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Monks’ Christmas cakes Apro-life fund-raiser
BY Mike Mastromatteo
November 15-21, 1998 Issue 
TORONTO—A Christmas season fruitcake sales arrangement between Canada's largest pro-life group and a small order of Trappist monks is proving a modest financial boon to both organizations.
For the past 10 years, Campaign Life Coalition has acted as the chief distributor of “gourmet Christmas... READ MORE
Christmas in Ireland Is a Time of Homecoming
BY Cian Molloy Holiday pudding, the Wren Boys, and other age-old traditions mark season
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
Since early Christian times, the Irish have had a special devotion to Iosagán, the child Jesus, and his birthday is celebrated with greater energy than his resurrection at Easter!
Every town and village will have a manger in its public square, and on Christmas Eve, in one of Ireland's nicest... READ MORE
Gems Among Tales of the Saints
BY Patricia Treece
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
More than 15 years ago when I published my first book, a work on a saint was a rare event. Father Maximilian Kolbe's story, A Man For Others, for instance, made it to print only because it was a compelling tale—not because of Kolbe's sanctity. Harper & Row ended up publishing it, after Catholic... READ MORE
Hollywood Classics for the Season
BY John Prizer
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
Miracle on 34th Street (1947): Macy's department store in Manhattan hires as Santa Claus an old man from a retirement home who calls himself Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwen). When shoppers can't find what they're looking for on the premises, he recommends other establishments that might carry the... READ MORE
A Christmas Carol with Christ
BY John Prizer In the best film version of Dickens'classic, Scrooge gets the straight scoop on redemption
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
There have been at least eight movie or television adaptations of Charles Dickens' story A Christmas Carol. The best is the 1951 British feature film version directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and written by Noel Langley. It's now available to the ordinary viewer as well as the film buff, courtesy of... READ MORE
The Splendid Sounds of Christmas
BY Gabriel Meyer Inspired music-some traditional, some little known-for a holy season
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
Clearly, the most important thing about Christmas is the nativity of Christ. But mention Christmas to many people and visual images come to mind: the tree with its pointillist magic, the intimate light in a Christmas crËche, the blaze of colors on a holiday dinner table. But for this writer, the... READ MORE
The Saint Who Became Santa Claus
BY Cian Molloy Fact, fable, and the Coca-Cola Co. colorourimage of beloved St. Nicholas
November 15-21, 1998 Issue
Don't let anyone tell you there's no such thing as Santa Claus. For St. Nicholas is one of the oldest official saints of the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, he is a bit of a paradox in the calendar of saints. He was a bishop and a worker of miracles, but, in the 20th century particularly, his cult... READ MORE
Now Playing
Movies currently at theaters or soon to be released on video
November 08-14, 1998 Issue
The Big One:: When documentary filmmaker Michael Moore goes on a nationwide tour to promote his latest book, he meets people who have been laid off, have no job security, or are having difficulty in making ends meet. Disillusioned by this, Moore and his film crew set off to find just one CEO's take... READ MORE
Return to the Bad Old ‘50s
BY John Prizer Pleasantville offers a distinctly Clintonesque view of the past
November 08-14, 1998 Issue
The 1950s are still an ideological flash point in our culture wars. Was the decade a good one during which American families embraced traditional values for the last time? Or was it a time of emotional repression and political conformity? The answer depends on where you place yourself on the... READ MORE
An Unlikely Band of Criminals
BY JOHN PRIZER Art & Culture
November 01, 1998 Issue
In The Lavender Hill Mob, a couple of ‘honest men’ and their gang make a comic attempt to get rich quick
The golden age of British comedy was during the late 1940s and early 1950s when a series of delightful films was produced at Ealing Studios under the supervision of Sir Michael Balcon. Among... READ MORE
A Little Witch in Every Woman?
BY JOHN PRIZER ARTS & CULTURE
November 01, 1998 Issue
The semi-comic Practical Magic is serious about the idea that witchcraft is respectable
In the name of pluralism and tolerance, much of today's popular culture aggressively promotes moral relativism. This means that almost any set of beliefs is judged OK if its practitioners have good hearts and... READ MORE
Now Playing
Movies currently at theaters or soon to be released on video
October 11-17, 1998 Issue
Ever After: A politically correct retelling of the Cinderella story set in 16th-century France. Gone is the fairy godmother waving her magic wand. Instead, a protofeminist role model (Drew Barrymore) woos her Prince Charming (Dougray Scott) by persuading him to make progressive changes in the... READ MORE
Darkness on Both Sides of the Border
BY John Prizer Orson Welles'classic Touch of Evil is re-released as he really meant it to be
October 11-17, 1998 Issue
Many consider the late Orson Welles the greatest filmmaker America has ever produced. His 1941 classic, Citizen Kane, was voted the best movie of all time in a recent American Film Institute poll. His 1958 film noir, Touch of Evil, is currently being re-released in major markets around the country... READ MORE
An Old Man’s Second Chance at Life
BY John Prizer In Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman shows it's never too late to start over again
October 4-10, 1998 Issue
Each of us is going to die. As we get older, if we're wise, we face up to the fact and use it as an opportunity to examine our life and its meaning. For some, this becomes a time for spiritual growth. For others, there's only fear and denial.
Wild Strawberries, originally released in 1957, takes us... READ MORE
One True Thing’s False Message
BY John Prizer Mother-daughter melodrama presents assisted suicide as a noble choice
October 4-10, 1998 Issue
The culture of death is slowly becoming mainstream. An example is the quiet embrace of pro-suicide, pro-euthanasia attitudes in mass entertainment. Only a few movies or television shows choose this kind of material for their primary subject matter. More insidious are those productions whose... READ MORE
The Wonderful Wizardry of OZ
BY John Prizer All ages identify with the life lessons learned by Dorothy and friends
September 27-October 3, 1998 Issue
Childhood is remembered as a time of innocence and trust. But it's also filled with primal fears, often triggered by the people and events of ordinary life. As we grow up, we learn not to be so afraid of what seem to be small things. Yet, at the same time we still want to retain the wide-eyed,... READ MORE
A Little Guy with Big Faith
BY John Prizer Simon Birch loves God, but not organized religion
September 27-October 3, 1998 Issue
Does God have a plan for each of us? If so, how can we discern it and live accordingly?
John Irving's 1989 novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, explores these questions in depth, mixing black comedy with heart-rending tragedy in a universe peopled with outsiders and grotesques. Simon Birch is the... READ MORE
Struggling to Build Paradise on Earth
BY John Prizer The Mission offers one of the best depictions of Christian redemption ever filmed but is marred by its 'liberation theology'bias.
September 20-26, 1998 Issue
The Church is the hands and feet of Christ on earth. Her mission is to preach the Gospel and do good works. The Church is also an institution in the real world, and at times her organizational work clashes with her spiritual goals.
The Mission, winner of the 1986 Cannes Film Festival's highest... READ MORE
Big Questions, Empty Answers
BY John Prizer Cynicism undercuts the intriguing themes raised in Return to Paradise
September 20-26, 1998 Issue
Even drug-taking hedonists have souls, and sometimes they're given a chance to redeem themselves although the price to be paid may be steeper than they expect.
Return to Paradise, loosely based on the 1990 French film Force Majeure, shows three young men of college age being put to the test. Bad... READ MORE
A Farewell to Princes
BY John Prizer
September 13-19, 1998 Issue
Luchino Visconti's 1963 classic, The Leopard, captures the end of a way of life in Sicily
The goal of most revolutions is the removal of a ruling class to achieve the economic and social justice missing from the existing political order. But often after all the bloodletting, the result is merely... READ MORE
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