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Movie review: ‘Big George Foreman’

Posted on by Our Sunday Visitor

The man, the pugilist, the grill, it’s all there in “Big George Foreman” (Sony). What may surprise viewers who haven’t followed the titular fighter’s career closely is the strong – indeed, transformative – role that faith has played in his biography.

That’s one ingredient that helps to make this generally family-friendly film appealing. Yet, as its excessively wordy subtitle “The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World” suggests, this is not a movie free of aesthetic flaws.

Raised amid hardscrabble circumstances, George (Khris Davis) is anxious to please his strong-willed mother Nancy (Sonja Sohn) by realizing his potential. At the same time, though, he’s resolutely resistant to Mom’s unwavering Christian devotion – as expressed in her insistence on saying grace before family meals.

Troubled and emotionally vulnerable, George is plagued by fits of destructive rage. One of these nearly leads to his dismissal from Job Corps, an anti-youth unemployment program established by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Instead, one of the initiative’s officials, Doc Broadus (Forest Whitaker), helps George transform his anger into prizefighting prowess.

Under the caring guidance of his new mentor and coach, George rises rapidly to the top of the sport, winning a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and defeating Joe Frazier to take the title belt in Kingston, Jamaica in January 1973. The following fall, however, trash-talking Muhammad Ali (Sullivan Jones) knocks George off the top perch.

While still embittered by this defeat, George is severely injured in a match and has a near-death experience that brings about his radical conversion to born-again Christianity. Despite his status as a top contender, he abandons the ring for the Pentecostal pulpit and a quiet domestic life with his equally pious new spouse, Mary Joan (Jasmine Mathews).

Putting his faith into action, George establishes a low-cost gym and community center for kids. When financial woes threaten its future, fresh challenges culminate in yet another historic achievement for him.

Sharper editing could have lent a faster pace to director and co-writer George Tillman Jr.’s too-leisurely profile. But his narrative (scripted with Frank Baldwin) will naturally please believers and includes few problematic elements. It should prove especially inspirational for older teens.

The film contains graphic boxing violence, an adultery theme, a scatological incident and fleeting scatological humor as well as a couple of instances each of mild swearing and crass language. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

—John Mulderig, OSV News

Annual pilgrimage celebrates Mary, reverence for her by Catholics from diverse cultures

Posted on by Our Sunday Visitor

As 10 members of the youth group from Our Lady of Vietnam Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland, dramatically played traditional drums at the front of the sanctuary of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, the 20th annual Asian and Pacific Island Catholics Marian Pilgrimage May 6 opened with a procession of nearly two dozen Catholic communities with roots in that part of the world.

The 600 pilgrims who gathered at the basilica came from the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. In the procession, they carried banners and wore traditional dress as they carried statues and portraits of Mary as the patroness of countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China, Laos, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Korea, Samoa and the U.S. island territory of Guam.

As the pilgrims marched toward the altar, a choir sang a Marian hymn in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, and the participants reverently placed their statues and portraits of Mary in the sanctuary and lined up their banners in an area behind the altar.

Celebrating a Mass for the pilgrims that afternoon, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory said, “Your presence is a magnificent witness of how all-encompassing are the places and nations where God’s word has been planted and flourished.”

In his homily, the cardinal also noted, “As our neighbors from Asia and the Pacific Islands assemble here in Mary’s Shrine, you continue to remind the entire church that God’s Spirit is present in every corner of our world. His divine glory is to be found in every part of our planet.”

The pilgrimage was sponsored by the Asian and Pacific Catholic Network, in collaboration with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church and related offices of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia.

After time for confession and the opening procession, a call to prayer featuring sacred songs and movements included expressive performances by dancers wearing traditional dress from the Samoan Catholic Community of Metro Washington; the Chinese Catholic Community of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey; the Montagnard Catholic Community of Charlotte, North Carolina, representing AN Indigenous people from the highlands of central Vietnam; and St. Paul Chung Korean Catholic Church of Chantilly, Virginia.

