I’ve seen this and will be reviewing it soon. I must say, I really liked it. It’s a dream that imagines faith and possibility.
The panel for the special screening of THE WAY last Saturday night in Los Angeles; photo by Frederic Charpentier
On Nov. 5, Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in collaboration with Mt. St. Mary’s College Chalon Campus, hosted a screening and panel discussion of Emilio Estevez’s new film “The Way.”
I had the honor of interviewing Sheen about the film for NCR, so being part of this event was an added grace. I can’t think of another way to put it.
“The Way” is the story of California widowed father and ophthalmologist, Tom, who goes to France to bring home the body of his son, who died in an accident just as he was to embark on the famous Camino to the Shrine of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. He finds three companions along the way, a pilgrimage that changed him from choosing a life to living it, opened up his view of the world from his small little golf course to countries and people he never thought about, that healed a father-son relationship, even in death, and celebrates the divine hope of reconciliation, even in a church that can be, as the character Jack says, a “temple of tears.”
For more click here for Sr. Rose’s blog on NCR
On this day in 1992, four Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted of the beating of Rodney King and Los Angeles erupted in rioting. The beating of King, which had been video tapped, the trial and acquittal were seminal events in the history of race relations in this country.
Last year I interviewed the Rev. Scott D. Young about his annual pilgrimage to the site of the flash point of the civil unrest following the acquittal of the police officers in the Rodney King case.
NCR published the article and it can be read here: Urban Mystic at the Crossroads
I believe this outtake captures the essence of Scott’s passion for the city, a true urban mystic.
You can read Scott’s blog at The Culture Vulture Report
For more information about the film The Labyrinth
and an interview with producer Jason Smith The Labyrinth Interview
Ron Schmidt, SJ
There was a fascinating article in AMERICA a couple of weeks ago: The Bard of Rome: Shakespeare and the Catholic Question by Kathleen Doherty Fenty of Boston College.
Fenty gives a historical account of the debate about Shakespeare’s religious affiliation and brings it up to date. But what I like about her piece (and would love to read more about this topic) is what she says about drama vis-a-vis sermons:
“The theater seeks to entertain, preparing the heart and mind for reflection, while the purpose of sermons is to preach and instruct. Drama is never a sermon. And this would apply to the portrayal of Shakespeare as a proselytizing Protestant, papist renegade or atheist subversive. When ideology reduces a living drama to apologetics, voices of protest will inevitably be raised.”
And often, I contend, the message is lost on the unexpecting audience (and word will spread) but the choir (already converted) will appreciate the message because it reassures them.
This tension continues to exist between what people expect from films and television, for example, and what is produced.
I hear the voice of Flannery O’Connor in this article… her spirit lives.
Anthony de Mello, SJ, once wrote: “My friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and truth is a story.'”
Thank you, Dr. Fenty.
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