200,000 civil rights marchers gathered at the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. What they heard that day - Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' speech - is often held to be one of the greatest speeches ever delivered. Listen here and see why.
The Gloria from Bach's Mass in B minor
The Gloria from Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor, directed by the German conductor Helmuth Rilling, regarded as a leading expert on the music of Bach and his contemporaries.
Inside the Vatican
The first part of a virtual tour of the Vatican (an excerpt from a National Geographic documentary called "Inside the Vatican"). The voice and the script can be melodramatic at times, but the shots of the Vatican 'behind closed gates' are worth viewing. You can see Part 2 on the YouTube site.
Irish Travellers in England
Fiona Mont talks with some Irish traveller families that live in the Brighton area in England. They explain how they feel they are treated by society.
Pavarotti sings the Ave Maria
Luciano Pavarotti, the renowned Italian tenor who died in September, here sings Franz Schubert's 'Ave Maria'. Curiously, Schubert did not write this air for the 'Hail Mary' but for the German translation of a 'maiden's prayer' in Sir Walter Scott's 'The Lady of the Lake'. In Scott's original, the prayer begins as follows:
Ave Maria! maiden mild!
Listen to a maiden's prayer!
Thou canst hear though from the wild,
Thou canst save amid despair.
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care,
Though banish'd, outcast and reviled -
Maiden! hear a maiden's prayer;
Mother, hear a suppliant child!
Ave Maria!
Escaping poverty through microfinance
A look at the work of the Grameen Foundation, a financial institution founded by Mohammad Yunus in Bangladesh which arranges small loans (microcredit) for impoverished people without requiring collateral. This system has facilitated a vast number of self-help projects, lifting many people out of extreme poverty and restoring their dignity. Mohammad Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Never too old to rock'n'roll
'The Zimmers', a group of pensioners in the UK, perform a rock classic, 'My Generation'. The singer, Alf, is 90, and the oldest member of the band is 101. They were formed to bring attention to the feelings of isolation and of being invisible which many elderly people have. They are currently working on an album called 'Lust for life'.
Mother Teresa on forgiveness
"We need lots of love to forgive," says Mother Teresa, "and we need lots of humility to forget." Humility completes forgiveness, she explains: before we forgive somebody we need to realise that we too need forgiveness, and it is here that humility of heart coomes in.
Building houses, changing lives
Niall Mellon, a highly successful property dealer from Dublin, had a life-changing experience in 2002. He witnessed first-hand the appalling conditions in South African townships, and he resolved there and then to do something about it. What he did was set up the Niall Mellon Township Trust. Through it he has managed to harness the power of thousands of volunteers and build large numbers of houses to replace the shacks which far too many South Africans have had to call homes. He explains his project here.
Receive the power
'Receive the power', by Guy Sebastian and Paulini, is the theme song for World Youth Day 2008, which will be held in Sydney, Australia. It is built around the theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for WYD: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
Vincent and leadership
Dennis Holtshneider CM outlines the characteristics of Vincentian leadership: "...the ability to see in the person who is in front of me...the love that God has for them. There is the ability of St Vincent de Paul to be with the King of France in one moment and then to walk across the town and be in a soup kitchen the next, and to know everybody's name in both places."
Vincentians in the Philippines
A vocation promotion video from the Philippine province of the Congregation of the Mission. It gives a good idea of the depth and breadth of Vincentian work in that country and in mission countries beyond its borders.
The state of Africa
This is a slideshow which illustrates the scandal of poverty in Africa. Why a scandal? Because the richer regions of the world are, both wittingly and unwittingly, generating the conditions which make it so difficult for Africa to pull itself out of the poverty trap. Climate change and the global arms trade are the big offenders here.
