She dared to dream. They dared to believe…

THE MIGHTY MACS is based on the incredible true story of the 1971-72 Immaculata College team that started in obscurity but became the original Cinderella story in women’s basketball.

Recently married Cathy Rush is dealing with the aftermath of a truncated playing career. While cultural norms would have her staying at home, she felt compelled to take on a coaching job at Immaculata College, an all-women’s Catholic college in Philadelphia. Though her team had no gym and no uniforms (and the school itself was in danger of being sold), Coach Rush looked to lead her team to their first national championship. This team of pioneers went from barely making the inaugural tournament to the first dynasty in the game. And, Coach Cathy Rush, a woman ahead of her time, became immortalized when she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

No matter how many insults to the Church and our beloved Faith that when a movie like this slips through we as Catholics must be there to support it. My personal experience with this story may be one which will remind you how you really want to be ALWAYS CATHOLIC… if you are reading this blog, you DO!

On Friday, October 21, THE MIGHTY MACS is an inspiring true story coming to theaters nationwide. As the story unfolds, the characters display positive traits such as faith, honesty, teamwork, perseverance and trust – things that all parents, teachers and coaches all try to instill in children. Best of all, it’s a movie that the entire family will enjoy!

It’s refreshing to know that a spiritually nourishing film is coming to theaters and can positively impact those who see it. That’s great news!

from “The Mighty Macs”

Sofia’s Story:

This Friday after I send out my #FollowFridays and post to AlwaysCatholicBlog, I am heading to the movies to see the new film, “the Mighty Macs”. I am going for a few reasons, but I ask you to go for at least one: SHOW HOLLYWOOD true Catholics support family films and not films which are made to attack our Faith and our Church.

I have to tell you that my reason for going to see this uplifting story first, is to support this truly family film, secondly, that the story about Cathy Rush and Immaculata College “Mighty Macs” is finally told to the world. and last but not least my personal reason below…

I played high school basketball junior and senior year at a Catholic High School at the Jersey Shore. The story of Cathy Rush and the Mighty Macs were an inspiration to me to play ball (After all I had a coach who was 6ft tall and was a nun in full habit!). Following their story in the newspapers at the time made me proud to be a Catholic school student and to have been taught by the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) in grammar school. Granted, my IHM’s were from Scranton and the Mighty Macs IHM’s were from Immaculata but we always felt the kinship with Immaculata. Our IHM’s took a wrong turn and so having the IHM’s at Immaculata to still proudly wear a habit was important to us as young Catholic girls. It made us proud as Catholic school athletes to look up to the Mighty Macs for more than just winners at basketball.

Cathy Rush taught us all to be student athletes with dignity and with class. It was cool to be Catholic, a girl AND an ATHLETE! When I first found out that this movie was being made it touched a place inside of me that this wonderful story about these girls, the nuns and one of the best at coaching women’s basketball would finally be told.

I am tied to the Church in every way…thats why I try everyday to be “AlwaysCatholic”. It makes me so happy that this Faith I love so dearly and would die for at a moment’s notice gets that “the pick and roll” is one of a gazillion things that makes up this “Catholic” spirit. Everything we do and love is looked through the lens of Catholicity. How, do you say?

Go watch “The Mighty Macs”. You will find out…

Thank you Mighty Macs, Cathy Rush and the nuns of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who were “Always Catholic” in all they did at that special time at Immaculata College…not perfect people, just people who kept trying to do the right thing.

“Saints were people who sinned and tried again”… a very short homily I heard at a Solemn High Mass one All Saints Day shortly after the the Indult “Ecclesia Dei” brought the Traditional Mass back to us…

How absolutely cool is it that we can go to the movies tomorrow and see a positive “G” rated movie about a CATHOLIC school, CATHOLIC nuns and basketball…?

What a great Faith, what a great Church!

Go Mighty Macs!!
…………………………………………………..

Please go to The Mighty Macs website here. The Mighty Macs are also on FB, here.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

“Forty years ago, the world was a different place—especially for women who aspired to step outside the few, basic roles society attempted to define for them. Cathy Rush had the courage, faith and determination to let her dreams break barriers, and THE MIGHTY MACS tells her story in compelling fashion. Tim Chambers has been able to capture the feel and atmosphere of the early 1970s women’s sports scene with great perception.”
Kathryn Olson, Executive Director of Women’s Sports Foundation

“We are all indebted to the Mighty Macs for what women’s basketball is today. Tim Chambers has done a wonderful job capturing the essence of Cathy Rush and the story, and I hope everyone will be in theaters October 21 to see this movie.”
Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut Women’s Basketball Coach

“The Mighty Macs is a must see – not only for sports fans, but for everyone. It is exciting, inspiring, heart warming and just wonderfully entertaining… It is a great movie that you do not want to miss.”
Tom Monaghan, Founder of Domino’s Pizza & Ave Maria University

“The Mighty Macs is a great film for the entire family, not just for the sports fan! It is a relatable story of perseverance, dedication and triumph. I would tell every man or woman who coaches to take their team to see what can be accomplished against all odds!”
John Kincade, host of “The John Kincade Show” aired nationally on ESPN Radio

“It’s a story of dreaming big against all odds and finding a way to make your dream come true.”
Tom Collen, Women’s Basketball Coach, University of Arkansas

“A wonderful movie of hope, commitment and belief in self and others.”
Most Reverend Martin Amos, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Iowa

“It’s a wonderful inspiring movie that teaches the values of friendship, dedication and trust.”
Denise Jones, Point of Grace

“The Mighty Macs is an inspiring movie that teaches the values of faith without limits, as well as perseverance and teamwork in a girl’s life. I encourage our American Heritage Girls troops to support this movie on opening weekend and enjoy a film that leaves you excited about the opportunities God presents to us daily. With Him all things are possible.”
Patti Garibay, American Heritage Girls Founder & Executive Director

From our brother @DavidBisono Host of “Two Blessed To Be Stressed” on NYNet.net. Also,check out the Too Blessed FB page, click here!

