Sr. Rose Pacatte's blog

In this new series, five young 20-something women struggle to find meaning in their well-healed lives. The biggest problem in what could have been a meaningful and entertaining exploration of modern ennui is that in HBO's world view, the search begins and ends with the ladies' genitalia and that of the young men with whom they cavort.

True, one girl, Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), seems ashamed because she has never had sex. Others are into experimentation and, though concerned about STDs and HIV/AIDS, what's the problem? asks Hannah (Lena Dunham). They have medication now. Her doctor is shocked at her attitude and tries to inform her, but the spoiled Hannah is somewhere else.

The premiere opens with Hannah being cut off from parental support. It's been two years since she's finished college. She's working as an unpaid intern and writing her memoirs. Her father is sympathetic, but her mother insists she support herself. Hannah is inappropriate at a job interview and seems to lead the pack in promiscuity. Promiscuity is an art form, but there's no art in this series.

For Lent this year, my resolution was to look into the face of every person I encountered who was begging. If I could, I gave that person something, greeted them and said "good morning" or "good afternoon." And I intentionally thought: "This is some mother's sweet baby." It makes it so much easier to love that person when you think of them as innocent and vulnerable children who gave joy to their parents before life set in.

All I could think of when I was watching the documentary "Bully" was that each of these bullied kids is some mother's sweet baby.

"Game Change"
9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST Saturday, March 10, HBO

In August 2007, the media pundits were after Republican presidential candidate John McCain (Ed Harris), and he hated being their target. He brought in experienced strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) to take over the senior staff position on his campaign, shaking up the team then headed by campaign manager Rick Davis (Peter McNicol) and including Mark Salter (Jamie Sheridan) and Mark Wallace (Ron Livingston), with Fred Davis (Bruce Altman) as image consultant.

I saw 120 of the top films released in the United States in 2012, most of them in the top 250 that made at least $1 million at the box office. I saw 33 of the 45 films in the major categories nominated for an Oscar. I am only going to cast votes here in the categories for which I saw all the films.

On NPR today, host Michel Martin talked about The Los Angeles Times story that claims that "most Oscar voters are white, male, out of touch" and of a certain age.

If I were a voting member of the Academy, here are the films I would vote for, as a white, still middle-aged (it's a close call but I still have some time) female and, I like to think, an in-touch film reviewer. And I don't like sympathy wins. Oscars are precious; give them to the truly deserving.

Best picture

"Hugo" -- This film gets my vote, and I hope it will win; it's a beautiful homage to cinema, the imagination, storytelling and family. It moved me.

"The Help" -- This is a very strong contender, and I loved it.

SEALs climb a ladder to their helicopter in "Act of Valor." (IATM LLC, Relativity Media)Deep in the heart of the South American jungle, members of a drug cartel torture kidnapped CIA operative Lisa Morales. A team of U.S. Navy SEALs is sent to rescue her. But there is more going on, however, than America's war on the international drug trade. A global terrorism plan is revealed, and the SEAL team is dispatched over and over again until the men take out or neutralizes the enemy, and the USA and the world is safe once again -- until the next threat raises its head.

"Act of Valor" was directed by documentary filmmaker Mike McCoy and professional stuntman Scott Waugh and was written by Kurt Johnstad, who previously co-penned "300." There are four actors in the film, whom you might recognize right away: Roslyn Sanchez, Nestor Serrano, Alex Veadov and Emilio Rivera.

Using Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube and the "40" website, young people and adults will be able to follow the journey of seven people in Los Angeles after an apocalyptic event has thrust them together for survival.

The number 40 haunts them as they try to figure out where God is in the midst of chaos and isolation. Each high-definition webisode is 4 to 7 minutes long and stars actors that most people will recognize from a variety of television series and/or commercials, Peggy Miley in particular. Two new episodes will air each week during Lent. A reflection guide is also available for each webisode on the site for reflection and conversation.

