PRINCETON — Have you heard of the phenomena called “Flash Mobs”?
St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 1211 W. Main St., is organizing a “Mass Mob” to fill the pews with as many people as possible. It will take place on Palm Sunday, April 13, at the 10:30 a.m. Mass.
MADISON — Catholic Charities, Madison, announces new members for the 2014 Board of Directors, serving a three-year term:
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Darren Aronofsky’s cinematic re-telling of the story of Noah has certainly stirred people up.
While quite a few reviewers, both religious and non-religious, have given the film high marks, many Christians, both Evangelical and Catholic, have registered a far less than enthusiastic reaction.
One prominent Catholic blogger and movie reviewer opined that Noah is “embarrassingly awful” and “the stupidest film in years.” Most of the religious critics have complained that the film plays fast and loose with the Genesis account, adding all sorts of distracting and fantastic elements to the well-known story. In the midst of all of this — and no doubt in part because of it — Noah took in $44 million on its opening weekend.
Noah is best interpreted, I think, as a modern cinematic midrash on the Biblical tale. The midrashim — extremely popular in ancient Israel — were imaginative elaborations of the often spare Scriptural narratives. They typically explored the psychological motivations of the major players in the stories and added creative plot lines, new characters, etc.
As we get closer to Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, we enter a time to reflect on Christ’s Paschal Mystery and how we can apply it to our own lives. While on a much smaller scale, sometimes certain events in our life become a microcosm of the Passion.
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Emergency: Syria! Emergency: South Sudan! Emergency: Democratic Republic of the Congo!
These are the alarming messages being displayed on the homepage (www.unhcr.org) of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
According to the UNHCR, Syria has more people forcibly displaced than any country on earth. Over nine million Syrians have been uprooted from their homes due to civil war — over 2.5 million of them have fled to neighboring countries as refugees. And most distressing, more than half of the displaced are children.
In South Sudan, UNHCR reports the civil war and growing food shortages there has led to approximately 2,000 people crossing into nearby countries per day. Many of these refugees have been arriving exhausted, nutritionally weak, and in poor health.
