Archive for the ‘Television’ Category

Jesuit Father Eddie Siebert directing a scene in Rome, with the assistant cameraman Joe Ellingwood. Photo Credit: Jennifer Smith-Mayo

The role of a film and media production executive can often be an uphill battle. Yet for Jesuit Father Eddie Siebert, the founder and president of Loyola Productions, being a priest with a production company can provide some advantages.

“Because I’m a Jesuit, if there’s a good Catholic executive over at Sony, they’ll take a meeting. Sometimes they take you seriously and sometimes it’s, ‘Well that’s great, Father, keep up the good work.’ I’ve had to straddle this really awkward fence of being a spiritually empowered Jesuit with a mainstream entertainment production company that’s trying to do cutting-edge material. And that’s really tricky.”

To read the full New York Times Article on Loyola Productions, please go here.

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.

This week, CatholicTV will air a special program which highlights Catholics putting their faith into action, called Faith Works Across the USA (Faith Works). Faith Works takes a look at numerous Catholic ministries and the lay persons, priests and religious involved. These ministries include Homeboy Industries, an organization which works with formerly gang-involved youth to help them with job placement, training and education. Jesuit Father Greg Boyle founded Homeboy Industries and shares his personal experiences with CatholicTV during the Faith Works program.

CatholicTV is a nationally-broadcasted television network headquartered near Boston. CatholicTV streams its broadcast simultaneously, 24 hours a day at www.CatholicTV.com . Air times for CatholicTV Presents each week are (EST): Monday 2:00PM Tuesday 10:30PM Wednesday 4:00PM Thursday 6:30AM Friday 9:30PM Saturday 10:30AM and Sunday 2:00AM.

Jesuit Father Tom Reese, Senior Fellow at Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, appeared on Lou Dobb’s television program last week to defend the Church’s stance on immigration. Reese spared off against commentator Dobbs and Fr. Patrick J. Bascio, who was on the program to promote his new book outlining his case against immigration.

To view Father Reese’s lively discussion with Dobbs and Bascio, please click on the video link below:

Jesuit Father Uwen Akpan, SJ’s short story collection, “Say You’re One of Them” is the next pick for Oprah’s book club. It will be announced today on her show.

His five short stories are each set in a different African country. Children play major roles in the stories, which tackle the toughest of topics –  child slavery, rioting and genocide. When the book was published last year it was widely praised by book reviewers but the book’s success up until now is nothing compared with what is likely to be unleashed later this afternoon. Yesterday the book was #165,769 on Amazon.com’s sales rankings, by 10 p.m. last night it had risen to #2,151 and #18 by this afternoon.

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