Since I moved to Hollywood to be a screenwriter and missionary nearly two years ago, many of my friends from back in Minnesota have asked: “So how’s the screenwriting going?” Actually, there haven’t been too many developments in that arena. But I guess the mission work has taken a different direction. This past year, Fr. Willy Raymond, national director of Family Theater Productions, invited me to be a catechist in an RCIA program designed for Catholics (or those interested in becoming Catholic) who also work/aspire to work in the entertainment industry. The program, initially developed by screenwriter and mentor Barbara Nicolosi, has an ambitious curriculum that includes not only reading from the Catechism and documents of Vatican II, but also studying great literature from authors such as Evelyn Waugh, C.S. Lewis, Dostoevsky, and Flannery O’Connor, and viewing a number of films, such as Babette’s Feast.

This year’s program – which included several aspiring young actors, a screenwriter, and a producer – concluded on Pentecost Sunday with the confirmation of three young men at St. Monica’s parish in Santa Monica. Please pray for them, especially for the young actors who aspire to a career in the industry. It’s a very competitive industry, and one in which it is easy to be de-evangelized. I think actors face a special challenge, because the industry often treats them simply as vehicles for making a profit. The message of the dignity of the human person definitely needs to be heard in Hollywood.

Congratulations to Shea, Jonathan and Dario on their confirmation! May God, who has begun the good work in each of them, bring it to completion.