Catholic News Around Indiana

Diocese of Fort Wayne - South Bend

Locally produced DVDs cover various life issues

By Ann Carey (Today’s Catholic)

SOUTH BEND—Coming soon on DVD is the latest blockbuster movie by AMDG Media: Beginning and End of Life Issues: Seeking Divine Wisdom.

The plot of the two-DVD Technicolor film is simple but compelling: A concise explanation of Catholic Church teachings on the most important, pressing life issues of our day.

Starring in the production are Father Tad Pacholczyk, director of education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia; Dr. Eugene Diamond, professor of Pediatrics at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine and fellow of The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity in Chicago; Janet Smith, chair of Life Ethics and Professor of Moral Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit; and Dr. Hans Geisler of Indianapolis, a retired gynecological oncologist.

Joining this star-studded cast are Lisa Everett, who with her husband, Fred, co-directs the Office of Family Life for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend; Dr. Patrick Holly, a Fort Wayne family practice physician and NaPro Technology expert; and Franciscan Sister Corita Last, regional vice-president for mission services at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Lafayette.

The first DVD runs 30 minutes and focuses on beginning-of-life issues. That segment finds Father Pacholczyk, Lisa Everett, Janet Smith and Dr. Holly explaining Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body and discussing issues like the sanctity of life, dignity of marriage, infertility, contraception, abortion, in vitro fertilization and Natural Family Planning.

The second DVD, running 26 minutes, features Father Pacholczyk and Sister Corita, along with Drs. Diamond and Geisler. This second part looks at end-of-life topics like pain management, spiritual issues of the dying, proportionate care, euthanasia, living wills and organ donation.

A user-friendly option on the DVDs is the ability to choose just one topic to view without searching through the entire DVD.

The multi-talented Fred Everett, founder and mogul of AMDG Media LLC, spent over a year producing, directing, filming, editing and narrating the life issues DVDs.

He told Today’s Catholic he was inspired to make the film to provide a resource that would explain the basic life principles in a simple, concise, orthodox, up-to-date manner. He had previously made another DVD—on the death penalty—at the request of the Indiana Catholic Conference. Production of both DVDs was supported by funding from Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Each parish in the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese will receive a DVD free of charge. The DVDs also will have national circulation, with free copies being sent to all state Catholic conferences, all state deputies of the Knights of Columbus and all diocesan pro-life offices, along with information about how to order additional copies. The Knights of Malta are assisting with distribution of the DVDs.

Fred Everett believes the DVDs will be valuable resources in many settings: in parishes for adult education or to answer questions that parishioners may have; in schools and colleges; and in health care agencies as a resource for patients or training for employees.

(The Beginning and End of Life Issues DVDs are expected to be available by early February. The two-DVD set will cost $19.95. Mail orders can be placed by calling the Cathedral Bookstore in Fort Wayne at 260-422-4611, ext. 3357 or ext. 3358, or by e-mailing Ruth Chronister at rchronister@fw.diocesefwsb.org.) †