Posted: October 27

LA Dreaming

As I lay awake in my bed in a guest room last night and heard a steady rain pour down, I felt like I was back in Rome. But I am in Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, home to one of the biggest communication departments among Jesuit universities around the world and the only school of film and television. (At least I think it is the only school; all the others are departments. Crucify me if you will, but send corrections and I will immediately post them.) Two Jesuits teach on the faculty, Pat Connelly and Luis Proenca, and a number of young Jesuits have gotten MFA’s from the school. One of the most recent graduates, Giuseppe Zito of the Italian province, is back at LMU to accept an award for the film he made to complete his degree.

I can’t say much more about LMU for the moment because yesterday I visited Eddie Siebert at Loyola Productions. This Jesuit from the Detroit Province, himself a graduate of LMU, has managed to get a very impressive production company off the ground in only four years. They already have a portfolio of videos made for several U.S. Jesuit provinces and for many high schools and they are working hard with Loyola Press in Chicago to develop materials for adult catechesis. Their big project, though, is a pilot for a TV show that I will describe in more detail when I get back to Rome and put up a photo essay on this trip. At the moment I think that Loyola Productions is one of the boldest Jesuit communications initiatives I have seen for quite awhile, and I think they are off to a good start. As is this trip. I woke up to brilliant sunshine and the kind of clear skies that rarely bless this urban area, so I grabbed my camera and got some pictures of the campus while the conditions were perfect.