Catholic Chronicle

War flick well-intentioned but flawed

Angela Kessler — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

NEW YORK (CNS)—The early stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the ultimately fruitless search for the Saddam regime's weapons of mass destruction, provide the context for "Green Zone" (Universal), an idealistic but raw combat drama.

Loosely inspired by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran's 2007 best-seller "Imperial Life in the Emerald City," this is the fictional tale of dedicated Army Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller (Matt Damon). Frustrated that his unit's hunt for the weapons of mass destruction that served as the justification for American intervention has led only to a series of dead ends, Miller begins to question the validity of the intelligence reports on which he and his comrades have been relying.

Jason Isaacs and Matt Damon star in a scene from the movie "Green Zone." The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Associat ion of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.(CNS photo/Universal)

His doubts bring him to the attention of two feuding residents of the titular American enclave within the Iraqi capital: Defense Department official and ideologue Clark Poundstone (Greg Kinnear), who's wholly indifferent as to how the conflict began so long as Iraq can be transformed into a functioning democracy, and rogue CIA station chief Martin Brown (Brendan Gleeson), a veteran Middle East analyst who believes the entire operation rests on a foundation of lies and fabrications.

Miller's pursuit of the truth also leads him to Wall Street Journal reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan), whose series of pre-war articles on the dangers posed by Saddam's weapons program had helped fuel public support for the offensive, pro-American local Freddy (Khalid Abdalla), who's willing to endanger himself to help secure a better future for his country, and former Saddam ally Gen. Ayad Hamza (Aymen Hamdouchi).

Hamza's out to strike a political bargain with the new occupiers, failing which, he's prepared to help launch a nationwide insurgency.

The subjects of just war and political truth telling are obviously worthy themes, especially the very timely issue of whether a preemptive strike can ever meet the criteria for a morally acceptable use of force according to the standards of traditional Catholic teaching.

But director Paul Greengrass' uneasy mix of political conspiracy yarn and action adventure increasingly takes on the qualities of a personal crusade by Miller, thereby blunting Brian Helgeland's script's ability to dissect larger questions of real-life morality. And the occasionally gritty scenes of battle and captivity, together with the persistently salty dialogue — all, perhaps, accurate enough — further restrict the appeal of this well-intentioned but flawed war story.

The film contains considerable action violence, some of it bloody, torture, several uses of profanity and frequent rough and crude language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L — limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Mr. Mulderig is on the staff of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

There's an 'app' for that: iPhone applications devised for Catholics

Laurie Stevens Bertke — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In a world that boasts continual technological change, the iPhone by Apple has gained near-iconic status. Even Apple boasts there are more than 140,000 applications — or "apps," in Apple-speak — that users can obtain for their phones.

It only follows that there would be some clever Catholics who have devised apps to bolster people's faith.

Dave Brown of Bend, Ore., invented a virtual rosary-beads app as a sign of thanksgiving after doctors found a successful bone-marrow match for his kindergarten-age daughter in 2008, curing her of her leukemia.

Brown and his wife, Jackie, prayed the rosary frequently through their daughter's treatment, even though one parent was in Bend keeping the home fires burning while the other stayed with the desperately ill girl in Portland, Ore. How? With iPhones that Dave Brown bought so they could talk and send photos and video.

As an information technology manager at a window and door company, Dave Brown used his know-how to design an iPhone app that allows the user to pray the rosary. The small screen has animated beads that can be moved with a touch. Corresponding prayers pop up on the screen, along with devotional images. The application knows which mystery to pray on which day. It even knows where the user left off if the rosary is interrupted. The app also has Spanish and French capability.

Brown told the Catholic Sentinel, Portland's archdiocesan newspaper, that within a year of its introduction, more than 20,000 sales of the app had been recorded. The Browns decided to keep the price low — 99 cents — to get as many people as possible praying.

A similar rosary app, known as the Prayer Beads App, was designed by Premier Christian media in England in advance of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Great Britain later this year and made available in March through Apple's online store.

Richard Smart, the firm's marketing director, told the Telegraph, a daily newspaper in England, he got papal encouragement to develop the app. "He has been encouraging young Catholics to use social media to share the message of Christ," Smart said. "We want to support that. In a way, you could say that we made this app for the pope."