Then members of the Camacho family, Filipino Catholics from All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, Virginia, participated in crowning a statue of Mary.

“The Blessed Mother brings all her children together to her Son,” said Msgr. Vito Buonanno, the basilica’s associate rector and director of pilgrimages, as he welcomed the Asian and Pacific Island Catholics.

Before the Mass, the joyful mysteries of the rosary were prayed in different languages and led by members of the Couples for Christ from northern Virginia; the Korean Catholic community from New Jersey; the Burmese Catholic community from Metro Washington; the Asian Catholic community of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia; and the Syro-Malankara Eastern Catholic Rite from the Archdiocese of Washington.

Welcoming the pilgrims at the beginning of Mass, Msgr. Walter Rossi, the basilica’s rector, noted that Cardinal Gregory would mark the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood May 9, and the congregation applauded Washington’s archbishop for that milestone.

In his homily, Cardinal Gregory said Mary “has chosen to visit many of the places in this part of God’s world,” showing her maternal love and closeness as she reveals herself in the garb and appearance of the people she visits.

Noting the diversity and unity of the Asian and Pacific Island Catholics, the cardinal said, “The Spirit of God receives the gifts that we bring … (and) fashions those differences into an ever new and wonderful image of Christ fully alive and risen in the contemporary world.”

He emphasized that “the aim of the Church of Christ cannot be achieved by a secular ‘multiculturalism,’ as noble and much needed as such an accomplishment may be, especially at this time in history.”

Cardinal Gregory underscored how Catholics are a people who profess one faith, share one Eucharist and are sanctified by the sacraments. “Our unity is never simply tolerance, but oneness in faith and in grace,” he said.

The cardinal encouraged the Asian and Pacific Island Catholics to unite their hearts in prayer, asking God that peace and evangelical love be poured out on the lands and over the people represented there. Concluding his homily, the cardinal pointed out that, “After all, the Lord promised we would be one church, one people, his people, his beloved, and he will do it.”

Prayers of the faithful were then offered in Tagalog, Chinese, Indonesian, Burmese, a language of the Montagnards, the Konkani language of India, and then a final prayer in English, asking that God “grant the blessings we need as we journey together in his love.”

Then offertory gifts were brought to the cardinal by representatives of some of the communities wearing native dress.

Music at the Mass was led by a Filipino choir from Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna, Virginia; a Vietnamese choir from Our Lady of La Vang Mission in Chantilly, Virginia; and a Bengali choir from St. Camillus Parish in Silver Spring. According to the Mass program for the pilgrimage, participating communities also included Catholics with roots in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Thailand and Lebanon.

At a reception after the Mass, Wendi Williams, the executive director of the Office of Cultural Diversity and Outreach for the Archdiocese of Washington, called the gathering “a beautiful celebration and opportunity for us to be together in prayer.”

In an interview, Scalabrinian Sister Myrna Tordillo, a native of the Philippines, who is the assistant director for the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Cultural Diversity in the Church, said the annual pilgrimage offers a vibrant witness of the religious identity and cultures of the participating immigrant and refugee communities as they seek to pass on their Catholic faith to younger generations.

“We are united in our diversity through our faith and our devotion to our Blessed Virgin Mary who is our model and example of being a disciple to her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,” she told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper.

That point was echoed by Fred Semendy, a native of India who is a retired physicist and engineer and who serves as the president of the Asian and Pacific Catholic Network. He said the gathering began as an effort to bring Asian Catholics together at the basilica to pray the rosary, and has continued for the past 20 years as an annual pilgrimage, a shared spiritual journey for those communities.

“Even though our cultures and languages are different, we are uniting under Jesus and Mary. Through Mary to Jesus, that is our goal,” he said.

— Mark Zimmermann, OSV News

 

 

Holy Year 2025 website to go live; registration opens in the fall

Posted on by Catholic News Service

The Vatican office in charge of coordinating plans for the Holy Year 2025 announced they are launching a new website and releasing an app to help people register and to guide them along their pilgrimage in Rome.