By now, if you have any link to any media, you have seen the photo of the men who testified on Capitol Hill about artificial contraception Thursday.

If you only look at the photo, the only people testifying are men. From an image analysis alone, the fact that only men testified about an issue at the core of our being as human persons, this image is deeply troubling.

Although the regulation of birth seems like it is only for women, Humane Vitae stresses that this is a matter for husbands and wives -- that would mean men and women. Even among conservative Christians, there must have been one woman who agreed with these men who could have been included. (It seems they denied a "liberal" woman the chance to testify.)

The nation, indeed the world, is enthralled by Jeremy Lin, the undrafted humble Harvard underdog who has stunned the NBA and the New York Knicks with his performances on the basketball court these last couple of weeks.

But hidden in the deep South, somewhere around the decrepit environs of North Memphis, Tenn., a high school football team struggles to succeed just as it did in 2010 when The Tigers, the school’s football team, for the first time in the school’s 110 year history, made it to the playoffs.

In an 8-minute rant on YouTube, Tommy Jordan, an IT specialist in a cowboy hat and boots, responds to his 15-year-old daughter's nasty letter she posted on Facebook about being her parents' slave.

This was not the first time they had a showdown over social media, but this time, the day after Tommy spent $130 to fix and upgrade his daughter's laptop, he'd had enough. He read her letter aloud then shot her laptop with his 45 mm gun nine times, using hollow-point bullets.

His YouTube video, posted Feb. 8, has more than 25 million hits so far. His video has not gone viral; it's a veritable pandemic.

Of all the news coverage and reflections on the sudden death of singer/actress Whitney Houston (1963-2012), I was moved when the host of the 54th Grammy Awards, LL Cool J, said "The only thing that feels right is to begin with a prayer … for our fallen sister, Whitney Houston."

The prayer is simple, but I was watching the audience. From what I could see, everyone in camera range bowed their heads in prayer. Sunday, the Grammys represented a community in grief for a woman whose voice was the soundtrack for a generation.

The Grammys, of all of the award shows, is perhaps the most religious. How many artists thank God for the gift of their music that garnered them accolades for their work? Whitney Houston herself won six Grammys in her short lifetime.

Just last week I was having dinner with some publishing colleagues, and the conversation moved from movies to music. Who is the best female vocalist of all time? I said, "Whitney Houston." My friends conceded that she is, perhaps, the greatest of our generation, but I think she's an all-time great because her voice will resound through the universe, care of iTunes, for decades to come.

Although it is last year's news, I only heard about kosher cellphones today while listening to NPR on the way to an appointment.

I was not able to locate the story on NPR's site, but if I recall well, the story told of the Orthodox Jewish rabbis in the UK who were concerned about the lack of modesty that cellphones can promote among young people in particular because of cameras, Internet access and texting.

The answer? A basic model for cellphones with no "smart" technology. According to the story, cellphone providers didn't think there would be a market so they decided not to produce one, leaving it to those who buy the cellphones to figure out how to disarm the phones and adjust software. This gave rise to enterprise. One man in the U.K. has sold 20,000 modified phones, including to Muslims in Saudi Arabia who share the same concerns about modesty. Other customers like the basic version because they are just easier to use.

'A Smile as Big as the Moon'
9 p.m./8 p.m. central, Sunday, Jan. 29, ABC
8 p.m./7 p.m. central, Saturday, Feb. 4, The Hallmark Channel

In the universe of film and television reviewers, it can get really awkward when trying to talk about the elusive, fragile, frequently manipulated "family" genre. No one can really define a family TV film except in hindsight, I think. When television studios set out to make an "all-in-one" family film, they usually end up reaching fewer viewers than hoped for.

It is also impossible to judge a film or television movie as "good" by what it does not have: no sex, bad language, violence, drugs, etc. Most television family films are just bland or worse yet, bland and preachy because producers favor message over a story.

But here comes Hallmark Hall of Fame with its first film of the year, and I think it is their best love story -- ever. It's not only a good family film -- it's great. The bar has been set. I now have a baseline to judge made-for-TV family films.