The rosary beads for this app appear to sit on a lush bed of velvet. "The Prayer Beads App is intended for anyone who meditates or prays. Using the app is a tactile experience," Smart told the Telegraph.

In California, the Riverside Press-Enterprise daily newspaper reported that a San Bernardino priest will use an iPhone app to deliver daily inspirational video messages.

Divine Word Father Michael Manning, who hosts a show on cable television's Trinity Broadcasting Network, will make his iPhone debut in April.

According to the Press-Enterprise, Father Manning will record his daily messages at the San Bernardino studios of Wordnet Productions, a Catholic television ministry the priest founded.

The app is sponsored by the Vatican Observatory Foundation. The organization supports the work of the Vatican Observatory, which has telescopes near Rome and in the Arizona desert. Proceeds from the app's sales will help fund the observatory's research and education efforts.

The foundation chose Father Manning for his ability to effectively convey the church's message, according to Robert Thorne, CEO of a Beverly Hills firm that co-manages global licensing and media for the foundation.

And, just in time for Lent, Ave Maria Press has developed its own app: a Stations of the Cross app. While already available free at Apple's online iTunes app store, it was to be unveiled during the Los Angeles Religious Education Conference, to be held March 19-21.

An announcement by Ave Maria said the app works on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch, another Apple product.

The app features artwork by Michael O'Brien. It is based on a biblical-based Way of the Cross conceived by Pope John Paul II in 1991.

"We are delighted to explore creative digital ways of keeping our readers connected to God through prayer. It's our hope that many will take advantage of this free prayer resource," said Ave Maria Press publisher Tom Grady. The Ave Maria Press announcement called its app a "perfect pocket devotional."

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Contributing to this story was Ed Langlois in Portland.

St. John’s director’s music to debut in March

Laurie Stevens Bertke — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

TOLEDO—Luke Rosen, director of choral music at Toledo St. John’s Jesuit High School, also is a composer and a piece he wrote is to premiere March 13 and 14.

His music is being performed by the Toledo Masterworks Chorale at 8 p.m. March 13 at First Presbyterian Church in Maumee and at 7 p.m. March 14 at the Defiance Arts & Media Center. The piece, “Hallelujah,” was originally written in 2007 for the St. John’s Jesuit men’s chorus.

Mr. Rosen is having another original composition presented that he wrote for the Ohio University Singing Men of Ohio (SMO). Brook Jarosz, a St. John’s Jesuit alumnus and member of the Ohio University troupe “had been urging me to write a piece for the group,” Mr. Rosen says. “Over this past fall, I started formulating ideas.”

Jesuit Father Joaquin Martinez, president of the high school, mentioned the poem “Invictus” as a possible base to his creation.

“I liked the idea, but was looking for something a little more expansive,” Mr. Rosen says. “I wrote the lyrics for the piece, based on ideas from ‘Invictus’ during the fall. I began setting the text to music soon after.” He finished the text, “I Have Seen,” just before Christmas.

Dr. Peter Jarjisian, director of SMO, agreed to perform “I Have Seen” during this spring season. The piece is to premiere March 13 at OU. The group also is to perform it at a Men’s Chorus Conference at Miami University the following week.

As a part of its spring tour, SMO is to stop in Toledo March 24. A free concert is to be given at St. John’s at 8 p.m. with Mr. Rosen’s piece being presented.

“The level of musicianship this group possesses is truly remarkable, and their concert should be spectacular,” he said.

“I know they have spent a huge amount of time and effort on ‘I Have Seen.’ Last Friday, they invited me to attend a rehearsal and work with the group,” Mr. Rosen says. “They have done a great job bringing my music to life. I am excited to have the SJJ community hear the work of this fine ensemble.”

God renews, does not reinvent church, pope says

Laurie Stevens Bertke — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Second Vatican Council's renewal of the Catholic Church was a sign of progress, not a sign of repudiating the past, Pope Benedict XVI said.

"We know that after the Second Vatican Council some people were convinced that everything was new, that there was a new church, that the pre-conciliar church was finished and that we would have a completely different church," the pope said during his general audience March 10.

Their vision would have led to "a utopian anarchy," he said, but the wise guidance of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II "defended the new things brought by the council, while affirming the oneness and continuity of the church."

