Stories of restoring the sacred, and updates from StoryTel Foundation.
We feel that this homily by Archbishop Charles J. Chaputby give on July 4th at Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, is the perfect follow up to our posts about the Andy Garcia film For Greater Glory."
We're posting this and other articles about the new movie "For Greater Glory" because it's an incredible TRUE STORY about how a government attempted to deny its people, in this case Catholics of Mexico, of their right to religious freedom. Enough people said "NO" to this outrage and demonstrated publicly; and some, as a last resort, armed themselves against this diabolical regime and went to war with them in a life and death struggle to restore their rights, to restore the sacred!
Here is in excerpt from the companion book to the movie:
Foreword
By Archbishop José Gomez
The anti-Catholic persecutions in Mexico in the 1920s and 1930s are long forgotten, it seems.
The reality is hard to believe. Just a generation ago, not far from our borders, thousands of men, women and 
even children, were imprisoned, exiled, tortured, and murdered. All for the “crime” of believing in Jesus Christ and wanting to live by their faith in him.
So I welcome the new film, For Greater Glory. It tells the dramatic story of this unknown war against religion and our Church’s heroic resistance. It’s a strong film with a timely message. It reminds us that our religious liberties are won by blood and we can never take them for granted.
That such repression could happen in a nation so deeply Catholic as Mexico should make everybody stop and think. Mexico was the original cradle of Christianity in the New World. It was the missionary base from which most of North and South America, and parts of Asia, were first evangelized.
Yet following the revolution in 1917, the new atheist-socialist regime vowed to free the people from all “fanaticism and prejudices.
Churches, seminaries and convents were seized, desecrated and many were destroyed. Public displays of piety and devotion were outlawed. Catholic schools and newspapers were shut down; Catholic political parties and labor unions banned. Priests were tortured and killed, many of them shot while celebrating Mass. Read more.
Andy Garcia: Taking taboos off the back burner.
Hollywood puts out a lot of rubbish, but now and then something unexpected breaks through. Such as "For Greater Glory," a film that opens Friday and portrays Christianity, of all things, as heroic. Lead actor Andy Garcia talked with IBD about why it's different.
The film was originally called "Cristiada," a Spanish reference to a little-known rebellion in western Mexico from 1926 to 1929, where Christians rose up against a socialist secularist government that tried to stomp out religion in the name of "progress."
After peaceful protests failed, Mexico's "Cristeros" formed an army to fight the government in the name of defending their religious freedom. The three-year war cost 56,000 lives, but in the end, the Cristeros mostly prevailed.
Hollywood wouldn't be expected to touch a topic that put Christians in a heroic role. [more]
read full article.
The Poet who saved a saint's priceless letters
Joseph Pearce recalls the extraordinary life of Roy Campbell, who hid St John of the Cross’s letters from Spanish militiamen.
Catholic convert Roy Campbell was the inspiration for the Lord of the Rings character Aragorn
It was March 1936. A series of anti-clerical riots swept through Toledo. Churches were burned and priests and monks were attacked in the streets. During these disturbances several Carmelite monks, disguised in lay clothes, sought shelter in the home of the South African poet, Roy Campbell, who had moved to the city with his wife, Mary, and their two young daughters in the previous year. Four months later, on July 21, republican forces advanced on the city. Under cover of darkness, the Carmelite monks once again called on the Campbells. This time, however, they were not seeking refuge for themselves but for their priceless archives, which included the personal papers of St John of the Cross. Campbell agreed to take possession of these precious archives and that night a heavy trunk of ancient documents was delivered secretly from the Carmelite library to the hallway of the Campbells’ house. [more]
read full article.
And, if you'd liked to hear the Miles Christi CD's that arrived yesterday, you can preview the tracks in our store.
"Miles Christi Traditional Folk Music From Argentina" Music CDs in Boxes
UPS just delivered 500 CDs of our latest audio production: Traditional Folk Music from Argentina performed by Miles Christi Religious Order.
I'm happy to report that we have already received a large number of CD orders. I highly recommend getting one or two copies of this CD before they are gone. The music is simply delightful and its benefits a great cause.
To order a CD call (402) 502-9258
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
StoryTel to Release Music CD Performed by Miles Christi Religious Order
CD will be folk music debut for international religious order
StoryTel Productions, will release an album of traditional Argentinean folk music performed by the priests and seminarians of Miles Christi, an international religious order founded in Argentina.
