Catholic Transcript Online

Elaine Stritch, left, as Madame Armfeldt and Bernadette Peters, right, as Desirée Armfeldt. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Many media outlets cover the booming industry of sports, but only one is laying claim as the source for all-Catholic sports, and that is CatholicSportsNet.

Based in Louisville, CatholicSportsNet (CSN) is a new media company that recently launched its flagship entity – www.catholicsportsnet.com – a Web site that will serve as a national showcase for on- and off-the-field achievements of male and female Catholic high school, collegiate and professional student-athletes, teams, coaches and administrators.

Max McLean, left, and Karen Eleanor Wight

NEW YORK – When C.S. Lewis, the Anglo-Irish novelist, lay theologian and Christian apologist, died on Nov. 22, 1963, a few days before his 65th birthday, media coverage of his passing was minimal, overshadowed in the United States by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and in Britain by the death of the novelist Aldous Huxley, of Brave New World fame.

In the intervening years, this pretermission has been all but erased by the enormous popularity of Mr. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, boosted by the highly successful Disney film version, and the interest of a new generation of readers in his writings: Space Trilogy, The Four Loves, Mere Christianity and the autobiography Surprised by Joy, all of which, in some way, deal with the topic of Christianity. Mr. Lewis was baptized a Christian, dropped away from it as a teen, and returned with fervor in his early 30’s.

Original Broadway cast of ‘Million Dollar Quartet,’ now playing at Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre, includes, from left, Levi Kreis (on microphone) as Jerry Lee Lewis; Robert Britton Lyons (standing on top of bass) as Carl Perkins; Corey Keiser playing bass; Eddie Clendening (kneeling) as Elvis Presley; and Lance Guest (standing) as Johnny Cash. (Photo by Joan Marcus)

A first quick glance at the figures released by the official Broadway League, a coalition of professional theater guilds and unions, indicates that things are smashingly positive: Broadway yielded $1.02 billion in grosses, and total audience attendance reached 11.89 million. Grosses were up 1.5 percent – probably because of a slight increase in ticket prices – though attendance was down 3 percent from the 2008-09 season. Still, even during the continuing economic downturn, Broadway is holding its own as a favorite entertainment destination.

John Terry walks out the door of a church in a scene from the series finale of the ABC TV show "Lost." CNS photo/Mario Perez, courtesy ABC)

HONOLULU (CNS) -- The gateway to heaven is through the chapel doors at Sacred Hearts Academy in Honolulu. Or so one could argue after watching the series finale of the ABC-TV show "Lost" in late May. Several key scenes in the last episode were shot at the all-girls Catholic school.

The finale's penultimate scene showed the major characters from the TV show's six seasons reuniting after their deaths in a church before "moving on" to another life, as character Christian Shephard called it in the episode, named "The End."

It is Shephard who opens the main church doors, guarded on each side by an angel statue. Through the doors comes a blazing stream of light that fills the church and engulfs all of the waiting characters.

Several other scenes in the episode showed a coffin arriving at the front of the school grounds, characters talking in a lunch pavilion area outside the chapel, and Shephard and his son, Jack, talking in an office just outside the church.

Linda Emond, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Jesse L. Martin in 'The Winter’s Tale' from June 9 to Aug. 1 at The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park. (Photo by Joan Marcus.)

 NEW YORK – The Public Theater will begin Shakespeare in the Park performances on June 9 with the first preview of "The Winter’s Tale," directed by Michael Greif. "The Merchant of Venice," directed by Daniel Sullivan, will begin performances on June 12. Both shows will play in repertory through Sunday, Aug. 1 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are free and are distributed, two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1 o’clock the day of the show. This summer, the Public Theater will again offer free tickets through Virtual Ticketing, available at www.shakespeareinthepark.org.