We goofed! Calling all Catholic child detectives to solve the case of the publishing error.
Imagine you are whistling in your kitchen as you whip the frosting, eagerly anticipating the taste of warm cake and fresh frosting–then you hear something go ‘clunk!’ in the oven where the cake is baking. That’s about how I felt. You’re almost afraid to turn around to see if smoke is pouring out of the oven, just as I dreaded opening the book to look inside and see whether we’d done what I feared we’d done,” said Ken Davison of Holy Heroes, a company which produces bi-lingual radio plays and companion books to help teach the truths of the Catholic faith in a way that captures children’s imaginations.
Just over one year ago, Holy Heroes was created by the people who launched Glory Stories in 2002, bringing in some added talent from the creators of The Altar Gang. Glory Stories became an EWTN and Ave Maria Radio classic weekly children’s show, bringing to life for families Holy Scripture and catechesis through what Davison calls, “the stories God Himself wrote to teach us what the faith in action is all about: the lives of His saints.” The success of Glory Stories inspired the creation of The Altar Gang a couple years later by Brian Shields, who produced the motion picture Thérése and several of the early Glory Stories radio plays. Holy Heroes combines the talents of many of the individuals involved in these two ventures, plus some newcomers who have joined to build on these foundations and expand the scope.
“First of all, we are answering the need for theologically reliable and professionally created bi-lingual materials,” said Davison. “All the Holy Heroes products are done in English and in Spanish, both the audio products and the companion books. Second, we wanted to expand the offerings beyond saint stories to also reinvigorate traditional Catholic family devotions, such as the rosary and the Stations of the Cross. Finally, we wanted to help children-and adults, too-discover just how Biblical the Catholic Faith really is, by bringing in the Scriptural basis for our beliefs in a way that is easily memorable and inspires the imagination.”
All products have a thorough theological scrub throughout the development process, culminating in a final review by Fr Juan Diego Brunetta, OP, who is also the Director of the Catholic Information Service for the Knights of Columbus. “We keep close to the Catechism and official Church documents, trying to reveal clearly “what” and “why” the Church believes and teaches and understands God’s plan for our salvation as it does, ” continued Davison. “Doctrinally, dogmatically-we’re sound and in full communion with the Magisterium. We’ve gotten such great feedback on the catechesis we’ve packed into the audio CDs and even into the extended captions on the coloring pages for each of the mysteries of the rosary. For example, we explain how King Solomon reveals that Mary is the Queen of Heaven, how her Assumption follows logically from the Ten Commandments, and so on.
“But we did make one little mistake of a fact that all of us missed!”
“I was typing the final edits into the script for the fourth and final CD in our series of bi-lingual rosary CDs-readying it to be sent for translation into Spanish-and I was working from the draft script we had created for the companion coloring books for each of the CDs. That’s when noticed a little factual error-but I wasn’t certain that it had made it into the final print version. Sure enough, when I opened up “The Triumph of Jesus,” there it was in the caption. It’s funny that we have distributed literally hundreds of these books and no one has contacted us yet-so it is easy to miss! We have even had these books ordered by Protestant churches, and they haven’t spotted it either.”
Holy Heroes wants to use their error as a teaching moment for others: you can get the book free and, if you spot the error, in addition you can choose from a selection of “Catholic detective rewards.” The error will be corrected on future printings.
So, if you have a “Catholic detective” in your family, here’s what to do while supplies last:
- 1. Go to http://www.holyheroes.com/ and click on the offer to “Get a free coloring book!”
- 2. Select “The Triumph of Jesus” as your free coloring book and check out (you will have to pay shipping and handling).
- 3. The book will arrive with a reply sheet for you to use to identify the error and to select your “reward.” Simply fill it in and send it back.
Happy hunting, Catholic detectives!
