Arts

TORONTO - Lino Rulli wants to be the patron saint of kissing — after all, he says he’s so good at it. He’s also good at being The Catholic Guy, the radio host known to champion the faith with wit and humour on Sirius XM Satellite Radio’s Catholic channel.

For the Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action, by Charles Camosy (Franciscan Media, 136 pages, softcover, $16.72).

“You are what you eat from your head down to your feet!” So said Time for Timer, a character in public service announcements that appeared between Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s. He encouraged kids to listen to their bodies and to think about what goes in. After all, as Timer said, “You are what you swallow.”

There’s a very thin layer between heaven and Earth. That’s how Monica Fitzgibbons describes her experience listening to the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles Sisters as they recorded Angels and Saints at Ephesus.

To live simply is not simple in our over-consuming culture. But it should be our goal if we want to be healthier, more ethical and better connected to God and the green Earth we’ve been given to watch over.

When I picked up this hefty tome, a compendium of snippets from Franciscan Father Richard Rohr’s many writings (some of it previously unpublished), I expected a series of reflections in familiar groupings: personal faith, compassion, social justice, the natural world, grief — the standard mix that is often a blessing to preachers or educators who need a little help getting started on a selected topic or biblical passage.

STRATFORD, ONT. - The surprise hit at this year’s Stratford Festival has been captivating audiences by using the Catholic-Protestant divide of 1500s England and Scotland as a mirror of post-9/11 society.

NEW YORK - Those "retired and extremely dangerous" (RED) secret agents are back on the case in "RED 2" (Summit), a lively sequel to the 2010 film based on the graphic novels by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.

WASHINGTON - One of the self-styled lay exorcists who was called in for both "The Amityville Horror" and the house-haunting that served as the basis for the new movie "The Conjuring" said it is critical to take stock of "the importance of faith" in such situations.

NEW YORK - Movies involving demonic possession and Catholic faith practices always are an uncomfortable mix, as in "The Conjuring" (Warner Bros.).

TORONTO - For there to be victory, theremust be a battle, says Nathan theProphet in A King’s Heart, theon-stage story of King David. Butin the musical directed by SusanG. Acheson, man’s battle withtemptation is just as dangerous as combat.