The pope's made his remarks about reactions to the Second Vatican Council during an audience talk focused on St. Bonaventure's attempts in the mid-1200s to balance enthusiasm for the new form of religious life introduced by St. Francis of Assisi with continued fidelity to the hierarchal church.

St. Bonaventure taught the early Franciscans and continues to teach Catholics today that living the faith requires "discernment, sober realism and openness to new gifts" given to the church by the Holy Spirit, the pope said.

St. Bonaventure was superior of the Franciscans at a time when a large group of friars embraced the teaching of Joachim of Fiore, who taught that history followed a "Trinitarian rhythm," in which the Old Testament age was the time of God the father, a time of severity; the New Testament and the first millennium of the church was the time of Jesus Christ and the "relative freedom" that came from no longer being bound to many of the Jewish laws; and the age of the Holy Spirit was to be a time "of complete freedom," the pope said.

The group of Franciscans who saw St. Francis as initiating the age of the Holy Spirit believed it would be a time when "the hierarchical church was left behind in order to give birth to the new church of the Holy Spirit, no longer tied to the old structures," the pope said.

"There was, therefore, a risk of a very serious misunderstanding of St. Francis' message and of his humble fidelity to the Gospel and to the church," the pope said.

After studying Joachim of Fiore in depth, St. Bonaventure presented his own theology of history, affirming that history is a progressive movement, but that it is directed by God, who is one and who has fully revealed himself to humanity in Jesus Christ, the pope said.

The Gospel is God's final revelation to humanity and the church is where God wants people to live their faith, the pope said.

"This does not mean that the church is immobile, fixed in the past and that there can never be anything new in it," the pope said, because as St. Bonaventure taught, "the works of Christ do not go backward, but progress."

Greeting English speakers at the audience, Pope Benedict spoke of the "promising sign of hope" coming from the Northern Ireland Assembly's vote March 9 to move oversight of the police and of the courts from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, furthering the process toward full local governance.

The pope said he prayed the move would "help consolidate the future of peace desired by all."

And, at the end of the audience, the pope also expressed his condolences to the people of eastern Turkey where an earthquake March 8 left more than 50 people dead and left thousands homeless.

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Editor's Note: The text of the pope's audience remarks in English will be posted online at: www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100310_en.html.

The text of the pope's audience remarks in Spanish will be posted online at: www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100310_sp.html.

Students, faculty blog about spring break service activities

Laurie Stevens Bertke — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

SYLVANIA—As they spend their spring break serving others in New Orleans, North Carolina and Peru, Lourdes College students and faculty are also documenting and sharing their experiences online.

One group of 18 students, alumni and staff departed March 7 on the 14th annual Habitat for Humanity alternative spring break trip. The group traveled to High Point, N.C., to work for the Habitat for Humanity Highpoint, Archdale and Trinity affiliate. They return March 13.

The students are keeping an online blog of their experiences at http://www.lourdes.edu/AboutLourdes/MissionMinistry/CampusMinistry/MissionandMinistryBlog.aspx.

Another group of faculty and students from Lourdes College traveled to New Orleans to conduct professional development activities with teachers and students in the Archdiocese of New Orleans school system.

Notre Dame Sister Marya Czech, assistant professor of biology and health sciences; Jennifer Fong, director of the center for professional studies; Notre Dame Sister Jaculin Manders, instructor of mathematics; Kerri Riggs, instructor of psychology and several Lourdes students are to give presentations and workshops focusing on subjects including curriculum mapping, digital literacy, genetics and evolution and kinesthetic learning of science processes.

“This is our second year working with these schools,” says Sr. Czech. “After Hurricane Katrina hit, the schools received a number of new technologies during the rebuilding process. Our professional development activities focus on helping the teachers learn how best to utilize these technologies and apply them in their classrooms.”

The group is keeping an online blog during the trip at http://www.lourdes.edu/professionalstudies.

A third team of students led by Dr. Martha Gallagher, an instructor of nursing at Lourdes College, set out on a mission trip to Lima, Peru, to provide health care to area residents. Dr. Gallagher is keeping an online blog documenting the trip at http://www.lourdes.edu/peru.