Religious go to the movies

pathways, OCTOBER  2007

 

 

 

The Church's contribution to national media might be modest, but on the international stage, some of the its personnel are providing leadership and expertise.

 

Two Australian religious Fathers Peter Malone MSC and Richard Leonard SJ lead the charge.

 

"Peter and I often hear that we have the best jobs of any religious in Australia", Fr Leonard told pathways.

 

"Though it's true that we earn part of our stipends by going to the movies - you should see some of what we have to sit through!

 

"We don't go to the films we want see, necessarily, but the ones that the population will take in, be influenced by and through which they might be formed - especially our teenagers and young adults."

 

Recently both priests were honoured for their work in the cinema with an invitation to sit on the Catholic Jury at this year's Venice Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the world (August 29 - September 8).

 

"It was an extraordinary experience," Fr Leonard said.

 

"I saw 31 films in eight days, and most of them were excellent. Many were concerned with justice, peace, sacrificial love and truth in a way that is consistent with our faith."

 

 Fr Leonard had been on juries at Berlin, Hong Kong and Brisbane previously and Fr Malone had been at all the major festivals.

 

"Peter was an excellent chair of our jury and guided us through the process.

 

"We awarded our prize to In the Valley of Elah, an American exploration on the fallout of the Iraq war by Paul Haggis. We gave commendations to Ken Loach's It's a Free World, about the exploitation of undocumented workers in the UK, and Abdellatif Kechiche's  'La Graine et le mullet' about the displacement of Tunisian migrants in Marseilles."

 

Reviewing films, however, is only part of their ministry in the media.

 

With the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and the Jesuits realising the wider church's need for media specialists, Fr Leonard succeeded Fr Malone in 1998 as the Director of the Australian Catholic Film Office, an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference (ACBC).That year Fr Malone was elected world President of the International Catholic Cinema Organisation, and moved to London.

 

In 2001, with the merger of the universal Church's radio, television and cinema organisations into SIGNIS: the World Catholic Association for Communications, Fr Malone was elected its founding President for six years. Mr Peter Thomas, a well-respected former Director of Catholic Communications Melbourne, is the senior world Vice President. Fr Leonard is a member of the SIGNIS International Council of Delegates.

 

"While some Australians may have heard of SIGNIS, they may not realise its significance," Fr Leonard said.

 

"With members from 140 countries, it brings together radio, television, cinema, video, media education, Internet, and new technology professionals to produce and promote the best Christian values in media. It also organises Catholic, ecumenical or interfaith juries at important festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Monte Carlo, Venice, Havana, Teheran, and now in Brisbane.

 

"And SIGNIS is the clearing house for missionary societies to fund vital communications projects, supply specialised equipment and train media professionals in the third world."

 

Fr Leonard who is the only Catholic priest in the world with a PhD in cinema studies, having written his dissertation on mysticism in the films of Peter Weir, now teaches third world religious, lay people and priests about the media as a visiting professor at the Jesuits' Gregorian University, Rome.

 

Late last year he merged the Catholic film, television and a media library into one agency. The Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting began on January 1, this year.  He is its Director.

 

Fr Leonard said that such media involvement could be seen as a side line to the Church's mission.

 

"But media, and especially film, is fundamental in forming the world's culture, raising its consciousness, and transmitting messages for good or for ill.

 

"As religious we cannot stand by and just let this happen.

 

"Most of our founders saw a need and got in there and did what they could. So in the modern media marketplace we have to be in the mix offering support, criticism and reflection to an industry which now claims the heart and minds of so many.

 

"This is a very different type of missionary territory, and I have no doubt that Jules Chevalier and Ignatius Loyola would approve."