TV Picks 09.13.20

Celebrate the feast day of Padre Pio on EWTN.

The feast day of St. Pio is Sept. 23.
The feast day of St. Pio is Sept. 23. (photo: Adam Jan Figel / Shutterstock.com)

 WEDNESDAYS, 2pm, 10pm

Father Spitzer’s Universe

EWTN In these new episodes “at the intersection of faith and reason,” Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer answers viewers’ inquiries, relayed by EWTN’s president and chief operating officer, Doug Keck, about life’s fundamental questions. Re-airs 1am Sundays. 

 

 FRIDAYS, 5pm

God’s Blueprint for a Happy Life   

EWTN Dominican Father Brian Mullady joins Catholic evangelist Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers to affirm that God’s plan for us is to be happy in this life and in eternity by always believing and acting in line with the Ten Commandments. Re-airs 2:30am Sundays.

 

 WEDNESDAYS, Sept. 16, Sept. 23, Sept. 30, 8pm

Islands of Wonder

PBS This series studies the residents, exotic wildlife and terrain of three of Earth’s most remote islands: Sept. 16: Madagascar; Sept. 23: Borneo; Sept. 30: Hawaii.

 

 SUNDAY, Sept. 20

131st Tour de France

NBCSN Professional cycling’s most famous race will finish on the historic Champs Elysées in Paris after 21 daily stages that took riders through France’s most scenic areas. The contest began on Aug. 29. Airing includes early morning live coverage plus evening recap.

 

 MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, Sept. 21-23, 5:30pm

There Is a Solution

EWTN In this series, Passionist Father Cedric Pisegna explains the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and shows how a desire to stop drinking or any addiction can lead to finding God.

 

 TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY, Sept. 22-23

Saint Padre Pio

EWTN Capuchin Franciscan Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (b. 1887) died Sept. 23, 1968. At 11pm Tuesday, tape delayed, from the Shrine of St. Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, in southern Italy, will be the Solemn Mass in Honor of St. Padre Pio. At 4pm Wednesday, the documentary The Miracles of Padre Pioexamines his spiritual life and gifts, including the stigmata.

 

 WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, 8pm

Boys Town

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES Norman Taurog directed this Catholic classic 1938 drama about the home for orphans that Servant of God Father Edward Flanagan (1886-1948) founded outside Omaha in 1921. Stars Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney and Bobs Watson (as Pee Wee). A-1.

 

 THURSDAY-FRIDAY, Sept. 24-25

Our Lady of Walsingham

EWTN The Blessed Mother appeared to Richeldis de Faverches in Walsingham in 1061. At 11:30am Thursday is Mass on the Solemnity of Our Lady of Walsinghamin the Basilica of Our Lady, also called the Slipper Chapel, in Houghton Saint Giles, Norfolk. At 8pm Friday is The Story of Walsingham: England’s National Shrine of Our Lady.

 

 SATURDAY, Sept. 26, 2pm

Quo Vadis

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES Mervyn LeRoy helmed this 1951 epic about Rome’s first Christians, based on Henryk Sienkiewicz’s 1896 novel Quo Vadis. Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov, Leo Genn and Finlay Currie star. A-1.

Dan Engler writes from  Santa Barbara, California.