It’s the most wonderful time of the year for watching Christmas classics on TV. / Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2021 / 14:14 pm (CNA).
Christmastime is upon us. In the spirit of the holiday, the writers and editors of CNA would like to share some of their favorite Christmas movies — and where you can find them. Merry Christmas and happy viewing!
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Several serious-minded movie critics have spoken about this winsome 1992 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ timeless Christmas story in the same breath as “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane.” To be clear, all of those critics happen to be members of my immediate family. But still. Academy Award-winner Michael Caine (Ebenezer Scrooge) deserved another Oscar for being such a good sport in allowing a bunch of adorable puppets to upstage him in every scene of this family-friendly movie. Gonzo (as Dickens, narrating the tale) and Rizzo the Rat (his sidekick) account for most of the best one-liners and sight gags (Rizzo: Boy, that’s scary stuff! Should we be worried about the kids in the audience? Gonzo: Nah, it’s all right. This is culture!) You’ll love the song-and-dance number, at turns spooky and hilarious, by Statler and Waldorf, as the ghosts of Scrooge’s former partners, Jacob and Robert Marley (Robert Marley: More gravy than of grave? Jacob Marley: What a terrible pun. Where do you get those jokes?) Available on Amazon Prime, Disney+. (Rated G)
— Shannon Mullen, Editor-in-Chief
Merry Christmas (originally Joyeux Noël)
This is a very moving account of the famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914 in the French-German trenches during World War I. The French movie was released in 2005, and it is a tearjerker, so bring your tissues. Available in English on Apple TV and Google Play.
— Alejandro Bermudez, Executive Director, ACI Prensa and CNA
Elf
No matter how many times you watch this fish-out-of-water comedy, it will still make you laugh. While the movie is not overtly religious, the eponymous character, Buddy (Will Ferrell), is a believer in an unbelieving world, suffering the trials and misadventures of someone who perceives a world beyond the everyday. Indeed, the plot culminates (spoiler alert) in a test of faith. When his sleigh crashes in Central Park, Santa explains to onlookers that his “Clausometer” is dangerously low and he needs a fresh supply of Christmas spirit to be airborne again. “Christmas spirit is about believing, not seeing,” he says, perhaps echoing St. Paul’s definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. And just when Santa needs it most, a man of faith in yellow stockings and a pointy hat steps forward… Available on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and Vudu. (Rated PG)
— Luke Coppen, Europe Editor
The Small One
A young boy must sell a cherished but aging donkey, named Small One, to support his poor family. Will he find a worthy owner for his four-legged friend in the rough streets of Nazareth? Or will Small One end up in the slaughterhouse? At only 26 minutes runtime, this is a kid-sized movie, but there’s enough action, comedy, and emotion to satisfy all ages. The movie’s title song is simple but inspirational, a worthy addition to any child’s repertoire. The lyrics and melody might even spare the ears of parents weary of recent kids’ movies. In the great Disney tradition, “The Small One” is visually beautiful. It’s from 1978, part of a decade that many Disney fans forget. Movie director Don Bluth would later win fame for his full-length animated movies like “The Secret of NIMH,” “An American Tail,” and “All Dogs Go to Heaven.” The story is drawn from a book of the same name by the children’s author Charles Tazewell. He wrote “The Littlest Angel,” a sentimental and popular, if theologically questionable, children’s book. This Christmastime donkey flick is far from asinine. Watch the whole thing for a Christmas surprise. Available on Disney+. (Rated G)
— Kevin J. Jones, Staff Writer
A Muppet Family Christmas
There’s no Michael Caine in this one, but there’s a whole lot else: the original Muppets; the Sesame Street crew; Fraggles, and even Maureen the Mink. It’s truly not the Christmas season until I’ve watched a number of Muppets repeatedly slip and fall over an icy patch at Fozzie’s mom’s house. While this movie is often overshadowed by that other Muppet Christmas special, it is still a solid inclusion in the Christmas movie canon. The movie tells the tale of Fozzie’s good-intended (but ill-planned) attempt to surprise his mother for Christmas — and the ensuing hijinks that blew in with the worst blizzard in half a century. First released in 1987, “A Muppet Family Christmas” has aged like a fine wine, and still makes me chuckle in 2021. (Barometers are falling sharply!) At just under 48 minutes, it’s the perfect length movie for when you need a little Christmas, but don’t want to settle down for over an hour — or if you need something to do while cookies are in the oven. Available on YouTube. Look out for the icy patch! (Rated TV-PG)
