President John F. Kennedy shakes hands with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican July 2, 1963. The White House called Kennedy’s meeting with Paul VI an “unofficial” visit, although the pope spoke to the president about race relations, space exploration, world peace and U.S. aid to developing nations. (CNS file photo) Curious about the role ...read more

Pope Paul VI is seen in an undated official portrait. Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul Oct. 19 during the closing Mass of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family. The miracle needed for Pope Paul’s beatification involved the birth of a healthy baby to a mother in California after doctors had said both ...read more

Salt and Light Producers Cheridan Sanders and Sebastian Gomes review the script of an episode of The Church Alive, a series dedicated to Vatican II and the New Evangelization.  The 13-part series, was filmed at the CBC studios in downtown Toronto. Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI was the last Bishop of Rome to participate in the ...read more

Here’s one from the Salt and Light archives for you! Today’s photo comes from the United Nation’s General Assembly hall. Sebastian Gomes interviews Archbishop Francis Chullikatt, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United Nations in New York City. The interview was featured in Episode 6: Politics of The Church Alive, a show dedicated to the New ...read more

In 1997 Pope John Paul II established The World Day for Consecrated Life. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give thanks for the invaluable witness that consecrated religious give to the world. We’re all greatly indebted to those men and women who have proclaimed the gospel in a variety of contexts around the globe, throughout the ...read more

George Hosek, D.O.P,  takes a closer look as we prepare to shoot biblical reflections for  The Church Alive. Here George examines the camera set-up in the chapel of Assumption University. ...read more

Sebastian Gomes and I recently came across a diary entry of Saint Pope John XXIII entitled “Six maxims of perfection” in his autobiography Journal of a Soul. Some of you may recall that from the age of fourteen until his death at the age of eighty-two, Pope John XXIII kept a journal where he recorded ...read more

Thought we’d dig this one out of our photo archives for you. It’s a snapshot of our visit to the Archdiocese of New York during our filming for The Church Alive series and Go and Teach documentary.This photo was taken after a fantastic interview with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is featured in both shows. Left ...read more

So much has happened in the past couple of years.  If we rewind the clock back to September of 2012 we feel the first gusts of what became a great wind of new life and energy in the Catholic Church. At the S+L studios in Toronto we were busy preparing for the Synod of Bishops ...read more

One of the differences between The Church Alive and other S+L series is that it wasn’t filmed in our own studios.  Admittedly, from the outset Cheridan and I succumbed to the “go big or go home” syndrome, because we were convinced that any serious attempt to appeal to young people and non-Catholics meant being visually ...read more