Brilliant stuff from Steven Greydanus writing in the Catholic Digest. Here's a slice...

Picking the top 10 movie dads was both easier and harder than picking the top 10 movie moms (see last month). Easier, because there were more candidates to choose from—and harder for the same reason! (Candidates for worst movie dads are also more plentiful than worst movie moms. For better or worse, Hollywood is still a man's world.)

As with the moms list, I considered biological, adoptive, and foster fathers for the main list below (although I wound up with 10 biological fathers); the runners-up list also includes some "father-figure" characters. Both lists are alphabetical by film.

Tevye (Topol), Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

Atticus Finch was a man ahead of his time and place; Tevye, a hardworking Russian Jew in 1905 Tsarist Russia, is a man deeply shaped by tradition struggling in a rapidly changing world. Out of love for his daughters, he bends further than he ever thought he could yet sticks to his deepest principles, despite the agonizing cost.

Marlin (Albert Brooks), Finding Nemo (2003)

Mufasa and Mr. Incredible are more impressive, but Marlin, for all his anxieties, is the reason Finding Nemo is arguably the best animated father-son story ever. Fatherhood defines Marlin, and he rises to true heroism—reluctantly at first, but finally with unstoppable resolve.

Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quaid), Frequency (2000)

Has anyone, even Steve Martin or Spencer Tracy, played more sympathetic fathers in more movies than Dennis Quaid (see The Rookie, Soul Surfer, etc.)? In Frequency, probably the ultimate Hollywood father-son weepie, he plays a devoted, heroic dad who moves heaven and earth to be there when his son (Jim Caviezel) needs him most.

Gwilym Morgan (Donald Crisp), How Green Was My Valley (1941)

In John Ford's sentimental, elegiac, Best-Picture winner about a family of six sons and one daughter in a tight-knit Welsh coal-mining community, Mr. Morgan stands tall as a pillar in his community and the justly revered head of his family—though his wife and grown sons are very much his equals.

Go, read the rest...

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Those of you who are au fait with the Catholic youth ministry internet will know by now that we have a fallen comrade. Scott Miller of the brilliant Catholic Youth Ministry Blog announced a few weeks ago that he is hanging up his... err... whatever it is that bloggers and site owners hang up when they're finished. Keyboard, I guess?

The Catholic Youth Ministry Blog has been around for nearly nine years, offering insights, thoughts, news, resources and much more besides. All done with the reassuring wisdom of somebody who is very much boots-on-the-ground in Youth Ministry.

Scott will be continuing to write for ProjectYM when it starts up, so his wisdom will still be around on the web. Alas, however, the Catholic Youth Ministry Blog has posted its last.

Scott, we thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom over the years, and we wish you well for the future :)

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By now, I'm sure you've all heard about CAFOD's IF campaign. If not, check out the page on their site.

This is gaining a lot of traction and is bound to be big in the weeks and months ahead.

Is anyone going to the Spirit in the City Festival in a few weeks?

This is always an amazing event. More details here.

SPOILERS AHEAD... Be Warned!

If it weren't for a rather naughty opening scene and the fairly liberal use of swearing throughout, this movie would be a perfect youth ministry resource. Ignore the title and the cover - despite a few dramatic sequences, this movie isn't really about flying. Rather, it's about a man struggling to come to terms with addiction, and with an amazing story and a brilliant performance from Denzel Washington, it succeeds in telling a powerful, moving story.

In my life I've come across a tonne of people whose lives have been turned upside down by alcohol. I've been close to five: four alcoholics whose habits have systematically destroyed everything good in their lives, and one friend at Uni who sadly died when a drunken prank went terribly wrong. That's why this movie really resonated with me, even down to Denzel Washington's portrayal of an awful drunken attempt at humour when somebody enters a room. Something one of my four would do constantly, attempting a quip which soon descended into slurred syllabus and polite half-laughs from those assembled.

Another thing the movie got very right was the idea of a flawed genius. One of the alcoholics I knew was one of the best people I have ever seen in his particular field. He was amazing, but yet he now can't work in the field because he's widely known as a drunk. Similarly, Denzel Washington's Captain Whitaker is a brilliant pilot, something he proves at the start of the movie by turning a lethal situation into something which most of his crew and passengers survive. Unfortunately for him though, he's pretty hammered when he does so. Hence, the rest of the movie has him running from his new-found hero status and has the audience wondering whether or not he will be honest about what happened or hide behind the easy option.

Don Cheadle soon enters the fray as a hotshot lawyer who gives Denzel Washington an easy way out. Representing the easy way-out, he successfully suppresses all evidence of Whitaker's drinking on the day of the accident and basically gives him a free pass, allowing him to keep his wings, as well as all his problems. All he has to do is tell some simple lies. For Whitaker though, things aren't that simple. As the movie progresses he starts to realise how much booze and drugs are destroying his life and he starts to wonder if telling the same old lies really is the best option.

The whole thing builds up to a dramatic climax at an accident investigation hearing. I won't spoil the end, but I definitely recommend watching it. A brilliant, powerful film. One of the best I have seen in a while.

In essence, this movie is about taking responsibility and admitting when there's a problem. Something that probably resonates with all of us in one way or another, be it personal or professional.

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Brilliant TED video. Maybe a good discussion starter on vocation/ calling etc

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I like this...

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