— Christine Rousselle, Washington, D.C. Correspondent
It’s a Wonderful Life
Unappreciated when it first came out in the 1940s, but gaining status as one of the most perennially rewatched Christmas movies of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life” really does live up to the descriptor in its title. If, somehow, you’ve managed to never see it, it’s the story of a smart and ambitious small town guy, George Bailey, who for a variety of reasons never manages to escape his provincial life and travel the world like he had always planned. When a seemingly insurmountable disaster besets George on Christmas Eve, he wishes he had never been born — a wish that, thanks to a friendly angel named Clarence, suddenly comes true. Try not to shed a tear during the final scene. I dare you. Available on Amazon Prime and YouTube. (Rated PG)
— Jonah McKeown, Producer/Writer
A Charlie Brown Christmas
When I was growing up, we watched this Peanuts classic every year to kick off the Christmas season. Now, as an adult, it’s part of my own Christmas traditions. The movie is a great reminder of the real meaning of Christmas, with the Nativity story embedded into the script. I find that each time I watch it, I’m invited to a deeper realization that Christmas is really about the coming of Christ, and not the material or commercial things we get wrapped up in (pun intended) this time of the year. Available on Apple TV+ for subscribers. (Not Rated)
— Autumn Jones, Staff Writer
The Polar Express
This 2004 animated film is about a group of young children who take a mystical train ride to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. The movie focuses on the struggle of two boys to believe in Santa Claus, because they have never seen him. But once they arrive at the North Pole, they are entrenched in an adventure like never before, culminating in (spoilers!) meeting the big man himself. The movie, which features the voice of Tom Hanks, was nominated for three Academy Awards. Available on HBO, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix. (Rated G)
— Joe Bukuras, Staff Writer
Home Alone
This 1990 classic tells a Christmas story that the whole family can enjoy: What happens when an 8-year-old is left to his own devices to protect his home, alone, against a pair of burglars? Kevin McCallister’s family accidentally leaves him behind in Chicago as they venture on a family vacation abroad. Kevin (played by Macaulay Culkin) takes charge and rigs his home with booby traps. On Christmas Eve, he treks through the snow and comes to a halt as he spies an outdoor nativity scene and hears strains of “O Holy Night” escaping the nearby church. He enters and encounters two saviors: Jesus, and an elderly man he learns not to judge. Home Alone is a story about family, friendship, and the difference that one person — even a small one — can make. Available on Amazon Prime, Disney+, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, and YouTube. (Rated PG)
— Katie Yoder, Washington, D.C. Correspondent
[…]
More of the same skulduggery or a hopeful intent for a Church seemingly battered from both sides of the equation. Cardinal Zen is the only trustworthy voice on China Vatican relations. The Church in China has been severely compromised in messaging Christ, a Christ flagrantly disfigured with Communist ideology. That can’t ever be justly agreed to by Christianity if it is to remain faithful to Christ.
Roman Catholicism has been seriously compromised by scandal and mixed messaging. An accord as permitted by the Vatican simply reinforces a diminishment of what Catholicism is.
A fitting testimony to our Lord and Saviour.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Psalm 27:3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
Blessings upon blessings, dear pastor and brother in Christ.
Geopolitics is not his strong suit. But, then again, I can’t think what is. It seems he has a better relationship with the Chinese communists than he does with some fellow Catholics. I can’t recall him calling the ChiComs nasty names.
After all, according to his lackey Sorondo, “Right now, those who are best implementing the social doctrine of the Church are the Chinese.”
Thanks for pointing out. What an absolute travesty—a tyrannical, atheistic and freedom destroying regime the best at implementing the Church’s social doctrine??!
The ways of men, the traditions of people.