In the daily round of emails and Facebook posting comes this news about a Rick Santorum Iowa staffer's opinion that children would be harmed if a woman became president, referring to Michele Bachmann's former GOP bid.

Although Rev. Jamie Johnson, a pastor and the email's author, claims the statement in an email to one person was taken out of context, his view is upsetting people the blogosphere. And he is not backing down.

The email at the heart of the controversy reads in part: "Is it Gods highest desire, that is, His biblically expressed will ... to have a woman rule the institutions of the Family, the Church, and the State?"

According to Box Office Mojo, 2011's 592 films made somewhere between $381 million (with "Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part Two") and $325 (with "Redneck Carnage," which I did not see) at the box office.

I saw 119 films in 2011 -- about two movies a week. I was away for four weeks in September and October, so I missed "50/50," about a young man diagnosed with cancer, and "We Need to Talk about Kevin." I did not see "Albert Nobbs" yet, but will let you know when I do. These are films buzzing in the Oscar zone.

Here is my list of 14 films that I found most interesting in 2011. Are they the best? I don't know. But they kept my attention, told a worthy story in an artistic or clever way, shed light on the human condition, showed respect for human dignity though sometimes in a dark way, asked questions and allowed the audience to discover or make meaning without imposing or preaching. And some were wonderfully entertaining.

Click on the film's title for my longer reviews.

Hugo

Among the many themes that emerge or converge in the films of director/ producer/writer Steven Spielberg are lonely children and war, specifically World War II.

These themes can be found in the kids in "E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) as well as the Oscar-winning "Schindler's List" (1993), in which viewers may remember the little Jewish girl in a red coat, waiting for transport to the Nazi death camps. They can be found in "The Color Purple" (1985) (for which Spielberg deserved an Oscar) and one of my personal favorites, this year's "Super 8," where Spielberg captures children who are lonely or estranged from or in tension with their fathers.

I had never heard of Christopher Hitchens, but after a certain event in 1994, I came to know him as one of the English-speaking world's most prolific atheists.

Back then I was living and studying in London, and my community was asked by Channel Four, the alternative to BBC I and II and the commercial channel ITV, to negotiate on its behalf with our sisters in Japan to use footage from an award-winning documentary they had produced on Mother Teresa, "Mother Teresa and Her World." (It was released in 1989 and directed by Shigeki Chiba, who had just released his third film about Mother Teresa; the producer was Sister Joseph Shirai Shoko, a Daughter of St. Paul.)

This is the third in a trilogy of blog posts by Sr. Rose Pacatte looking at some of this year's new holiday television movies. The first post, focusing on "Have a Little Faith," can be found here. The second post, on "Game of Your Life," can be found here.

The Heart of Christmas
Sunday, Dec. 4
GMC, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST

The Gospel Music Channel, now knows as GMC, will air its first primetime made-for-TV movie, "The Heart of Christmas," on Sunday.

It is based on the true story of little Dax Locke, who, at the age of 13 months, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. The family literally moved from Illinois to St. Jude's Hospital in Memphis for 18 months. Julie, Dax's mom, started a blog that touched thousands of people.

This is the second in a trilogy of blog posts by Sr. Rose Pacatte looking at some of this year's new holiday television movies. The first post, focusing on "Have a Little Faith," can be found here.

Game of Your Life
Friday, Dec. 2
NBC, 8 p.m./7 p.m. CST

NBC's latest Family Movie Night film, "Game of Your Life," is about a serious high school video gamer, Zach (Titus Makin Jr.), who receives a scholarship to an institute of digital design. There, teens form groups of writers, designers and producers and must promise to follow certain rules that involve choices, just like the games they are creating.

At its core, the movie is about character: doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

I think this film may be of interest to grown-ups who would like to know more about this digital universe and its ethical demands and challenges, as well as story-telling techniques.

