Stories of restoring the sacred, and updates from StoryTel Foundation.
Today Don appeared live on This is The Day on CatholicTV to discuss the work of StoryTel. Father Robert Reed and Jay Fadden asked Don a variety of questions about how StoryTel got started, our past project, and our upcoming film, Miles Christi: Soldiers of Christ in America.
Thanks to CatholicTV for the opportunity to be on your show and talk about our work.
We have an air-date!
Our latest film, Miles Christi: Soldiers of Christ in America, will premiere on Sunday, November 16th at 4 pm ET on EWTN.
The countdown and promotion begins now!
Check out the film's promotional site at mileschristi.tv.
P.S., the DVD is also available for pre-order, also to be released on November 16.
I couldn't wait to show off our new commercial.
We're working on the best way to make our films available to watch in their entirety online, as well as trying to find ways to more money. Adding a couple of commercials addresses both issues.
Since part of our mission is to distribute these stories as far and wide as we can, making people pay to see them online did not make sense. However, we did not want to miss out on the opportunity to remind people that we are donation-based organization and to give them the opportunity to become a part of the mission.
So we're working on a series of commercials advertising ourselves to drop into the full films when viewed online. Enjoy.
We're very proud of our year here at StoryTel. Check out our annual report!
We at StoryTel Foundation mourn the passing of Dr. Ronald McArthur and celebrate his life. Dr. McArthur was a co-founder of Thomas Aquinas College. Below is a video of him speaking to the students on March 6, 1996. This was one of our early productions, long before we were called StoryTel.
We also had filmed the 25th Anniversary Founder's dinner, given for the students on March 7, 1996. In this video the college's founders tell the stories of the college's beginning.
Dr. McArthur's comments are at 49:00, 1:31:30, and 1:55:00.
Additionally, there are some wonderful comments from the late Dr. Thomas Dillon, the late Col. William Lawton, Jr., Dr. John Neumayr, the late Mr. Marcus Berquist, Mr. Peter Deluca, and Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz.
Our newly restored documentary about a dying parish miraculously restored to life is now available on DVD and will be broadcast to 230 million homes worldwide on September 25th.
Watch our new trailer below to get a good feel for this newly restored and digitally remastered, time-tested documentary "Saint John Cantius, Restoring the Sacred".
"Saint John Cantius, Restoring the Sacred" on EWTN Wednesday, September 25 at 5:30pm CT; Also available to watch online and on DVD at storytel.org/cantius
In the years following this program's premiere on EWTN in May of 2009, the fame of Saint John Cantius Church has grown and people everywhere have connected with our presentation of this amazing true story of how an all-but-abandoned huge, old church, destined for the wrecking ball, became a thriving religious and cultural treasure again.
People are inspired by this production because it's well done and it's true; true to what actually happened and true to the spirit of those who worked with God to make it happen.
It's a great story that we have structured a bit like an opera using the music from the choirs of Saint John Cantius to set and change the mood and to help drive the story forward. The story builds almost by itself as the production elevates liturgical beauty, appreciates Sacred music, and demonstrates how little things like making confession available during Sunday mass can have a profound impact on parishioner participation in the sacrament.
Father Scott Haynes, SJC of Saint John Cantius has described this production as, "A powerful tool for our parish's revitalization and for the work of our religious community!" Father Haynes also called it, "A decisive tool for attracting vocations, a video that clearly proclaims who we are and what we do."
During a review of this program, a few months ago, we began discussing how incredibly much video and audio technology has developed in the years since we originally shot this documentary, way back in the days of Betacam-SP video tape; and we decided it was high time we took advantage of our current technology to re-create this production in widescreen and bring all image and sound quality up a few notches.
So we set to work restoring and remastering. We re-edited the picture into 4x3 widescreen; enhanced and re-mixed the soundtrack; re-created the titles and sharpened the still images; close captioned the whole production for the hearing impaired; dubbed it into Spanish to reach untapped markets; and basically enhanced all the visuals and audio wherever possible throughout the entire program, without altering any content along the way.
After 14 broadcasts dates on EWTN's seven English-language satellites spanning Africa and India; Canada; the United States; Europe; the Pacific Rim; UK and Ireland; totaling 75 individual English broadcasts, viewers are still calling EWTN to praise "Saint John Cantius, Restoring the Sacred" -- proof that Catholics around the world are entertained by this production and inspired to see the Sacred elements of our faith restored.
In 2012, StoryTel released the Spanish-dubbed version of the Cantius story, "San Juan Cancio, La Restauracion de lo Sagrado", and since the Spanish program's premiere, "San Juan Cancio" has been televised on four separate dates to EWTN's worldwide Spanish-language channel.
The Spanish and English "Saint John Cantius" productions together are currently reaching over 230 million homes throughout the world with 94 individual broadcasts from eight different EWTN satellites. Both versions are now contained on one DVD in the newly restored and remastered; widescreen; closed captioned; English or Spanish language; and enhanced audio -- "Saint John Cantius, Restoring the Sacred".
If you haven't seen it, the story will delight you -- and if you have seen it before, you know you'll enjoy the experience of revisiting this timeless StoryTel story in the newly restored widescreen edition.
So be sure to tune in to EWTN on Wednesday, September 25 at 5:30PM central, for their 14th televised broadcast of "Saint John Cantius, Restoring the Sacred". (EWTN Channel Finder)
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A couple weeks ago StoryTel received an email from a seminarian saying:
Please send me the "Where Heaven Meets Earth, Restoring the Sacred at St. Peter's Church" DVD.
I am excited to see the "Where Heaven Meets Earth" documentary as I have two years left in seminary formation and hope that this will aid me in my formation as a future parish priest and pastor.