The value of the eternal soul and the shortness of time.
To be much in prayer that the gospel goes forward, redeeming souls and changing lives to the better.
The Vatican’s sell-out of the Chinese Catholic Church in this “provisional agreement” is drenched in the blood of untold numbers of Chinese Catholics martyrs already sacrificed to the Chinese Communist Party and likely that of untold numbers more. In the entire 2,000-year-old history of the Church there is no papal act of “diplomacy” so craven, so heinous, and, yes, so diabolical as this. Those responsible for it, from Bergoglio and Parolin down, have ineradicably shamed and soiled the Throne of Peter and Secretariat of State in whose seats of honor they squat. No less astonishing is the near-universal silence from the world’s hireling shepherds at this outrage and at those who have perpetrated it.
Who will stand up for the church? It will be men of courage who will rebuke other men in high position that are not taking their responsibility to heart.
1 Timothy 5:20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
John 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
God bless you.
Not a beep from the Vatican when churches are destroyed, when bishops, priests and laity are arrested and sent to torture camps in China. Bergoglio and Parolin have blood on their hands and it is crying out to heaven.
You stand on the Lord’s side. He gives strength to those who love Him.
Haggai 2:4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts,
Proverbs 1:33 But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Psalm 93:5 Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.
Blessings
The Holy Father is optimistic; however, the curial team and the timing may be off (putting it diplomatically) and inevitably the one acts on the other.
But I have a major query nonetheless, which is, if it is truly the case that the Church during the Cold War let the Communist authorities anywhere appoint bishops for her and she complied. It wouldn’t be the only time I would have spotted a false comparison (putting it diplomatically).
I would think that the Holy Father would wish to distinguish his interests in China from the current of world affairs -great; but (putting it diplomatically) if the Chinese are ambivalent about that, it becomes part of the problem.
‘ Jesus , I trust in Thee’ – to break the walls around hearts …to bring forth the abundant harvest of the hard work of the missionaries who worked in these far away lands in years past, even centuries past … their prayers and love for the people to be far more powerful than the plottings and designs of even the demonic wisdom in persons who think they hold the power ..The Flame of Love of The Mother, to blind Satan ..
The Precious Blood to put to death the bestial passions and bring New Life of holiness … Bl.Mother sharing the graces of the Immaculate Conception , to take in the Holy Spirit Love , even unto the very beginnings of life, to thus become persons who rejoice in loving God , with His Love …to drive out the spirit of envy and its manifestations, that originated in The Garden , that afflict many both near and far , to help all such to seek out the Reign of the Divine Will … willing to allow the afflicted to be around , even as The Lord allowed the weak and sinful to be around , their very presence and trials , as a thorn in the flesh , to be the reminder of the urgency of the need all around .. pleading for the Holy Spirit , desiring all of The Church too to see the need , conveying the desires of the Heart of The Mother and of The Lord .. trusting in what The Spirit can do ..and that deeper trust to make the diffrencce in many wounds in lives of all – from which none are spared in these times ..for the promise that all things work well for those who Love God ..
How long, O Lord, must we wait?
From Tuesday’s liturgy: “At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved to pity for them for they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”
O Lord, how long?
O Lord, how long, must we wait?
“At the sight of the crowds his heart was moved to pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.”
O Lord, how long?
I have no doubt that Pope Francis will do the best he can for the Catholics when dealing with the ruthless leaders in China. The Church there needs Bishops.
Recently, I read a post from a Catholic man in China in which he praised our Pope’s actions and hoped that people would stop looking at the deal from a western point of view. He said that unifying the Catholics in China was of paramount importance.
Pope Francis is not our Lord’s enemy. He is, in fact, a very faithful disciple, nay, Apostle who has devoted his life to serving the Lord and his Church.
If the reality turns out to be that the Provisional Agreement is not at the service of the Church, the Body of Christ, then 1. it will have to go and 2. it will get found out; and 2. could happen first. Anyone can help expose it, whether from among members of the Church or people and groups not of the Church. You can be certain that Divine Providence will guide the Church in what must take place: have no doubt on it.
