Thank you Fr. Willy for these wonderful quotes

From Frank Capra's Autobiography: Frank Capra: the Name Above the Title

"It may happen to you only once in a hundred Masses - but it will happen. You walk back from communion with the Host on your tongue - a nobody. You kneel, drop your head in your hands. Slowly the wonder of it fills you with joy - the dissolving Host in your mouth is the Living Christ! The priest, the church, all the bowed heads around you, disappear. You hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing. Your mind empties itself of all thought, your body of all substance. You are a spirit suffused in a glorious light. And out of its glory a word infuses your spirit: 'Courage!' You have glimpsed the Eternal. The Light fades. Thoughts re-form in your mind; substance returns to your body; bowed heads around you materialize. You hear the priest say, 'Go, the Mass is ended.' You leave filled with the urge to shout it to the whole world - 'Courage! Courage!'"

And from Myles Connolly, filmmaker and author, in his prescient 1928 novel Mr. Blue

"If you want to reach the masses you can reach them through pictures. These new children can be bent and molded as they sit in the dark enrapt before the magic of the mobile screen. There, in the dark, they can be lifted out of their daily servitude. There, they can be raised above their stone-and-steel environment. There, they can be brought to the high places and shown the deeps beyond the hard horizon.... Here is a destiny for an art second to none in history. For it is given to the motion picture to save the soul of a civilization."

Why there might be hope for the culture

When a movie like "The King's Speech" wins 4 of the big Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay - it's hard to argue that Hollywood is beyond hope.

The King's Speech is based on the historical events surrounding the abdication of King Edward the VIII and the accession of George VI to the throne of the United Kingdom in 1936. However, the scandalous abdication by Edward in order to marry the American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, is only a small part of the movie. The main conflict of the film revolves around the newly crowned King George VI coming to grips with a horrible speech impediment while his kingdom is on the brink of entering World War II.

The widespread acclaim for Colin Firth's exceptional portrayal of King George VI provides good reason to hope for more movies celebrating the virtues and traits that are typically caricatured and mocked in modern culture - courage, perseverance, loyalty to family and tradition, and above all a sense of honor and decency. In some ways I find it equally gratifying that Edward VIII is portrayed as wimpy and self-indulgent in pursuing his marriage to Simpson. One can easily imagine a modern film celebrating his abdication and marriage as the triumph of "true-love" over the staid and outdated rituals of a dying generation.

Despite the "R" rating, I would have no problem bringing my children to this film, although I think the message might be a bit subtle for immature teens. It boggles the mind that the King's Speech received an "R" rating for one scene involving language (and a very mild one at that when taken in context), while every type of soft-core pornography typically receives a "PG-13" rating.

The Lenten Movie Cycle: Enhancing Lent Through Film

Every year our family turns off the television for the 40 days of Lent. As those of you who are Catholic know, Sundays do not count as part of Lent, so, like every good Catholic, we immediately revert to every vice that we've sworn off for lent as soon as the clock strikes 12 on Saturday night.

It seemed a little odd to me and my wife, however, that on the one day that is set apart to keep holy, we should immediately engage in the particular behaviours that we for some reason deemed it spiritually good for us to avoid during the week.

Therefore, we decided that on the weekends during Lent, we would only watch movies that somehow edified, uplifted and inspired our family to be better people and to deepen our faith.

Welcome to the Catholic Movie Guide

Purpose of the blog & the Vatican "Greatest Movies" list

Greetings! The Catholic Movie Guide is intended to be both a forum and a guide for those who share an interest in movies with Christian themes.

This blog's purpose is to promote a thoughtful and stimulating discussion of particular films that will lead to the continual development of a comprehensive list of movies that edify, uplift and deepen faith in God.

I couldn't think of a better place to start than with the list of 45 "great films" that the Vatican assembled on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of film in 1995. The movies are divided into three categories: "Religion," "Values" and "Art."