Faith and the Arts:
A Religion Teacher's Reflections, Ideas and Practices

9/5/12
I've been enjoying doing the section on wonder and mystery at Junior Cycle. It's challenging to do this with 2nd year students, but I find arts resources helpful - for the first time I got to use a clip from The Way, the film starring Martin Sheen as a father doing the Camino de Satiago pilgrimage for his deceased son, played by Emilio Estevez, Sheen's real life son and the director of the film. Overall the film is problematic for school use because of the casual use of soft drugs, but there are some great set pieces. For these classes I used the scene where the pilgrims finally arrive at the Cathedral - it's a wonderful and moving scene. I alsp played the song "What a Wonderful World". I used the version by Eva Cassidy from her Wonderful World album (also on the DVD Eva Cassidy Sings - see clip on left), though there's always the definitive version by Louis Armstrong, while Anne Murray has a decent verson on her album of inspirational songs What a Wonderful World, and I like the version by L'Angelus on their album Live Cuts.

27/4/12
Last night I hosted a concert in Arklow with Sarah McQuaid. And what an impressive singer-songwriter! Some of her material has spiritual resonance - two I like in particular: a lovely song of thankfulness, "In Gratitude I Sing", and a touching reflection on those who have gone before us "In Derby Cathedral". Listen to them here below. Both songs are from her new album The Plum Tree and the Rose.

25/4/12
Last Sunday night Would You Believe (RTE 1) ended its current season with the appealing story of TeenspiriT, an initiative to bring young people closer to their Catholic faith through music. A major success in Kerry for the last few years, the organisers now seek to bring the spirit to Dublin. The programme followed their enthusiastic efforts to get ready for this Sunday night's live show in the Olympia. The Kerry team were finding it hard to impact with the faith message, but they were certainly generating an infectious enthusiasm for the music, an experience they hope will bear fruit in the future. The programme can be seen here on the RTE Player until Sunday 13th May. Read more about TeenspiriT here.

In the last few days I've been discussing prayer with junior classes. As part of it I decided to do a little prayer in the classroom - just lighting a candle, doing some prayer readings and playing some music. One song I found useful was "Where Do I Go?" by Ashley Cleveland and Gary Chapman, from that great album Songs From the Loft (play it on left) . This is a catchy song that's actually about prayer and fitted in nicely with what we had been doing in class. Some of the students were actually joining in. I think it would also make a great song for a school choir or folk group.

18/4/12
Last Sunday night I was delighted to hear a talk by Sr Rose Pacatte from USA. in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel Hall on Bachelor's Walk in Dublin. Sr Rose has written several books on film and faith, and is a prolific blogger on film and other media matters. Check out Sr Rose Pacatte's Movie Blog for plenty of information and ideas. Also check her more general site here. Sr Rose advised "deep viewing" of films, and at home in the States practised what she called "Cinema Divina" with small groups - using the movies for spiritual insight and linking them to Scripture.

I was delighted on Moday to give a workshop on Film and Music in R.E. at the Annual Conference of the Post Primary Diocesan Advisors in All Hallows, Drumcondra, Dublin. I showed clips from many of the films mentioned on this website, on the blog and film pages (incl Of Gods and Men, Sophie Scholl, Nacho Libre, The Way, Amazing Grace and the confession scene from Gran Torino - my first chance to give this an outing!). I also suggested various ways of accessing useful film clips (e.g. through Wingclips) and how to make one's own clips using the recording function of VLC Media Player. On the music front I played some clips from music DVDs and CDs and recommended the albums I find most useful in RE - e.g. Songs From the Loft and Coram Deo (Various Artists), Signatures by John Michael Talbot, Another World by Liam Lawton. I also used, for the first time, Mirrorscript teleprompter software - (Download from here). This is great for scrolling song lyrics - basically you load a plain text file (e.g. from Notepad) into it and scroll it at whatever speed you choose. To illustrate this I had great fun playing my ukulele and leading the assembled Advisors in a rendition of Kumbya!

11/4/11
One of my favourites programmes over Easter was the Preston Passion (BBC 1 Good Friday) - a live pageant from the streets of Preston in Northern England. It was notable for the way the Crown of Thorns motif and images suggesting the Crucifixion were interwoven with the action, which included three pre-recorded dramas linking the Easter story with the experience of Preston itself. An aerial view showed the Crown of Thorns suggested by strategically placed red ribbons and flags, and I noticed the same motif on the choir members.
One of the dramas linked the story of Jesus to that of a social reformer from Preston who fell foul of the political and religious authorities of the time - the town's Mayor filled in nicely for Pilate, right down to the washing of hands; another took up the theme of Mary's sense of loss at the death of Jesus to tell a touching story about Preston mothers dreading the news of the death of their sons in the trenches of World War 1; the third was a clever reworking of the Stations of the Cross (the Station numbers are subtly embedded in the visuals) as a young girl with an alcoholic mother made sacrifices for others and journeyed through her own Via Dolorosa. All in all it was an imaginative reflection on the Good Friday story, faithful to the original story, but finding much resonance for today. I can see myself using clips from this programme in RE class - e.g. looking at religious drama as an issue in itself, looking at the Easter story in general, looking at how that story still has something to say to us today. The short dramas are the perfect length for class work, though the story of the young girl might be painful for some students who might be in similar situations. There are several clips from the programme here.

Last night I finally got to see the film Gran Torino, where Clint Eastwood plays an irascible old racist in conflict with local immigrants. There's quite a bit of foul and racist language so I can't see myself using it in school, but there's a interesting young priest in the story. He promised the Eastwood character's wife who has just died that will keep an eye on Walt and try to get him to Confession. Needless to say Grumpy old Walt resists. The priest is young, and perhaps naieve (Walt didn't have much time for his funeral oration) but he does persist and both of them learn a lot about life and death. The scenes between them are quite entertaining and thought provoking. Ultimately there's a touching and funny Confession scene - another worthy addition to my collection of Confession scenes!

2/4/12
How sweet is to be on holidays! To finish up last term I gave some short tests to the junior classes. As we had been doing "Images of God" I used the Powerpoint (still available on request) as part of the test - showing five images on scren and asking students to write brief coments on each - it worked well. In this age of differentiation I think it's important to give students something visual to work on for each text. I also get them to draw in each test - again it caters for the less academic, and makes for some very intersting images to assess. This time I got students in 2nd Year to draw any scene from Last Supper to Resurrection - the Last Supper was very popular, though I got some lovely illustrations of the Resurrection. Might get the students' permission to include them here after Easter. First Years had to do a poster/illustration encouraging or showing the value of religious music as an element of worship. I haven't marked them yet.

22/3/12
Still doing "Images of God" with 2nd Year students - looking at images of God on film in particular this week, and still using the old reliables - from the old Insight videos Martin Sheen as a young God in The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Bob Newhart as a rather inoffensive God in Packy, God as Trinity in Jesus B.C, Charlton Heston as a rather gruff God in the film Almost an Angel, Morgan Freemnan as God in Bruce Almighty or Evan Almighty (the most familiar portrayal for students). I have issues with some elements of Bruce Almighty, but that scene where he meets God for the first time is a howl. I show the clips, get the students writing about them and then discussing them.
I got a full class out of Old Testament images of God - and after looking at some of the images, especially in the Psalms, I get the students to draw any one image of their choosing.
That Powerpoint I've done up with various images of God is still available on request - use contact details over on left.

16/3/12
Went to see the Emmanuel 2012 concert last Wednesday night in the Helix and what a treat! 700 young people singing religious songs with gusto - and over 2000 when you add the three nights together. My own school was well represented, and two of our students got solos. And there certainly were some strong solos this year. The backing musicians were excellent as always - I was particularly impressed by the piano, guitar and sax playing. One of the highlights of the night was the group from St Mary's School for the Deaf who signed their way through all the material - their persentation was beautuiful, graceful and inspiring. (see clip above for a news item)
The material was introduced as "quality liturgical music" and it was certainly that and more. A lot of the songs had Eucharist as a theme, deliberately so I presume with the International Eucharistic Congress coming up in June. The Congress theme song, "Though We Are Many" by Bernard Sexton really felt like an anthem on the night. There were a few pieces from Liam Lawton's Glendalough Mass, along with "Take and Eat, This is My Body", by Ian Callanan, who was conductor for the night. I also liked his re-working of the old hymn "O Sacrament Most Holy". "Were Not Our Hearts", also by Callanan, is a fine song about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. There were some crowd pleasing foot stompers like "Trading My Sorrows" and "Over My Head", but the final "Amen" really lifted the roof.

Have been working on Images of God with second year students, always an enjoyable module. First off I get them to make their best effort to draw God. Then I ramble around the class discussing the various illustrations, e.g. asking why so many concentrate (sometimes to excess!) on giving God hair. This year as usual a minority drew abstract shapes or an eye in the sky, while most drew human forms, mostly older versions of Jesus (why so much emphasis on beards??). As usual there was one or two that left the page blank, which I complemented, even if the motivation was more laziness than theology. One noteworthy quote: astudent looked at another's drawing of God and said: "If He looks like that God help him!" At the end of the process I noted on the board which aspects of God the students were trying to convey in their pictures. In the following class I used a Powerpoint I had put together with various images of God from art and film. This is available on request - use contact link over on left side panel.

10/3/12
Have just come across an interesting article on praying the Rosary through art. Professor Maria Stella Ceplecha from St Paul, Miinnesota has chosen the Joyful mysteries to illustrate her point and has illustrated her article with classic paintings. The article can be accessed by clicking here.

9/3/12
During the week I continued the classes on the the days in Jesus' life leading up to Easter. Getting some great artwork from the students, with lots of discussion points, even if they can only manage "stick men" versions! The scenes from Jesus of Nazareth can still pack an emotional punch, even after seeing them so many times over the years. Getting songs to go with each phase has been more challenging. For the trial scene best I could think of was "Who Hit You Then" by Sal Solo from his great album Look at Christ, which is hard to find in any format (I'm still using my cassette). There are many fine songs about the crucifixion - I used "Were You There", sung by Russ Taffe and Selah, from the album Press On. For the Resurrection I used "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" by Ashley Cleveland, and "He is Risen" by John Michael Talbot. I've included a few of the songs below.

1/3/12
With my 2nd Years I've been doing the sequence of events from the Last Supper to the Resurrection. I like to combine the relevant Scripture reading, a video clip from one of the lives of Jesus on film - I still tend to stick with Jesus of Nazareth for this sequence. Then I get the students to draw their own version of the event in question. This gives me a chance to ramble around the classroom having discussions with individuals or groups of students. This time around I've tried to find relevant songs to play in the classroom while students are drawing. So far I've used "Come to the Table" by Michael Card for The Last Supper and his song "Why" for the Garden of Gethsemane scene, both from his album trilogy The Life. Play clips below.

