Trappist

Aird 2002-03. 800-235-8722 The daily life of the residents of Mepkin Abbey, a monastery in South Carolina, will be the focus of an hour-long documentary, "Trappist." Produced by Paulist Media Works of Washington, DC, "Trappist" examines the reasons various men responded to the call to this extraordinary way of life. The program also traces the rich 1,700-year history of monastic life in Western civilization, with their remarkable influence in the arts, education, science and technology. To an outsider, a monk's life is a shock: They wake every day at 3:00 a.m., worship together seven times a day, eat a strict vegetarian diet, and spend much of their time in silence. Their solitude, contemplation, and humility seem out of place in today's world, yet people of many different faiths are drawn to the peace and tranquility of monasteries. "Trappist" also depicts how the monastery relates to the secular world, largely through various retreats and programs. Insights from renowned authors Thomas Moore (The Care of the Soul) and Kathleen Morris (A Cloister Walk) are part of this illuminating documentary. Filmed at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, "Trappist" combines the reality of a monk's life with startling and beautiful images of the past to explore how a monk fits into our modern world. For more information about Mepkin Abbey, log on to: www.mepkinabbey.org. For more information about "Trappist," call Ellen McCloskey at (202) 541-3236.

Faith First: Second Career Clergy

Aired 2001-02. Produced by Diva Communications Jewish baby-boomers entering their collective mid-life are finding that spirituality and religion have gained greater prominence in their daily lives.

For many, this has meant attending shul more often, for others it involves weekly Torah study or volunteering for a Jewish organization. For still others, however, the realization that their work and Judaism can no longer exist in separate worlds has sparked a clarion call. These men and women have found themselves turning away from successful careers in the secular world to enter an entirely new professional setting – one that requires a five- to six-year immersion in a religious environment.

Rabbinical and cantorial training, they discover, entails much more than rigorous study; it precipitates a wholesale personal transformation.

For individuals and their families, the decision to become a rabbi or a cantor in mid-career demands humility, sacrifice and strength of character.

“Faith First: Second Career Clergy,” created by Debra Gonsher Vinik and Diva Communications, examines this fascinating, life-altering choice from the perspective of several extraordinary people.

From first-year students making the difficult adjustment to being back in a classroom setting, to pulpit rabbis and cantors who have completed their formal training to bring their years of life experience and maturity to a congregation, this hour-long documentary is both an inspirational look at the personal growth and fulfillment to be gained from a career in the clergy as well as an endorsement of pursuing one’s heart’s desire later in life.

To purchase a copy of the film call 212 397-7259

...and a time to heal.

Aired 2000-01. Just before 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 15, 1999, Larry Ashbrook entered Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. By the time he ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he had taken seven lives, left seven others wounded, and unraveled the innocence of an entire church body. In the chaotic frenzy of the shooting's aftermath, the community, the nation, the world stood still to take it all in. Then, as other stories beckoned, the nation turned its attention to new happenings. But the people who experienced this nightmare could not. They still needed time to recover, time to grieve, and a time to heal. This 60-minute documentary tells the story of people affected by the shootings at the Wedgwood church. It explores the role of faith in the healing process and looks objectively at different ways people deal with their grief. Some have made great progress in the past year; others will spend a lifetime trying to cope. To purchase a DVD of this program call 888-241-9282.

Church Without Borders

Aired 2000-01. “Church Without Borders" offers a close look at some of the people who are living along the 2,000 mile border between Mexico and the United States, where Anglo, Spanish, and Indigenous cultures have co-existed for centuries, and examines the Catholic Church's cross border pastoral efforts in light of those realities. From the Church's perspective, here are spiritual brothers and sisters in need, not different nationalities. The program also depicts this spiritual solidarity by going to Chile, where recent U.S. college graduates are deferring the start of their professional careers in order to devote their time in service to the marginalized people of rural and urban areas. "Church Without Borders" also shows that those in need in the U.S. can be the recipients of aid when the program profiles work done by Chilean students in Boston's inner city.

Answering God's Call

Aired 1997-98 and 2011-12. Presented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops It's Wednesday in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood, and Father Mitch Rozanski, pastor of Holy Cross Parish, struggles up the five flights to the top of the church's steeple.  The bells of the 150+ year-old church need to be fixed. Meanwhile, in St. Inigoes, on Maryland's southern shore, Fr. Patrick Smith, pastor of St. Peter Claver Parish, goes up the steps of a modest home on a rural lane. He is making a house call on an elderly, housebound parishioner.  They will read Scripture together and sing hymns.  Welcome to the world of the parish priest after Sunday Mass.  Directed by Academy Award winner Gerardine Wurzburg, "Answering God's Call" brought viewers into a world where the mundane and the spiritual must work hand in hand.  And with God's help they do a pretty good job of balancing it all!