Catholic tastes.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERHERO 

Bible man is a "scripture-wielding" superhero touring the country and living out his pledge to fight evil in the name of God. This "mighty avenger of truth," played by actor Willie Aames (of Eight Is Enough and Charles in Charge fame), wears a purple cape and buff-chest armor and fights archvillain Shadow of Doubt.

"Empowered by the limitless might of God's word, Bibleman ... directs boys and girls to the one true superhero--Jesus Christ."

A series of six Bibleman adventures is available on video. (www.bibleman.com)

CHANT R

In the late 1960s, Don Campbell reports in The Mozart Effect (Avon Books, 1997), French physician and educator Dr. Alfred Tomatis was called to investigate a strange malaise that had descended upon a Benedictine monastery in the south of France.

"After arriving on the scene and finding 70 of the 90 monks `slumped in their cells like wet dishrags,' Tomatis offered his diagnosis. The cause of this despondency, he declared, was not physiological but audiological. The monks' enervated state was the result of eliminating several hours of Gregorian chant from their daily routine." In the wake of Vatican II, the monastery's new young abbot had decreed that chant was too old-fashioned and that the amount of time the monks had previously devoted to it should be spent in more "productive" ways.

"The long, resonant tones--the glorious ooooo's and serene eeeee's ... especially--allowed a feeling of release and supplied a common focus.... For the monks, [chanting] was a way of keeping their internal motors primed. It slowed down their breathing, lowered their blood pressure, and elevated their mood--and their productivity. They weren't conscious of the physiological benefits of their chanting, but they had dearly become accustomed to it.

"Tomatis told the abbot that he would like to put the men back on a diet of Gregorian chant. He did, and the effect was dramatic. Within six months, the monks were once again vigorous and healthy. They needed less sleep, and they went back to their appointed tasks with renewed enthusiasm."

PAPAL PICKS

Earlier this year the Italian newspaper La Repubblica published a top-45 list of Pope John Paul II's favorite movies. Mixed in with Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew (number 2) and Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (5) were a few surprises. 2001: A Space Odyssey ranked number 8 among the papal choices, and the list even included Federico Fellini's La Strada and 8 1/2 and Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries. At the top of the list was Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, while Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful ranked number 3. (Newsweek, Feb. 3, 1999)

INTERNET GODS

"Religion's presence on the Web ... is now almost as big as sex online. Plug `God' into a Netscape search and you'll get as many as 600,000 responses, remarkably close to the 775,000 sites listed for `sex.'"

--Lisa Miller (quoted in Current Thoughts & Trends, June 1999)

THE POPE SELLS

"There's no better brand in the world."

--The pope's licensing chief, commenting on the announcement that the Vatican will soon open a Jubilee Year 2000 theme store in New York The store is said to be `selling John Paul II sheets, china, and other church tchotchkes, as well as replicas of Italian art treasures.' (Newsweek, July 5, 1999)

It is not between good and evil that the choice lies, but between good and better. In other words, we must give up over and over again even the good things of this world, to choose God.

--Dorothy Day