Here and there Xi Jinping unifies his thought in one expression, his 2017 New Year’s message carrying one such kernel. But if you read the whole message you will find the separate elements that outline and demonstrate the CPC’s plan of control.
‘ As one saying goes, ‘success comes to those who share in one purpose’. As long as our 1.3 billion-plus people are pulled together for a common cause, as long as the Party stands together with the people and we roll up our sleeves to work harder, we will surely succeed in a Long March of our generation. ‘
https://www.gwp.org/en/GWP-China/about-gwp-china/news-list/2017/roll-up-our-sleeves-to-work-harder-in-2017/
Looking back tends to show there has been no apparent interruption of steps in the progression to the Provisional Agreement and its subsequent second phase.
But at the same time it is impossible to assess what it portends because 1. the Agreement is secret and 2. no-one can know directly which events affirm what.
https://zenit.org/2017/07/28/china-the-dialogue-is-already-a-positive-fact/
The quotation “politics is the art of the possible” is from Otto von Bismark, who added, “the attainable, or the next best”. It would seem that the Holy Father has adapted “diplomacy” to the wording.
The rationale for the Provisional Agreement could well be that the Holy See is trying practical means for “transitioning from conflict”. Natural sense suggests, however, that the “scene” for this is such as that which existed before Xi Jinping came to power. In other words, a Maoist has entered the picture, ending these days; and the feelings and bon vivant and making alliance that may have been burgeoning beforehand have lost any realistic grounding. Things collapsed.
Bearing in mind too, Mao said of politics, “war is politics with bloodshed and politics is war without bloodshed.”
Cardinal Zen in the interview in eBooks (see link) describes how things were when the Chinese in China left their doors open to their houses and how easy it was to get to Hong Kong. Today this is gone. Demonstrations of Maoism are all there, the strong-arming, the repressing of the “theory” of Deng Xiaoping and the elevation (even inside churches) -almost worship – of the “thought” of Xi Jinping.
Deng Xiaoping opened society and XI Jinping has now overlaid onto it the “progress” of “China’s Long March” ….. while reversing Deng. The question arises, do those who share the platform of the Provisional Agreement really know who they are dealing with, what they are looking for and what they can realistically expect to meet or produce?
The area of peace-craft known as transition justice is for that time when organized violence is crumbling and there has been a meeting of minds on how settlements are going to be arrived at even if not to be immediately concluded; and how interim investigations will be respected. See for example, South Africa, Rwanda, Columbia. This is not where China is.
It could then be wrong on this point ALSO, to input the suggestion that “China has different parts”. Well, yes, of course China does, but at this time you are helping to plant more tares. You hope that in the long run the “tares will convert into wheat” -maybe. Cardinal Zen asked pertinently, how can schismatics appoint bishops.
Another angle of view is being able to identify distortions caused by cult of personality. For instance, Gandhi’s renown for pacifism actually re-frames the reality of the history of his very conscious purpose of leading an active nationalism intended to be brought to victory at all costs; and of standing for it implacably. He said, “It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put a cloak of non-violence over it to cover impotence.”
The Holy See wants to join with the “strength” and “brightness” of “movement” in the Far East and “extend goodwill” but can it be right that it sidelines its spiritual primacy? While helping propagate Marxism that is not even a Chinese thing and never was and never will be? With no idea who will succeed?
As I have said, when the Holy Spirit brings truth to bear, those who have been involved will, indeed, have to give answer to God Almighty. No-one will be exempted. I have always hoped for the best for the Holy Father’s initiative in China. I have my notes on it still and my prayers. But all the same, I must add, we mustn’t be naive and we mustn’t ignore the the light of Heaven when it may be showing us to make a change or to at least notice when we must look again, in the light.
https://politicaldictionary.com/words/art-of-the-possible/
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mao_zedong_161845
https://catholicebooks.wordpress.com/2022/07/09/online-text-the-sino-vatican-faith-diplomacy-by-professor-juyan-zhang/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1G4gzOZbss (Cardinal Zen/Al Jazeera interview, YOUTUBE)
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_100677
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/dante_alighieri_109737