SUNDAY, Nov. 7
Pope Benedict XVI in Barcelona
EWTN The Holy Father will consecrate the church and altar of Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), the basilica designed by the great Catalan and Catholic architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). The Pope will pray the Angelus, visit a Catholic center and deliver a farewell address. Times and events TBA.
SUNDAY, Nov. 7, 8pm
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
ABC In Pocatello, Idaho, the crew and volunteers replace the fire-destroyed home of breast-cancer survivor Jane Marshall-Spreier and her eight children, whose dog Betsy saved them. The builder, Rockwell Homes, will pay property taxes for the next 20 years, and Idaho State University has awarded scholarships to all the children. Advisory: TV-PG.
TUESDAY, Nov. 9, 8pm
Nova: Dogs Decoded
PBS New research suggests that a hormone that helps human mothers “bond” with their babies also helps people respond to their canine companions. And in Siberia, a 50-year-old breeding program is creating tame foxes whose behavior resembles dogs’.
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10, 9pm
WWII in HD: The Air War
HISTORY This new two-hour special takes five veterans of the U.S. Eighth Air Force back to the scenes of their combat and employs much wartime color footage.
THURSDAY, Nov. 11, 10pm
Medal of Honor
PBS This documentary tells the story of the U.S. military’s highest decoration for “gallantry and intrepidity” in combat and interviews 13 recipients, each of whom says he wears the medal for his heroic comrades who never came home. A re-airing.
SUNDAY, Nov. 14, 10am
Known Universe
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL Episodes of this 2009 science series include “The Fastest” (10am) about speed in space exploration; “The Most Explosive” (11am) about the “Big Bang” theory; “The Biggest and Smallest” (noon) about space’s immense distances; “Cosmic Collisions” (1pm) about the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory’s tracking of asteroids; and “Decoding the Skies” (2pm) about mankind’s early astronomy.
MONDAY, Nov. 15, 3am, 6:30pm
To God Who Giveth Joy to My Youth
EWTN This brand-new, half-hour vocations special from the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter documents life at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in rural Denton, Neb., in the Diocese of Lincoln. The video’s title comes from Psalm 43 that opens the extraordinary form of the Mass: “Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam” (I will go unto the altar of God, to God who giveth joy to my youth). The special covers spiritual formation, liturgical life, Gregorian chant, Latin, Thomism, manual work and recreation during the seminarians’ seven-year course of studies.
Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.