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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Dec 10 2009 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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I dvr'ed Rick Steve's European Christmas last week (PBS) and finally finished watching it last night. If Rick Steve is not a believer of some sort, I would be shocked. This is a truly sweet program. There were tons of clips of Catholic nations. There were clips of Pope John Paul the Great, clips of Austrian families with their advent wreaths and the father blessing the home with holy water (reminiscent of the Trapp Family), several clips of little girls singing the St. Lucia song and delivering buns to senior citizens, Burgundy families worshipping and celebrating, Italian families celebrating with a description of how the season is both Advent and the 12 Days of Christmas and lots of open air markets with Old Befana's for sale, or salted codfish etc (for de Paola fans). He recounts the St. Francis story of the original manger scene and shows reclusive monks chanting in the Italian countryside. He recounts stories of St. Nicholas in several nations. He shows families lighting real candles on their Christmas trees. There are a very few references to old pagan traditions that have been Christianized and a reference or two to Lutheran country in Germany, but overall, the program is blessedly free of *any* references to other non Christian celebrations. There are a few clips on celebrations in Paris and London as well, but they are short in comparison to the familial and worshipful clips in the countrysides of these nations. The Swiss countryside clip might as well have been out of Heidi, mountain goats, sledding and all. The end includes some lovely choral performances and shots of Pope John Paul the Great celebrating Midnight Mass in Rome.
I am glad to have it on my dvr and I think my girls will enjoy it. I think its worth consideration as an Advent watch. I'm pretty sure they are running it more than once. Mine ran during pledge week, apparently. I just fast forwarded through that.
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~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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Christine
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Rick Steves' wife is the sister of Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame. Rick Steves "is an abortion advocate and sits on the honorary council of Washington NARAL". More information is available here.
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Christine
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Mary G
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So Books, Rick Steves isn't a perfect Catholic but it may be so ingrained that, through the grace of God, he's able to give it a Catholic slant. Akin to some of our favorite authors/illustrators!
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MaryG
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my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: Dec 10 2009 at 8:03am | IP Logged
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Christine wrote:
| Rick Steves' wife is the sister of Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame. Rick Steves "is an abortion advocate and sits on the honorary council of Washington NARAL". More information is available here. |
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Wow. Well, it wasn't apparent at all in the program...
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Martha
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I happen to love that program too.
I happen to enjoy most of Rick steves travels, mostly bc he travels the way I would like to.
BUT if you ever watch his other stuff there is zero doubt that he and his wife are very much not catholic.
I think the Christmas episode came out the way it did bc that's the kind of thing his viewers expect, not bc he personally identifies with it.
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Martha
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Christine
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| Posted: Dec 10 2009 at 8:58am | IP Logged
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Bookswithtea wrote:
Christine wrote:
| Rick Steves' wife is the sister of Fr. Jenkins of Notre Dame. Rick Steves "is an abortion advocate and sits on the honorary council of Washington NARAL". More information is available here. |
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Wow. Well, it wasn't apparent at all in the program... |
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I know. I have a good friend who really likes his programs. I just thought that you might appreciate a heads up. When politicians and media "celebrities" advocate abortion, I stop supporting them.
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Christine
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guitarnan
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Rick is Lutheran, I think, but he definitely views himself as a "world citizen." He has built and managed low-income apartments at his own expense but his political views are, well, what they are.
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Anastasia
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He's made plenty of snarky comments about the Church, too; the one I saw on Spain had lots of stuff about those unenlightened Catholics repressing the peaceful Muslims (no mention of how the Muslims came to Spain).
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Bookswithtea
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Who would have guessed y'all would know so much about Rick Steve!  I think before this, I've watched all of 2 of his programs????
I honestly thought the program would have lots of secularized Christmas gobbledeegook, and possibly Muslim elements as well, given the large population in Europe. So it was surprising to me that it was traditional Nativity based Christmas. I'm going to call it "school" one of the 12 Days of Christmas and tell the girls to look for all the elements they've seen in books that we've read...along with some hot chocolate and that cookie recipe Elizabeth blogged about this morning. 
Its so sad about the abortion support. Sigh...I wish PBS would get out of politics and just stick to what they do well.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Bookswithtea
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Anastasia wrote:
| He's made plenty of snarky comments about the Church, too; the one I saw on Spain had lots of stuff about those unenlightened Catholics repressing the peaceful Muslims (no mention of how the Muslims came to Spain). |
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Lisbet
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Yeah, I watched the Spain one and was so glad my children were not watching with me... I do enjoy his programs, but he is blatantly anti-Catholic.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: An odd recommendation
