Typical.

No sooner do I finish whining and ranting about the lack of respect Catholics (and The Catholic Church) get in Hollywood -- particularly when contrasted with the respect given to other religious persuasions -- than the National Catholic Reporter's Joe Ferullo posts a piece on the "Changes Afoot in Catholic Hollywood."

Just a few weeks ago, Fr. Eric Andrews came to town as the latest priest to head up Paulist Productions -- and he brought with him a unique background. Eric started out his career not in a seminary, but at a first-rate production company: Jim Henson Productions out of New York. There, he worked on a number of TV shows and films -- but he soon felt the call and joined up with the Paulists.

After nine years as chaplain on the University of Tennessee campus at Knoxville, Fr. Eric is now in Hollywood -- looking to increase outreach by increasing production.

...

This kind of upfront outreach - by both Paulist Productions and Family Theater -- is bold territory for industry Catholics used to keeping the faith a bit more quietly. Maybe this time it won't stay quiet for long.

That's a far cry from an epic with a $150,000,000 budget, but I stand corrected. My inner cynic must have gotten the better of me. (A bit more on Father Andrews, his staff, and his unusual story can be found here.)