Issue 06 - The Pilgrim - June 2012 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Features The Pilgrim June 2012
Bookcase
My favourite book
Emma Geiringer, a student at the Holy Cross
and Richard Challoner Federated Sixth Form,
New Malden, says William Golding’s The Lord
of the Flies is a book that gives you much to
think about.
The fictional tale of a group of British schoolboys
stranded on a desolate island after their
plane crashed is an unforgettable read.
The exact reason for them being on the
plane is not specified, but we can assume it
was because they were being evacuated from
the unspecified nuclear war taking place.
A hierarchy quickly develops after the boys
appoint Ralf as their leader. But it isn’t long
before their improvised, self-created society
descends into chaos, ultimately resulting in the
death of three of the boys.
As well as having a page-turning plot, there
are many parallels that can be drawn from the
themes in the book. We see the natural savagery
of humans and the destruction of democracy,
represented by the smashing of the conch
shell, which had been used to keep order and
symbolise civilisation.
I would definitely recommend this book to
readers of any age, as it is not only entertaining
but also thought provoking as the events
and characters remain on your mind even after
finishing the book.
Film review
.
Another Earth (12a)
Directed by Mike Cahill
Films and books can be
more than entertainment
The cast of
Downton Abbey
By Martin Tapsell
In Another Earth promising teenage driver
Rhoda (Brit Marland) crashes into and kills a
pregnant wife and her son, leaving her
husband John comatose.
Rhoda serves four years in prison but then,
guilt stricken, traces John (William Mapother)
through a crash shrine note and offers to clean
for him. An uneasy but cathartic relationship
ensues with the initially unsuspecting John.
When a planet identical to earth appears in
the sky, contact is made. It seems to totally
replicate Earth 1. It’s like a place where we
might replay our hand and avoid tragic mistakes.
So John and Rhoda aim to visit Earth 2,
which may symbolise Heaven.
The ending of the film is inconclusive, but it
raises the question of a parallel universe, and
by implication the free will mankind has to
commit good or evil.
Martin Tapsell is the author of Kent
Cinemas Revisited
Prayer book
exhibition
Monarchy and the Book of Common Prayer
Ends 14 July 2012 Tuesday - Saturday
& Bank Holiday Monday 4 June.
Bishop Paul Hendricks
Did you watch the TV series Downton
Abbey last autumn My diary gets rather
full, but I made a point of recording
every episode, so I could watch it later.
There was such a lot to it, in terms of
the range of different characters and the
way they relate to each other.
For instance, a man is discovered dead
in the bedroom of one of the unmarried
daughters of the house. Those who happen
to know have to decide what to do
about it. And in this they also reveal
something of their own attitudes and personalities.
But, more to the point, so do we. We
find ourselves agreeing or disagreeing
with this or that person, perhaps wishing
they’d acted differently, and wondering
what we would have done in their position.
Any good story does something like
this. Whether we realise it or not, the
way we respond tells us something about
ourselves.
Many years ago, when I was still in my
first parish, I went to see a film adaptation
of Dickens’ book, Little Dorrit — and
for the next few weeks you might say I
was living a sort of double life.
I was doing all the usual things a priest
does, saying Mass, visiting the sick, daily
prayer, and so on. But in between these
things, as you might say in the background
of my mind, I was still thinking
about all the characters in the film.
I mulled over the choices they’d made,
wondering what would have happened if
they’d chosen differently.
You won’t be surprised to hear that I
went back to see the film again, and it
wasn’t long before I’d read the book as
well. This in turn gave me something to
think about, comparing how the characters
had acted in the book and film versions
of the story.
And again, just as important, what my
own reactions told me about myself, even
though I may not have been able to put it
into words precisely.
Is this anything profound, or is it just
entertainment Perhaps something in between.
Consider Arthur, one of the main characters.
He returns to England after
twenty years in China, doing a job he
hated, but obedient to his parents’
wishes.
He meets his childhood sweetheart and
is shocked to find that she is really silly
and shallow. The idea he had of her was
only a illusion.
He falls in love with a beautiful young
woman, but realises that she loves someone
else. He puts his feelings on one side
and does all he can to reconcile her father
to the marriage.
On the wedding day, the bridegroom
casually tells Arthur that he himself is “a
disappointed man”, cynical about his
work and evidently fairly casual even
about his marriage.
He expresses envy of Arthur, who has
“clearly never been disappointed”.
The shallowness of this comment,
amounting almost to cruelty, brings home
by contrast the strengths of Arthur’s character.
He has suffered so much, been imposed
on in different ways, had various disillusioning
experiences — and yet remained
steady in doing what is right, always
looking for the best in people and in situations.
This is just one of many examples, from
that one book. Taken together, they gave
me as much to reflect upon as anything
I’d read for quite some time.
There are so many other books I could
also mention. But perhaps you can get
some idea why I believe that there can
certainly be a significant spiritual dimension
to novels, films and other forms of
what we normally think of as “just
entertainment”.
This exhibition traces the close
relationship between royalty and
religion from medieval to modern
times. It tells the story of the
Book of Common Prayer and its
importance in national life.
This story is illustrated with
books, manuscripts and objects,
many of which have royal or
other important provenances.
The centrepiece of the exhibition
will be the 1662 revision of
the Book of Common Prayer.
Other highlights of the exhibition
include:
A 1549 printing of the Book of
Common Prayer
Medieval illuminated manuscripts,
including the Book of
Hours of Richard III Queen
Elizabeth I's personal prayer
book and a copy of the book of
private devotions compiled for
Queen Elizabeth II in preparation
for her coronation.
The Book of Common Prayer
used at the wedding of Queen
VictoriaCharles I's own handwritten
revision of State Prayers.
The exhibiton is curated by
Hugh Cahill, Deputy Librarian,
Lambeth Palace Library and
Brian Cummings, Professor of
English at the University of Sussex.
Professor Cummings was
founding Director of the Centre
for Early Modern Studies, 2004-
8. He was previously Fellow of
Trinity College, Cambridge, and
has held visiting fellowships in
California and in Munich. His
books include The Literary
Culture of the Reformation:
Grammar and Grace (OUP, 2002),
and The Book of Common Prayer:
the Texts of 1549, 1559, and
1662 (OUP, 2011).
Currently, he holds a Leverhulme
Trust Major Research
Fellowship for 2009-12, researching
his next book, The
Confessions of Shakespeare.
In October 2012 he will give
the Clarendon Lectures at Oxford
University.
Page 10