Dr. Italy explores a Polish saint, and more
Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
When he’s not leading a pilgrimage to a holy site, speaking at conferences across the country, or narrating a video series from Turkey, Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio — also known as Dr. Italy — can be found in the Diocese of Fort Worth. A parishioner of St. Philip the Apostle Parish in Flower Mound, he’s been sharing stories of faith since he was 16 years old, most recently as executive producer of the film “Triumph of the Heart,” the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe.
He recently sat down with the North Texas Catholic and talked about the movie, white smoke, and plaster saints.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
NTC: You are a college professor, author of five books and countless articles, pilgrimage leader, frequent radio and TV commentator, conference speaker, and now the executive director of a movie, “Triumph of the Heart.” Tell us a little about the movie and your role in it.
Dr. D’Ambrosio: First and foremost, when I started way back in the day, I was a secular rock musician who had a conversion, fell in love with St. Francis, went into seminary, started a PhD, but then started doing evangelistic work with music. I was preaching and teaching through music, through a Catholic rock band. We were going to do a video series with EWTN for youth, like MTV. That's when Crossroads as a nonprofit ministry was born with the express purpose of facilitating a creative proclamation of the Gospel through all forms of media and the performing arts. Video was supposed to be one of those.
That series got the kibosh, and I ended up getting a PhD, but I continued to do storytelling and teaching. Crossroads became the vehicle for me to do creative teaching. We had one of the first websites that came up in the Catholic world back in the early 2000s.
I've done radio and television and video series, but there's always been a passion to see us do more. I have very creative children, and one of them, Anthony, had a real passion to do this film. So Crossroads became the nonprofit partner of the film.
Our whole family has a passion for telling the stories of the saints. Often the stories of saints are told in a way that turns them into plaster statues. Telling the stories of the saints where they're real flesh-and-blood human beings that we can relate to, to see holiness in the midst of the real grittiness of life — that's part of our passion. This movie does that. It's really a fulfillment of a vision that I had a long time ago that God has resurrected and is using my son and a really great team.
NTC: For anyone not familiar with St. Maximilian Kolbe, can you give us a quick refresher on the saint?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: St. Maximilian Kolbe was the first great media star in the Catholic world. Before [Archbishop] Fulton Sheen, Kolbe saw the power of the press and began doing a newspaper in Poland. He had 800 friars living with him, manning presses, cranking out magazines and newspapers that reached a lot of people. Then he set up the first Catholic radio station in the 1930s in Poland. All that came to a halt when the Nazis invaded and took over.
The friars helped refugees for a year before they're taken in as prisoners. Kolbe was taken as a prisoner, and he ends up in Auschwitz. The thing that makes people really sit up and take notice about Kolbe is that at Auschwitz, 10 men were selected out of a lineup to starve to death in retribution for what was thought to be an escape. Kolbe volunteered to take the place of one of them.
Usually when people tell the story of Kolbe, that's the climax, actually the end. This film begins there. It's really about him giving his life for the nine men that he accompanied to death, and rousing them out of their despair and their anger and their fury and their isolation.
NTC: By digging deep into the life of St. Maximilian Kolbe, has God taught you any lessons or has the Holy Spirit revealed anything to you?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: Plenty. It's actually mind blowing that he was so strong, very masculine, and at the same time had a tenderness of a mother in the way he related to people, particularly in suffering.
He was incredibly open to non-Catholics, loving them and not pushing in any way. He was in Japan for a while. He made friends with a Buddhist monk. He made friends with a Protestant missionary. Both of them ultimately became Catholic, but that wasn't his goal.
His willingness to always put others first in every circumstance.
NTC: You worked with one of your sons, Anthony, who wrote and directed “Triumph of the Heart.” Share a little about the experience of working so closely with your son.
Dr. D’Ambrosio: It's actually been such a joy and a pleasure. It's wonderful to serve the Lord together. For me as a dad who has a career in the service of Christ and a ministry of the Word in teaching, to see my son do this and then to work with him on it — it's kind of a dream.
