Thursday, November 25, 2010

Paulist Productions goes back to school

Paulist Productions is teaming up with longtime associate Mike Rhodes, to produce an eight part series called Film Clips for Youth Faith Formation, which will be distributed on DVD and streamed on the web. An adaptation of Rhodes' successful Film Clips for Character Education, this program takes segments from popular Hollywood movies with which youth have a natural affinity and uses them to illustrate key traits and issues that are part of a person's lifelong journey of faith. Study guides will help youth take these examples and engage in a dialogue with their catechists, teachers and youth group leaders, about faith and its implications for prayer, belief, and behavior.

For the crucial role of crafting the study guides for a Catholic youth audience, Joan Doyle from St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Westwood has been brought onto the team. Ms. Doyle has extensive experience in religious education for Catholics of all ages and also has a rich background in media literacy. She brings tremendous insight and enthusiasm to the project.

Rhodes' connection with Paulist spans more than 30 years. It began in 1971 when Fr. Kieser hired Mike to create study guides to accompany Insight episodes shown in Catholic schools. He then went on to produce and direct many episodes of the popular series. Later, he worked in such capacities as supervising producer on the film Romero, and director on Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story. Outside of his work with Paulist Productions, Mike has directed many episodes of well-known television programs such as Star Trek, Beverly Hills 90210, and James Cameron's Dark Angel.

Fr. Eric is very excited to be working with Mr. Rhodes adding, "It's a joy to have a wonderful member of the Paulist Productions family collaborating with us once again. Mike's unique ability to view cinema through the eyes of faith is inspiring!" Film Clips for Youth Faith Formation will be piloted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and then made available to parishes and Catholic schools across the country.