Extreme Clergy returns May 16

In war-torn nations where non-combatants are caught in the crossfire; in rich lands where natural resources generate untold wealth for the few and deprivation for the many; in parched deserts where those who seek freedom often find death: who will stand up for the forgotten and oppressed?

Extreme Clergy, a documentary series that follows pastors, ministers, priests and rabbis into the world’s most dangerous places, returns to VisionTV in May. (See below for the rundown of new and repeat episodes.)

The 13-part series (formerly known as Convictions) airs on Fridays, starting May 16 at 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT.

Episodes repeat on Mondays, starting May 19 at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT.

Each half-hour episode profiles a woman or man of faith who journeys into a danger zone to join the struggle for social justice.

Award-winning foreign correspondent Rick MacInnes-Rae is the voice of Extreme Clergy.

The series was shot in HDTV on location at hot spots around the world, including Hebron, Haiti, Liberia, the Philippines, Central America, Afghanistan and the border between the United States and Mexico.

Extreme Clergy is executive produced by Robert Sandler (Exhibit A, 72 Hours) and co-produced by Sandra Whiteley. Joan Jenkinson is the Executive Producer for VisionTV.

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Extreme Clergy – Episode Guide:

Episode One: Chaplain Harry Nigh – Toronto
Friday, May 16, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, May 19, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Mennonite Chaplain Harry Nigh works with the “worst of the worst”: repeat sex offenders and murderers newly released from the Canadian prison system.

Episode Two: Rev. Tina Simpson – Haiti
Friday, May 23, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, May 26, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Ignoring travel warnings, Rev. Tina Simpson ventures into rural Haiti with a mobile clinic to bring health care to the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Episode Three: Rev. Father Bob Holmes – Opon River, Colombia
Friday, May 30, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, June 2, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Christian Peacemaker Father Bob Holmes travels up the Opon River to protect indigenous farmers and fishermen caught between warring factions in a 50-year-old civil war.

Episode Four: Pastor Bill Versteeg – Liberia
Friday, June 6, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, June 9, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
In Liberia, a country recently ravaged by a brutal civil war, Pastor Bill Versteeg works with the Lifewater team to help ease the water crisis by drilling wells.

Episode Five: Military Chaplains: Padre Rod Buck and Father Gabby Legault – Kandahar, Afghanistan / Petawawa, Ontario
Friday, June 13, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, June 16, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
The Canadian mission in Afghanistan has put this nation’s soldiers on the front lines of combat. Two military chaplains offer spiritual guidance to the troops: Father Gabby Legault to those soldiers about to deploy, and Padre Rod Buck to those currently fighting and dying in Kandahar.

Episode Six: Rev. Ruth Wright – Vancouver
Friday, June 20, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, June 23, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
In Canada’s most prosperous city, Rev. Ruth Wright’s First United Church welcomes sex trade workers, drug addicts, the mentally ill and all others who have bottomed out on their luck.

*** NEW ***
Episode Seven: Rabbi Shifren – Los Angeles
Friday, June 27, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, June 30, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Rabbi Shifren, southern California’s “Surfing Rabbi,” helps high schoolers from inner-city L.A. to widen their horizons by taking them surfing for the first time.

*** NEW ***
Episode Eight: Rev. Bill Baldwin – Hebron
Friday, July 4, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, July 7, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Traveling from beautiful Jerusalem to devastated Hebron is a visual reminder of the ongoing tragedy that engulfs both Palestinians and Israelis. Rev. Bill Baldwin and a legion of peacemakers fight to prevent further escalation of tensions in this divided city.

*** NEW ***
Episode Nine: Father Bob Holmes – Santa Rosa, Colombia
Friday, July 11, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, July 14, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Christian Peacemaker Father Bob Holmes travels to the gold mining community of Santa Rosa, where he becomes a human shield for a new union leader whose predecessor was assassinated by the army just weeks earlier.

*** NEW ***
Episode Ten: Rev. Sharon Ruiz-Duremdes – Philippines
Friday, July 18, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, July 21, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
In the Philippines, church leaders who side with the poor and oppressed are at risk of assassination. Rev. Sharon Ruiz-Duremdes’ mission is to find replacements for murdered clergy before she herself can be killed.

NOTE: VisionTV’s previously scheduled Friday, July 25 broadcast of Extreme Clergy will be pre-empted for a special programming event.

*** NEW ***
Episode Eleven: Father Daniel Vogt – Guatemala
Friday, Aug. 1, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, July 28, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
In recent years, the Quechi people, descendents of the Mayans, have been killed, terrorized and driven off their land by foreign mining interests. Despite threats, Father Daniel Vogt stands with the Quechi as they try to reclaim their land.

*** NEW ***
Episode Twelve: Rev. John Fife – Arizona/Mexico
Friday, Aug. 8, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, Aug. 4, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
Rev. John Fife and his volunteer group, Samaritans, scour the desert giving aid to undocumented migrants crossing into America through the Sonora Desert.

*** NEW ***
Episode Thirteen: Rev. Jervis Witherspoon – Liberia
Friday, Aug. 15, 10:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. PT
Monday, Aug. 11, 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT
After a brutal civil war in Liberia, in which every faction used child soldiers, Rev. Jervis Witherspoon heads an ambitious program to retrain and rehabilitate all ex-combatants while the fragile peace holds.