NTC: How can people watch “Triumph of the Heart?”
Dr. D’Ambrosio: On September 8, we'd love to have anyone in the Dallas-Fort Worth area come and join us for the premiere, a real great celebration at the UTD campus in a 1,200 person auditorium.
Around here in Texas, in 40 theaters, there'll be availability to see the movie on the opening weekend, beginning September 12. So I encourage people to go to kolbemovie.com to find out where they can see it.
NTC: What are you hoping people take away from the movie when they see it?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: This is really a lot like a painting, an icon. And the goal of an icon is to lead to an encounter, a place where you encounter heaven. It's a window to heaven. And believe it or not, this movie is meant to be a window to heaven in the midst of hell. How the ray of Christ's light shines forth out of the darkness of Auschwitz.
What does that do for us? It, first of all, incredibly touches the depths of our heart, but I think it gives us an idea of how we can give hope to those who are hopeless
NTC: Another project you recently completed is a video study on the Catechism of the Catholic Church for Ascension Press, with some renowned Catholic educators including Jeff Cavins, Fr. Mike Schmitz, and Dr. Edward Sri. Tell us what makes that study unique and who would benefit?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: The video series was really meant to help us understand where the Catechism came from. We filmed it around the world, in places that are very much linked to the Catechism, such as the Holy Land. Jeff Cavins talked about the 10 Commandments on the top of Mount Sinai. Much of the ministry of Jesus should be talked about in the Holy Land. I was sent to Turkey because that's where the Council of Nicea and the Councils of Constantinople and Ephesus were. Mary, the mother of God, is tied to Ephesus.
NTC: From books to teaching, and now a movie – you’ve had many successes across a variety of disciplines, but it’s all been united on a central theme: Jesus Christ and the Church that He founded. What has sustained your faith over the long career?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: Prayer, I fell in love with prayer. At 16, I had a conversion from seeking glory of rock and roll to seeking the glory of God. So all of a sudden, praise and thanks become a joy. And reading Scripture becomes a joy.
My wife and I pray together. When we're together, we pray together every day. Our family prays together.
Prayer and the sacraments, of course. When you say prayer, that certainly includes the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life, our most intimate encounter with the Lord. So those are the things that really sustain me. And sharing that with others. Our Church is not about individuals and just individual piety, but we're really the body of Christ. We're responsible for one another, you know?
NTC: Now that the movie is wrapping up, do you have other projects that you're working on?
Dr. D’Ambrosio: Like cleaning up my desk? That would be a good idea, wouldn't it? Do you ever see St. Maximilian Kolbe’s desk? There's actually a famous picture of his desk in Japan, and it is more cluttered than any desk I've ever seen.
I have a few more projects on my plate. I just recorded a mini-series on the Holy Spirit. We talk about the Father and Jesus a lot, but not about the Holy Spirit. So we did a special study series that's about to come out from Ascension Press sometime in the next year.
I recently wrote a chapter of a book, “When the White Smoke Clears.” After our new Pope was proclaimed, I happened to be there. I've been leading pilgrimages since 1999, and I led a pilgrimage to Rome. We were in St. Peter Square, and the white smoke comes.
I believe that the Gospel is an adventure. Pilgrimages help us get the idea that we don't just sit around, we have to pursue God.
We're going to be on a Marian pilgrimage this spring to Spain and France. I think we'll have a good contingent from the Diocese of Fort Worth on that pilgrimage.
Next summer, Anthony will come with me and with my wife Susan to Poland, and we will actually do a St. Maximilian Kolbe pilgrimage. We'll culminate on August 14, the saint’s feast day, with a huge outdoor Mass that they have every year.
Usually when we think of Auschwitz, we think of our dear Jewish brothers and sisters who died there in such great numbers. But of course, many Poles died there who were Catholic as well. So we’ll actually be in Auschwitz on the day of his death to celebrate his eternal life and his amazing impact on the life of the Church.