I know I have talked about it before, and highlighted the fact that the library has not one but two copies, but today’s blog is going to be a personal review of “Catholicism,” the documentary done by Fr. Robert Barron, acclaimed author, speaker and theologian, and Word On Fire Catholic Ministries, founded by Fr. Barron. I have finally been able to watch it myself, and it was as good as advertised.
Probably the nicest thing about this documentary is that each episode can stand alone. You do not have to watch them in order, or see part one to understand part two, or even part six. Fr. Barron breaks up the Catholic faith in such a way to look at a separate aspect in each part, and focus on that alone. This makes it a series that you can watch over time, if you need to, and not worry about forgetting something you learned from an earlier episode.
It is Fr. Barron narrating throughout, and if you have never listened to him, I recommend doing it, either through his YouTube sermons or his many other videos. He has a clear way of speaking and explaining things, many times very thought-provoking ways of looking at something I might take for granted. One of the places he does this best is in part three, in which he tries to explain, or rather, explain how we cannot explain, about God. If that sentence is complicated, you get the idea. However, I came away with a deeper understanding of it all than I think I ever had in the past.?
In the first part, Fr. Barron focuses on Jesus as the Messiah, and many of the scenes are filmed on location in Israel and the surrounding area. He does this with other places as well throughout the series. They are not the first ones to do this, of course, but this always makes it feel more real to me; Fr. Barron is not talking about something that might have happened; these are things that did happen, here at this place. ?
Basically, the hype is real, “Catholicism” is incredible, and as someone that bought it for his parents for Christmas, I could not be happier; My mom, who has only watched about half of it so far, absolutely loves it.?
As always, if you have any ideas and comments for things I could change, let me know. If you have any books that you have read or have read the books I mention, please leave a comment. We here at Salzmann also want to know what people are reading. Anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.
Here is some basic information about the library:
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