At the heart of the Church is the Eucharist. The presence of Our Lord’s Body and Blood has the ability to transform lives in a variety of ways, and a new documentary film seeks to illustrate that.
EWTN News Nightly recently spoke with Lucia Gonzales, founder of Bosco Films, about ‘Alive’, which seeks to highlight the transformative power of the Eucharist through the lives of five people.
“It’s a very special documentary,” Gonzales said, “because it’s just people speaking about something that happened to them … how their life was before and after this moment in adoration, without knowing what was happening there, that changed their life forever.”
Gonzales described the film’s positive reception in Spain and Mexico, which took some by surprise.
“It was released exactly one year ago … in six theaters … [and] it was a huge success, ” Gonzales recounted. “[The movie] one year ago was sold out in all the seasons and in all the theaters … it was something that surprised a lot in the cinema industry because Alive doesn’t have a well-known director, it doesn’t have stars, [it didn’t have a high budget] to make it and for advertising. It was just people speaking to one another.”
Speaking about the film’s ability to resonate with so many people, Gonzales spoke about how she felt that the pandemic ultimately made people more open to talking more about spirituality. Additionally, the amount of continual hurt and pain that it has caused worldwide has allowed for the film’s themes to touch the hearts of its moviegoers as well.
Gonzales said it is the authenticity of the experiences in the film and how they are expressed to the moviegoer that, she believes, gives the film the heart necessary to inspire viewers.
“It’s just people speaking to you and telling you something that happens to them, ” Gonzales said, “and when you see and hear the truth, I think we can recognize it absolutely.”
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Archbishop José H. Gomez places the Book of Gospels and a cross on the coffin of Bishop David O’Connell before leading a procession at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. / Photo by Jay L. Clendenin-Pool/Getty Images
CNA Newsroom, Mar 3, 2023 / 16:56 pm (CNA).
Thousands gathered Friday for the funeral of slain Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell, who was remembered as “a friend of Jesus Christ” and the poor.
Archbishop José Gomez presided over the funeral Mass, held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. Speaking briefly at the conclusion of the liturgy, Gomez said “Bishop Dave,” as O’Connell was affectionately known, would be sorely missed, but “we know that he’s in heaven.”
“From there he’s going to continue to intercede for us,” Gomez said, “as he has done his whole life.”
O’Connell, 69, a popular Irish-born priest who worked on myriad social causes in South L.A. for the past 45 years, died Feb. 18 after being shot multiple times in his Hacienda Heights home, according to District Attorney George Gascón. Carlos Medina, the husband of O’Connell’s housekeeper, has admitted to murdering the bishop, Gascón said in a Feb. 22 press conference.
One of O’Connell’s closest friends, Monsignor Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane, gave the homily at Friday’s Mass.
“We’re heartbroken with you,” he said, speaking to O’Connell’s relatives sitting in the packed cathedral. “But thank you and your parents and those who’ve gone before you for giving us the blessing of him.”
Monsignor Jarlath (Jay) Cunnane speaks at the funeral Mass of Bishop David O’Connell at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. Credit: YouTube/olaCathedral
The Holy Father’s message, which was first shared with attendees at a memorial Mass for O’Connell on Wednesday, was shared again at the beginning of Mass Friday.
“To those gathered for the Mass of Christian burial and to all who mourn Bishop O’Connell’s loss in the sure hope of the resurrection, the Holy Father cordially imparts his blessing as a pledge of peace and consolation in the Lord,” Gomez said, reading the statement, which was signed by Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Following the reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Cunnane described O’Connell as “David, the friend of Jesus Christ; David, the friend of the poor.”
Said Cunnane: “I can’t imagine having walked that road without David at my side. I’m sure I would have got lost. I would have gone astray.” He said that O’Connell “was good at friendship” and was his “Anam Cara,” Gaelic for “soul friend.”
“He was a friend of souls. David did soul work. He spoke to the soul. He healed souls. He brought peace to souls,” Cunnane said, adding that “more than anything else … Bishop Dave was a friend of Jesus Christ and of Mary our Blessed Mother.”
Cunnane spoke about O’Connell’s devotion to the rosary and the Blessed Mother and mentioned his strong prayer life in recent years.
“For Dave life was, and especially in the recent years, life was prayer. Life was in the presence of Christ, and that is what he shared. Yes, he helped the poor. Yes, he fought for justice. But most of all, what he wanted to share was that encounter with Jesus Christ,” he said.
Cunnane added that he has battled sickness over the past number of years, which has hospitalized him. He said that O’Connell faithfully visited him in the hospital every day.