By registering online at iubilaeum2025.va or on the jubilee app, people will receive a free digital “pilgrim’s card,” which will be needed to participate in jubilee events, especially gaining access to the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica, said Msgr. Graham Bell, undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s section that is coordinating the Holy Year.

The jubilee website was to go live May 10 and be available in nine languages, he said at a news conference at the Vatican May 9.

People can begin registering online starting in September, he said, “by clicking on the ‘participate’ button.” After registering, people will be able to access a personal page on the site’s “pilgrim’s zone,” which will also go live in September.

Registrants will receive a digital “pilgrim’s card,” which is a personal QR code needed to access jubilee events and better facilitate the pilgrimage to the Holy Door, the monsignor said. There also will be an option to purchase a “service card” for a nominal fee to receive special discounts for transportation, lodging, food and museums during the pilgrimage.

The jubilee website and app will give news and information on the Holy Door of St. Peter’s and the other basilicas as well as offer the possibility of organizing one’s own pilgrimage within the city, Msgr. Bell said.

People can choose from three proposed pilgrimages: “the traditional pilgrimage of St. Philip Neri with the seven churches; the pilgrimage on the churches dedicated to the women doctors of the church and patrons of Europe; and the ‘Iter Europaeum,’ that is, the 28 churches in 27 different European countries, plus the church that represents the European Union.”

“Tools are being prepared to better introduce pilgrims into these paths and to promote knowledge of the works of art in the various churches,” he said. It marks “an important effort carried out in agreement with the (Italian) Ministry of Tourism, which will encourage the discovery of many places often unknown to tourists themselves.”

“Rome has always been a cultural attraction and our aim is that the pilgrim may also become a tourist, just as the tourist may be fascinated by the pilgrim experience,” said Archbishop Rino Fisichella, pro-prefect of the section.

Starting in September, he said, they will open an exhibition “with works by the great Spanish Renaissance artist, El Greco.”

The pieces “have never left Spain and are being made available for this very occasion,” he said. The exhibit will be held in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone facing onto Piazza Navona and will feature El Greco’s three masterpieces: “The Baptism of Christ,” “Christ Carrying the Cross” and “Christ Blessing.”

Other art exhibits will take place throughout the run-up to and during the jubilee, including ones that will rotate into places like hospitals and prisons, he said. “We want as much as possible for these events to have free access, in order to encourage the participation of citizens in the contemplation of beauty that allows a better relationship with the city and its people.”

Archbishop Fisichella said Pope Francis has asked Catholics worldwide to prepare for the next jubilee year by spending 2023 studying the documents of the Second Vatican Council, especially its four constitutions, which focused on: the liturgy; the church as the people of God; Scripture; and the role of the church in the modern world.

“In order to help local churches in their catechetical, human and especially Christian formation paths, and to give younger people the opportunity to know and rediscover the central contents of the council,” he said, the dicastery published a series of 35 small volumes titled, “Council Notebooks,” in December.

The “notebooks” have already been translated into Spanish in one hardcover volume titled, “Cuadernos del Concilio,” he said, and they are now being translated into English by ATC Publishers-India.

Since the pope wants 2024 to be dedicated to prayer in preparation for the jubilee, the dicastery will publish an in-depth series called “Notes on Prayer” to promote “the centrality of prayer, personal and communal,” the archbishop said.

“We are studying the possibility of a ‘school of prayer’ with pathways that would cover the vast world of prayer,” he added.

The opening and closing dates of the jubilee year will be announced in the pope’s “Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee, which will be published according to tradition on the feast of the Ascension, May 9, 2024,” Archbishop Fisichella said.

The ordinary jubilee will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in December 2024, he said, and there will be “major jubilee events” throughout 2025. For example, Jan. 24, 2025, will be dedicated to the World of Communications, May 30-June 1, 2025, will be dedicated to families, and July 28-Aug. 3, 2025, will be dedicated to young people.