What is your biggest fear? Would you be surprised if I told you that for many people the answer would be “The Dentist”? Just maybe you fall under that category, well if so you are going to enjoy tonights episode of “Too Blessed to be Stressed”. Our special guest is Dr Trey Wilson. He has been named a CNN Hero for his work in Africa with the less fortunate and has appeared on Good Morning America… sharing his love for his work and how this one time seminarian uses Faith,prayer,conversation and planting to help his clients have the best dental experience of their lives.

So please join Jahaira and I tonight at 9pm and say Ahhhhh. You never thought that going to the dentist could be so painless. Spread the Word! Remember in the midst of it all you are ” Too Blessed to be Stressed” Believe it!

Tonight is a good night to watch NET and get some healing in the name of Jesus. We are on at 9PM on Timewarner and Cablevision channel 97 and 30. If you don not have cable do not worry, you can watch via internet by logging on to www.netny.net Once you log in please go to the upper right hand corner and press “Watch Now” and that way you can view the show from your computer or laptop. Hope to see you tonight. Remember that you are “Too Blessed to be Stressed” Believe it !!

Editor’s Note: Here at ACBlog are working hard at updating the Too Blessed to Be Stressed page so tune in on NetNY while we get it right!

In tonights episode of Too Blessed to be Stressed we will be speaking to Lisbeth about her sister Xenia and what God is doing in her life. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them, but know without a doubt that God is at work in ways our minds cannot comprehend. If you or anyone in your family is struggling with an illness this is an episode you cannot miss. Call someone who may be at the verge of giving up and give them hope. See you at 9 pm. Remember in the midst of it all you are ” Too Blessed to be Stressed” Believe it!
Tonight is a good night to watch NET and get some healing in the name of Jesus. We are on at 9PM on Timewarner and Cablevision channel 97 and 30. If you don not have cable do not worry, you can watch via internet by logging on to www.netny.net Once you log in please go to the upper right hand corner and press “Watch Now” and that way you can view the show from your computer or laptop. Hope to see you tonight. Remember that you are “Too Blessed to be Stressed” Believe it !!

Editor’s Note: Here at ACBlog are working hard at updating the Too Blessed to Be Stressed page so tune in on NetNY while we get it right!

Guided Missal 4: Oremus

The introductory rites of the Roman Mass (ordinary form), following the entrance into the Holy of Holies, and acknowledging the mercy and glory of God as complementary (as opposed to conflicting, as some liturgists in the 1980s would have had us believe), culminate in the Opening Prayer, traditionally known as the Collect (from the Latin “collectio”).

Rest of MWBH post click here… (you know you want too!)

Editor’s Note: Best Series on the New Missal translation out there!

From @CatholicLisa on her blog, LisaGraas.com
October 13, 2011 A.D.

Remember this?

Creative Minority Report, via Knights of Divine Mercy:

Thems fighting words. And I’m likin’ it. Archbishop Timothy Dolan sent a pretty strongly worded letter to President Obama saying that unless this administration changes course quickly on the issue of religious freedom that the government is creating “a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions.”

Wow. Let me get my pom poms out and start a cheer. My splits aren’t as impressive as they used to be but I still got mad ups, yo.

Let’s face it, religious freedom in America has been taking a sound beating yesterday. So seeing this kind of resistance is very welcome.

Indeed. Ditto that. It was the highlight of the year for me in Catholic news, even better than being personally invited to the Vatican. Really. It was that good. But…lookie here, from CBN News today:

Evangelicals Commend Obama on Religious Freedom

Leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals say President Barack Obama seems to be committed to addressing the issue of religious persecution at home and abroad.

Huh? Say again? What?

The rest of this NOT TO BE MISSED post at LisaGraas.com…

By Fr Dwight Longenecker
10/11/2011
Standing on My Head (gkupsidedown.blogspot.com/)

Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty. That’s all you need to know

Beauty is attractive. It draws you in. It is an experience. I know a young priest who was raised a Baptist and went into a beautiful Catholic Church when he was fifteen years old. He immediately knelt and knew he was not only going to be a Catholic, but that he was supposed to be a Catholic priest. Beauty in a Catholic Church is something ‘crazy’ for God in a brutal utilitarian age. But that beauty speaks of the attraction of God himself and it helps to draw us into his presence.
GREENVILLE, SC (Standing on my Head) – Why should Catholics build beautiful churches? First, because beauty is eternal and the Catholic faith is ever ancient and ever new. God’s love is eternal and the Catholic faith will last until the end of time.

Something that is beautiful improves with age, and so with the Catholic faith, and therefore a beautiful Catholic church speaks of the antiquity and permanence of the faith it proclaims.

Secondly Beauty is attractive. It draws you in. It is an experience. I know a young priest who was raised a Baptist and went into a beautiful Catholic Church when he was fifteen years old. He immediately knelt and knew he was not only going to be a Catholic, but that he was supposed to be a Catholic priest.

Beauty in a Catholic Church is something ‘crazy’ for God in a brutal utilitarian age. But that beauty speaks of the attraction of God himself and it helps to draw us into his presence.

Thirdly, Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty. That’s all you need to know. We comprehend verbal expressions of Truth with our mind, but we apprehend beauty with our heart.

The rest of this post please, click here…