Helping Children Imitate the Saints Via a TV Series
Caitlin Swan is the writer and star of Katie and Koco, a new television series at Shalom World that tells the lives of the saints. Caitlin has never met her great-great-great aunt, but the story of how she saved a young girl who had fallen down a well with only a pair of Rosary beads is a popular favourite in the young woman’s home. Caitlin, from Brisbane, is the great-great-great niece of St Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, a Palestinian nun and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem who was canonised by Pope Francis on 17 May 2015.
As well as being a blood relative, St Marie-Alphonsine has played a direct role in Caitlin’s Catholic faith as her confirmation saint. While the Palestinian saint is a household name in the Middle East, St Marie-Alphonsine’s life is relatively unknown in Australia.
But Caitlin hopes a new television show written by and starring herself will help raise the profile of her great-great-great aunt along with other saints. Aired at Shalom World every Monday, Katie and Koco explore the lives of 20 saints, including St Marie-Alphonsine, with the help of the mischievous Koco the cockatoo.
Some saints were harder to portray in the show – for example, explaining the sacrificial death of St Maximilian Kolbe or the murder of Japanese martyr St Paul Miki in an age-appropriate manner was difficult.
“You have to explain it in an engaging way but in a way that they can relate to and not just feel frightened by it,” Caitlin said.
“Since (St Paul Miki) was martyred, I don’t not say it, but the focus is not the death but on going to heaven.”
If the feedback from her young cousins, who watched the show’s debut in January, are anything to go by, the show is a Catholic parent’s dream. But for Caitlin, the project has also been a reminder to take her Catholic faith seriously.
With a second season in discussion, Caitlin hopes her humble television show can help show children that becoming a saint is not only possible, but necessary.
“If it’s working out now, then maybe God wants me to do more of them and He can work through me.”
Caitlin's show and episodes on demand can be found at Shalom World online via the link below.
Katie and Koco
Further information by the Catholic Leader
Original material by the Catholic Leader and Shalom World.