-Chris
So we not only sent Chris his DVD, we were inspired to take this a step further and gifted 50 "Where Heaven Meets Earth" DVDs to seminarians who attended the Institute for Priestly Formation this summer.
The Institute for Priestly Formation (IPF), a non-profit Public Association of the Faithful, serves bishops by working directly with priests, seminarians, and seminaries so that spiritual formation is the center around which all other aspects of priestly formation are integrated. They have served close to 2,000 priests and seminarians from over 154 dioceses in the United States, 38 international dioceses, and eight religious orders.
The Institute for Priestly Formation states,
Every priest is ordained with a passion for Christ, a deep love for the Church, and a zeal for the priesthood. However, attention to the spiritual life can easily be lost in the midst of the many demands on a priest’s time. This results in a weakened priesthood, leaving the laity hungry for spiritual leadership.
None of us question the beauty of the priesthood. However, considering the contemporary challenges facing the priesthood, as well as Blessed John Paul II’s exhortation that a renewed priesthood is essential for the “future evangelization of humanity,” the question facing the laity is not, “Do you want the priesthood?” but rather, “What kind of priest do you want?”
What kind of priest do you want hearing your confession? What kind of priest do you want anointing your aging parents? What kind of priest do you want forming the souls of your grandchildren?
We want the story of Restoring the Sacred at St. Peter Church on "Where Heaven Meets Earth" to aid Chris in his formation and the formation of more future priests... inspiring them to restore the sacred all across America.
If you'd like to help defray the cost of this strategic DVD giveaway and other strategic outreach programs like it, designed to reach the influencers who will help bring about the restoration the sacred, you can give today on our donate page. If you can't give but would still like to support us, please pray for our work.
And finally, if you are a seminarian who attended IPF this summer and did not receive a DVD but you would like one please contact us at storytel.org/contact.
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Next week on EWTN’s encore presentation of “Where Heaven Meets Earth,” see how the Seraphic Sisters of the Eucharist inspire young girls at Saint Peter Parish, at 3AM & 6:30PM eastern / 2 & 5:30 central, Wednesday, July 31 -- only on EWTN.
On April 30th 2013, Sister Clara Maria and the Seraphic Sisters of the Eucharist made their EWTN debut in StoryTel's latest documentary, "Where Heaven Meets Earth." Audiences fell in love with her big smile and motherly warmth, commenting how appreciative they are that the Sisters work with the youth at Saint Peter Parish.
Saint Peter’s Pastor, Father Cook, relates the Sisters role at the parish to the role of a mother, and Associate Pastor, Father Weidner, calls them, “the lynch pin of the whole thing.” Even in this short clip, Sister Clara’s kindness and charity shines through and it's easy to see how these Sisters, and this "joyful cherub", might inspire young girls to consider the cloistered life.
If you'd like to reach out to the Seraphic Sisters, you can contact them through the Seraphic Sisters website, write a letter, or even pay them a visit if you're in the area.
St. Peter Convent
705 S. 28th St.
Omaha, NE 68105
Tune in to watch the Seraphic Sisters of the Eucharist at 3AM & 6:30PM eastern, Wednesday, July 31 -- only on EWTN.
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Thanks to your tremendously positive feedback, EWTN will encore "Where Heaven Meets Earth" on Wednesday, July 31 at 3am & 6:30pm Eastern / 2am & 5:30pm Central.
“Where Heaven Meets Earth” has earned an abundance of praise and many noteworthy accolades from the general public, priests, sisters, other religious and of course wonderful people like yourself.
EWTN viewers have been emailing and calling-in to compliment our documentary and ask when it will air again. Normally, EWTN waits a year before re-broadcasting a production, but by popular demand, they've decided to encore “Where Heaven Meets Earth” only three months after its premiere!(check EWTN's channel finder for the station in your area)
StoryTel and Saint Peter Church have been receiving hundreds of DVD requests for this production from all over the US, Canada, Australia, and even from the United Kingdom; over 20 thousand unique visitors have seen the "Where Heaven Meets Earth" trailer online, and -- of course -- millions of people watched the EWTN premiere on April 30, 2013.
We've always encouraged On Assignment viewers to request DVDs from the organization highlighted in the film after the credits roll because we believe these organizations deserve support from viewers. Now, EWTN also wants to offer "Where Heaven Meets Earth" on DVD in the EWTN Religious Catalogue because the program received so much praise, and so many requests for DVDs after airing the program for only one day.
Requests for DVDs and anticipation for the program began to build in the days leading up the EWTN broadcast largely due to the success of our first-ever marketing initiative for an On Assignment film.
We made tremendous efforts to foster healthy relationships with the Catholic (and non-Catholic) press, bloggers and other influentials to spread the word about this film, which proved to be a fantastic success as we've received great coverage from many sources in the Catholic media world. Notably, Dan Burke the Executive Director of National Catholic Register, remarked over Register Radio airwaves that "Where Heaven Meets Earth" is,
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Reminder to watch EWTN tonight at 6:30ET, 5:30CT for the world-wide television premiere of "Where Heaven Meets Earth, Restoring the Sacred at St. Peter Church"
We've had considerable traffic to the WHME microsite recently. In fact in two short weeks, we received over 2.6K Facebook Likes for our trailer and thousands more people watching it across the globe. So, thank you to those who have so graciously shared the story of St. Peter Church in Omaha and helped to promote "Where Heaven Meets Earth" to Catholics all over the world!
If you know someone who hasn't seen the trailer or heard of the documentary yet, consider sharing this uplifting story by sending them to www.heavenmeetsearth.tv or sharing a copy of "Where Heaven Meets Earth" on DVD.
You can order the full 30-minunte documentary on DVD by:
StoryTel and St. Peter's have been blessed to receive widespread press coverage and promotion for "Where Heaven Meets Earth" the highlights are below:
