One of the biggest challenges facing Catholic teachers is how to help students live their faith in a culture that is increasingly counter to gospel values. Fortunately, the Daughters of St. Paul have been working to provide you with resources. The Pauline Center for Media Studies began in 1995 to “encourage and promote Media Mindfulness within the context of culture, education and faith formation.”
The Center offers teachers several important media literacy resources:
- Film Essays and Reviews: Over forty essays about faith and film, including several discussion guides that could be used with students. Movies discussed include Prince Caspian, The Golden Compass, Cinderella Man, Hotel Rwanda, Bruce Almighty, The Da Vinci Code, Fargo and The Village.
- Church Documents on Media: A convenient list of church statements regarding various issues in media
- Media, Catechesis and Preaching: A short but impressive set of catechetical resources
I’m also intrigued by Pauline’s series of books, Lights, Camera, Faith! A Movie Lover’s Guide to Scripture. Peter Malone and Sr. Rose Pacatte use movies to illuminate the meanings of the Sunday lectionary readings. Each book takes a different year in the cycle of readings, with a fourth volume that uses movies to explicate the ten commandments:
- Lights, Camera, Faith! Cycle A
- Lights, Camera, Faith! Cycle B
- Lights, Camera, Faith! Cycle C
- Lights, Camera, Faith! The Ten Commandments
They appear to be excellent resources for youth groups or even adult formation classes. I haven’t had a chance to look at these myself, so if you’ve read them or used them, leave a comment and share your experience with other readers.
Dear Nick,
Thank you so much for your kind review. We hope to update the site soon. Another book that I had the honor of co-authoring is MEDIA MINDFULNESS: EDUCATING TEENS ABUOT FAITH AND MEDIA (Gretchen Hailer, RSHM and Rose Pacatte, FSP, St. Mary’s Press, 2007 http://www.smp.org). Pauline Books and Media is publishing OUR MEDIA WORLD: TEACHING KIDS K-8 ABOUT FAITH AND MEDIA at the end of this year. I hope you will consider reviewing it when it comes out.
I have a blog as well: http://www.sisterrose.wordpress.com. I hope our revised website will allow me to blog there; if not, I try to keep this one current.
Blessings and best wishes
R
My name is Rick Vigil and I am an Independent video and audio producer. I am promoting my documentary “Spirituality and Its People El Valle de San Luis.” on my website http://downtoearthmedia.org/. This film takes place in a Valley in southern Colorado where spirituality and culture is a big part of the people who live there. The reason I believe in this film is that I was fortuned to have lived and experienced it growing up. I still today continue to practice my faith and culture even though I no longer live there. I would like to continue producing these types of films unfortunately it’s very costly. For this reason I am asking for your support. A percentage of the sales of this DVD get donated back to this three parishes highlighted in this film. I have recently placed “Spirituality and its People El Valle de San Luis” promotional video on You Tube.
Sincerely Rick Vigil
“Spirituality and Its People El Valle de San Luis”
Film Documentary/ Produced by Rick Vigil
Experience the faith and traditions within the Hispanic Catholic Communities
in the San Luis Valley in Colorado. Through this documentary you will see the interviews from the people themselves how they practice and live their faith passed down by their ancestors before them.
Vigil’s film shows how music, costumes, food, tears and prayer all combine as the San Luis Valley communities live out their understanding of and devotion to the mystery and pain of the passion of Christ.
Marvin Read
Pueblo Chieftain