Omaha Parish to Recieve International Spotlight on EWTN

Where Heaven Meets Earth, World-wide Television Premiere on EWTNSaint Peter Catholic Church (St. Peters) of downtown Omaha, Nebraska will be featured in a documentary called, “Where Heaven Meets Earth." The film highlighting the story of St. Peter’s parish will appear on EWTN, Global Catholic Television Network on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 at 6:30pm ET.

The documentary, a $100K film project, produced and donated by StoryTel Foundation, investigates how this poor Omaha parish became a thriving and vibrant community again after more than 40 years of decline. Originally built in 1886, Saint Peter Catholic Church grew to become one of the biggest and busiest parishes in the diocese of Omaha, Nebraska. But in the 1960s, huge chunks of the neighborhoods north and south of the church were razed to make way for the construction of interstate 480, forcing hundreds of parishioners to move away from St. Peters.

In the years that followed, more and more parishioners moved west to the suburbs, St. Peter’s school closed, and the resulting lack of donations led to years of deferred building maintenance causing the church to fall into disrepair.

By the time a young priest on his first assignment as pastor arrived in 2004, no one would believe this place would survive let alone thrive, but Father Damien Cook was inspired with an idea that would prove God had other plans for Saint Peter Catholic Church.

“I’ve been amazed to see the progress people have made over the last few years, and the numbers of people we have had at the masses through mostly word-of-mouth,” said St. Peter’s pastor Father Damien Cook. “The congregations have grown and flourished to the point that at one of our masses the church is completely full with standing room only, which amounts to over 800 people. For our neighborhood, in our situation, in just six years’ time, this is radical growth.”

Created to entertain viewers around the world with an incredible, true story and spur them to action for God, the film has incidentally helped the parish raise $3 million and is expected to raise even more when it airs on EWTN, though it wasn’t intended to be a fundraising video.

It is one of the many projects recently completed by StoryTel, a private non-profit media foundation, as part of their mission to, “inspire viewers to restore the sacred,” says President of StoryTel and “Where Heaven Meets Earth” director, Don Carney.

To learn more about the documentary, Where Heaven Meets Earth visit: www.heavenmeetsearth.tv