23/2/12
I came across an interesting article today about a film star who became a nun and is now the subject of a documentary nominated for an Academy Award this year. Check out the story on the Catholic Ireland website. Apart from this there is much of interest to RE teachers on catholicireland.net and its sister website Catholic News Ireland.

Another website very useful to RE treachers is Busted Halo. In particular check out the "Entertainment and Lifestyle" and "Video" sections. There are some snappy videos and useful film reviews among other resources.

I've been watching some music programmes, two in particular, that reflect different approaches to the world. The Voice of Ireland (RTE 1, Sunday nights) could become addictive if you get drawn into the lives of these real people. The best thing about it is the quality of the singers, and there's no denying that. But there's a lot I don't like about it - the gimmick of having the judges initially sitting with their backs to the performers was awkward I thought, and quite honestly I often find the approach of the judges irritating. There's the in-built disappointment-as-entertainment - such shows are not a success, it seems, unless there are public tears. It's not the Coliseum, but it feeds the same unpleasant desires some people have to see others brought down. And as for the last two weeks - having excellent singers singing duets where only one of them goes through is a terrible idea. The superb Scottish folk singer Eddi Reader turned up on the show as a voice coach, which surprised me, because she was much more at home on The Transatlantic Sessions, currently in its fifth season, Friday nights on RTE 1 and BBC 4. Now this is a music show you could really enthuse about - top-notch folk, blues, country and traditional musicians and singers sitting around a house in Scotland playing and singing their hearts out and obviously loving every minute of it. This a world full of creativity and genuine spirit, free of gimmickry and narrow competitiveness. They don't often include a gospel song, but last Friday night's episode on RTE 1 (you can catch it this Friday night on BBC 4) ended with a mighty gospel song, "Jesus" sung by Amos Lee (see clip above - replacing previous clip 1/3/12) with an all-star backing group including Donal Lunny and Declan O'Rourke, writer of "Galileo". I can see myself using this song in my TY Religion classes at a leter stage - the whole fifth series is now available on DVD.
Eddi Reader made a third appearance, busy woman, on the John Murray Show (RTE Radio 1) on Wednesday of last week. Apart from singing some fine songs in studio she spoke of her reluctance to be on that Voice of Ireland show. She was disgusted by the typical TV talent shows like the X-Factor and didn't like the idea of sitting in judgement on the talent of others. She was finally persuaded to try it by Brian Kennedy - the crucial factor for her was that all those involved were themselves musicians. Eventually she felt so bad about one contestant losing that she gave him a slot singing with her on stage. I think she should stick with the genuine and avoid the razzmatazz!

11/2/12
Got to experience a bit of Heaven last Tuesday night at the National Concert Hall - event was the Transatlantic Sessions, featuring some superb folk musicians and singers, a veritable folk orchestra playing great instrumentals and accompanying great singers like Eddi Reader, Raul Malo (of the Mavericks), Karen Matheson and Paul Brady who turned by surprise for the encore, a mighty version of "Hey Good Lookin'". The only religious interest was the spiritual imagery in the song "Galileo" sung on the night by singer-songwriter Declan O'Rourke who really impressed. The TV show of the same name started last night on RTE at 7.30 and wlill run for the next few weeks. If you missed it you catch it on BBC 4 where the new season starts next Friday Fri 17th February at 8.30 pm.

Songs of Praise has to be one of the longest-running religious TV shows. Still going strong on BBC 1, Sunday afternoons, the episode on Sunday of last week featured Progressive Rock legend Rick Wakeman, who has played keyboards with the likes of David Bowie and his own group "Yes". I was surprised to learn that it was Wakeman who played the distinctive piano part on Cat Steven's hit "Morning Has Broken", which he recreated on the programme with Laura Wright doing the singing honours. Wakeman's background was Baptist, and despite the rock lifestyle he always prayed, but felt a particular clear signal from God at one stage to evaluate his life direction and get it into shape. Prog rock or not his choice of hymns was very traditional, with songs like "Amazing Grace" and "All People That on Earth do Dwell" - accompanied by the hearty singing of the assembled congregation and his own piano licks, sometimes complementary, sometimes a little over-ornate. One standout was the spiritual instrumental "Gone But Not Forgotten", written earlier but which accompanied him on the death of his mother. I could see myself using some of songs and some of the interview clips in class, especially in my TY module on faith and music. One of the issues that I raise in those classes is the question of how an instrumental can be spiritual. That produces quite a divergence of views among the students - some reject the idea, but one responded a while back with a spiritual instrumental of his own!

2/2/12
Last week I got to see the Secret Sisters live at the Sugar Club in Leeson St, Dublin - first time there and what a great venue! I've been playing their album frequently since Christmas and have been impressed by the sweet country harmony singing. They sound a little like the Everly Brothers, a suggestion they commented on at the gig. There's one gospel song on the album - House of Gold (see it here), an old Hank Williams song, and on the night they sang a beautiful version of In the Sweet Bye and Bye (see it here), and their own River Jordan - (see it here). Can't see myself using any of these in class as my students are not exactly country music fans, but I find it uplifting and refreshing for myself, great aesthetic and spiritual nourishment. So there!

In Second Year classes I've been looking at the Beatitudes as part of a study of Discipleship and the Kingdom of God. Has fitted in nicely with Catholic Schools Week as well. Have been collecting resources on the Beatitudes for years, and have used some prayers from David Konstant's prayer book on the Beatitudes and the Rosary as part of prayer services for the week that's in it. A contemporay album devoted to the Beatitudes would be a great idea, and I'm surprised that someone like Liam Lawton, John Michael Talbot or Michael Card hasn't tried it. For the moment I've used songs like The Beatitudes by the Monks of Glenstal Abbey (clip on left) from their album "Biscantoret", Behold Now the Kingdom by John Michael Talbot, The Cloud's Veil by Liam Lawton - good for "Blesed are those who mourn" I think - and for the same Beatitude Now is the Time for Tears, by Charlie Peacock from the "Coram Deo" album. I hope at some stage to develop a special page for Beatitudes resources.

21/1/12
Eternal Law is an intriguing new English drama from ITV on Thursday nights. If you suspend your critical and theological faculties it can be quite enjoyable. Keep in mind that my comments are based on the first two episodes only. The plot features two angels come to earth as lawyers to help people out. They clash with a fallen angel, a very sinister prosecution lawyer who is often surrounded by flames and pushes beggars into the river. One of the angels is new to the earth and moves from initial fascination to being baffled at the puzzling way people carry on. The other angel has been to earth before but blotted his angelic copybook by falling in love - he meets up again with this woman who doesn't recognise him from before and he has to resist the temptation to fall again. Irish actor Orla Brady does a fine job as "Mrs Sheringham" an angel who became mortal for love but who helps out those angels currently on assignment from the unseen God figure Mr Mountjoy. If you can ignore a little crude language and dodgy theology it's entertaining fare for mature viewers, thought provoking, amusing, compassionate, philosophical and, in last week's episode about a child custody case, quite moving.

10/1/12
One of the best films I saw during the holidays was Doubt , starring Meryl Streep as a school principal and nun who must deal with the suspicion that the school chaplain, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman is conducting an inappropriate relationship with a student. It is set in the early 1960's and the period flavour is well conveyed. The acting is excellent as would be expected of Streep and Hoffman, and the script by John Patrick Shanley has a sharpness and intelligence that is rare in mainstream cinema. The controversial issue of abuse is handled subtly and with restraint, and I didn't sense any hidden agendas or axe-grinding. One could raise issues - e.g. why does no-one seem to question the child? Is the mother's attitude credible? Yet in the context of the time and within the world of the film it was believable. As regards school use, I'd be hesitant. There is a useful scene where the priest gives a strong sermon on the damaging effects of gossip, but I think the film is best suited to a mature audience. For very young students it might just reinforce the paedophile priest stereotype, and they mightn't get the film's subtleties.

9/1/12
Back to school today. I hate letting go of Christmas and all the great music, so I drag it out by covering the Three Wise Men in some Junior classes. After all, if it wasn't for them we'd probably be back in school earlier in January, and maybe we'd have received no Christmas gifts!. This year I'm doing it mainly with 1st Years as the others have experienced my resources in the past. As usual I've used the song "We Three Kings" and shown the arrival of the Wise Men from the film The Nativity Story, and also from the modern musical version The Liverpool Nativity. Some video clips, and the music I use can be found on the Advent and Christmas Resources page. I brought in my crib from home with the wise men figurines and added it to the sacred space table.

3/1/12
I caught Carole King and Friends at Christmas on BBC 4 on Christmas night, which mainly featured the secular music of the season. King herself, 70 years old next month and still going strong, impressed with standards like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and new song "New Year's Day", but there was a mellow version of "Silent Night" from Richard Hawley (clip on left has him singing this version on another occasion). Her own songs were from her new album "A Christmas Carole", which was released in USA as "A Holiday Carole" - different strokes for different markets! There was no such hedging on the Johnny Cash Christmas Special from 1970, shown on BBC 4 a few times in the last week or two - he clearly spoke about the Christian message in Christmas, no political correctness from the great man! Some might have found his spoken interludes a bit preachy, but could you complain when the fireside music session featured Cash, the Everly Brothers , Roy Orbison, the Carter Family and more?

2/1/12
Canadian singer Neil Young was the star of a great music documentary/concert film Heart of Gold
shown on TG 4 Tues 27 December, and the heart of that film was two concert segments - one that featured his old songs like "Four Strong Winds" (by Ian and Sylvia Tyson) and one that showcased more recent material, including "When God Made Me" a rather ambiguous reflection on God's relationship with people: "Did he give me the gift of voice/so some could silence me?/Did he give me the gift of vision/not knowing what I might see?/Did he give me the gift of compassion/to help my fellow man? When God made me." The sound of someone searching, with lots of questions, but sometimes it seems our age is afraid of answers.

30/12/11

Got to hear lots of Christmas music over the holidays. One new song that impressed was "St Christopher", by the Lost Brothers, performed on The John Murray Show on Wed 21 Dec. Fortunately the video cameras were rolling.

6/12/11
Got another new Christmas CD.
A Christmas Carole is a cleverly titled album from singer-songwriter Carole King ("You've Got a Friend" among others), just released. For the most part these are secular standards like "Carol of the Bells" "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Sleigh Ride", and they're sung well. There's also the traditional Jewish "Chanukah Prayer", and the more Christian "Do You Hear What I Hear". "My Favourite Things" was an unusual addition, though there are some Christmas references ("Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles"!). All in all it's a pleasant work but I'd like it to have been more adventurous, with some more original songs - the nearest we get is "Christmas Paradise" and "New Year's Day", both co-written by King's daughter Louise Goffin. You can hear track samples and watch a related video at Amazon.

