http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/06/a-very-catholic-film/ Unity in charity, diversity in truth Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:15:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/06/a-very-catholic-film/#comment-16346 Discipulus Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:50:34 +0000 http://www.cornellsociety.org/2007/06/a-very-catholic-film/#comment-16346 At your recommendation, I watched The Great Raid and found it to be time well spent. It has some Catholic elements in it, which were refreshing to see. In reality, I would suppose that there were even more. The portrayal of the Japanese was a little much, though. I once read a short pamphlet written by a traditional priest, Hugh Thwaites, S.J. As a young man he enlisted in the British Army and was taken prisoner during WW II. He worked on the construction of the famous bridge over the river Kwai. The point of his writing was to counteract the hatred displayed against the Japanese after the war by relating how he and his fellow prisoners were treated quite humanely. From what I remember they were allowed to keep their personal belongings, watches, money, pictures etc. They spent the money on food from peddlers coming to the camp and bartered their valuables. A priest was allowed to travel freely on a small circuit of camps in order to say Mass and hear confessions. Eventually toward the end of the war, they were transferred to another camp where they were allowed to turn an empty building into a chapel. I do not doubt that atrocities occurred but it wasn’t all black. Thank you for the recommendation. At your recommendation, I watched The Great Raid and found it to be time well spent. It has some Catholic elements in it, which were refreshing to see. In reality, I would suppose that there were even more. The portrayal of the Japanese was a little much, though. I once read a short pamphlet written by a traditional priest, Hugh Thwaites, S.J. As a young man he enlisted in the British Army and was taken prisoner during WW II. He worked on the construction of the famous bridge over the river Kwai. The point of his writing was to counteract the hatred displayed against the Japanese after the war by relating how he and his fellow prisoners were treated quite humanely. From what I remember they were allowed to keep their personal belongings, watches, money, pictures etc. They spent the money on food from peddlers coming to the camp and bartered their valuables. A priest was allowed to travel freely on a small circuit of camps in order to say Mass and hear confessions. Eventually toward the end of the war, they were transferred to another camp where they were allowed to turn an empty building into a chapel. I do not doubt that atrocities occurred but it wasn’t all black. Thank you for the recommendation.

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