Category Archives: Media Reviews

A Sobering Christmas Ghost Story

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leech-marleys-ghost-5Every year faithful Christians struggle with the rush and distraction of holiday preparations and long to take a moment to slow down and reflect on the real meaning of the season. It is an especially difficult struggle for Orthodox Christians as we are prescribed by Mother Church to fast in our preparation to meet the newborn King in his Nativity. The Lenten Fast by comparison is somewhat easier in the sense that the season is already more austere in the wider culture (everyone fasting in the springtime, if for no other religious reason, so that they can fit into summertime bathing suits). The weeks leading up to Christmas in America are anything but austere. Between Christmas parties at work, holiday concerts galore, and the extra latte at Starbucks to keep up our shopping stamina, few things in the broader culture give us pause to stop and reflect on our eternal destiny with one amazing exception, Charles Dicken’s classic Christmas ghost story, A Christmas Carol. Continue reading →

Little House and Little Women

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The following is a guest post from my oldest daughter. It represents a comparison contrast paper that I had her write as part of our Home School study of the literature of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Louisa May Alcott.

25522119Laura Ingalls and Jo March lived in different parts of America. Laura moved with her family to the big woods, the open prairie and the frontier towns. Jo March stayed in one town of New England most of her life. Both girls were troublemakers by getting into scrapes and starting fights. Continue reading →

What C.S. Lewis Did For My Love Life

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50th Anniversary of the Repose of C.S. Lewis
+ November 22, 1963 +

My first experience of the writing of C.S. Lewis was through his theological and cultural treatises. He made me a fan of theology when I was the ripe age of only 14. I still have yet to read any of his famous fictional work from start to finish. But the book which made the biggest difference in my life bridges those genres of fiction, culture, and theology. I picked up a copy of Lewis’ Four Loves when I was an undergraduate in college, and it changed my outlook on love and human relationships forever. Continue reading →

A New Catholic Saint

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Had the distinct pleasure to attend most of the American Chesterton Society’s National Convention at which I was the concluding speaker this final Saturday afternoon before evening Mass and the concluding banquet. It was a whirlwind of a convention covering the theme Education, Economics, and Everything Else. It was my first G. K. Chesterton Convention, and I hope that I can make many more to come in the future. I have been so long a devoted fan that it feels good finally to connect with my fellow devotees. Continue reading →

A Heart Stangely Warmed

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WesleySaw a movie the other night that finally satisfied my urge for faith-based film that was not overly contrived, pietistic, or filled with obvious moralizing and revivalist preachers not so cleverly disguised as deep and thoughtful people of the world. Perhaps because this was already a story about a revivalist preacher, the director did not feel like he had to make him into anything than he already was.

Rich in historical detail and an engaging story, Wesley tells the tale of the famous 18th century reformer John Wesley and his brother Charles, who became a voice of change in the Church of England both in Old and New England. Continue reading →

A Night at the Opera

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IMG_0184June 14- Repose of G.K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton

I always wondered what it would be like. In high school, I had a crazy Latin teacher who actually took all of us guys to Tosca, but the sub-title projector was broken so all that we understood of the story was that some guys were all after the same women and they were really disgusted about it. Tonight, though, my oldest daughter and I got our first taste of  well done opera that we could understand.

Every year the Boston Early Music Festival performs a centerpiece opera that is recently revived from the Baroque period of classical music. This year’s opera Almira features a love triangle involving a newly crowned Queen (Almira) and her many exotic and mysterious suitors. Continue reading →

Unlikely Disciples

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I think I am on to a new personal favorite genre of spiritual literature: memoirs that tell the story of a person’s unlikely spiritual transformation in an environment very much unfamiliar and even inimical to the one in which he/she was raised. The market is flooded with conversion stories to Christ, but ones that tell the story in a grateful and truly humble way are few and far between. Eager new converts too often come across to their audience as, “I’ve got it, whatever ‘it’ is, and you need it, whoever ‘you’ are.” With hardly a note of personal connection, their plea for salvation falls flat as nothing more than a hawking of cheap furniture.

Two books that have come out in the last few years buck this trend, the first one by a man who remained a more informed non-believer and the second by a lesbian English professor whose transformation led her to become the wife of a Reformed Presbyterian pastor. Continue reading →

Beautiful Dancing Will Save the World

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beautyWhat does the valedictorian of a prominent Orthodox Christian seminary do in her spare time? Many of her predecessors have written books that encourage more prayer, given rousing theological sermons that motivate people to action, and led whole flocks of faithful Christians into the Kingdom of God. This year, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology graduated a valedictorian that started her own Orthodox Christian dance company a few years back, not just a company with a prayer or two before performances, but a beautiful and cultural outpouring of what the Church celebrates daily in her life in Christ. Tonight’s spring concert proved once again that her efforts have not only been successful but salvific to the soul. Continue reading →

In Montreal for the People of Boston

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Our concert this past weekend in Montreal was an occasion too grand for words. It was an incredible honor to sing such a concert with two wonderful choirs, both ours, the Boston Byzantine Choir, and the theirs, the two choirs … Continue reading →