The archbishop also announced that Italian composer Francesco Meneghello was the winner of the competition for an original score for the official hymn for the Holy Year 2025 that highlights its theme, “Pilgrims of Hope.” The lyrics were written by Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, an Italian theologian, composer and musician.

The city of Rome has estimated more than 30 million people will come to Rome for the jubilee year.

At least 87 public works projects are set to begin at an initial cost of 1.8 billion euro. Projects include revamping key areas, increasing accessibility and transport, and improving reception services and infrastructure.

— Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

 

Brattleboro Catholic school students lauded for rankings on Latin test

Posted on by Cori Urban

Nine students from St. Michael elementary and high schools in Brattleboro earned top awards in the 2023 National Latin Exam.

“It takes hard work and commitment” to achieve such success on the test given annually to Latin students throughout the world to promote and support the learning and teaching of the Latin language, said one of the schools’ two Latin teachers, Helen Schultz.

Some 100,000 students in 21 countries took this year’s exam.

The winners from the Brattleboro Catholic schools are:

+ Lily Tainter — cum laude certificate (“with honor”)

+ Dezrah Bills — magna cum laude certificate (“with great honor”)

+ Anthony Bills, Sean Froula, Sam Buchanan, Hudson Buckley, Carter Buckley, and John-Paul DeLaBruere — maxima cum laude certificates (“with greatest honor”)

+ James Gardner — summa cum laude certificate (“with highest honor”).

James received a perfect score on the exam.

Latin is informally introduced to the students at St. Michael School in the third grade; formal coursework is required from grades seven through 12.

Carter, a junior at the high school, is considering a career in foreign affairs and finds that studying Latin helps him “pick up” other Romance languages more quickly: “It gives you an excellent base to learn a new language.”

In addition, studying Latin helps with his study of theology because some texts are written in both Latin and English, and the Latin text helps him understand concepts better.

“We have a high level of theology and chemistry (taught here), and Latin helps us better understand some of the more complicated terms like ‘transubstantiation,” said John-Paul, a junior.

Schultz pointed out that 60 percent of all English words are derived from Latin; 90 percent of words with more than two syllables are.

Eighth grader Dezrah said she has found it easy to learn Latin, noting that she learned all of the Latin I lessons in less than a trimester when she transferred to St. Michael’s from another school where she took Spanish. “Knowing Spanish helps you learn Latin,” she said.

Latin, said sophomore Hudson, “is a good start for other languages.”

“You know you know Latin when you’re writing in English and it looks wrong,” said Sean, a freshman, because “you’re thinking in Latin” and sometimes writing in Latin too.

 

Eucharistic adoration and the Mass

Posted on by Josh Perry

As I’m reading the Eucharistic Testimonies that are coming in from around the Diocese, I’m continually struck by and grateful for the impact that both the Mass and Eucharistic Adoration have had on the lives of many Catholics.

Today, I want to highlight the important relationship between the Mass and Eucharistic Adoration — whether that adoration happens in front of a closed tabernacle or during Eucharistic Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance. To be clear, the Church speaks of the preeminence of the celebration of Mass over all other activities in which the Church engages, including Eucharistic Adoration: The celebration of the Eucharist is the center of the entire Christian life. … ‘The other sacraments, all the ministries of the Church, and the works of the apostolate are united with the eucharist and are directed toward it. For the holy eucharist contains the entire spiritual treasure of the Church, that is, Christ himself. …’

— Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside of Mass (HCOM), 1.

Speaking specifically of the worship outside of Mass that one offers to Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the Church says that “the celebration of the eucharist in the sacrifice of the Mass … is truly the origin and the goal of the worship which is shown to the eucharist outside of Mass” (HCOM, 2).

In other words, the worship that we offer in Adoration outside of Mass both flows from and returns to the celebration of Mass. How, then, does our time in Adoration flow from the Mass? Simply put, our personal prayer in Adoration is an extension of our personal prayer that we offer at Mass. Indeed, in the Mass, we offer our “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” in union with the Sacrifice of Christ who offers Himself in a sacramental way back to God the Father. Our prayers and petitions are offered on the altar and are taken up into Christ’s very prayer to God the Father.