OMAHA, NE — May 9, 2012 —StoryTel Productions, a non-profit foundation that “inspires reverence to God,” is set to release an album of traditional folk music from Argentina performed by priests and seminarians of the Miles Christi Religious Order.
In their upcoming film on Miles Christi, StoryTel cameras follow two young seminarians from Michigan to Argentina to document daily life during their formation to become priests of Miles Christi, a growing religious order which offers silent Ignatium retreats in the U.S. and abroad.
While on location in Argentina, the StoryTel production crew learned that the Miles Christi priests and seminarians enjoy singing and playing traditional South American folk music. Recognizing the opportunity to share their heartwarming sounds, StoryTel Producer/Director Don Carney organized an impromptu recording of the musical performance.
Carney said: “They were so good, we just had to record them! I plan to incorporate some of the songs into our documentary Miles Christi: In The Mission Fields of America, which will premier on EWTN in 2013.”
Since the recording in 2011, StoryTel’s go-to audio production guru Tom Krol of Level 10 Sound, enhanced the CD audio and added a lyric book with an English translation that maintains the poetic nuances of the original Spanish.
StoryTel plans to donate the album, free of any royalties, to Miles Christi so they can sell copies and promote their mission: the sanctification of the laity, particularly of college students.
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StoryTel Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to producing compelling media works to restore the sacred and inspire reverence to God.
StoryTel serves Christian non-profit organizations by enabling them to broadcast and distribute their story at a fraction of the production cost and sometimes even for free. StoryTel's media works provide Christian organizations an emotional and compelling tool to be used for their own fundraising. Support StoryTel Foundation as we restore the sacred.
10506 Burt Circle, Omaha, NE 68114 - (402) 502 9258
Mother Angelica's EWTN has been so supportive of StoryTel and we are so grateful for it. Here is a great blog post we found about Mother Angelica by blogger Jennifer Fulwiler
What Mother Angelica Taught Me About Radical Faith
Inspired by Mother Angelica's example of radical faith, I recalled the lessons from her biography, and came up with the top eight things that the rest of us can learn from her example
Here is our favorite part:
Just start
All throughout Arroyo's biography, you see the message of: "Just start." When Mother Angelica would sense that God was calling her to do something, she didn't wait until she had all the answers about how it would work out. She would simply take that first step forward, and trust that she would get the resources and information she needed to take the next step when that time came. When she first felt the call to build a TV studio, here is how she responded:
She instructed the builder to expand the slab to accommodate a "television studio." The man looked bewildered, as if the nun had just spoken to him in Aramaic. "I don't know anything about a TV studio," he said.
"I don't know anything about it either, but that's not the point. We're going to build one," Mother declared. With no dedicated funds, no business plan, and no hesitation, Angelica faithfully leapt into independent television production.
"Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous," Mother said of her sudden decision. "When you have God, you don't have to know everything about it; you just do it."
read the full article here.
This is a story and a half! Maybe we ought to consider an "On Assignment" documentary for this one?
Recognition finally for a warrior priest's heroics
by Daniel Nasaw
On 2 November 1950, Father Kapaun made the decision that led to his death. The Korean war chaplain was in the middle of a firefight, with the American forces overrun by Chinese soldiers outside a crossroads town called Unsan in North Korea. Lighting forest fires to frustrate US reconnaissance planes, the Chinese surrounded the Americans and pressed in, attacking with small arms, grenades and even bayonets. Meanwhile, Chaplain Emil Kapaun, a Catholic priest from a farming village in Kansas, gathered the wounded in a dugout shelter made of logs and straw.[see video and read more]
Read full article.
StoryTel is continuing to help and collaborates with others who create media aimed at Restoring The Sacred:
One Example: We began supporting Catholic radio in 2011 by paying for regular commercial spots that speak of StoryTel Foundation as a friend and supporter of Catholic Radio and an organization that restores the sacred via media.
The money we pay for these ads provides much needed funding for Catholic Radio while raising public awareness of StoryTel and directing traffic to our website. These ads have proven so successful in Omaha that we’re now looking at doing the same thing on Relevant Radio and other Catholic networks.
We’re also actively consulting and collaborating with a growing number of others who produce media with the same aim as our projects because the need is there and it fits within the realm of our mission.
A few examples are: Barbara McGuigan of “The Good Fight”, a popular EWTN radio program, and Barbara’s “Voice of Virtue” ministry, and another popular Catholic Radio host, Kris McGregor, and her “Discerning Hearts Media”.
Keep Restoring The Sacred!
