Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at 500 E. Seventh Street, Auburn, IN 46706 US - Modern builder of Notre Dame, public servant, priest profiled

Modern builder of Notre Dame, public servant, priest profiled

Hallmark Channel to broadcast Family Theater Productions’ documentary Noon, Nov. 6

HOLLYWOOD –A new documentary “God, Country, Notre Dame: The Story of Father Ted Hesburgh, CSC” will have its premier broadcast at Noon (EST), Sunday, Nov. 6 on The Hallmark Channel as a special presentation of Faith and Values Media. For Direct TV viewers the time will be Noon (EST), 9 a.m. (PST). Mountain Time Zone viewers should check local listings for broadcast time. It will follow the live broadcast of the weekly Mass from Notre Dame as part of Faith and Values Media’s “America at Worship.” Father Hesburgh, the president emeritus of the Univeristy of Notre Dame, is expected to be a concelebrant and homilist for the televised Mass. The Telly-Award-winning documentary was produced by Family Theater Productions, a Catholic media ministry in Hollywood, whose legendary founder Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, produced hundreds of radio and TV programs and coined the slogan, "The Family That Prays Together, Stays Together." “As Yankee Stadium is ‘The House that Ruth Built’ so the modern Notre Dame is the university that Holy Cross Father Ted Hesburgh built during his 35-year presidency, the longest tenure so far,” said Holy Cross Father Wilfred Raymond, national director of Family Theater Productions and executive producer of the film. “In addition to being an innovative leader in higher education who turned Notre Dame into the premier Catholic university in the world, he also rendered historic service to the United States through his presidential appointments, including crafting legislation granting civil and equal rights for all citizens and voting rights for 18 year olds. When asked how he wants to be remembered, the octogenarian is quick to answer, ‘priest,’” Father Raymond said. Shot in true high definition with Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound, this program features interviews with Father Hesburgh and with all of the living former U.S. Presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Notre Dame football coach Ara Parseghian and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington, D.C. The narrators are TV personality Regis Philbin, Notre Dame's outstanding alumnus; and actors Sean Astin (Sam in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and star of “Rudy” about a Notre Dame football walk-on) and Clarence Gilyard (co-star of "Walker Texas Ranger" and "Matlock"). The documentary looks at Father Hesburgh's life through three lenses:

Public servant: A courageous public servant serving on 16 presidential commissions and chairing the landmark Civil Rights Commission that crafted the legislation that went to Congress as the 1964 Omnibus Civil Rights Bill and the 1965 Voting Rights Act; in 1964 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon Johnson, and on July 13, 2000, President Clinton presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Leader in higher education: A bold and innovative leader in American higher education who turned Notre Dame into the premier Catholic University in the world; he holds the Guinness Book of Records for the most honorary degrees received, 150.
Priest: A simple priest, who is proud of celebrating Mass every day of his 62-year priesthood with exception of “maybe three times,” he said, due to situations he couldn’t control.Also, he has served four Popes, three as permanent Vatican City representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna from 1956 to 1970.

As the documentary relates, Father Hesburgh, now 88, is still working from his retirement office in the Notre Dame library named in his honor in 1987 and still has his door open to students as he has for the last 60 years as faculty member, executive vice president, president and president emeritus. Family Theater Productions, which has produced more than 900 radio and TV programs since 1947, produced this documentary with the full cooperation of Father Hesburgh and the late Holy Cross Father Ned Joyce, the University’s executive vice president during Father Hesburgh’s presidency, as well as Holy Cross Father Monk Malloy, the outgoing president of the University of Notre Dame. This film contains the only on-camera footage of Father Hesburgh with his successor, Father Malloy and the University’s newly elected president, Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, CSC. Family Theater Productions is a member of Holy Cross Family Ministries, Easton, Mass., which seeks to promote and support the spiritual well-being of the family. Sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross, other member ministries are Family Rosary, which Father Peyton founded in 1942, Family Rosary International with offices in 17 countries, and the Father Peyton Family Institute, in Easton, and in Lima, Peru. Additional information about the documentary, the broadcast and/or acquiring the DVD is available at www.hesburgh.org or by calling toll-free 1-800-404-8350.

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