Issue 04 - The Pilgrim - April 2012 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Editorial The Pilgrim April 2012
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December 2011/ January The newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, covering s
Finding God at the movies
The Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop Peter Smith
020 7928-2495
archbishop@rcsouthwark.co.uk
www.rcsouthwark.co.uk
Area bishops
Kent
Bishop John Hine
01732 845486
jhine@absouthwark.org
South-West London
Bishop Paul Hendricks
020 8643 8007
bishop.hendricks@gmail.com
South-East London
Bishop Patrick Lynch
020 8297 9219
bishoplynch7@btinternet.com
The Pilgrim,
Archbishop’s House
150 St George’s Road
London SE1 6HX
Editor: Greg Watts
020 7928-2495
pilgrim@rcsouthwark.co.uk
Advertising: Chris Morley
0161 214-1233
chris.morley@totalcatholic.net
Distribution: Andrea Black
0161 214-1216
andrea.black@totalcatholic.net
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Group Ltd
I remember a priest laughing
and telling me about the time
when he was a seminarian and
genuflected before taking his
seat in a cinema.
He found himself doing this
because the floor in the cinema
sloped, just like the floor in the
seminary chapel.
It’s always seemed to me that
churches and cinemas have
much in common. Both movies
and liturgy try to transport us
out of their everyday experiences
to another level.
In other words, they both deal
in transcendence, in theory, at
least.
This is done through a script,
images, music, symbols, and,
crucially, story. Churches and
cinemas are some of the few
places nowadays where several
hundred people will sit in silence
together – more or less.
In his excellent book Praying
the Movies, Edward McNulty, a
Presbyterian pastor, says that
some films “help us to understand
a little better what it is to
be a human being and, in a few
cases, even to see a little more
clearly the emerging kingdom of
God.”
Shooting Dogs, on the other
hand, has an explicit religious
narrative. It’s about a Catholic
priest, played by John Hurt,
who, like the small UN peacekeeping
force, can only stand
by and watch as Rwanda
descends into madness and
mass slaughter.
The film is not only a terrifying
picture of how a country can
disintegrate and neighbours
Faith on film:
John Hurt in
Shooting Dogs
turn against each other, but also
a powerful portrayal of a priest
living out his faith, even to
death.
Movies can leave you with
much to ponder. In Evan
Almighty, Evan’s wife leaves
him because she thinks he is
crazy to be building an ark. In a
roadside diner, she encounters
God disguised as a waiter.
When she pours her heart out,
he tells her: “If someone prayed
for the family to be closer, do
you think God zaps them with
warm, fuzzy feelings or does he
give them opportunities to love
each other”
If I was designing churches, I
would make sure that each one
had a large, drop-down screen
above the sanctuary, so that
movies, or clips from them,
could be shown.
Think how effective a clip
from Evan Almighty could be
when a priest preaches about
marriage, or a clip from Shooting
Dogs when he preaches
about faith.
“But a church should be
reserved for sacred acts,” I hear
some people say.
Now, I’m not talking about
screening The Texas Chainsaw
Massacre, I’m talking about
inspiring and uplifting films.
And, let me add, I’m not advocating
about handing out huge
tubs of popcorn either.
We have concerts in churches,
so why not movies In fact,
David Lean’s Great Expectations
was recently screened in
Rochester Cathedral.
Maybe that priest was actually
right to genuflect as he
took his seat in the cinema.
Movies can aso be channels of
God’s grace.
Greg Watts
Mother Theresa knew vocation’s power
Many years ago, when I was a student
preparing for the priesthood,
a friend of mine was making her
final vows as a Missionary of Charity.
The ceremony took place
during a packed Mass in the Basilica
of St Mary Major in Rome and,
before the final blessing, Mother
Theresa addressed the assembled
congregation.
She spoke in English and her
words were translated into Italian
by one of the priests. “When you
go home”, she said, “ask your
priests for adoration of the
Blessed Sacrament in your
parishes.”
There was a brief time lag as
the translator did his work and
soon the people began to smile
nodding to each other enthusiastically.
“Ask them for fixed times
for Confession,” she continued,
“because we go into the confessional
sinners burdened with sin
and we come out sinners without
sin.”
More enthusiastic nodding and
broad smiles. “And when you go
home, pray that your daughters
become nuns and your sons become
priests.”
The congregation had been on a
roll until, as her words were translated,
the full import of what she
was asking hit home. Knowing
looks were no longer exchanged
between neighbours and smiles
rapidly vanished.
It felt as if the temperature had
dropped several degrees, as the
whole congregation lowered their
heads no longer able to look
Mother Theresa in the eye.
It is an experience I have never
forgotten and one I often mention
when preaching on vocations in
parishes.
By and large, we are happy to
pray for vocations to the priesthood
and consecrated life in our
diocese. Over half our parishes
have set times of Eucharistic
Adoration dedicated to praying for
vocations.
Perhaps we even regularly pray
for vocations from our own parish,
looking round at the families to
see who might be a possible candidate.
But do we pray that our own
daughters will become nuns and
our sons will become priests Do
we value the priesthood sufficiently
that we would regard it as
a privilege and a blessing if the
Lord were to bestow such a vocation
on our family
In my experience there are all
sorts of things that can hold a
young man back from following
the call he perceives in his heart.
Often it is fear or a sense of unworthiness
but sometimes it is the
reaction of his parents.
Recently I was talking to a young
seminarian who said that for him
the hardest thing was the response
of his practising Catholic parents
when he told them he wanted to
be a priest.
In time he understood, of
course, that their opposition to his
vocation was motivated by a concern
for his happiness.
Despite things like the high rate
of marital breakdown and the
stresses occasioned by the financial
crisis, we seem almost hardwired
to presume that happiness
can only be achieved through marriage
and a steady job.
Fortunately this young seminarian
was not put off and his parents
had now come to recognise that if
they wanted him to be truly happy
they had to accept God’s will.
If he had allowed their concerns
to deflect him there would always
have been an emptiness, a sadness
deep down in his heart.
As I write, I thank God for the
reaction of my own parents. When
I was seventeen my mother had already
intuited I was thinking of
priesthood and it was she who
raised the topic with me.
When I spoke to my father he
said his concern was that I should
be happy and that he would support
me in whatever decision I
took.
If you are a parent, how would
you respond if your son or daughter
told you they wanted to follow
a vocation Do you dare pray that
the Lord will call them to priesthood
or religious life
For more information about
becoming a priest in Southwark
please contact the Southwark
Vocations Office: info@southwarkvocations.com.
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