SUNDAY, Dec. 18

Christmas Shows

EWTN Christmas Matins From Bavaria is at 6:30am; The EWTN Family Christmas Special is at 1:30pm; Carols by Candlelight From Knock Shrine is at 3pm (re-airs 2:30am Friday); Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s Life Is Worth Living (“The True Meaning of Christmas”) airs at 5:30pm; Keep Christ in Christmas: A Catholics Come Home Special is at 8:30pm; and EWTN’s Vatican Report Christmas Special will air at 11:30pm (re-airs 4:30am Wednesday).

 

SUNDAY, Dec. 18, 7pm

The Sound of Music

ABC This Catholic-friendly 1965 musical drama classic sparkles with beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes as it tells the fact-based story of the Trapp Family Singers and their escape from Nazi-occupied Austria in 1938. Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer star.

 

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 21, 6pm

3 Godfathers

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES In this 1949 John Ford western, three fugitives risk their lives in a quest to keep a promise and save a newborn. John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz and Harry Carey Jr., star. Advisory: some stereotyping of a Mexican character and some intense scenes.

 

SATURDAY, Dec. 24, live

Christmas Eve

EWTN At 1:30pm Pope Francis will celebrate the Solemn Mass of Christmas Eve (Midnight Mass) in St. Peter’s. (Re-airs 4am Sunday.) At 10pm is the Choral Meditations on the Nativity at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, followed at 10:30pm by the Shrine’s Solemn Mass of Christmas Eve. 

 

SUNDAY, Dec. 25, live

Christmas Day

EWTN At 1am is Midnight Mass From the Holy Land on the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the Chapel of St. Catherine in the Basilica of the Nativity, Bethlehem. At 6am Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square will deliver his Christmas Urbi et Orbi: Message and Blessing “to the city of Rome and to the world.” (Re-airs 3pm.) At 8am is the Solemn Mass of Christmas from the EWTN chapel. (Re-airs 7pm.) At noon is the Solemn Mass of Christmas Day at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. (Re-airs midnight.) At 10:30pm is The Catholic University of America’s Christmas Concert, recorded earlier.

 

SUNDAY, Dec. 25, 6am

Star in the Night

TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES This Oscar-winning 1945 short is a must-see, evergreen and moving retelling of the Christmas story. J. Carrol Naish, Donald Woods and Rosina Galli star.

 

 SATURDAY, Dec. 31, live

New Year’s Eve

EWTN At 11am Pope Francis will preside at the Vespers of Thanksgiving and Te Deum in St. Peter’s. (Re-airs 3:30pm.) At midnight is the Solemn Mass of Reparation From EWTN. (Re-airs 8am, 7pm and midnight Sunday.)

 

Upcoming

SUNDAY, Jan. 1, live

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

EWTN At 4am Pope Francis will celebrate Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. (Re-airs noon.)