Today on Kresta - July 28, 2011

Talking about the "things that matter most" on July 28


The Best of "Kresta in the Afternoon"

4:00 - Home and Away: A Story of Family in a Time of War
David French picked up the newspaper in the comfort of his penthouse in Philadelphia, and read about a soldier - father of two - who was wounded in Iraq. Immediately, he was stricken with a question: Why him and not me? This is the story of what happens when a family answers the call to serve their nation. David and Nancy French chronicle not just a soldier at war, but a family at war - a husband in Iraq, a wife and children at home, greeting each day with hope and fear, facing the challenge with determination, tears, and more than a little joy.

4:40 - Providing Spiritual Nourishment to Soldiers on the Front Lines
The Frontline Faith Project delivers compact MP3 players preloaded with spiritual content, especially as it pertains to military service, to members of our armed forces currently deployed or returning from deployment, with special emphasis on injured troops and troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan. The FRONTLINE FAITH Players include an audio rendition of the Mass (Provided By EWTN); various homilies; prayers just for those serving, including a recitation of the Rosary; Christian music; prayers from children; and testimonies from soldiers about the struggles and victories of their faith journeys. We talk with the founder of the project, Cheri Lomonte

5:00 - What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
As we prepare for the 4th of July weekend, we look at a wonderfully rich anthology which uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply-and appreciate more fully-who they are as citizens of the United States. What So Proudly We Hail features dozens of selections on American identity, character, and civic life by our country's greatest writers and leaders-from Mark Twain to John Updike, from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt, from Willa Cather to Flannery O'Connor, from Benjamin Franklin to Martin Luther King Jr., from Francis Scott Key to Irving Berlin. Editor Leon Kass joins us.