1/12/11
It's that time of year again, time to whip out the Advent and Christmas music. I love it! My article suggesting resources for the season is here and this year I've added a playlist of Advent songs that I think would go down well. I did Advent services with junior classes during the week and used mainly O Come O Come Emmanuel by Kim Hill from her "Real Christmas" album (the can be heard on the playlist) and John Angotti's Prepare Ye the Way from his Christmas album.

So far I've got no new Christmas albums this year (any ideas?), but I did come across the EP "Christmas Sky" by a Californian Singer J Peter Boles. I hadn't heard of him before, but I was impressed - he remonds me of Tom Paxton. There are fine roots/acoustic versions, with tasty guitar and mandolin, of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Silent Night, Go Tell It on the Mountain and Dona Nobis Pacem, along with one new song Warm Winter's Eve in December which tells the nativity story from the innkeeper's perspective - see clip above left. On his website you can hear samples of the tracks and download one of them for free.

And finally for today, treat yourself and try this song Show Me the Place, a new song from Leonard Cohen with some familiar religious imagery. All choir voices on this track were composed and performed by Jennifer Warnes, my favourite singer!

18/11/11
Last time round I wasn't too enamoured with Rev., BBC's comedy drama about a Church of England vicar. When it returned for a new season last Thursday night on BBC 2 I thought I'd give it a second look. The programme opened with the Rev, played by Tom Hollander, saying what seemed like heartfelt prayers while on retreat. So far so good, you don't see too many people praying on TV drama. (The next startling innovation should be a lay person praying!) The episode got a bit silly then when the Rev was treated as a hero because he was wrongly credited with tackling a mugger. At least this led to a worthy scene where his rationalising about accepting an award crumbled in a conversation with the Bishop of London - a charismatic cameo by Ralph Fiennes. Another plot strand about a school tour was more troubling. I got the impression that the show was struggling towards some insight when the Rev was called a "pedo" in the street and when he was struggling with huge child protection requirements for the tour. But there was a cheap shot at the Catholic Church - suggesting that you'd certainly need the protective measures if a Catholic school was involved. Admittedly the man making the slur was a dodgy character, but then in the "happy ending" the same character went off with the children on the outing despite child protection warnings, and the last shot saw the children and himself making obscene gestures from the back of the minibus. It left a queasy feeling, and there were some unnecessary crude elements as well, as if someone felt they had to make it "edgy".

12/11/11

Great to see Rita Connolly singing the Deer's Cry, by Shaun Davey based on the payer of St Patrick, at the inauguration of Michael D Higgins as President. Very soulful.

8/11/11
I seem to have my TY class rather intermittently, what with special workshop days, matches and other distractions! As indicated below somewhere I'm doing religion and music with the students. Today I used some songs suggested by an enthusiastic student, even if the religious content was rather peripheral. Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi was popular with the students joining in on the chorus. Bon Jovi's Keep the Faith was more complex, relatively speaking, and I definitely had to provide lyric sheets as it was hard to make out the words. One I wasn't familiar with at all was Prayin' by Plan B (video top left), a rather unusual song about guilt and redemption. The lyrics of these are readily available online and there are any number of versions on YouTube - I used video versions as it holds the attention of students more than just a CD. Ah, the lost talent of just listening!

Last Sunday I was present for the live broadcast of Sunday Mass on RTE from the parish of Sts Mary and Peter in Arklow. The occasion was the 150th anniversary of the parish, and some of this history was outlined briefly in a video lead in. One of the encouraging facts outlined was there are over 700 lay people involved in parish ministries. I had to catch up on this video intro later as those of us in the church just got to hear the audio only. The church was mostly full for the occasion, and it was great to see many young people, not just in the congregation but taking a more active part in music and readings. Indeed the music was one of the more impressive features of the event, with a gospel choir on one side of the church, and a more traditional mixed choir on the other. The attractiveness of the music was enhanced by the poetic first reading - from the Book of Wisdom - and the sung responsorial Psalm was haunting - "Like a deer that y earns for running streams". Admittedly it was rather distracting to have all those cameras and lights in the church, and disconcerting to think that you might be on camera to the world at any stage and not know it. I've used the video of the Mass several times in class since then - to illustrate aspects of the Mass and of the local parish.

19/10/11
Today I tried out the first of the Mission Sunday prayer services. I used the songs mentioned below (entry for 13/10/11) along with Go Tell It on the Mountain from James Taylor's excellent Christmas album, and Salt and Light from the album "Songs From the Loft" (a great addition for any RE Dept). I took most of the prayers and readings from the resources sent to schools by the Irish Missionary Union (these can be downloaded from www.imu.ie) - click on the "Mission Alive" link.

13/10/11
Next week I'm planning to take classes to the prayer room for a service relating to Mission Sunday (Oct 23rd). So far I think I'll use I Send You Out and By Name I have Called You by John Angotti, along with Here I Am Lord (I have a version on CD by John Michael Talbot from his album Table of Plenty). Any other suggestions? If I get time I'll make up a special web page for mission theme resources.

Last Sunday I went to the Brooke Fraser concert in the Academy in Middle Abbey St Dublin. Fraser is a singer-songwriter from New Zealand who has written and sung with the well known gospel group Hillsong. Now she is pursuing a solo career with songs that are not specifically gospel, though I believe she still writes for Hillsong. Her songs on the night were very melodic, her band was really good, but the main problem was that I found that the words were very hard to make out. Whether this was because of sound quality on the night or her lack of articulation or becuase her voice was being swamped by the band I'm not sure. The opposite was the case with the Angotti concert reviewed below. If the message is important I think it's important to be able to make out the words.

9/10/11
Ha! There's an interesting date. One of my students said he was looking forward to this, pity we're not in school today.
I notice that The Way, that film starring Martin Sheen with the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage as backdrop, has recently been released in the USA - we got to see it back in May (see my review here , entry for 29/5/11). The film is due out on DVD on the 31st October. There's a perceptive review by Steven D. Greydanus at the National Catholic Register (click here), while over at the US Catholic News Service there's an interesting review by John Mulderig (click here).

8/10/11
Last Wednesday night my PC played TV for an hour as I watched a live concert streamed on the web from California. The artist was US singer-songwriter John Angotti who toured here this time last year - we were lucky to have him do a concert in our school - it was one of the highlights of the year.
The label "Christian Rock" doesn't do him justice as his appeal is much broader, and his songs can often be found in liturgical settings - some of his work was featured in last year's Emmanuel event for school choirs.
With a voice like Elton John and a knack for appealing melodies he is one of the outstanding Catholic performers in this field. Last week's web concert was from St Monica's High School in Santa Monica and the young students provided not only an attentive audience, but a fine vocal backing choir, perfectly complementing Angotii's classy band. However the heart of the performance was the singer's own voice and piano. The set started and finished with the catchy refrain "I send you out on a mission of love", there was a new version of "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace", and I particularly liked the moving "By Name I Have Called You". For all songs the words were crystal clear, essential when singing about the Word.
Between songs Angotti encouraged the young students not to be influenced by what others regarded as "cool". The world might offer lots of distraction, but the only thing that didn't end was love, and love sometimes moved us beyond our comfort zones. I liked the catchphrase "we can be bitter or we can choose to be better", and his notion that the music in heaven will be Bach and Hendrix! He stressed the important role of mystery, suggesting that if we were given the whole mystery we would only try to control it.
The concert doesn't seem to be available for playback, but there is plenty of concert footage from Angotti on YouTube (e.g. clip on left, recorded at the RE Congress in Los Angeles 2010). And he said he hopes to back in Ireland next June. His albums are well worth getting and should be useful in many school contexts.

30/9/11
Continuing the module on Religion and Music with Transition Year, I used the song Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin as this had been suggested by a student the previous week. Not sure how religious this is - I'd never paid much attention to the lyrics before and they're rather obscure, but with a few possible religious references included. In the same class I also included God Bless the Artists by The Roches (could be the theme song for Faitharts!) and Shot Down by Larry Norman (an excellent version by Michael Anderson). The latter song tells of the stick Larry Norman got from some Christians when he first started mixing the gospel with rock music. Have yet to read over the students' comments on the songs - will report back here soon. The songs can be sourced on sites like iTunes and 7Digital, or streamed from We7, Grooveshark, Eircom Music Hub etc

28/9/11
Earlier tonight I got to attend one of Liam Lawton's workshops on his new Glandalough Mass, including settings that incorporate the new Mass texts. The event was across the road in my local parish of Templerainey, Arklow. I expected to observe but ended up singing in the men's section - I think I got the hang of the melody lines, but as for the men's harmonies, I was a slow learner! I thought the music was very appealing, from the soulful Kyrie to the uptempo Glory to God. One of my favourites was one of the proclamations of the mystery of faith, Save Us, Saviour of the World. It was a great insight into the creative to hear Liam outlining some of the reasons for various musical choices he had made. I like his encouragement to choirs to sing only the melody lines for a few weeks, so that congregations would get used to them, and not be put off joining in by harmonies being introduced too early. The evening ended, suitably, with a prayer, accompanied by piano player Mark who was effective but unobtrusive for the whole workshop.

25/911
Had my first class with Transition Year last week and first off I'm doing my module on religion and music. There's so much material out there, but each year I like to rely on a combination old favourites and new material. I lways find Amy Grant's version of What About the Love (by Janis Ian and Kyle Fleming) goes down well. It has a powerful message and a great final verse. I've added the song in video form on left above. When Will We Ever Learn to Live in God, a Van Morrison/Cliff Richard duet also went down, thank's I'd say to the catchy rhythm. A more challenging song I tried was Now is the Time for Tears by Charlie Peacock from the "Coram Deo" album (a brilliant music resource for RE). Most if not all these songs are available on download or streaming sites like iTunes, 7Digital, We7, Eircom Music Hub etc.

6/9/11
Today I came across a blog post "What's the Problem with Christian Rock". I sympathise with some of what the writer Marc Barnes is saying - - he thinks the average Christian Rock song , as played by Christian radio stations is weak and imitative, not worthy of its subject matter. But I still like Larry Norman, Mark Heard, Randy Stonehill and early John Michael Talbot. These were always a cut above the average anyway. Apart from the article, the follow up comments are well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the area.

