Today on Kresta - October 12, 2010

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Oct. 12

4:00 – Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy
We look at an extraordinary presentation of the first five years of Benedict's leadership as pope. Benedict XVI: Essays and Reflections on His Papacy features over 110 full-color photos rarely seen outside the Vatican. It also includes thoughtful commentary and warm memories from U.S. Church leaders, excerpts from Benedict's own writings, and an essential resource section. This is an invaluable keepsake and resource for Catholics, spiritual seekers, and those interested in how Catholicism touches the world today. We talk with editor Sr. Mary Ann Walsh

4:30 – Uncommon Vision: The Life and Times of John Howard Griffin
John Howard Griffin is best known as the white man who in 1959 disguised himself as a black man and then traveled anonymously through the heart of Dixie. From his experiences he wrote “Black Like Me”, a groundbreaking best seller that today stands as a testament to Griffin’s moral commitment and a document of one of the more extraordinary events of the Civil Rights era. A new documentary on his life entitled “Uncommon Vision” focuses on Griffin’s social activism but will also examine how a spiritual commitment led him from a segregated childhood in Fort Worth to fighting with the French Underground, sustained him during ten years of blindness incurred by war injuries and inspired him during a prolific creative life as a writer/photographer. It’s an inspiring, entertaining and edifying story. We talk to the documentary writer and producer Morgan Atkinson.

5:00 – First Lower Court Ruling on Substance of Obama Health Care Act
A Detroit Federal Judge late last week ruled that the Thomas More Law Center and the four Michigan plaintiffs it represented had standing to challenge the Health Care Reform Act and that the challenge was ripe for review. The Judge held, however, that Congress has the authority under its Commerce Clause power to enact the individual mandate provision of the Act, which requires individuals to purchase health care insurance under penalty of federal law. Judge Steeh is the first judge to nationally rule on the key objection to the law. By ruling in favor of the plaintiffs on all the jurisdictional issues, the case is in a posture for review by federal appellate courts on the substantive issue of whether the health care law violates the Commerce Clause. Rob Muise is here in studio to discuss the case.

5:20 – “God in America” Series now airing on PBS
Since the days when the Puritan “city on a hill” beckoned on the horizon of the New World, religious faith and belief have forged America's ideals, molded its identity and shaped its sense of mission at home and abroad. For the first time on television, PBS’ God in America explores the tumultuous 400-year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America, from the first European settlements to the 2008 presidential election. This six-hour series examines how religious dissidents helped shape the American concept of religious liberty and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation's courts and political arena; how religious freedom and waves of new immigrants and religious revivals fueled competition in the religious marketplace; how movements for social reform -- from abolition to civil rights -- galvanized men and women to put their faith into political action; and how religious faith influenced conflicts from the American Revolution to the Cold War. We have a review from Catholic author and historian Thomas Craughwell.

5:40 – First U.S. Study of Embryonic Stem Cell Drug on Human Underway
For the first time ever in the U.S., a patient with a spinal cord injury has been injected with human embryonic stem cells. The hope: that one day this treatment may help the paralyzed walk again. On Friday at the Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center in Atlanta, a patient with a recent spinal cord injury made medical history: The paraplegic was injected with two million embryonic stem cells. The goal: To regenerate spinal cord tissue. But at what cost? And is this even necessary? We talk with Fr. Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center.