentation, he expects to continue to test his troublesome Achilles at least one more time. The show is expected to live on through a presentation that will be videotaped later this year.

Jesuit Father Jim Martin’s best seller My Life with the Saints moved into select company when it reached 100,000 copies sold in January. His memoir of spiritual self-discovery is an homage to the Catholic saints who have accompanied Fr. Martin throughout his life.

According to Loyola Press this is a rare milestone for an author—only 2 percent of the 1.5 million different titles sold each year sell more than 5,000 copies.

When a book reaches 20,000 copies sold, it enters the “1% Club”: less than 1 percent of all books will sell 20,000 or more copies during its lifetime.

Fr. Martin is a writer and culture editor of America magazine.

Jesuit Father Jim Martin’s best seller My Life with the Saints moved into select company when it reached 100,000 copies sold in January. His memoir of spiritual self-discovery is an homage to the Catholic saints who have accompanied Fr. Martin throughout his life.

According to Loyola Press this is a rare milestone for an author—only 2 percent of the 1.5 million different titles sold each year sell more than 5,000 copies.

When a book reaches 20,000 copies sold, it enters the “1% Club”: less than 1 percent of all books will sell 20,000 or more copies during its lifetime.

Fr. Martin is a writer and culture editor of America magazine.

One of the guests on “The Colbert Report” last night was  Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., Ph.D.,  a respected planetary scientist and expert on meteorites who works at the Vatican Observatory in Rome and Tucson. 

Brother Consolmagno  is the author of numerous books on the intersection of science and faith, including Brother Astronomer and God’s Mechanics.

Political humorist and comedian Stephen Colbert interviewed Brother Consolmagno on the satirical show and asked why the Vatican accepts the possibility of alien life.