MONDAY, July 18, noon

Fighting the Good Fight: The Father Peter Whelan Story

CATHOLICTV This 2009 documentary tells the story of heroic and beloved County Wexford-born Father Peter Whelan (1802-1871), a Confederate chaplain who remained with his men when they were made prisoners in 1862. In 1864, he became the only clergyman of any faith to stay in the horrific Confederate prison camp in Andersonville, Ga., where he did all he could for the 45,000 Union prisoners, 13,000 of whom died there. Re-airings at 5am Wednesday, 8am Friday and 10:30pm Sunday.

TUESDAY, July 19, 3am, 6:30pm

Albania: My Wonderful Daily Grind

EWTN Since 2000, Polish Franciscan missionary Father Leonardo Deja has served the mountain village of Iballe in northern Albania, as well as remote spots he reaches by car and donkey and by five- and six-hour journeys on foot.

TUESDAY, July 19, 7am

Civil War Journal: Banners of Glory

HISTORY This episode describes all that the flags of the Union and the Confederacy meant to their followers on the battlefield and at home. Advisory: TV-PG.

FRIDAY, July 22, 11am

Stone Age Atlantis

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL In this two-hour special, archaeologists describe Middle Stone Age hunter-gatherers from 6,000 B.C. who they believe inhabited “Doggerland,” an area between Britain and Europe that the North Sea now covers.

SATURDAY, July 23, 8am

Modern Marvels

HISTORY Five 60-minute episodes starting at 8am discuss breakfast and related foods: coffee, “breakfast tech,” eggs, the potato and bread. Advisory: TV-PG.

TUESDAY, July 26, 8pm

History Detectives

PBS In this new episode, an inscribed cane might relate to a Japanese-American family interned in World War II; a wooden telescope dates from the American Revolution; and a drawing depicts huge gold nuggets. Advisory: TV-PG.

SATURDAYS, 10pm

Home by Novogratz

HOME & GARDEN TV In this new series, celebrity designers and home renovators Robert and Cortney Novogratz raise their seven children and help clients make structural repairs to their fixer-upper homes and create exciting room makeovers.

SATURDAY, July 30, all day

EWTN 30th Anniversary: Family Celebration 2011

EWTN Speakers will include EWTN’s CEO Michael Warsaw (8am), Raymond Arroyo (9am) and Father Benedict Groeschel (1pm). Also featured: a tour of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament (11am) and a “Family Talk” (4pm).

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.