“I think I hear the Lord say to you, ‘My friend David O’Connell, come, blessed of my Father, enter the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of creation,’” Cunnane concluded.
‘The rock of the family’
David O’Connell, Bishop O’Connell’s nephew, offered remarks about his uncle before the Mass concluded.
“Uncle Dave was an inspiration for us throughout our whole lives and he will remain to be so,” O’Connell said.
“He taught us that if you have the capacity to help someone, you should do it. I can hear him so clearly in my mind saying, ‘Ah, it’s no problem I can do it.’ All he wanted to do was make things easier for everyone else and he never asked for a single thing in return, ever.”
Bishop David O’Connell’s nephew, David O’Connell, speaks at the bishop’s funeral Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on March 3, 2023. Credit: YouTube/olaCathedral
O’Connell said that his uncle would consistently offer his prayers for his nieces and nephews as they encountered challenges in their lives.
“He never ended a phone call without telling me how proud he was of me,” O’Connell said, fighting back tears.
“He was really the rock of the family, the one we went to for advice, and for support. We are all heartbroken,” he said.
O’Connell said that a new opportunity presents itself following his uncle’s death.
“We now all have the opportunity to pick up where he left off and carry the example that he set. Help those that you can help. Lend an ear and listen to people. Respect each other. Be considerate and give others the benefit of the doubt. Have patience, and give everyone a chance. Make sure that those who are closest to you know that you love them and that you are proud of them,” he said.
“Uncle Dave, we all love you so much. I am so sorry that you will not be here for all the things that are to come in our lives, at least not in person,” he said. “Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of his hand.”
CNA Staff, Jan 1, 2021 / 04:09 pm (CNA).- During his upcoming administration, presumed President-Elect Joe Biden will have to deal with the issue of abortion, and Catholics must engage with him says Charles C. Camosy in an op-ed published by First Things on the last day of 2020.
Camosy, an associate professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University, says that “Biden doesn’t agree with the U.S. bishops about everything, but he does care about what they say and regularly tries to fit their concerns into Democratic policy proposals.”
“Perhaps Biden’s newly-created office dedicated to reaching out to conservatives should at least be something worth paying attention to,” writes the theologian, but warns that “if there is to be any outreach, then the Biden administration will need to address the greatest problem with today’s Democratic party. And that is abortion.”
“No one supports a consistent life ethic more strongly than I do,” says Camosy, author of ‘Resisting Throwaway Culture: How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People.’ “But in advocating for the full vision of St. John Paul II’s Evangelium Vitae, it does not follow that we must give all issues equal weight.”
“The U.S. bishops, though they rightly have many priorities, are quite right to claim that abortion must remain the ‘preeminent priority.’ How could ‘the greatest universal genocide’ be anything else?” Camosy writes.
The author observes that “Joe Biden used to be something close to a pro-life Democrat, but he has dramatically changed his views in recent years, especially in the lead-up to the 2020 campaign. If his administration shifts the so-called Mexico City Policy so that U.S. tax dollars fund abortions overseas, as he has promised to do, Biden will become more directly complicit in abortion than at perhaps any other time in his life. He has also reversed himself on the Hyde Amendment, which means he is in favor of forcing pro-life citizens to pay for abortions with their tax dollars.”
But, “Biden has supported Hyde and even late-term abortion bans in the past. He has said he believes there should be room in the Democratic Party for pro-lifers. In the past he has supported conscience protections,” writes Camosy, asking: “Is there any hope we can get that guy back?”
“Given what is at stake for millions of prenatal lives—as well as their mothers (who are often coerced into abortions they don’t want)—Catholics have no choice: We must engage Biden after his inauguration.”
Reminding readers that “Biden is a political animal,” Camosy argues that Catholics could push for “a grand bargain” that would entail “much lower thresholds for legal abortion and much higher levels of support for pregnant women and families. The combination of socially conservative and economically progressive policies fits well with Catholic teaching. And it would save hundreds of thousands of prenatal lives by reducing both supply and demand for abortion.”
“Catholics committed to the fullness of the teaching of the Church have an opportunity. We can encourage Biden to return to his pro-life roots, pointing out the moral urgency of the pro-life cause.”
Charles Camosy resigned from the board of Democrats for Life of America (DFLA), writing in a column in the NY Post that the Democratic Party’s extreme support of abortion left him “no choice” but to leave his party.
CNA Staff, Apr 11, 2022 / 10:43 am (CNA).