30/8/11
The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, a film shown on RTE in the early hours of last Thursday, told the inspiring and true story of a Catholic social worker in Nazi-occupied Warsaw who smuggled Jewish children out of the ghetto to save them from deportation to extermination camps. Anna Paquin, a former child actor who has made a fine transition into adult roles, played Sendler, and was the emotional heart of the film. While it lacked the dramatic intensity of Polanski's The Pianist, one thing the film did well was to show the internal conflicts among the Jews about whether they should let their children be looked after by Polish families who would pretend the children were Catholic. Some couldn't let go emotionally, some couldn't believe that the cultured Germans could plan such a fate for the Jews, some feared their children might be converted, though Sendler stressed that this wasn't her intention.
Though it was somewhat slow in developing the story in the early stages, there were some heart-rending moments, especially when children were separated from their parents, even to save them. There was an especially unsettling scene as children were rounded up from the ghetto orphanages - they went off singing as they thought they were going to a better place. The bleak faces of the adults and Sendler's frustration told a different story.
Nazi atrocities were not that graphically portrayed, though the atmosphere of fear was well conveyed. The worst sequence was the interrogation of Sendler by the Gestapo.
As for specifically religious content, it was unobtrusive. The local priest was seen helping Sendler, convents were seen to be hiding Jewish children, respect was shown to the Jewish tradition - there was no intention to convert the children, and Sendler kept records so that the children could, if possible, be reunited with their own families after the war.
Scenes that would be useful in class include a Seder meal, a family discussion on whether the children should be hidden with Christian families, an early scene where some of Sendler's co-workers can't bring themselves to help the Jews because of prejudice (see clip above, which also features other useful scenes). A Jewish community scene also discusses the issue of what to do with the children and raises the difficult of lying to stay alive e.g. documents are forged, Jewish children pretend to be Christian by learning to bless themselves and say Christian prayers - mental reservation anyone?
As the film ends there's a touching addition where the real Sendler speaks about the Jewish mothers who gave up their children and the Christian mothers who risked their lives to save them. She died in 2008 at the age of 98!
For more information on Irena Sendler, including educational resources, go here: http://www.irenasendler.com/

25/8/11
I'm glad to say the arts figured strongly in the World Youth Day ceremonies in Madrid last weekend. And fortunately it's possible to look back on some of these events online. The music of the opening Mass on the Tuesday and the closing Mass last Sunday was superb I thought - massed choirs and orchestra, composed largely of young people. The Way of the Cross last Friday wasn't as striking as that in Sydney three years ago, but the scupltures used were quite striking. I liked what Pope Benedict said about them: "In these images, faith and art combine so as to penetrate our heart and summon us to conversion. When faith's gaze is pure and authentic, beauty places itself at its service and is able to depict the mysteries of our salvation in such a way as to move us profoundly and transform our hearts". Ireland's Dana sang at one session, the band L'Angelus from USA played a set at one of the venues as did John Angotti. You can look back on some of these events at wydcentral, click here and scroll down for the video archive.

22/8/11
On Monday of last week RTE broadcast the annual Eurovision Mass for the Feast of the Assumption, this time from Fribourg in Switzerland. I love Masses in French and the choral and orchestral music was fine as expected, but the introduction was a pleasant surprise, with some background information on the area, especially relating to religious artists whose work featured during the ceremony. The area also hosts a museum of stained glass, and we got to see people doing restoration work on these. During the ceremony the camera often lingered on the beautiful windows in the church. We got to see the artist Marcel Dorthe at work and one of his artworks of Mary figured prominently in the coverage, as it was set up in the church for the occasion. Well worth a look - at the time of writing the programme is still available to view here.

9/8/11
Finally I get back to blogging. About two weeks ago I went to see the L'Angelus sacred hymns concert in Carrig-on-Bannow as part of the annual Phil Murphy Weekend. Great that this long-running summer festival should include a faith element (there was also an Ó Riada Mass). The group performed some old favourites from last year and some new songs - including the haunting "Were You There" (clip on left). For some songs they were joined by their mother Linda and little brothers and sisters. The band kindly allowed me to film the event and I hope to add some more songs soon - check out "faithartswebsite" on YouTube, where there are also songs from last year's concert.

12/7/11

(to view clip without leaving this page hover mouse over bottom of picture and click play button bottom left)

The Tree of Life: director Terrence Malick specialises in reflective storylines, interesting characters and stunning visuals. The Tree of Life includes all these but the emphasis is not so much on plot this time, which makes for challenging viewing. It's a long film (about 2 hours 20 mins), it's episodic like a series of memories, the timeline isn't chronological, the viewer will have to work hard to make sense of it at times, but I'd say the patient, reflective viewer will find it rewarding. The plot, which is only one aspect of this complex film, concerns a family in USA in the 1950's - the father (Brad Pitt) loves his wife (Jessica Chastain) and children but is gruff and rather domineering. This causes problems for his three sons, one of whom, Jack (Sean Penn) we see in his later adult life, trying to find meaning. The film was most appealing to me in the family life scenes, but these scenes are just fragments, only sometimes approaching "normal" film style.
The acting throughout was superb - Pitt can be both appealing and off-putting as the father, Chastain is the moral and emotional core of the film as the mother, Sean Penn doesn't have a lot to do, while the child actors are excellent, especially Hunter McCracken as the young Jack.
The visuals are beautiful - the camera lingers lovingly (boringly, I'm sure some will say!) on water, skyscapes, sunflowers. These visuals are accompanied subtly by light classical music, and overall the clarity of the picture is exceptional - see it on Blu-Ray when it comes out on DVD!
There is a strong faith element, but it's more reflective than preachy. The Book of Job figures strongly (the film starts with a quote from the book) and a variety of prayers and scriptural quotations graces the film. Some of the background music is religious as well - e.g. there's a striking Agnus Dei at a particularly significant moment.
Big meaning of life questions are raised and answers are only hinted at. The issue of human suffering is tackled, mainly through the efforts of Jack to make sense of what he has learned about God and the world. The father is a religious man, but it seems too much on the surface, while with the mother it's a more internal thing. Her opening voiceover (clip above), on what she has learned about the difference between nature and grace is crucial to an understanding of the film's themes.
Needless to say I was wondering how this might be used in school. Certainly I can't see myself showing the full film - I'd suspect students might mitch to avoid it! But there are some useful clips - e.g. the opening voiceover of the mother, a scene where young Jack is praying, a sermon in church, a scene near the end that may be a representation of Heaven.
One could fault the film for its perfunctory plot, its overuse of lingering pretty pictures, its excessive length,. Some critics have accused it of being ponderous and pretentious (which I wouldn't agree with). Yet it gives the impression that it was well thought out and that everything is the way it is for a good reason. The one thing I'd be less inclined to make allowances for is the difficulty at times of making out what the characters are saying - what with the regional accents and the mumbling and whispering. There's little enough dialogue, so I would have thought it should be clearer. I'd be inclined to activate the subtitles when I get the DVD.
The more I think about the film the more I find I want to see it again, and that wasn't my first reaction. I think it's one of those films that call for a second viewing - there's just too much to take in first time around.

Got to Italy on holidays last week, and I was struck more than ever before about the how casually there's so much religious art around. Of course you can get it in the museums and famous sites, but there was an ambundance of it even in the smallest and most obscure churches you'd stumble on. We were in the Lake Como area and the hillsides leading down to the lake were dotted with little churches, monuments, monoasteries. It wasn't always allowed to take photos, but I'm including here a pic of a rather distinctive Baptismal font from a church in Bellagio. It might be useful for projects/classes on Baptism - higher resolution version available on request, along with one of the font on its own. There was a painting of the Baptism of Jesus right above the font.

26/6/11
Yesterday I got to the Art/Faith Forum Conference in Dublin - plenty of thought provoking ideas there, not to mention quite a few artists and poets. The conference title was "The Baptised Imagination" and the whole idea of the religious imagination was central to the event. Main speaker in the morning was Fr Michael Paul Gallagher SJ who has written many books about the interface of faith and culture. It was a deep and complex talk and I'll try to get hold of the text for more in-depth reflection. He quoted Cardinal Newan's comments "The heart is commonly reached, not through the reason, but through the imagination" (find the context of this observation here). Colette Clarke gave a presentation on the art of iconography and displayed several appealing examples of the genre, and flagged the work of the Association of Iconographers of Ireland (more info here). In the afternoon there was another interesting talk, this time from Gregory Wolfe an American author and editor of "Image - a Journal of the Arts and Religion".

16/6/11
I've been a fan of Jennifer Warnes for years - the first album of hers I bought was just titled "Jennifer Warnes" and among other great songs she sang Oh God of Loveliness (clip on left). Her most famous album is "Famous Blue Raincoat" when she recorded some of the songs of Leonard Cohen, and some she co-wrote with him. This album included the beautiful Song of Bernadette (see video page) and Joan of Arc. She has also recorded some traditional Christmas songs which featured on a Hallmark Christmas album some years ago. Her most recent album is The Well and one could certainly find some Biblical imagery in the title track, though it's not overt and may not even have been intended. A new album is apparently in the works. For a sampler of her work there's always a selection of songs playing on her website www.jenniferwarnes.com

7/6/11
On Sunday last RTE 1 broadcast Mass for the Ascension, live and outdoors from the Claddagh in Galway city. The music was provided by the Tribal Chamber Choir - their selections from Haydn and Handel were excellent but didn't facilitate congregational singing! However the small congregation did join in on Ár nAthair and the recessional Praise My Soul the King of Heaven. You can look back on this programme here and for a while on the RTE Player.

Religious music was also to the fore on Songs of Praise, BBC 1's long running show, which provides a comfortable kind of spirituality. Last Sunday Eamonn Holmes presented the show from Northern Ireland, where Daniel O'Donnell was one of the contributors - he sang a fine acoustic version of "Here I Am Lord", with just guitar accompaniment, while the choir at a Presbyterian church (Hamilton Road, Bangor I think) sang well throughout the programme. I really enjoyed Artist Ross Wilson's few words on C.S. Lewis, and his visually arresting wardrobe sculpture was a fitting tribute to the author - Lewis' letter to a young reader explaining the Christian allegory of his Narnia books was also inscribed on the work.

Later that night BBC 1 Wales carried the first part of The Passion of Port Talbot, an intriguing documentary on a community based passion play in the Welsh town that had suffered over the years from poor development. The initiative was led by local man, Michael Sheen, now a famous actor (he played Tony Blair in The Queen)but it seemed he mainly wanted to tell the story of Port Talbot using the Jesus story as a vehicle, complete with crucifixion scene. At one stage he said this was all he wanted to do, but later when local clergy became uneasy about the direction the play was taking, he did listen and reassure them that it actually was the story of Jesus (in the guise of "The Teacher"), told in a different way. Fascinating theatrically, but I thought it felt somewhat empty spiritually. The performance itself will feature in part 2 this Sunday night.