On Sunday, I went to my sister's parish, a historic church in northern California that dates back 100 years and serves about 7,500 rural families. According to the parish website, 95 percent of the parish is white, 61 percent consists of married couples and 13 percent of the parish is 65 years old or older. The parish also shares a school with a neighboring parish five miles away.

I only attend Mass at this church when I visit once a year at Thanksgiving, so I don't know anyone personally except my sister who attends Mass at various churches -- when she goes.

The ushers greeting people at the doors of the church were warm and welcoming.

This is the first in a trilogy of blog posts by Sr. Rose Pacatte looking at some of this year's new holiday television movies.

Have a Little Faith
Sunday, Nov. 27
ABC, 9 p.m./8 p.m. CST

"Have a Little Faith" is this year's Hallmark Hall of Fame's made-for-TV holiday movie. It's based on the 2009 best-selling book by Mitch Albom and in many ways is similar to "Tuesdays with Morrie" -- a book (1997) and film (1999) that made me cry a river.

"Have a Little Faith" is about Mitch's relationship with the rabbi of his youth, Rabbi Lewis (Martin Landau), who asked Mitch (Bradley Whitford) to write and then give his eulogy when the time came. As a journalist, Mitch agreed, but only after he conducted several interviews with Rabbi Lewis. These led Albom to notice stories about faith in Detroit, where he worked. He met Henry Convington (Laurence Fishburn), a former drug addict and ex-con in Detroit who became a reverend and ministers to the people of a poor inner-city church, working to make the lives of his people better.

In the ongoing debate about food in the United States, Congress outdid itself Thursday by siding with the french fry and pizza industries and declaring, or reaffirming, pizza as a vegetable because it has two tablespoons of tomato paste per slice, thereby securing its place on the school lunch menu.

The Rev. Dr. William F. Fore, executive director of the National Council of Churches Broadcasting and Film Commission for 25 years, has placed one of the world's richest treasure houses of online religious information into the care of the Claremont School of Theology.

Fore is the designer and senior editor of Religion-Online.org, one of the most used online resources in the area of religion. According to Google, the site had 10 million hits this year from visitors in more than 200 countries. The site also grants liberal rights to download material and copy for nonprofit educational purposes, asking only that sources be cited.

Under the section "Catholicism," there is a translation of the book "The Christian of the Future" by Karl Rahner (1967), "a reflection on the nature, limits, and possibilities of change taking place in the Roman Catholic Church during and since the Second Vatican Council," available in its entirety on the site.

[Source]

From left: The Rev. Scott Young, executive director, University Religious Conference, UCLA; Jesuit Fr. Eddie Siebert, founder and president, Loyola Productions; Martin Sheen; Emilio Estevez; David Alexanian; Dr. Craig Detweiller of Pepperdine; Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP, Pauline Center for Media Studies, film columnist for NCR. (Frederic Charpentier of Frederic Photography)On Nov. 5, Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in collaboration with Mt. St. Mary's College Chalon Campus, hosted a screening and panel discussion of Emilio Estevez's new film "The Way."

The main attraction, besides the film, was the participation of the film's star, Martin Sheen, his eldest son writer/director, Emilio Estevez, and producer David Alexanian. The panel was moderated by communications professor Dr. Craig Detweiller of Pepperdine University. Other panelists were Jesuit Fr. Eddie Siebert, president of Loyola Productions and chaplain to CIMA, the Rev. Scott Young, executive director of the University Religious Conference at UCLA, and me.

I had the honor of interviewing Sheen about the film for NCR, so being part of this event was an added grace. I can't think of another way to put it.

This is the second in a two-part interview with Raymond Perrier, the director of South Africa's Jesuit Institute, which initiated the Hope&Joy program. Read the first part of the interview here.

NCR: Unity seems a strong theme of "Hope&Joy."
RP: We needed to find a device, a methodology, that would ensure that all people could come together across the full spectrum of Catholicism, to provide a platform where everyone who identifies themselves as Catholic could sit comfortably.