That our prayer — our “sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving” — can be continually offered in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist in Adoration outside of Mass is truly a gift. I use the image of the votive candle that is lit at Mass which symbolizes our prayers continuing even though the Mass may have ended and we leave the Church. In a sense, those attending Adoration become the candle; their prayer becomes an extension of the prayers offered at Mass. In this way, our prayers in Eucharistic Adoration can never be seen as separate from what we do at Mass; our prayer at Adoration flows from our prayer at Mass.

How does our time in Adoration return us to the Mass? Adoration always points us back to the Mass because it is in the Mass that our prayers become most effective and it is in the Mass that we find sacramental union with God.

It is true that Adoration allows us to pray in the presence of Christ in which we feel spiritually united to God, but Adoration should cause us to hunger for more — for sacramental communion with God. At Mass, not only do we pray in the presence of Christ, but our prayers are joined to the prayer and Sacrifice of Christ.

In that joining, we find that full spiritual and sacramental communion which is expressed by receiving communion. Let us always be mindful, then, that our prayer of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is an extension of what we are called to do at Mass and should always leave us yearning for that spiritual and sacramental union that only the miracle of the Mass can offer us.

— Josh Perry is the director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Burlington.

— Originally published in the May 6-12, 2023, edition of The Inland See.

 

 

Movie review: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’

Posted on by Our Sunday Visitor

Chris Pratt reprises his starring role as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Disney), and writer-director James Gunn returns to helm the project. But there’s a somber tone to long patches of this wrap-up of Gunn’s trilogy, which also lacks the verve that characterized its predecessors.

As leader of the titular team of miscellaneous superheroes, Peter is naturally alarmed when a previously unknown enemy endowed with mighty fighting prowess suddenly invades the ensemble’s headquarters, Knowhere. But anxiety turns to anguish when a confrontation with the new foe leaves his racoon comrade Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) gravely wounded.

To save Rocket’s life, Peter and his fellow warriors – likable brawny dope Drax (Dave Bautista), shifty trickster-turned-straight arrow Nebula (Karen Gillan), tentacled Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and anthropomorphized tree Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) – embark on a quest. They’re out to retrieve the computer code that will override Rocket’s programmed resistance to medicine.

Along the path of their journey, they receive off-and-on aid from Peter’s ex-girlfriend, Gamora (Zoe Saldaña). As fans of the interwoven “Avengers” franchise will know, Gamora was killed off, only to reappear as an alternate, younger version of herself. Not only does this mean she’s gone from Guardian to brigand, it also means she doesn’t remember Peter or their relationship.

As Peter grapples with this awkward complication in his once-flourishing romantic life, back at Knowhere, Rocket lies near death. While in a comatose state, he experiences a series of flashbacks to his youth.

These reveal that young Rocket was among the victims of a villain called The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) who used his hyper-intelligent prisoner as experimental fodder in a drive toward creating an ideal world populated by perfect beings. The torturous tinkering Rocket underwent included installing the technology that’s currently keeping him from healing.

Along with its implicitly pro-life warning about the dangers of interfering with nature, Gunn’s script satirizes the urge to resort to needless mayhem and highlights heroism and friendship. But the grim backstory to which much of the running time is devoted reinforces the movie’s inappropriateness for kids.

Grown-ups, by contrast, will appreciate that the combat, although at times intense, is kept bloodless. They may also feel that even the weakest installment of a series rich in charm and wit is worth patronizing. If nothing else, they’ll get one more chance to hum along with Redbone’s 1970s hit, “Come and Get Your Love” – and who doesn’t enjoy that?

The film contains much stylized but sometimes harsh violence, a torture theme, brief sexual humor, at least one mild oath, a single rough term and occasional crude and crass language. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

—John Mulderig, OSV News