29/5/11
Finally got to see The Way last night, and I wasn't disappointed. This new film is about a father-son relationship and is set against the background of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain. Martin Sheen plays the father, while his son Emilio Estevez plays the son, and also wrote and directed.
It was quite moving, challenging and thought provoking. Gradually we get to know the Sheen character and the motley crew he meets up with. It's a strongly human film, and its empathy with the characters is what makes it involving and touching. The Pilgrimage motif is of course a powerful one - the journey through life, the baggage we carry apart from our backpacks, the varying paths we take, the people we journey with. Estevez uses the motif subtly enough, but may have been worried about critical reaction as he has the Irish writer (played by James Nesbitt) revel in the "metaphor bonanza" and yet wonder if he is being over fanciful - things may be what they seem and no more than that. Perhaps Estevez wishes to distance himself from having an overly religious film - at one stage a minor character says it's not about religion at all, and stresses the point. None of the characters makes an obvious connection with God in any way, yet the film is imbued, in a positive way, with religion, without being heavy handed in any way. The Sheen character prays, though at the beginning he doesn't see the point. In a key scene the woman struggles with prayer. Churches and religious images abound, and there are at least two positive priest characters.
There are some fine set pieces, and such scenes may well be useful in RE, though the full film is probably too long and leisurely for youngsters. Near the start a French policeman explains the nature of the pilgrimage, and later, on the road, the pilgrims discuss the nature of the "true pilgrim" (both clips useful in classes on pilgrimage). For symbolism there's a scene at one point where the tradition is to say a prayer and leave a stone at a particular monument (useful for ritual as well). The scene where they arrive at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostella is really well done, and really captures a sense of awe and wonder. Among the interesting conversations on the road, one has a subtle pro-life message as a woman wonders about her unborn baby. Some elements raise questions of suitability for young viewers - in particular there's an ambiguous attitude to soft drugs, but I think it will give mature viewers a warm glow. Many films deal with journeys (physical and metaphorical) of self discovery but The Way has carved out a distinctive little niche of its own.

In the last few days I've been showing parts of the film Sophie Scholl, The Final Days, with 3rd Year students. (Sophie Scholl was a real life character who campaigned against the Nazis in Germany - she was arrested for leafletting). It fits in really well with the morality element of the course. I even used the clip on left as past of my assessment with the TY students. This clip is the final interrogation of Sophie, and the script is based on transcripts of the original interrogation. One could get several classes out of this ten-minute clip - issues raised include conscience, the state and religion, empathy, world view, persecution of the Jews and the mentally ill, and God. Sophie is a great role model for young people, but even the interrogator is an interesting character. I was glad to see the third years absorbed by this, as there's a lot of talk, and it's subtitled.

19/5/11
We had a visit from the Diocesan Advisor earlier this week for presentation of certificates from the Diocese in recognition for the students' work in RE during the year. We've opted for this scheme for the last few years and I think it's a great way to give some positive feedback to the students. Some of them spoke enthusiastically about their work, some did not! As part of the course students were required to produced a work of art with religious themes, and some displayed their wares on the day. The results varied.... There were a few hurried drawings, a few interesting poems, a visual presentaion on the moving statues phenomenon of the 80's and some music. Looking back on the year most had positive memories of their retreat with Net Ministries and the concert with John Angotti back in September. Tomorrow is the start of their RE assessment - questions on a poem (I've chosen Love by George Herbert) and a song that I'll play for them (on CD I hasten to add)- God Bless the Artists by the Roches (see clip above left), an appropriate end to a module on religion and the arts.

14/5/11
Will hopefully be on Spirit Radio this coming Monday around 10.25 or so. Should have been last Monday but technical hitches got in the way. This week I hope to be reviewing the newly released film The Way starring Martin Sheen.

Was doing the Edmund Rice story just after Easter (May 5th is his day) and got a lot of mileage out of artist Desmond Kyne's wonderful Icon of Edmund Rice. We have a copy in the school hall, but the folks at ERST produced a special Powerpoint version that takes students through all the panels of the icon.

Among other resources when doing the Resurrection I used this year for the first time the Resurrection scene (see clip from this on left) at the end of The Miracle Maker, the beautifully animated version of the life of Jesus. Apart from a few giggles at Mary Magdalen's very emotional reactions (I teach boys) it seemed to hold the attention. Several clips from this film can be viewed (and downloaded if you subscribe to the free account or higher) on the relevant Wingclips page. I also got students drawing their own Resurrection scenes - some interesting images resulted, many having Jesus exclaiming "I'm back!"

3/5/11
Last Saturday night in the National Concert Hall I got to see The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace, a striking work by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins. I had seen it before in Cork, but this time Jenkins himself conducted and it was accompanied by film clips to illustrate its powerful message of peace amidst all the war and militarism, mostly of the 20th Century. The orchestra and choirs were great, but I found myself mostly absorbed by the film clips - quite a saddening panorama of our times, but after all the menace and violence the piece certainly ends on a calming, peaceful and hopeful note. This performance will be repeated in the University of Limerick on Sunday 8th May. One of the movements is the Benedictus, and the clip on left gives a flavour of the experience though it's not from Saturday's performance.

29/4/11
Just came across an intriguing article, where Jennifer Fulwiler, a blogger and Catholic convert, list her ten favourite Rap songs. The title of the article caught my eye - "Top 10 Rap Songs for Catholics "! Rap is not one of my favourite music genres but every class we teach has probably got a few rap fans (and probably a few who can't stand it!). I remember having one student who was constantly referencing Tupac, and I notice that one of his songs is on the list. This kind of music often gets a bad rap (!) for bad language and violent lyrics, but Fulwiler has navigated her way to what seems likes some interesting material. Click here to read the article.

28/4/11
On Tuesday night last I headed up to Tobar Mhuire, the Passionist Monastery in Crossgar Co. Down to hear a L'Angelus concert. Unfortunately the band didn't do any gigs down south during this mini-tour (back in July, and doing World Youth Day in August)), but it was certainly worth the trip up north. As usual the band gave a great show, and their new songs were well up to standard. The old standards were on the setlist too, and along with the good-time Cajun songs they performed some of their sacred repertoire - including Be Thou My Vision, Ave Maria, and those beautiful watlzes - The Waltz of St Cecila and The Waltz of the Sorrowful Mysteries. It was an appropriate venue for these songs as it was in the multi purpose room that mainly serves as the church for the Passionist Community in Crossgar. Thanks to Fr John and the other members of the community for the excellent hospitality and the sing song that followed the gig for those staying over.
The monastery also featured a striking Stations of the Cross - figures arranged in the recesses of girders sunk into the courtyard - very effective.
For St Patrick's Day I made up a slide show of images of the saint - now I've a new one to add - the rather modern sculpture of the saint on the way out of Downpatrick - pic above.

25/4/11
While passion plays have a long history, it was inevitable that the movies would eventually tell the story of Jesus. The first feature length version, "From the Manger to the Cross" (1912) was the subject of the documentary First Passion, on TG4 last week. It was intriguing on many levels - there were clips from the movie, and while I would like to have seen more, they were rather melodramatic as usual for silent movies, and it was strange that a film about The Word featured so few words! In a move that was revolutionary for its time they shot the film in the original Holy Land locations. One contributor suggested that this was partly to provide American audiences with a sort of virtual pilgrimage of the area. Robert Henderson-Bland played Jesus and wrote extensively about it. The role had a profound effect on him, some even said it unhinged him, but he went on to become a decorated World War I hero.
As cinema at the time was widely regarded as a gimmick, the venture was regarded as potentially blasphemous by some and efforts were made to diffuse criticism - for example scripture quotes were displayed on screen between some of the scenes. Cinemas were given tips as to how to create a respectful atmosphere - no eating, drinking or laughing! In fact the programme made out that the film had an impact on how cinema audiences in general responded to cinema, as it was longer and more serious than what the average audience was used to. Pre-screenings were given to clergy and posters carried an "endorsed by the clergy" tag - surely the kiss of death for any film today! And this despite the fact that there wasn't a resurrection scene. As regards school use I could see myself using some of this documentary in class - as part of the films and religion module in Transition Year I look at the issues relating to films about Jesus and this certainly a trailblazer of the genre.
At the time of writing the documentary is still available to watch on the TG4 website in three segments - for the first part click here.

22/4/11
Passion in the Pale (RTE 1 last night) was a most absorbing and entertaining programme. The main element was coverage of a passion play performed in the streets of Dublin in 2010. Good to see the passion play tradition getting such a fresh treatment, and good to see the whole process for the actors and director starting with a gospel reading. As often happens with such a venture, some of the actors spoke of being quite moved by taking part. Watching the rehearsals was fascinating, and on performance day the rain added to the sad atmosphere - the tears of wailing women around Jesus blended in particularly well. Another striking touch was the way the cross was sitting on the Last Supper table - effective but unnerving! Running parallel to this was a performance of St Matthew's Passion by Bach in the Pro-Cathedral, with orchestra and several choirs, including loads of youngsters. I'm not sure that the two elements of the film blended or were balanced together that well, but the common passion motif did provide a degree of unity, and all in all film maker Patrick Butler who wrote, edited and produced this work deserves our gratitude and compliments. I can see myself using this, or parts of it at least when I do the drama section of my Religion and Arts module with Transition Year class next year. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be available on the RTE Player.

17/4/11
I got to see a preview of new film There Be Dragons, on the Spanish Civil War and the early days of St Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei. I'll post a more detailed review nearer the time for its Irish release. Directed by Roland Joffé (The Mission, The Killing Fields), it's quite inspiring, thought-provoking, even poetic at times, with really creative use of imagery. And there are times when it sad, and even unsettling. The most prominent theme is that of forgiveness, and there are many scenes useful for Religious Education - e.g. on forgiveness, Eucharist, Reconciliation (there's a great clandestine confession scene in a zoo!). THE IMDB Entry for the film is here.

13/4/11
Was back on Spirit Radio last Monday - it's now a monthly slot with more time available - 2nd Monday of the month sometime 10.20 to 10.40. Last Monday presenter Ronan Johnston and I discussed Josh Groban's new album Iluminations (pic on left) - some spiritual imagery in there, including in Declan O'Rourke's song "Galileo". I'll post full review of that album shortly. I wasn't much into Groban's music but this album is impressive - excellent production by Rick Rubin, who has worked with a wide range of artists, from Johnny Cash to Slayer!
We also discussed a CD I picked up at the weekend - Laudate features Taizé music recorded in Gort Mhuire in Dublin. - originally it came out on cassette but I hadn't got my own copy, so I was thrilled to find one copy in Veritas Cork last weekend. It's one of the best Taizé albums and I've already used it in class.
I flagged the forthcoming John Michael Talbot album, Worship and Bow Down due out in June (see News page) and was glasd that Ronan was familiar with his work, and also a great fan like myself.
I was able to talk about the Emmanuel concert I attended recently, and the Teen SpiriT concerts in Cork and Kerry featured on Nationwide of 6th April (may be available on the RTE Player.
Finally I recommended the new film There Be Dragons - more of that on the blog in a day or two.

