Weekly TV Picks

MON.-FRI., JULY 3-7

Drive Thru History

History International, 9 p.m.

Documentary-maker and Protestant seminary student Dave Stotts blends history, reverence and humor as he drives to ancient pagan and Christian sites. These five shows cover the Caesars and the Arch of Titus; Nero, the Circus Maximus and the Pantheon; the Oracle of Delphi, the Olympics and Alexander the Great; Athens, the philosophers and St. Paul; and Constantine, the Council of Nicea and the Hagia Sophia.

MONDAY, JULY 3

Dogs With Jobs

National Geographic Channel

People with disabilities and their families know how much help trained dogs offer. At 10 a.m., a golden retriever can sense seizures about to happen. At 11 a.m., a yellow Labrador retriever leads his sightless master around bustling New York City.

TUESDAY, JULY 4

Independence Day

PBS, ABC

At 8 p.m., PBS presents A Capitol Fourth, the annual liberty-celebrating concert from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol by the National Symphony Orchestra and guests such as Michael Bolton, Jo-Jo, Jo Dee Messina, Stevie Wonder and Vanessa Williams. At 10 p.m., ABC’s An American Celebration at Ford’s Theatre, taped June 25, features host Tom Selleck and trumpeter Chris Botti, Steve Bridges, Heather Headley, the country group Lonestar, Kevin Nealon, Renee Olstead and Josh Turner.

TUESDAY, JULY 4

Kokoyakyu: High

School Baseball

PBS, 10 p.m.

“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game, and do it first by watching some high school or small town teams.” This insight by the scholar Jacques Barzun applies elsewhere, too, as this documentary about Japan’s annual national high school Koshien tournament makes clear. The young players exhibit great intensity and wa (team spirit).

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5

Timewatch: Myth of

The Spanish Inquisition

EWTN, 10 p.m.

Historians who have studied the newly released archives of the Spanish Inquisition debunk anti-Catholic lies and set the record straight.

THURSDAY, JULY 6

Mary, a Word, a Prayer

EWTN, 3 a.m.

This Italian-made special traces Catholics’ love for the Blessed Mother through the ages, along with the beautiful works that artists have created in her honor.

THURSDAY, JULY 6

Life on the Rock

EWTN, 8 p.m.

Tonight’s guest is Father Todd Lajiness, a Detroit seminary dean and triathlete.

FRIDAY, JULY 7

Greatest Natural Wonders

National Geographic

Channel, 11 a.m.

North America is the first among the seven continents this series will visit.

Dan Engler writes from

Santa Barbara, California.

Cathedral-Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida

Aparecida Shrine in Brazil Inaugurates New Rupnik Mosaics

The mosaics are presented by the shrine as the work of the Aletti Spiritual Art Center, a sacred art school founded by former Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik in Rome. The designs bear the hallmark signs of Father Rupnik’s work, such as the large black eyes of the persons represented.