The Daughters of St. Paul have a long-standing collaboration with Bishop Robert Reed and the Catholic television station he oversees from Watertown, MA, Catholic TV. Begun in 1955 as the Catholic Television Center of the Archdiocese of Boston, Catholic TV has continued to grow and flourish starting with the leadership of Cardinal Richard Cushing and continuing through Cardinal Sean O’Malley.
Because the Daughters of St. Paul motherhouse for the United States (and English-Speaking Canada) resides in the Archdiocese of Boston and our ministry is evangelization with and through the media, collaborating with Catholic TV was a wonderful opportunity. For years we’ve provided the choir for the Archbishop’s annual televised Christmas Mass, our sisters have interned at Catholic TV while working on media degrees, and we have co-produced several programs with Catholic TV. This is the Day, Catholic TV’s bi-weekly live show, has featured interviews with many of the Daughters of St. Paul about various topics as well as authors of books published by Pauline Books & Media.
For the past two plus years, Sister Hosea Rupprecht, regional-director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies (East Coast), has co-hosted Searchlight, Catholic TV’s movie review show. Each show sees Sister Hosea and Father Chip Hines of the Archdiocese of Boston talking about the latest films from a Catholic perspective. Not only do they chime in about their opinions regarding how well (or not!) the actors did their jobs but they talk about the film’s story and what Catholics might take away from the themes and values presented in the film.
Searchlight was born when a group of priests went to see a movie together. After the movie, Father Bill Kelly and Father Chip Hines started discussing the film, what they liked and didn’t like about it. Their lively conversation led a fellow priest to suggest they take the idea of doing a show together to Catholic TV. The television station welcomed the idea. Father Chip and Father Bill did the show together for five years before growing ministry obligations caused Father Bill to give up hosting the show. Catholic TV turned to the Daughters of St. Paul, asking if one of the sisters could fill Father Bill’s spot on the show. Sister Hosea joined Searchlight as Father Chip’s new co-host in September of 2014.
Searchlight covers a wide variety of film genres from sci-fi, to biopics, to dramas, to kids films. Occasionally the show will be a tribute to a film great who has passed away like the October 2016 show honoring actor, Gene Wilder. Two favorite shows of the year are the annual preview and review of the Academy Awards. Father Chip and Sister Hosea make their picks for who will take home an Oscar before the broadcast and then the one who picked the most winners gets to gloat a little (just a little!) during the review show. Sister Hosea has won two years running.
If Catholic TV is not available in your area, never fear. Catholic TV streams live 24/7 at catholictv.org. Episodes of Searchlight air on Tuesday evenings at 8:30 pm and rebroadcast Wednesdays at 4am, Fridays at 4:30 pm, and Saturdays at 10:30 am and 10:30 pm (Eastern Time). You can also watch episodes anytime online at catholictv.org/shows/searchlight.
About the Author
Sister Hosea Rupprecht is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, a religious community dedicated to evangelization with the media. She holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto and an MA in Media Literacy from Webster University in St. Louis.
Sr. Hosea is director of the East Coast office of the Pauline Center for Media Studies, based in Staten Island, NY, and speaks on media literacy and faith to catechists, parents, youth, and young adults. Together with Father Chip Hines, she is the co-host of Searchlight, a Catholic movie review show on Catholic TV. Sr. Hosea is the author of How to Watch Movies with Kids: A Values-Based Strategy, released by Pauline Books & Media.
For the past 15 years, she has facilitated various film dialogues for both children and adults, as well as given presentations on integrating culture, faith and media.