1/4/11
Today I got to use my first film clip downloaded from Wingclips - a brilliant web resource where you can watch and download readymade film clips on a huge range of themes. The clip I used (included above) was of the Last Supper from The Miracle Maker. It is animated but done really well. This was available in the free section of the site and though it was supposed to be low quality I was very happy with it - I played it full screen from a data projector. The clip downloaded in a format that Windows Media Player can handle, so it was convenient. We had already used the equivalent sequence from Jesus of Nazareth and the students had been drawing their own Last Supper scenes (heavinly influenced by Leonardo!). There were a few giggles at the animated apostles, but it held the attention.

24/3/11
Last night I got to experience the opening night of Emmanuel 2011 in the Helix. It was brilliant - around 700 students singing their hearts out as they performed a wide range of liturgical music from plain chant to modern gospel. Our own school had a group included so I was glad to be able to support them. Students had been praticing the music for a few months in school and yesterday was the first time they came together. Christ Among Us by David Haas set the tone, Lord I Want to Be a Christian was an African spiritual and featured some good solos and tasty guitar work. Irish composers were well represented, including Ronan McDonagh, Liam Lawton, Bernard Sexton and Ian Callanan who directed the choirs and got to blow out a birthday cake at the end. Apart from his own compositions, including the touching Warm Embrace, he had arranged some of the material, e.g. A Mhuire Mháthair. The audience got a chance to join in especially on Come Bring Your Burdens to God where we had to learn three-part harmony on the spot. Things livened up big-time in the second half, starting with I Will Follow Him from Sister Act. We got a taste of the theme song for the upcoming Eucharistic Congress - Though We Are Many by Bernard Sexton. Trading My Sorrows by Darrell Evans had everybody joining in the hand gestures, while Thanks and Praise by John Angotti and Ed Boldne had all the students standing swaying and clapping. Go Out and Tell by Bobby Fisher and Greg Lee was the perfect song to finish, sending us all out on a high! Fr Pat O'Donohue, Dublin Diocese Director of Music called on anyone involved in parishes to let this music and these students uplift our liturgies. Amen to that!

22/3/11
Web TV served me well last weekend as I was able to watch the Religious Education Congress from Annaheim in the Diocese of Los Angeles from the comfort of home. I was particularly impressed by the music, in performances and liturgies. Our own Liam Lawton, along with Tony Alonso conducted one presentation, "Castle of the Soul", on the Saturday - it was beautiful. Earlier we got to hear the Jacob and Matthew Band, who provided the lively theme song from the Congress, "People Rise Up". There was also a reference to a Jazz Mass, but unfortunately that wasn't featured in the webcast. The music at the closing liturgy with new Archbishop José Gomez was particularly striking, as was the whole event. There was much liturgical dancing, which I found distracting, but it certainly was graceful and respectful. Clip on left shows Opening Ceremony.

12/3/11
Last night I got to see The Rite, the latest film with a exorcism theme. In terms of that genre it is well made, literate, and is boosted by an intense performance by Anthony Hopkins as an old exorcist. Much of the film is about the struggle between doubt and faith, especially in a young seminarian, but the film is strongly supportive of faith. I can't see much use for it in RE class though as the material is quite disturbing, and the tone is unrelentingly serious. The exorcism scenes aren't all that graphic by modern standards, but thery are unsettling, especially as the main character who is possessed is a young girl pregnant from incest. It is thought provoking for a very mature audience, but you have to remind yourself that it's entertainment as well and there are some clichéd and OTT elements (room full of frogs for example!).

On last Monday's interview on Spirit Radio I discussed a recent film Paul. It tells the story of a foul-mouthed alien who meets two sci-fi nerds played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (from Hot Fuzz and Shawn of the Dead). I wanted to like it, and there were some funny moments, but the crudenesss and bad language was way over the top. Worse still there was at times a sneering and dismissive attitude to religious faith. The particular target was a creationist family - the father is a rough bible-and-shotgun-totin' redneck, while the daughter, who thinks the very existence of the alien contradicts the Bible and so resolves to make up for her years of piety with some intense sinning and swearing. Definitely leaves a sour taste

17/2/11
Got to speak on Spirit Radio last Monday - I was interviewed about faith and the arts on Ronan Johnston's morning show. Discussed some films, Of God's and Men and The King's Speech, Ashley Cleveland's performance in the Transatlantic Sessions and various issues relating to teaching RE and English. Looks like it will become a weekly slot - around 10.30 am on Mondays. (I hide away in my classroom during a free class!) Spirit Radio is on FM in the main cities (On FM in Dublin 89.9 - Limerick 89.8 - Galway 91.7 - Cork 90.9 - Waterford 90.1) and online. There's also an iPhone app, and it's on the Nokia Internet Radio app (available free from the OVI store).

9/2/11
Have been doing the miracles of Jesus for the last few days with second year students. The students seem quite clued in and are familiar with many miracles. I've been showing various clips of these from films on the life of Jesus - for example there's a good portrayal of the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John film, featuring Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus (he played Desmond in Lost). From Jesus of Nazareth I used clips of the miraculous catch of fish (very striking visually), the healing of the paralysed man (which follows soon after), the raising of the daughter of Jairus, the miracle of the loaves and fishes and the healing of the blind man. As well as that I've been getting the students to illustrate their choice of the miracles of Jesus.

6/2/11
I finally got to see the film Of Gods and Men (Des Hommes et Des Dieux) , still drawing crowds at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield, Dublin. This tells the true story of a group of Cistercian monks under threat from Islamist terrorists in Algeria. It's a slow moving drama but well worth the effort to stay with it. Rarely have I seen a film with such depth of faith and respect for its subject. It's not in the least bit preachy or sentimental, but treats the deepest of religious themes in an accessible but challenging way. Unless you know the historical background very well it's entirely unpredictable - I couldn't help thinking at various stages that Hollywood would treat it so differently, but thankfully it avoids clichés and stereotypes.
The characters of the monks is what appeals most as they try to serve the local Muslim population with respect and compassion. The increasing terrorist violence in the areas puts them on edge as they grapple with internal and external conflicts, agonising over whether they should stay and risk all or leave to save themselves.
I couldn't see myself showing the whole film in class, because it's so slow moving and so much requiring maturity in the viewer (there's also a rather graphic killing), but there are several scenes that might work well. For example, the scene where they get their first visit from the terrorists is particular striking and tense, and features an unusual bit of impromptu inter-faith dialogue! Later the monks sing together (as they do regularly in the film) in an act of solidarity as a military helicopter hovers menacingly overhead. A scene where they finally decide what to do is also of interest, while near the end there's a touching letter from one of the monks about the relationships between Christians and Muslims. Several scenes show the monks in intense moments of prayer.
What remained with me most was the individuals and their relationships - the character of each monk is portrayed beautifully, and the film stands as a tribute to their human dignity, cameraderie, courage and faith.
The film has been held over at the Lighthouse much longer than expected due to public demand - significant that a challenging film with religion so central should develop such a following.

This weekend's Irish Times features an excellent article "Can Modern Art Keep the Faith", by Gemma Tipton. This piece looks at the the relationship between art and religion in history and in modern times. You can read it here.

5/2/11
Catholic Schools Week was a great chance to try some new initiatives - a greater variety of prayers at assembly, greater use of sacred space. One of the prayer services provided in the official resource booklet called for the Taizé chant O Lord Hear My Prayer to be played/sung. By coincidence or otherwise someone had just sent me a 3-CD collection "The Best Taizé Album in the World...Ever". I wasn't expecting to use it so soon! The album features 50 Taizé chants and I'm sure I'll get great use out of it in school. I'll review it soon. I wasn't so sure how it would fare out with the students, but some of the first and second year students I tried it with left the prayer room singing Jesus Remember Me!
The resource booklet also featured many other musical suggestions, and also in one of the "Thoughts For the Day" featured a quote from an Emily Dickinson poem I Never Saw a Moor - "I never spoke with God,/ Nor visited in heaven;/ Yet certain am I of the spot/ As if the chart were given".

Well, it was about time. Finally, a national Christian radio station for Ireland! With the country's religious demographic it's a wonder it didn't happen long ago, but that's a long story. Spirit Radio launched last week and here's hoping it will be a roaring success. I dipped in and out of it plenty of times in the last week, but my comments are tentative, as I didn't hear absolutely every programme. First impressions were favourable - not only plenty of Christian music, but positive and uplifting secular music as well (U2, Tom Baxter and David Gray for example). The "positive" message is very strong, with frequent slogans and reminders - "passion for life", "Ireland's positive sound", "positive encouraging music". Yes we do need strong doses of positivity, but maybe this could be toned down just a tad when the station becomes more established. More effective are the short spiritual reflections that play every now and then. My favourite show so far was Acoustic Sundays - an evening show with Ronan Johnston (RoJo) which features contemporary acoustic music for discerning listeners (like me!). Johnston's weekday morning show sounds promising too. Last Monday when I tuned in there was a discussion, with Brother Kevin Crowley among others, about the Capuchin day care centre which has been receiving lots of well-deserved publicity of late for its work with the homeless. At the weekend Jacki Ascough presented a Saturday afternoon show where, along with the music there were useful updates about community and faith-based events like the last Saturday's Gospel Voices concert and Transatlantic Sessions event (see below).
Overall the station is too pop orientated for my liking, but no doubt it will appeal to young Christians who normally listen to Today FM or RTE's 2FM, introducing them to a whole new range of music woefully neglected by the mainstream stations. It would help to have the presenters being present more often after each song to tell us who the performer is and give some background - too often it went from song to song and it was hard to know who you were listening to. Also, I look forward as well to hearing more talk shows on the station - I think the mix needs to be rebalanced more in that direction, with more varied theme-based shows rather than relying on individuals to carry long programmes on their own. But it's early days yet, and so far so good. For the moment the station is only broadcasting through the traditional airwaves in the main cities, but it can also be heard live on the station's website (www.spiritradio.ie) , on internet radios, via an iPhone app and the Nokia phone Internet Radio app. So far Spirit is treading the interdenominational line quite astutely - followers of the Christian religions in Ireland should find nothing to offend and much to inspire, and long may that last.

