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Here are your weekend must reads. Sr. Rose Pacatte recommends a Pixar movie that offers a spark of hope. The Feast of the Holy Family is really a celebration of human community, says Sr. Mary McGlone. And NCR publisher Bill Mitchell and editor/publisher emeritus Tom Fox interview two NCR board members about their new books.
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** Raising questions, not giving answers, 'Soul' is an animated delight ([link removed])
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Just in time for Christmas break after a summer delay, Disney and Pixar Studios are releasing an animated feature film that tries to answer the questions: Who am I and where did I come from?

In talking with co-writer and director Pete Docter ("Inside Out") and producer Dana Murray, film reviewer Sr. Rose Pacatte learned that the film deals with really big questions about the meaning of life — and was partially inspired by a contemporary Jesuit guidebook.

Every Pixar film is about love between two characters who finally understand each other, Docter said, but "Soul" goes deeper. "It's not just as simple as loving. You can nail it all down to the single commandment, to love one another. But I do feel like it's more expansive than just human relationship. I think it is about connection with the world, too."

Read the full review here. ([link removed])

More background:
* Sr. Rose also recently reviewed "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," ([link removed]) calling it the best film of 2020.

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** The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph ([link removed])
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When we envision all that happens in this Sunday’s Gospel story, we begin to realize that the Feast of the Holy Family is really not about a nuclear family of two parents and an only child, but a celebration of human community, writes Sr. Mary McGlone in her Scripture for Life column.

In order to make this feast more accessible to all in 2020, she writes, we might take our cue from Luke and "celebrate it as a feast of our ever-expanding community of loving relationships."

The Feast of the Holy Family celebrates the whole, holy family of humankind, says McGlone, "bound together across the ages by the God who loves us into life — now and forever, amen."

Read her full column here. ([link removed])

More background:
* You can read Scripture for Life columns here ([link removed]) . Srs. Mary McGlone and Carol Dempsey write a Scripture reflection every Sunday.

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More headlines
* NCR publisher emeritus Tom Fox takes a look at Belonging: One Catholic's Journey ([link removed]) , Frank Butler's story of his sometimes fulfilling and often discouraging work as an organizer and fundraiser collaborating with bishops. Butler, an NCR board member, gives an insider's account unusual both in the detail it provides and the candor it reflects, says Fox. This article includes a video interview with the author.
* In a story and accompanying video interview, Former Democratic Whip David Bonier speaks to NCR publisher Bill Mitchell ([link removed]) about how he found in Pope Francis the core of a story that would draw on two important dimensions of his own story: work on behalf of Central America while in Congress and distress at the church's failure to include women as full partners in leadership.

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Weekend wrap-up

If you have some extra time on your hands during this year-end lull, consider subscribing to our YouTube channel ([link removed]) . In addition to video interviews like those featured in today’s newsletter, you’ll find recent Facebook Live conversations, vlogs from young people serving with Catholic Volunteer Network and more. Subscribe today ([link removed]) to receive notifications when we publish new content.


Until next weekend,

Brittany Wilmes
Engagement Editor
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @bwilmes

P.S. I’m handing the reins back to Stephanie Yeagle next weekend. Thanks for reading in the meantime!

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