Celebrate Christmas With the Pope and EWTN

TV PICKS 12.17.23

The Mother of God holds Baby Jesus.
The Mother of God holds Baby Jesus. (photo: Shutterstock)

SUNDAY, Dec. 17

Christmas Shows

EWTN At 1:30 p.m. is In Concert: An Austrian Christmas in Vienna. At 4:30 p.m. is Savoring Our Faith with Father Leo Patalinghug. At 7 p.m. is Carols by Candlelight From Knock Shrine in County Mayo. At 8:30 p.m. is Keep Christ in Christmas: A Catholics Come Home Special. At 11:30 p.m. is Christmas Matins From Bavaria.

SUNDAY, Dec. 17, 9:31 p.m., 12:34 a.m.

The Toys That Built America

HISTORY This episode, “Most Valuable Toys,” surveys rare, unique and vintage toys, tells their history and charts their monetary worth today. TV-PG.

MONDAY, Dec. 18, 1:30 a.m.

A Time to Remember

EWTN In this moving 1988 Christmas drama, Tommy Makem and Donald O’Connor are kindly parish priests who help a boy (Ruben Gomez) overcome bullying and a family difficulty to embark on the way to his lifetime dreams — with help from above. Morgana King also stars.

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 20,

5:30 a.m.

CUA Christmas Concert

EWTN The Catholic University’s Symphony Orchestra plays in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Recorded earlier. (Re-airs 4:30 p.m. Sunday.)

FRIDAY, Dec. 22, 3:30 p.m.

3 Godfathers

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES This John Ford 1949 Western stars John Wayne and Ward Bond in a tale of Old West devotion and duty that encapsulates the Christmas spirit.

SUNDAY, Dec. 24

Christmas Eve

EWTN At 1:30 p.m., live, Pope Francis is to celebrate the Solemn Mass of Christmas Eve (midnight Mass) in St. Peter’s. (Re-airs 4 a.m. Monday.) At 6 p.m., the EWTN Family Christmas Special features the EWTN Choir. At 10 p.m., live, is the Choral Meditations on the Nativity at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, followed at 10:30 p.m. by the shrine’s Solemn Mass of Christmas Eve.

MONDAY, Dec. 25, live

Christmas Day

EWTN At 6 a.m. Pope Francis is to deliver his Christmas Urbi et Orbi Message and Blessing “to the city of Rome and the world.” (Re-airs 3 p.m., 11:30 p.m.) At 8 a.m. is the Solemn Mass of Christmas from Irondale, Alabama. (Re-airs 6:30 p.m.) At noon is the Solemn Mass of Christmas Day at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Palestinian Christians celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at Holy Family Church in Gaza City on March 31, amid the ongoing battles Israel and the Hamas militant group.

People Explain ‘Why I Go to Mass’

‘Why go to Mass on Sundays? It is not enough to answer that it is a precept of the Church. … We Christians need to participate in Sunday Mass because only with the grace of Jesus, with his living presence in us and among us, can we put into practice his commandment, and thus be his credible witnesses.’ —Pope Francis