15/1/11
Hamlet Act III Sc i: In the famous "To be or not to be " soloiloque Hamlet reflects on our attitudes to the sufferings of life - we can put up with them ("suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune") or fight them ("take arms against a sea of troubles"). Suffering people opt away from self-destruction because of the "dread of something after death", perhaps judgement and punishment for that sin. (Clip on left features Mel Gibson as Hamlet)

Shortly after he vents his anger on Ophelia. "Get thee to a nunnery" he tells her, lest she be "a breeder of sinners". Those running nunneries might not be too pleased at his characterisation of their establishments. Hamlet's jaundiced view of women is expressed viciously to Ophelia and stems from what he feels as his betrayal by her (she has spurned him on the insistence of her father Polonius) and by his mother Gertrude (who had an affair with his Uncle Claudius, whom she married after the murder of her husband by the same Claudius). His harsh words to her seem to be directed at women in general - "God hath given you one face and you make yourselves another ... you jig, you amble and you lisp, and nickname God's creatures".

12/1/11
Hamlet Act II Sc ii: In his discussion with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Hamlet shows a high opinion of human nature, seeing it perhaps as God's work, and suggesting the idea of people being made in God's image: "What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!" And yet, in the next breath man is the "quintessence of dust" - a hint of what we learn about ourselves on Ash Wednesday. Towards the end of the scene (clip on left, featuring David Tennant as Hamlet) the troubling issue of revenge comes up again. Hamlet thinks he is "Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell". Earlier Hamlet had followed Christian teaching in relation to suicide, but now seems to regard revenge as his duty. Again he wonders if this ghost has been sent to fool him, though this may be another ploy of his, perhaps subconsciously, to avoid doing what he feels is his duty - "The spirit that I have seen may be the devil". He also realises that sometimes evil can present itself as something pleasant and attractive - "the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape".

11/1/11
Back to Hamlet now in English class, on the revision trail, so I thought I'd better get back to my study of the religious themes in Hamlet. Didn't make much progress at last attempt.
Act I Sc iv sees Hamlet meeting the ghost of his dead father. Hamlet is aware of the need for spiritual protection ("Angels and ministers of grace defend us"), in case this apparition is a "goblin damn'd". He follows it against the advice of his friends - he knows it can't harm his immortal soul: "for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself?".
Act I Sc v: The ghost, Hamlet Senior, seems to be in Purgatory (described with traditional imagery, making up for his sins) - "confin'd to fast in fires, Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature Are burnt and purg'd away". He's not allowed to tell what it's like there, but hints that it's most unpleasant: "I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, ". It seems close to the Catholic teaching on Purgatory, yet he is allowed to walk the earth at night, and urge his son to get revenge for him ("Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder "), hardly a very Catholic or Christian idea. He is understandably aggrieved that being murdered he didn't get a chance to repent of his sins and be prepared for judgement: "Unhous'led, disappointed, unanel'd, No reckoning made, but sent to my account With all my imperfections on my head". Towards the end Hamlet seems to warn Horatio to allow for the spiritual aspects of life: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy".
To be continued...

Cute date or what! Just had to write something today. Have been using my Three Wise Men resources (see below) this week with varying degrees of success. Belatedly I added one more resource that has proved popular with students - Will Vinton's claymation of the song We Three Kings, featuring the coolest camels ever. See clip on left. The first year students in particular were clued into the themes as some had played the wise men in their school nativity plays.

6/1/11
On the feast of the Epiphany .... I've been putting together some resources, old and new, on the Three Wise Men. I usually get some classes out of this theme in the first week back after Christmas, though first day back is usualy closer to the 6th than it is this year. I've organised a short playlist, featuring two versions of the song We Three Kings. The Roches version is rather tongue-in-cheek but I like it. John Michael Talbot's version is beautiful and more conventional. Then there's T.S. Eliot reading the Journey of the Magi. I've added these and more, including video clips to a special new Wise Men Page so you can play them from there. I've also added links to relevant poems stories and images.

28/12/10
I was looking forward to BBC's Christmas drama The Nativity, but a little nervous as well - in the wrong hands it could go pear shaped.
First off it was great that BBC put such resources into creating a new Christmas drama on the nativity events without which Christmas is meaningless. Tony Jordan's script was respectful of the original story, mainly from Luke and Matthew, and there was little revisionism or iconoclasm.
As might be expected nowadays the approach was naturalistic - Gabriel (played by John Lynch) appeared as just a normal guy, no flapping wings, though he did come and go rather mysteriously. He visited Mary to bring her the striking news that changed everything, and made a low-key visit to the shepherds - no angels sweetly singing o'er the plain. The star of Bethlehem was a distinctive planetary alignment that produced a great light over the town, but fortunately there was no ambiguity on the virgin birth.
The core of the story was the touching relationship between Mary and Joseph and this was done quite well. As Mary, I thought Tatiana Maslany hit all the right notes - she was holy, young, vulnerable, loving and very human. Joseph, played by Andrew Buchan, was young, sincere, witty and physically awkward. Mary was described as "such a devout girl", and Joseph admired her purity, but at one stage when he got just a tad familiar she reminded him of this - there was no rush, they would have their whole lives. Joseph accepted, but passed a comment about chastity rules being made up by elders with ugly wives! His reaction to Mary's pregnancy was more negative than we normally see and he didn't come to accept Mary's version of events until the birth, even after his dream. The journey to Bethlehem for the census was particularly frosty between them. I thought the moment of insight, moving as it was, was delayed too long.
Running parallel to the main plot line were the stories of the three wise men and a representative shepherd, Thomas, who struggled to pay his taxes and look after his wife and child. He was drifting away from God and driven to attack a Roman soldier, but his faith was restored when he visited the Messiah. Much was made of the Magi and their quest for the new king. However they visited Bethlehem on the night of the birth, and without paying their respects to Herod, who is portrayed as an insecure and feverish psycho - the most repulsive portrayal I've seen, by Vincent Regan (no relation!).
The journey motif was well portrayed - Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem from the north as the Magi travelled from the east. There was one striking scene with the white camels galloping through the night. The final nativity scene, as the key characters converged on the stable, was portrayed in a very traditional way and was quite moving.
Normally when I go back to school after the holidays I do some work on the three wise men, and I'll probably use some clips from this production. For school use there are also some useful clips for teaching about the idea of the Messiah, especially when Herod is talking about the concept. The portrayal of Mary and Joseph's courtship might strike a chord with young people, though I'm not so sure about Joseph's dig, however tongue-in-cheek, at the idea of chastity before marriage.

18/12/10
Have been doing a few Advent Services in our school's prayer room in the last few days, a useful antidote to the Christmas tests. I have plenty of Advent/Christmas music that I like using but I also like to introduce some new material each year. This year I got hold of John Angotti's album Welcome Home for Christmas - it's an excellent album, a fine mixture of originals and tastefully done classics. Particularly useful for Advent is his song "Prepare Ye The Way". Apart from using it for meditation it's particularly suitable for school/youth choirs. The album is available as a download from iTunes (where you can hear short song samples, but these don't do it justice as lots of the songs have Christmas surprises built in) but even better you can get it in Ireland from a private source - just email using the contact link on left and I'll send the details.

I've added a few other new Christmas albums to the collection this year. Kimmie Rhodes' Miracles on Christmas Day is a folk/country flavoured album featuring many original songs and a few Christmas classics. It has a charming gentleness - I especially like "Angel Unawares" and the the title track. It's beautiful for home listening but I can't see myself using it in school as I don't find that country flavoured music goes down too well. The only song I'd have a question mark over is her cover of Patty Griffin's "Mary". The message here seems to be that Jesus breezes off on his public mission leaving Mary to clean up. But Jesus is described as a man "who served the world proud" and maybe it's just a warm but ironic take on the way sons often leave messes for their mothers to clear up!. Samples of the songs can be heard at Amazon.

O Night Divine is a 2008 Christmas album from US Cajun band L'Angelus who toured Ireland last summer. The songs are mostly Christmas classics, but given a fresh folk/roots treatment that enhances the familiar material. I especially liked "The First Noel" which features some gorgeous piano playing (the instrumental work on the whole album is excellent), and I've already used "O Come O Come Emmanuel" in my Advent services in school. Another standout track is "A Child is Born", band member's Stephen Rees' original musical arrangement of the GK Chesteron poem "Song of the Cradle".

8/12/10
On the topic of Christmas music: Last Wednesday morning on the The John Murray Show (RTE Radio 1) I heard a really weird one – Shane McGowan of the Pogues joining the Priests for “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” (video on left) – from The Priests new Christmas album. It certainly works as an oddity, and it’s growing on me. It helped when the Priests appeared on the Late Late Show last Friday night on RTE 1. They gave some background into the recording – the reservations some had about the collaboration, how it worked so well in the studio, how McGowan and the Priests prayed together at the end of the recording session. The Spirit moves in very mysterious ways! Their live singing of “O Come All Ye Faithful” in the studio, with orchestra and chorus, was impressive – presenter Ryan Tubridy and the audience responded enthusiastically.
It wasn’t the only musical treat last week. On Thursday’s Today With Pat Kenny (also RTE 1), American singer-songwriter Kimmie Rhodes sang a beautiful track from her new Christmas album “Miracles on Christmas Day”, a mixture of classics and originals, some religious. As I watched the snow falling on my roof window she sang “silent snowflakes drifting down”, from the song “One More White Christmas”. Ironically, her gig in the Naul, Co. Dublin, that night was cancelled due to the snowflakes!
Meanwhile on Joe Duffy’s Spirit Level my recent wish for more music on the show has been coming true. Last Sunday’s show finished with another musical priest, Liam Lawton, singing the beautiful “Far Beyond” with orchestra and choir – very uplifting. As Joe pointed out, Fr Lawton is currently touring and promoting his new album “Courage Can Cry”.
Of course the big musical event of the media week was the semi-final of the X-Factor on ITV and TV 3 last Saturday and Sunday nights. There hasn’t been much spirituality evident on that show, but Rebecca Ferguson sang a soulful “Amazing Grace” and got through to the final. She said she had wanted to sing the song for quite a while – a song, she said, that touched everyone who heard it. One of the judges Simon Cowell (I’m not a fan) loved it – “no tricks … just pure sincerity” and Rebecca’s modest and dignified demeanour confirmed that. I react to this show with a certain fascination and repulsion. Especially at the later stages there’s huge talent on show, not least from our own Mary Byrne, who bowed out with dignity last Sunday night.
On Today With Pat Kenny last Monday morning the Palestrina Choir sang “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” live in studio and accompanied by Darren Magee, to mark RTE Radio 1’s official start to Christmas music. I’d suspect the choir will get more applications after this outing, and it’s not their only one this Christmas as conductor Blathnaid Murphy pointed out – lots of concerts coming up, including a carol service in the Pro-Cathedral where the choir is based on Sunday 19th December and a fund raiser for Temple St hospital on Wednesday 22nd December. And if you miss those there’s always the Christmas album “Christmas with the Palestrina Choir”.

