Religion

This is a full length color movie of the story of Our Lady's apparitions to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. It is faithful to the true story with just enough "Hollywood" to make it entertaining and likable even for the little ones. The scene where the three children are interrogated by the government officials might be is a little intense, so I wouldn't recommend having your little ones watch it without supervision. Otherwise, it's a great film for the whole family. My daughter (almost 6 years old) received this for Easter (Thank you Grandma! : ) and absolutely loved it. I was very impressed with how accurate the important aspects of the story are told. I especially love how they handled the miracle of the sun on October 13, 1917 and how they portray two of the miracles that occurred at the time.

When I was little, there was one Advent tradition that really stands out in my mind: the annual viewing of the movie, Miracle on 34th Street. It usually aired on the last weekday before Christmas Eve - we'd be home on Christmas Break, wrapping presents or decorating the house, and this classic would be playing in the background. I'm talking about THE classic 1947 movie - Natalie Wood as the little girl, Maureen O'Hara and John Payne as the "love interest", Gene Lockhart as the judge with a heart, and the ultimate St. Nick: Edmund Gwenn. This is the movie to start your holiday season!The idea for the movie originated as the Davies family watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from their apartment in post-WWII New York City. Mr. Davies remarked on the growing commercialism of the season and asked "What would Santa do if he were here today?" The answer was a classic movie from 20thCentury Fox. The book, The Miracle on 34th Street, is true to this original movie - written by Davies and his wife after the movie's debut, the book was an instant success. The copy we have, reprinted in 1998 by Galahad Books, is richly illustrated by Tomie de Paola.This has been our lunch-time read-aloud since Advent began. The book stays very close to the movie but does have some slight differences - there is no young Alfred in this book, but Mr. Sawyer is just as rotten!Reading this book aloud to my 3, 5, and 6 year-olds has helped me understand why I've always loved this story. Kris Kringle explains early on that "Christmas isn't just a day. It's a frame of mind." Towards the end of the book, Doris explains to her daughter that "faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to... Anyone could have faith when everything was fine. But real faith meant believing, rain or shine." These two quotes are a summation of why Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and why I don't mind my little ones believing in Santa Claus - he's the personification of the magic of the season and the mystery of Incarnate Word!

The New Catholic Answer Bible is a pretty standard revised New American Bible (RNAB) plus inserts about various aspects of Catholic teaching. It is not (as I had at first thought) a "study Bible" with lots of notes about the Scriptural content, relating it to doctrine, liturgy, history, etc. The inserts are basically short apologetic tracts written by a pair of well-known Catholic apologists. A reference to the book of the Bible into which they are inserted often, though not always, provides a connection.

The inserts take the form of a question about the Faith and its corresponding answer. A box at the bottom of the page provides a quick reference to the texts cited as well as additional Scripture and Catechism references. Each insert is limited to a single page, so they are necessarily brief in their treatment of the topic. Nevertheless, they do provide a good basic understanding of the answer and a starting point for further inquiry using the information in the box at the end.

A sampling of the topics addressed:

• What is Apologetics?
• Does the Church Teach Evolution?
• Why is Catholic Worship Full of Rituals?
• What is the Holy Trinity?
• Aren't Statues a Form of Idolatry?
• Why Won't the Church Ordain Women?
• Why Are Abortion and Embryonic Stem Cell Research Wrong?

I did find it a little annoying that some of the references given did not explicitly say what the context implied. For example, insert I-1 says in part:

At the same time, no matter how terrible the evil caused by sin, God is great enough, and wise enough, to bring about through that evil an even greater good (see Gn 50:20, Rom 8:28).

The first reference is what Joseph says to his brothers when they come to Egypt to get grain, while the second is the famous "All things work out for good for those who love God." Although these references do speak of God bringing good out of evil, it was not obvious to me that it was an "even greater good" than the one God would have brought about had the evil not taken place.

In another place, insert K-3 (about divorce) refers to Mt. 19:9, which contains the (in)famous "exceptive clause." Unfortunately, the RNAB has a unique rendering of this exception as "unless the marriage is unlawful," which is an interpretation or commentary; the actual text literally reads "except for unchastity." I am uncomfortable with the tract treating this gloss as though it were really what the Bible says. It may work with someone who only uses this Bible version, but what happens when he encounters a different version, or a Protestant calls him on it?

I consider these quibbles and overall, Thigpen and Armstrong have done an excellent job of explaining the Church's teaching on a variety of topics simply and accurately.

Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. See description above.

Sample questions from this book (page one)
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are called ________.
(a. the Communion of Saints, b. the Most Holy Trinity, c. the Beatitudes)
The Eucharist helps us to ___________.
(a. dream, b. think. c. love)
Jesus teaches that forgiving others is better than revenge. True or false?
Prayer is more like _________.
(a. running away, b. looking for fun, c. thirsting for water)