This device, or idea, is that our church is the church of Vatican II. In one way or another, we have ended up with everyone included in "Hope&Joy."

A Vatican III initiative would have delighted a few, but it would have been alienating and jumping way ahead. "Hope&Joy" says: Let's complete Vatican II before we start new things. There is so much of the Second Vatican Council to explore, contemplate, and put into practice.

The people have bought into this idea.

Raymond Perrier, 45, is the director of South Africa's Jesuit Institute. He looks younger than his years, has a ready smile and is known for his outgoing personality. He is engaging and articulate, and it is easy to see how his energy might be interpreted by some as ambition rather than passion to do something meaningful for the people of God in South Africa.

The new business center of Johannesburg is in Sandton, north of the city. New office high-rises dot the horizon and the convention center and underground shopping center at Nelson Mandela Square is world-class and impressive.

One night last week, after speaking to a group of academics at St. Augustine College, we had to cross the city to get home. We were stopped by police at a check point so they could verify the driver's license. Often, I am told, the police ask for money when they stop people. It's illegal but it happens anyway. There are cameras on the roads and highways to check for road or speed violations (just like home) as well as unregistered vehicles. I am not sure how offenders are tracked down.

There are several major shopping malls here. I had to replace the adapter cord for my laptop one morning and our driver (we employ two local young men who have now been with us for years) took me to a nearby mall, where I found what I needed with no trouble.

What is different in Johannesburg from my last visit? The airport renovations are complete, since they were initiated for the soccer World Cup held last year. It was so much faster getting through immigration and customs! You can still see signs and banners about the World Cup as you leave the airport, and a statue as well.

Workers still have to travel an hour or more to and from work, and many walk long distances. Four years ago, many women walked along the side roads carrying things on their heads. So far, I have only seen one woman do this. Maybe I have to get out more.

Earlier this year, I was invited by our community of Daughters of St. Paul in Johannesburg, South Africa, to take part in a two-year program running up to the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council.

Pope John XXIII announced his intention to call for a council Jan. 25, 1959, a mere three months into his pontificate. He convoked the council on Oct. 11, 1962, and Pope Paul VI closed the council Dec. 8, 1965.

The program is titled "Hope&Joy," drawn from the opening words of the final document of Vatican II, "Gaudium et spes," or "The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World." This document was not envisioned or planned before the council convened like the others, but emerged from the work and input of the council participants, and, one might surmise, their associates and consultants and the Holy Spirit. It was promulgated on Dec. 7, 1965, one day before the end of the Second Vatican Council. (I am not sure yet why they chose hope and joy rather than the exact translation "joy and hope.")

I grew up in San Diego listening to my Connecticut born and bred mother praising the wonders of New York City. Her parents took her and her siblings there often to visit an aunt who lived and prospered there. For some reason the Museum of Natural History was the place she most often described for us kids.

After three years in the convent in Boston, we novices went by car to New York in November 1970, to have an experience of our apostolate of evangelization with the media and to see what convent life was like in a smaller community than that of the provincial-novitiate house.

We drove our van down the Hudson Parkway and under the George Washington Bridge, with the Cloisters to our left, and the shrine of Mother Cabrini, Sr. Anthony told us. But I fell into something that must be like ecstasy as Manhattan was revealed via the view from the then-elevated West Side Highway. It wouldn't be closed until 1973 and completely closed and demolished until 1989.

Over the weekend my niece invited family members to join a Facebook word game we could all play. I clicked into "Apps" on my Facebook page and noticed that I had been invited to join more than 50 games, but one really got my attention: Vatican Wars.

It's a "new social game", a fantasy game, where you can become the pope. As a priest and candidate for pope you have to decide what Jesus would say if he were here today based on these issues: abortion, same sex marriage, if priests can marry, birth control and the ordination of women.

I clicked through and saw that I had only two choices: to be a Templar (socially conservative) player or a Crusader (socially liberal). Each team plays together to try to get one of their members elected pope.