Issue 03 - The Pilgrim - March 2012 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Editorial The Pilgrim March 2012
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2012Pilgrim
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December 2011/ January The newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, covering s
A bit of silence, please
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
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0161 214-1233
chris.morley@totalcatholic.net
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0161 214-1216
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Thomas Merton once said that
some of us have to be alone to
be ourselves. “Call it privacy if
you like. But we have thinking
to do and work to do which demands
a certain silence and
aloneness.”
Most of us need to find some
corners of silence in our minds.
I certainly do. As a writer, it’s
only in the sound of silence that
I can discover ideas, sift
through them and then use
words to give them meaning.
I used to find bus and train
journeys conducive to letting
my mind freewheel. But sitting
on a bus or train nowadays is
like sitting in an office.
Everyone around you is either
on their mobile, iPod or laptop.
Wherever you go, it seems
you can’t escape unnecessary
noise. One of my local supermarkets
churns out pop songs
all day long, interspersed with
the bouncy voice of some
wannabe radio presenter trying
his hardest to make two for one
honey roast ham sound like the
deal of the century.
Once, a library was a place
where silence was sacrosanct.
Not any more. Many libraries
today are trying to be like a
branch of Starbucks.
And, let’s be honest, even
Mass can be quite noisy. I’m not
talking about babies crying. No.
I’m talking about the hymn
sandwich.
St Augustine of Hippo is often
quoted as saying that anyone
who sings prays twice.
Take it from me, he really
meant to say anyone who sings
well prays twice.
It seems that if you want to
find silence, then the only place
where you will definitely find it
is in a court. But that seems too
drastic a step to take.
Pope Benedict has made the
need for silence the theme of
this year’s World Communications
Day message, released on
the feast of St Francis de Sales,
patron saint of journalists.
He says that in the absence of
silence “words rich in content
cannot exist. In silence, we are
better able to listen to and understand
ourselves; ideas come
to birth and acquire depth…”
Perhaps our culture is beginning
to discover this.
When Into Great Silence,
Philip Groning’s almost wordless
documentary on the lives of the
Carthusians at Grand Chartreuse
in France, came out in 2005,
it was a surprise hit with the
Silent stars:
Jean Dujardin and
Bérénice Bejo in
The Artist
critics.
And now The Artist, a French
romantic comedy-drama about
a Hollywood silent movie star,
told almost without any dialogue,
has been nominated for
10 Oscars.
If you have ever watched any
of Mike Leigh’s films, you will
know how he uses silence as a
language. For he understands
that it’s often in the silences
that we speak most profoundly.
Film explores call to priesthood
“Father, what message do you want
to get across” I was sat in my
study with two young men who
wanted to put their talents at the
service of the Church. One had recently
graduated in music and the
other in film studies and we were
discussing the possibility of a video
to promote priestly vocations.
I found the question challenging
because I only really knew what I
didn’t want. We didn’t need a film
about priesthood; Grassroots had
already done that with “Fishers of
Men”, a groundbreaking film with
an upbeat pace and a contemporary
feel.
Nor did I want something portraying
priests as “ordinary men”
who just happened to do something
different on a Sunday.
My first thought that we should
try to address the sort of things
that might hold a young man back
from applying for the priesthood,
but we soon realised that would be
impossibly wide.
Eventually we settled on the idea
of trying to the express the need to
move from thinking about priesthood
to taking the plunge and actually
doing something about it.
The Calling is the story of
Michael, a young man trying to
work out what to do with his life.
His parents want him to settle
down and get a good job. His
friends think he should live for the
present without worrying about the
future.
But Michael senses that he’s
called to more than simply following
the crowd. He decides to step
back and consider things more
carefully. He embarks on a journey
that takes him on pilgrimage to
Rome and in the footsteps of St
Benedict and St Francis.
He meets priests and seminarians
and he hears the powerful call of
Pope Benedict in Hyde Park when
he encouraged young people not to
fear their vocation but to put their
trust in Christ.
He is impressed by the encouragement
he receives to pray, to
trust and to act and in an evocative
scene at the end of the film he finally
realises what he has to do.
Although The Calling took well
over a year to produce, the amazing
thing was how providentially
the pieces began to fall into place
after our initial discussion.
A donor very generously put up
the money for all our initial costs
and filming began soon after. We
were given permission to film in
the Vatican, and inside the monastic
buildings in both Assisi and
Subiaco.
We also got permission to film
during the Papal Vigil in Hyde Park
and at the beatification Mass of
Cardinal Newman.
Accompanying the film are lesson
plans prepared by teachers for use
in the classroom and in other settings
such as confirmation classes.
The film, which is twenty-three
minutes long, has three distinct
sections to facilitate a more flexible
use: looking at a vocation
within the context of the call to
holiness, the priest as a man of the
Church, and the importance of acting
upon one’s sense of being
called.
The Calling was first screened at
the Vocation Directors’ Conference
in November and was met with universal
acclaim.
Archbishop Bernard Longley
praised it for being “carefully conceived
and skillfully produced”.
Bishop Mark Davies welcomed it as
another “powerful contribution
from Southwark Vocations”.
While others have hailed it as “a
beautiful message, powerfully presented”
and “an imaginative reflection
which will appeal to young
people because of the style of its
presentation”. We’ve even had
some enquiries about making a
version with Spanish subtitles for
distribution in Spain and South
America.
Copies of The Calling can be
ordered from the Southwark
Vocations Office by emailing
info@southwarkvocations.com.
They cost £9.95 each with discounts
available for bulk orders.
The Calling is one of a number of
resources produced by the Southwark
Vocations Office.
Please contact us to see how you
can help us in our work.
Fr Stephen Langridge is the
diocesan vocations director
info@southwarkvocations.com
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