Today on Kresta - Aug. 6, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Aug. 6

Live from the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show

4:00 - Fatherless
We take an intensely human tour of the great spiritual battles in the US Catholic church during the late 20th century. Brian Gail takes us out into the "trenches" and shows what life was like for Catholics good and bad during this critical time. Meticulously researched, brilliantly crafted, Fatherless takes the reader on an unforgettable journey inside Fortune 500 boardrooms and Madison Avenue screening rooms, behind one-way mirrors in America’s heartland and two-way screens in church confessionals, to the very peak of Ireland’s highest mountain and inside the papal dining room of John Paul II in Rome. It is the searing journey to the center of conscience, however, that marks Fatherless as the signature Catholic novel of its generation.

4:40 – Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Reform and Renewal
Since 1985, the Catholic Church in the United States has been living in the shadow of the clerical sexual abuse crisis. In 2002, revelations in Boston ignited an institutional nightmare. More recently, the scandal erupted in Ireland and spread across Europe. There is now a rush by some, both inside and outside the Church, to place direct blame upon Pope Benedict XVI. There is no escaping the fact that Pope Benedict, as the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and now as pope, has played an historically pivotal and personal role in the Vatican's response to the crisis. Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis is a groundbreaking, critically objective assessment of the criticism facing the pope as well as a review of his real response to the victims, abusers, bishops, media, and the millions of Catholics worldwide who continue to be justifiably horrified by the scandal. Co-author Greg Erlandson is here to give us the latest in this unholy drama.

5:00 - EWTN Series: “Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms” / Mother Teresa and Me
Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle’s new television series “Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms” has premiered on EWTN television. We discuss the show and also her relationship with Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.

5:20 – Do I Have to Go? 101 questions about the Mass, the Eucharist, and your spiritual life
From playing video games to sleeping-in, teens can think of countless things they would rather do than go to Mass on Sunday morning. That is, unless they knew what they were missing. Matt Pinto explains the meaning and the mystery of Mass in such a way that teens will be asking, Why wouldn’t I go? With wit, clarity, and common sense, Matthew answers the tough questions teens have about the Mass; from the rituals contained in the liturgy, to the doctrines of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. When teens understand that the Mass is literally the meeting place between heaven and earth there is nothing in the world that can keep them from it.

5:40 – Get Low
For years, townsfolk have been terrified of the backwoods recluse known as Felix Bush. People say he's done all manner of unspeakable things -- that he's killed in cold blood; that he's in league with the Devil; that he has strange powers -- and they avoid him like the plague. Then, one day, Felix rides to town with a shotgun and a wad of cash, saying he wants to buy a funeral. It's not your usual funeral for the dead Felix wants. On the contrary, he wants a 'living funeral,' in which anyone who ever had heard a story about him will come to tell it, while he takes it all in. But on the big day, Felix is in no mood to listen to other people spinning made-up anecdotes about him. This time, he's the one who is going to do the telling about why he has been hiding out in the woods. The film is Get Low. Last week we talked to the star of the film, Robert Duval, now we get the review from Steven Greydanus.