VARIOUS

Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism

ABC Starting this week, ABC stations and affiliates can air this new 60-minute documentary about the heroic Catholic sisters in the Captive Nations, 1945-1989, who kept the faith despite totalitarian persecution by atheistic Soviet occupiers. Archival photos, re-enactments and interviews with surviving sisters recount torture, martyrdom, imprisonment, slave labor in Siberia and the underground Church. Check local listings.

SUNDAYS, 10:30 p.m.

Prayer in the Catechism

CATHOLICTV Father Benedict Groeschel of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal uses Scripture and the Catechism to explain what prayer is and to outline the various forms of prayer. Re-airs 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, 9 p.m. Thursdays.

TUESDAY, 7 a.m.

Civil War Journal: Zouaves!

HISTORY Some 70 Union and 25 Confederate units in the Civil War wore colorful North African tribal-style, baggy-pants uniforms modeled on those of French battalions in Algeria. They sought to fight as dashingly as they dressed, so they cultivated special skills; but, like all Civil War units, they suffered heavy losses. A re-air. Advisory: TV-PG.

WEDNESDAY, 8 p.m.

Live From Lincoln Center: New York Philharmonic Opening Night Gala Concert

PBS Under new music director Alan Gilbert, the Philharmonic kicks off its 168th season with an overture composed for the occasion by Magnus Lindberg, plus Hector Berlioz’s “Symphony Fantastique” and Olivier Messiaen’s “Poemes Pour Mi” with soprano Renée Fleming.

THURSDAY, 8 p.m., live

Life on the Rock

EWTN Tonight’s guest, theologian and former Register columnist Benjamin Wiker, has written demolitions of the theories and the lives of major atheists, secularists and anti-lifers. His latest book, The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin (2009), says that Darwin (1809-1882) did not invent the theory of evolution, did have an atheistic and materialist intent, made misleading statements about his own thought, and was starkly racist in the way he applied his “survival of the fittest” notions to human beings.

THURSDAY-SATURDAY, 6 a.m.

Padre Pio, the Priest Who Bore the Wounds of Christ

EWTN In 13 half-hour daily episodes, Sept. 17-29, Capuchin Father Andrew Apostoli explores the life of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), his fellow Capuchin priest, who was born Francesco Forgione in Italy’s Campania region and who received the stigmata on Sept. 20, 1918. Father Apostoli tells of Padre Pio’s sufferings, difficulties, celebration of Mass, hearing of confessions, and many spiritual gifts.

FRIDAY, 3 p.m.

Secrets of Jerusalem’s

Holiest Sites

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL This special discusses the significance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Moslem Noble Sanctuary and Judaism’s Western Wall. A re-air. TV-G.

Dan Engler writes from

Santa Barbara, California.