Weekly TV Picks

All times Eastern

SUNDAY, OCT. 19

Beatification of Mother Teresa

EWTN, 4 a.m., live

We won't be the only ones watching Mother Teresa's Mass of beatification. Looking on from heaven will be a whole host of the poorest of the poor, now rich in glory, whom for decades she saved from the streets and loved and held as they entered eternal life. This three-hour broadcast will re-air today at noon and 6:30 p.m., on Monday at 12:30 a.m., and on Tuesday at 9 a.m., Thursday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m.

MONDAY, OCT. 20

Extraordinary Places

Travel Channel, 6 p.m.

This new series shows us the Barrington meteorite crater — 570 feet deep and nearly a mile wide — between Flagstaff and Winslow, Ariz. It also takes us to Santa Fe, N.M., to see the famed spiral staircase with no central support, and no nails, that a mysterious carpenter — St. Joseph? — built in 1878 in answer to a novena by the Sisters of Loretto after they discovered there was no way up to the choir loft in their new chapel.

MONDAY, OCT. 20

River of Iron: Dreams of a Grand Canyon Railroad

PBS, 10:30 p.m.

A team recreates the 1889-1890 expedition of engineer Robert Brewster Stanton, who hoped to build a water-level railroad through the Grand Canyon. Stanton created a fine photographic record of the canyon's physical geography. First shown in March 2000.

TUESDAY, OCT. 21

Sensible Chic

Home & Garden TV, 4:30 p.m.

Find affordable substitutes for expensive interior design themes. Re-airs at 10 p.m.

WEDNESDAYS & SUNDAYS

Be Not Afraid Family Hour

Familyland TV, 6 p.m.-midnight

Starting hourly, 6 to 11 p.m., these excellent Catholic family devotions programs feature Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Cardinal Francis Arinze and other Catholic leaders, a pray-along family rosary and dramatizations of some of the mysteries.

THURSDAY, OCT. 23

Last Secrets of the Axis

History Channel, 8 p.m.

This “Time Machine” two-hour special probes the background, formation and activities of the German-Japanese alliance in World WarII.

FRIDAY, OCT. 24

Save Our History: America's Most Endangered, 2003

History Channel, 7 a.m.

On this year's list of 11 sites from the National Trust for Historic Preservation are “urban houses of worship, nationwide” and, near Boston, the Minuteman National Historical Park, where Americans stood and fought for liberty on April 19, 1775.

SATURDAY, OCT. 25

The Calling: The Vocation of Father Tom Hepburn

EWTN, 8 p.m.

This “reality”-type documentary follows Father Hepburn's first years in the priesthood.

Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.

Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki of Cologne attends a German Synodal Way assembly on March 9, 2023.

Four German Bishops Resist Push to Install Permanent ‘Synodal Council’

Given the Vatican’s repeated interventions against the German process, the bishops said they would instead look to the Synod of Bishops in Rome. Meanwhile, on Monday, German diocesan bishops approved the statutes for a synodal committee; and there are reports that the synodal committee will meet again in June.

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