EWTN’s new movie chronicles true stories of Ukrainian persecution

CNA Staff   By CNA Staff

February 25, 2022 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 4 Print

 

A scene from the EWTN movie, “To Believe.” / EWTN

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 25, 2022 / 12:28 pm (CNA).

Viewers who want to know what life is really like after a Communist invasion need look no further than EWTN’s brand new film, “To Believe,” which was produced by EWTN Ukraine in Kyiv, a city which is now under assault after Thursday’s invasion by Russia.

Written by Ukrainians and filmed in Ukraine, the film is subtitled, but the acting is so good viewers barely need the subtitles to understand the plot. The movie premieres 10 p.m. ET, Saturday, Feb. 26, with encores at 10 p.m. ET, Sunday, Feb. 27, and 3 a.m. ET, Tuesday, March1. You can watch the trailer below.

This hour-long film presents the true story of Father Sebastian Sabudzinski and the families in his small Catholic parish during the Communist persecution. As the film opens,viewers see a round-up of priests marching through a forest where they are given one last chanceto renounce their faith. When there are no takers, all are shot to death by a firing squad.

But the story really begins in 1953 when a man, who had been taken from his family as a young boy and interned in a concentration camp for 30 years, returns home to his family. The film then flashes back to 1921 and the events that led to the man’s internment.

“This film is based on actual events and the stories of real people,” the opening credits read. “It is dedicated to all those who have preserved their faith during the long night of Communism.”

The film will bring many viewers to tears as they experience the emotional turmoil of those who were traumatized by the Soviets during the persecution. This should come as no surprise because many Ukrainians were either alive during Soviet persecution or are descendants of the persecuted.

Viewers will hear Communist propaganda just as those who lived it heard it. There was propaganda before the repression, where people were assured that the Communists would bring in a new world where no one would be rich or poor; all would be fair. And there was propaganda at the concentration camp, where songs about the glory of the Soviet Union were blasted out over a loud speaker even as the inmates were told they no longer had a name, but a number; they no longer had a voice, but had to obey every command quickly and silently.

Viewers will also experience the repression of people sent to Siberia for attending a prayer service, wearing a medal, or owning a Bible – and the agony of those who did not know if their loved one was alive or dead, or where they had been taken. Ukrainian Catholics risked their lives to save religious objects from their churches and to hide religious objects, even as their oppressors dug up the ground around their homes to ensure no such objects were present.

All of this takes place even before the story of Father Sebastian Sabudzinski is introduced. How did the Ukrainian people survive? Viewers will see that even as those holding a prayer service at a cemetery are either killed or sent to Siberia, “faith and love for God were stronger than fear.”

The film was set to premiere in June, but moved up to February due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In its 40th year, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world. EWTN’s 11 global TV channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 390 million television households in more than 150 countries and territories.

EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 500 domestic and international AM and FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the largest Catholic websites in the U.S.; electronic and print news services, including Catholic News Agency, the National Catholic Register newspaper, and several global news wire services, as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.

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U.S. bishops’ conference lays off several social justice staff members

June 26, 2024 Catholic News Agency 2
USCCB President Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks at the bishops’ spring meeting, Thursday, June 13, 2024. / Credit: USCCB

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 26, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has laid off staff members from a department specializing in social justice initiatives that has been at the center of controversy over the years.

Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the USCCB, said that “several” staff members serving in the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development were let go on Monday.

She noted that among those laid off were staff members at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the national anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic bishops. 

The CCHD was the topic of a behind-closed-doors discussion at the bishops’ June plenary assembly in Louisville, Kentucky. The program had experienced a financial shortfall amid a decline in donations following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Over the years the program has generated controversy and criticism. Beginning in 2008, the CCHD was faulted by activists — and some Catholic bishops — for funding organizations that have taken positions contrary to Church teaching, such as on abortion and same-sex marriage.

In 2010, the USCCB instituted new controls to help ensure that grantees conform with Catholic teaching.

The layoffs were part of a “reorganization” that will “allow the conference to align resources more closely with recent funding trends,” Noguchi said.

The bishops’ spokesperson noted that “as this is a personnel matter, further detail will not be discussed at this time.” 

It is not clear whether any other committees within the department were affected by the staff cuts.

The Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development is dedicated to advancing Catholic social teaching regarding peace, poverty, racism, and the environment through educational initiatives, fundraising, and the promotion of policies benefiting the marginalized.

The department oversees the Committee on International Justice and Peace, the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.

The office also includes an Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, which is led by Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Perry.

Noguchi noted that though the staff of the CCHD were affected by the layoffs, its national collection and awarding of grants will continue. 

“The CCHD subcommittee will continue its work,” she said, noting that “in the interest of good stewardship, the administration of the collection is being reorganized to allow for more efficient management.”

Noguchi quoted USCCB president Archbishop Timothy Broglio’s words at the assembly when he said that “in all these discussions, the bishops’ ongoing commitment to the vital work of fighting poverty was clear.” 

Johnny Zokovitch, executive director of a lay-led Catholic social justice group called Pax Christi, told CNA that he is concerned about the layoffs. 

“The thing that I’m most afraid of is that it says that the Church is retreating from some of those places in our society where the Church is most needed,” he explained. “Whether it’s support for immigrants, whether it’s solidarity with marginalized communities, especially communities that are steeped in poverty, that by cutting these offices, the Church is saying that we’re retreating from that work.”

Zokovitch said the USCCB department and his organization share overlapping missions and often interact and collaborate. This shared work, he said, continues what he called a long history of the Church “standing on the side of people who are poor and marginalized, people who are victims in society, whether it’s because of conflicts and war, or whether it’s because of policies that somehow jeopardize their human dignity.”

“Jesus said he would be present where the least of our brothers and sisters are present,” he went on. “For the Church to cut these offices that were doing that work with the least of these says that we’re abandoning Jesus.”

[…]

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