A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary and all the saints to remove the temporal punishment due to sin.The indul… […]
3 Comments
One day showing that didn’t get much advertising… Just like the movie about the baths in Lourdes… It’s seen all over Europe but here in ‘merica… Nope
I went to see the Movie Father Stu this past week. I knew it was playing in a particular theater because I had been to that theater days before and seen the listing over the cashier. HOWEVER, when I went to “Moviefone” online, Father Stu was not listed as showing AT ALL. Then I put Father Stu into the Moviefone search function and it came up as “not listed”. I dont know if there was simply no budget to advertise a listing for this film, of if someone made a decision not to list a “religious” film at Moviefone. However, I finally found the listing by going to the general AMC website. I found the whole experience odd. Had I not already been aware the film was playing at a particular location, I would have assumed it was not showing there at all. I guess only garbage gets an advertising budget. But why would a theater provide the listings for only SOME of the movies they were showing??
The movie will enhance your belief and faith, no matter where on the spectrum it lies. Definitely worth your time and effort to find and view. The film, in Spanish with English subtitles here in the U.S., played for only one day at select theatres, without much (any?) mainstream advertising outside Catholic media. I simply stumbled upon it and took the chance. The theater held a scant few of us, together in awe at the film unfolding. The projectionist forgot to start the film at the posted time; we had to go remind him that showtime was 10+ minutes late in starting.
The film is as described: Intermingling of 5-6 stories of individual lives transformed after discovery of the Eucharist, specifically Adoration. Powerful full-front facial images of all individuals, together with friends or acquaintances who confirmed changes in people’s lives. Particularly compelling were the atheist and non-believing skeptic who went along with a Catholic friend to adoration or to Mass, not expecting anything, not pressured in any way to attend, but who went due to lack of anything better or out of pure curiosity, puzzled by the friend’s or acquaintance’s commitment to adoration or to Mass. Then WHAM. Either at once or after some time still spent puzzling about the something, someONE happened to the skeptic, the atheist, the juvenile delinquent, the anomistic young none, the couple facing a difficult pregnancy, etc.
Artistically, the film powerfully wows. The initial interviews appear a bit of a confused whirlwind. Who are these people and how do their stories fit together? is the question asked at the start then answered by story end. Beautiful ending depicting a Baptism (only the beginning). One will leave the theater, bearing prayers for the seminarian’s parents, about whom I won’t spoiler alert the reader.
One day showing that didn’t get much advertising… Just like the movie about the baths in Lourdes… It’s seen all over Europe but here in ‘merica… Nope
I went to see the Movie Father Stu this past week. I knew it was playing in a particular theater because I had been to that theater days before and seen the listing over the cashier. HOWEVER, when I went to “Moviefone” online, Father Stu was not listed as showing AT ALL. Then I put Father Stu into the Moviefone search function and it came up as “not listed”. I dont know if there was simply no budget to advertise a listing for this film, of if someone made a decision not to list a “religious” film at Moviefone. However, I finally found the listing by going to the general AMC website. I found the whole experience odd. Had I not already been aware the film was playing at a particular location, I would have assumed it was not showing there at all. I guess only garbage gets an advertising budget. But why would a theater provide the listings for only SOME of the movies they were showing??
The movie will enhance your belief and faith, no matter where on the spectrum it lies. Definitely worth your time and effort to find and view. The film, in Spanish with English subtitles here in the U.S., played for only one day at select theatres, without much (any?) mainstream advertising outside Catholic media. I simply stumbled upon it and took the chance. The theater held a scant few of us, together in awe at the film unfolding. The projectionist forgot to start the film at the posted time; we had to go remind him that showtime was 10+ minutes late in starting.
The film is as described: Intermingling of 5-6 stories of individual lives transformed after discovery of the Eucharist, specifically Adoration. Powerful full-front facial images of all individuals, together with friends or acquaintances who confirmed changes in people’s lives. Particularly compelling were the atheist and non-believing skeptic who went along with a Catholic friend to adoration or to Mass, not expecting anything, not pressured in any way to attend, but who went due to lack of anything better or out of pure curiosity, puzzled by the friend’s or acquaintance’s commitment to adoration or to Mass. Then WHAM. Either at once or after some time still spent puzzling about the something, someONE happened to the skeptic, the atheist, the juvenile delinquent, the anomistic young none, the couple facing a difficult pregnancy, etc.
Artistically, the film powerfully wows. The initial interviews appear a bit of a confused whirlwind. Who are these people and how do their stories fit together? is the question asked at the start then answered by story end. Beautiful ending depicting a Baptism (only the beginning). One will leave the theater, bearing prayers for the seminarian’s parents, about whom I won’t spoiler alert the reader.
Go see it if you have the chance.