December 16, 2008

After more than 30 years of operation, Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) can boast of building more than 200,000 houses for poor people around the world, of bringing thousands of Christians to work sites, and of helping countless people understand how faith and social action go together. Founded by Millard and Linda Fuller in Georgia in 1976, Habitat has affiliates throughout the U.S. and in more than 90 nations. Ask a mainline Christian about the “theology of the hammer” and most will recognize the language of Habitat.

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4, Mass in G minor, Six Choral Songs to Be Sung in Time of War. London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Richard Hickox Singers, Richard Hickox. Chandos, $18.98.

Vaughan Williams’s martial and acerbic fourth symphony gets a muscular performance with great brass. The a cappella mass provides a calmer and quieter contrast. The Six Choral Songs (1939-1940) feature the choir in unison singing texts by Shelley.

This collection ranges from the merengue of Dominican superstar Reynold to the earthy Hungarian folk of Marta Sebestyen (knit with Arabic textures on “Bethlehem, Bethlehem”). The Cox Family’s dawn-in-Appalachia rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” is a highlight. Other tracks sample holiday pieces from Sweden, Italy and Africa. Proceeds benefit Oxfam’s work to end poverty.

Martin Ritt’s 1972 adaptation of the beloved children’s novel by William H. Armstrong is one of the most powerful family films ever made. It is set in Depression-era Louisiana, where a proud father (Paul Winfield) poaches game to feed his wife (Cicely Tyson) and children and winds up on a chain gang. The core of the narrative is the journey his son (Kevin Hooks) takes to try to find him. The boy doesn’t locate his dad, but he finds a mentor, a young black schoolteacher (Janet MacLachlan), who holds out the priceless gift of education.

A movie about a family of Irish cops—that sounds like one you’ve seen before. But Pride and Glory contains a few unfamiliar notes, and it rings truer than most movies about corruption in the police ranks.