SUNDAY-MONDAY, live

World Baseball Classic

ESPN, ESPN DEPORTES Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles hosts the closing games of the 2009 World Baseball Classic, a round-robin, double-elimination tournament that featured 16 teams (mostly of professionals, but with some amateurs) from around the globe. The second of two semifinal games is 8 p.m. Sunday, and the big world championship game is 6 p.m. Monday. Japan won the last classic in 2006.

MONDAYS, 10 a.m.

Weekly Roman Observer

FAMILYLAND TV Father Kevin Barrett and guests comb the latest issue of the Vatican City weekly newspaper L’Osservatore Romano for its news about the Holy Father and the Church. Re-airs 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 1 p.m. Fridays.

MONDAY, 8 p.m.

Cats 101

ANIMAL PLANET People have loved cats for thousands of years. Episode 1, at 8 and 11 p.m., presents the American Shorthair, Savannah, Scottish Fold, Persian Ragdoll and Sphynx. Episode 2, at 9 p.m. and midnight, features the Maine Coon, Egyptian Mau, Turkish Angora and more — and spotlights a breed that has 300 color combinations.

WEDNESDAYS, noon

A Path to Glory

CATHOLICTV In this miniseries, actors illustrate the Sunday Gospel readings from the Gospel of St. Mark, and Msgr. John Zenz of the Archdiocese of Detroit provides theological reflections. Re-airs 5:30 a.m. Fridays, 11:30 p.m. Saturdays.

THURSDAY, 10 p.m.

Gershwin at One Symphony Place

PBS In this hour-long show taped in September 2008 in Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Nashville Symphony and guest pianist Kevin Cole interpret the works “Cuban Overture,” “An American in Paris” and “Rhapsody in Blue” by American jazz-classical composer and pianist George Gershwin (1898-1937), whose life was cut short by an aggressive brain tumor.

FRIDAYS, 10 p.m.

Defending Life

EWTN Now in its 14th season, this series by Priests for Life founder Father Frank Pavone promotes the culture of life by suggesting new ways to convey pro-life truths; answering viewers’ questions; and interviewing pro-lifers, moms who have chosen life for their babies, and former pro-abortion advocates. Some episodes will present the pro-life burial of aborted babies and the baptisms of babies who were saved from abortionists.

SATURDAY, 8 p.m.

The Young John Paul II:

Witness to Evil

EWTN This 2007 documentary uses archival footage, location shooting, interviews with friends and dramatic re-creations to show how, during 1939-1946, God guided Polish student Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) safely through brushes with arrest and death during wartime, forced labor, and oppression by atheistic Nazi and communist occupiers and set him on the path to the priesthood, the episcopacy, and, in 1978, the papacy.

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.