New Catholic Travel Series Debuts on EWTN March 4, 2010

The Faithful Traveler -- Press Release

Philadelphia, PA - This March 4th a new travel television series with a Catholic focus debuts on EWTN (Eternal Word Televison Network). The Faithful Traveler™ television series captures the faith, fun and excitement of Catholic travel. The show’s host, Diana von Glahn, takes you on a fun and faith-filled tour of some of the most amazing churches, shrines, and places of pilgrimage throughout the United States!

“You don’t have to travel all the way to Europe and beyond to experience breathtaking churches and shrines,” says Diana von Glahn. “We have so many Catholic treasures right here in the U.S. and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to bring these glorious sites into people’s homes and hearts!” Diana is not only the host of the series, she is also the writer, editor and co-creater with her husband David. A cradle Catholic with deep religious roots from her Mexican/American heritage, von Glahn presents the history, architecture and religious significance of each site in a fast-paced show that will leave viewers thirsty for more.

The first season of The Faithful Traveler™ focuses on the East Coast with travel destinations in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Viewers will walk along with Diana von Glahn as she travels to such majestic sites as St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, NY, the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ, the National Shrine of St. John Neumann in Philadelphia, PA , the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and many more!

Shot in high definition, the series is not only a treat for the eyes but also for the ears: it features the music of some of today’s most talented musicians, including Sarah Bauer, Nichole Akhoury Lanthier, Popple, John Grassadonia, Rise, Isabel Rivera, Robby Alleman, Christine Wittman, Ceili Rain, Kitty Cleveland, and many others.

The Faithful Traveler™ debuts on EWTN on March 4

Airing on Thursdays at 1:00 pm EST

Repeating on Sundays at 5:00 pm EST

Season One Schedule:

March 4 & 7: National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia, Philadelphia, PA

March 11 & 14: National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel, Bensalem, PA

March 18 & 21: Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish and St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, New York, NY

March 28: National Blue Army Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Washington, NJ

April 1 & 4: St. Mary’s Spiritual Center & Historic Site on Paca Street in Baltimore, MD and the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, MD

April 8 & 11: Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Philadelphia, PA

April 15 & 18: Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, NY

April 22 & 25: Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Baltimore, MD

April 29 & May 2: St. Alphonsus Church, Baltimore, MD

May 6 & 9: National Shrine of St. John Neumann, Philadelphia, PA

May 13 & 16: Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ

May 20 & 23: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, NY

May 27 & 30: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, NY

*Dates and times are subject to change. Check your local listings for final times.

For more information about The Faithful Traveler™ series, visit http://www.thefaithfultraveler.com/ or  http://www.ewtn.com/

To schedule an interview with the series' host, Diana von Glahn, call: 610-537-3535 or email: diana@thefaithfultraveler.com

Barber in Rome Says Praying to John Paul II Cured Him of a Hernia

The barber shop miracle -Times Online

The photograph and excerpt written by Richard Owen appeared on Times Online:

"I am not a saint, I am a sinner" says Giovanni Vecchio as he snips at a customer's hair in his barber's shop in a side street of a workaday Rome suburb. "But I have known a saint." He pauses, scissors in mid-air. "In fact, I have cut his hair".

If - or when - the late Pope John Paul II is canonised, it will be in part thanks to Mr Vecchio. Over 30 years ago, when the barber's shop he worked in was near the Vatican, a Polish prelate called Karol Wojtyla wandered in, sat down, and had his hair cut. He became a regular customer.

Mr Vecchio had no idea who "Father Karol" was, still less that he was to become "papabile". "He told me once he was bishop of Krakow, but to me they were all priests. I called them all Father".

But the encounter changed his life: last year, when he was entering hospital in great pain for a hernia operation, he saw a black and white photograph of John Paul II as a young man hanging at the entrance, and "our eyes met". Shortly afterwards, he was discharged. The hernia - and the pain - had miraculously disappeared.

The "barber's miracle" does not form part of the case for beatifiying John Paul - expected in October - for which the miracle most likely to be approved involves a French nun cured of Parkinson's disease after praying to John Paul. Nor can it be considered for the second "medically inexplicable cure" required for canonisation, since that must take place after beatification.

It has, however, been recorded by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as evidence of the reverence and devotion toward John Paul. "To me the canonisation announcement itself is not important" Mr Vecchio says at his salon, "Gianni's". "For me, as for many others, he is already a saint".

"A year ago I developed a serious problem in my back. It got worse and worse, and in the end I saw a neurosurgeon who said I had a herniated disc and would have to have an operation."

He decided to go into hospital at the end of July so he could convalesce during August. "I was in great pain," he says, limping across the floor to show how he could hardly walk. The day before the operation "the surgeon came to see the patients. He looked at my notes and made me press my left knee against his arm as hard as I could, and looked at me with some surprise. He said I would have to have more tests."

After the new tests "the nurse came along and told me that they were sending me home. A woman doctor put up the two test results against the glass, and showed me that there was nothing there. She said to me "I don't believe in miracles, but something has happened". I thanked her, stood up and went home. Ten days later I went down to my home village in Apulia for the holidays, 650 kilometres in the car there and back without a single problem".

After the holiday, "something woke me up at four in the morning. I sat down at the computer, and found the Internet page about the beatification of John Paul II. I'm a barber, I'm not very good at writing, or computers, but I wrote down my experiences the way I've told them to you, and sent it off."

A month later he had a call from Vatican Radio to say his testimony was "convincing" and "reliable". He has since featured on Italian television and in Italian magazines after Pope Benedict XVI, who has put John Paul on the fast-track to sainthood, recognised his predecessor's "heroic virtues", a step before beatification.

Could his remarkable recovery not just be coincidence? Coincidences do happen, he replies, 'but no, all this has happened through John Paul's intercession. I am not religious, but I believe in him". Last November, after watching a documentary about John Paul's election, he resolved to find a photograph of the occasion to add to the mementoes in his shop.

"I went downstairs the next morning, walked out of the door, and there on the pavement, rolled up as if someone had just thrown it away, was a small devotional image of John Paul II as he appeared on the balcony that day in 1978. I found another one just the same on New Year's Eve, and another on a fridge magnet someone had thrown away. Now explain that."

To read the complete story, visit the following link: The Barber Shop Miracle