30/11/10
Lately I've been doing my Transition Year module on Religious Themes in Drama. You can get an idea of what I do from the "Previous Blogs - Drama" link on left, or here. I've many of the old reliables, but have added some new material. Covering TV drama I was delighted to be able to use the final scene of US drama Lost - (clip on left) where all the main characters gather in a church to get ready to move on into the next life. When Jack meets his decesed father in the sacristy you can see a rather unusual stained glass window in the background - featuring the symbols of the major world religions, though the church seems predominantly Catholic, and certainly Christian. Even playing it in class I found it quite moving, though I've seen it several times. It certainly held the attention of the class. In general the clips that worked best were those from programmes the students were familiar with, like Lost, Prison Break, The Simpsons. The latter I used in a class on animated drama - I used a clip from the episode where Homer and Bart become Catholic. There are some crude references and what might by some be considered anti-Catholic prejudice, but, employing judicious selectivity, I played a scene that includes the vision of Protestant Heaven (very sedate, like a refined country club) and Catholic Heaven (much more fun, including Jesus bouncing on a trampoline!). This year I also inclded clips from The Miracle Maker (life of Jesus) which uses cartoon and claymation. Some students were familiar with this from Primary School, and it did hold the attention.

10/11/10
If you like that last video here's another in a similar vein, a fine version of Angels We Have Heard on High, also by Sixpence None the Richer. This song and other Christmas classics are available on the band's album "The Dawn Of Grace" (2008). Sample and/or buy the album at 7Digital. "The Dawn Of Grace" features 8 Christmas classics and 2 original recordings! Also includes "Silent Night" (see below) featuring Dan Haseltine from Jars Of Clay

9/11/10
Admittedly it's rather early to be listening to Christmas music, but I came across this version of Silent Night by the group Sixpence None the Richer and thought it deserved an airing. Nice animated video to go with it as well - probably more suitable for primary than secondary school. Have got two new Christmas albums this year so far - more of those anon. For more Christmas music from past years click on the Christmas link in the "Previous Blogs" section on the left.

29/10/10
Have been sampling some seriously good spiritual (and other) music over the last week and will write it all up over the next few days. For starters I'd like to draw attention to a new radio programme - Religion Matters on Kildare FM (Kfm broadcasts on 97.6fm and 97.3fm ). It is presented by Brenda Drumm on Sunday mornings 8-9 am - worth getting up for! If you're not in the Kildare area you can listen online at http://www.kfmradio.com/ . Last Sunday morning the music was well chosen - suggestions had been made to the busy Religion Matters Facebook page. My favourite was Sarah McLachlan's haunting version of the Prayer of St Francis - play clip on left. Brain Kennedy sang Liam Lawton's Allelu, as Gaeilge, The Prayer, sung by Katherine Jenkins covered the more classical side of things, while pieces from the Mission perfectly matched the occasion - Mission Sunday. You can listen back to the show at http://www.kfmradio.com/kfm-podcasting.html

13/10/10
Have been looking at the section on Signs and Symbols in the Junior RE course. Some of the students have taken well to it - one student who was great at coming up with suggestions for various symbols said he was really "in the zone" on this topic. Tomorrow we'll be working on Icons, in particular Rublev's Trinity Icon (left) - there's good stuff on that in Orla Walsh's book Know the Way. If the internet is working in my room tomorrow I'll be using a nice little web resource on the icon - check it out here. The reflections are simple, and navigation through the resource is easy too.

3/10/10
Watched the film Raising Helen last night and was surprised by how positive it was towards religion and how warm towards people and good values. Kate Hudson is excellent as Helen, a swinging party girl who must grow up fast when she has to raise her sister's children when the sister dies. At one stage she prays that God will find her a good school for the children and immediately passes a Lutheran faith school - "That was quick" she says/prays. There's a very funny scene where she pretends to the pastor (she calls him "Father Pastor") that they are all Lutherans. The Pastor jokes that they will have to have a blood test to prove it, but Helen doesn't get the irony and says the kids can have no blood tests, on medical grounds. Later, when the pastor asks her out on a date, she feels terrible that she may have lead him away from God and his vows of celibacy - he explains that clerical celibacy is not an issue for Lutherans!

1/10/10
Last Tuesday I ran a gig featuring Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters from USA - it was bluegrass and country all the way. Amy's music wasn't too unlike that of Emmylou Harris, and one of her best on the night was the gospel song Satan's Jewel Crown, though it was a more uptempo version than Emmylou's mournful version (from her classic album 'Elite Hotel'). Another fine gospel song on the night was Sailing On, written by Rick Lang. Amy drew attention to a new album of original bluegrass gospel songs by Lang - 'Look to the Light', featuring various artists performing his songs. Sounds like it's worth a look.

22/9/10
In the Pope's Mass in Glasgow last Thursday evening I was hugely impressed with the music - from the traditional Be Thou My Vision to the modern compositions of James Macmillan written specially for the occasion - his new Gloria was particularly striking, and I suspect it will re-surface in many Masses to come. Macmillan was interviewed that morning on BBC 2 and spoke enthusiastically of his liturgical compositions (his most famous is probably Veni Veni Emmanuel) and how Benedict's own interest in music had been helpful to the Church. He was glad that the people of Britain would get a chance to see the Holy Father for themselves, as so often news about him was filtered through an often negative media. On the Friday it was on to Westminster Abbey for a moving ecumenical service. More original music for the occasion, this time from Gabriel Jackson - his Glory Be to God was quite an inventive piece.

20/9/10
The John Angotti concert in Vicar St last night was superb - musically and even visually! To start with we got a support set from the Cabinteely Gospel Group - high energy stuff, and how they filled the stage! Great singing, fine musical backing. Definitely have to attend 12.30 Mass in Cabinteely some Sunday. Quite a wide variety of material, though Oh Happy Day might be a bit long in the tooth.
John Angotti and band were in top form, an could really cut loose in a way that mightn't suit a church venue. It was great to see Vicar St full on the night, great to see gospel music in the heart of a secular venue. The sound was excellent - in school and in Westland Row Church the acoustics weren't ideal. The patter between songs was entertaining, inspiring and funny, but the music was all heart and soul, from the beautiful ballads like By Name I Have Called You to the up-tempo and uplifting songs like Common Ground and I Send You Out.
What a treat it was to have John joined by the Cabinteely Gospel Group and the 2nd Chance Music Group for the last few songs. They lifted the roof, not to mention the hearts of the audience. Next question: when is Angotti and band coming back?
Nice also to meet some Faitharts friends!

18/9/10
Yesterday the John Angotti event in school was brilliant. In the morning we had all the Transition Year students in the town (about 110) in our sports hall for this faith and music event and it was received very positively by the students. The music was excellent as expected as was the participation by the students. And I got caught when it was teacher participation time! The Deputy Principal, myself and teachers from the girls' school rocked the joint! Apart from being great fun it was very spiritual as well - praise, worship, reflection.

Tonight I went to the 2nd Chance Mass in Westland Row, Dublin - John Angotti was providing the music along with the 2nd Chance Music Group. I found it a very moving experience. I particularly loved the unaccompanied Agnus Dei and the communion reflection song I Can Only Imagine (video on left). As in school John was backed by a cool band - thanks Matt, Dion and Grady! I'm looking forward to the Vicar St gig tomorrow night.

16/9/10
Was watching live coverage of the Pope's visit to the UK today - being on the web it meant I could watch it in class with the students, which worked really well. From the point of view of the arts the most appealing aspect was the beautiful music at the Mass in Glasgow. I plan to use some of that when I continue working on religious themes in music with my Transition Year students.
I was hugely impressed - from the traditional Be Thou My Vision (as commentator Sally Magnusson said, it can move all hearts) to the modern compositions of James Macmillan, written specially for the occasion - his Gloria was particularly striking, and I suspect it will surface again many times in Masses to come. Macmillan was interviewed that morning on BBC 2 and spoke enthusiastically of his liturgical compositions (his most famous is probably Veni Veni Emmanuel) and how Benedict's own interest in music had been helpful to the Church.

Tomorrow we have US Catholic singer John Angotti in school for a faith and music workshop - I'm really looking forward to that, but a little nervous about the logistics! All TY students in town are coming to the morning session, while our 1st and 2nd years will face the music in the afternoon. When I do the music and faith module in TY I like to expose the students to a live performance - this year they're in for a real treat.

8/9/10
Oh well, back to school over a week now and exhausted. Surprised to see how long it is since I added to the blog.
Starting off again with a review of the film Karol, A Man Who Became Pope, shown on RTE 1 last Saturday. There's lots in it that will be useful for RE class, and the follow up film is coming up this Saturday afternoon.
The first film takes the story from the German invasion of Poland to Karol becoming Pope. The central performance by Piotr Adamczyk is excellent - thoughtful, convincing, often moving. Also impressive are Malgorzata Bella as Hanna, a possible love interest for young student Karol, and Raoul Bova as Fr Tomasz, a young priest and close friend of Karol. Any scenes with any one or more of these three are intense and involving. In fact it is in some of the set piece scenes that the film excels most. There's one that's fraught with tension as Fr Tomasz is "invited" to hear the confession of one particularly nasty Nazi, but storms out from the dinner table after delivering a brave rebuke to the Germans present over their treatment of Jews and their children in particular. Great scene for illustrating themes like injustice and prejudice. All scenes between Karol and Hanna are so credible, a lovely portrayal of friendship and blossoming romantic love. The tensions between them, over how to react to the German occupation (words or guns - useful moral dilemmas here) and his growing discovery of his vocation (see clip above), are sensitively but realistically handled. You can feel Karol's sense of mission, but also Hanna's sense of loss. In fact the way his vocation is handled is so well done that the relevant scenes would be very useful for covering the theme of vocation in class.
Scenes of the Nazi cruelty and the persecution of the Jews are strong and affecting. It could hardly be otherwise I suppose. After the World War 2 scenes there's much more talk as the fortunes of the Church and Polish culture are at the mercy of the godless communism of the Russians and their puppet rulers, but this part is affecting too, with some strong emotional moments, especially the forgiveness of a spy - very useful scenes for Confession and forgiveness. I thought the film was less successful when the talk was less concerned with interpersonal issues and more concerned with politics and theology. It's not that I'm faulting the theology, but at times the film was a tad preachy, trying to get important points across with lumps of theology and morality that didn't flow as easily as dialogue should.
If you missed it, it's available for less than a fiver at amazon.co.uk, and is available in segmented form on YouTube.

26/7/10
On Friday last I went to the Phil Murphy weekend in Carrig-on-Bannow, Co. Wexford. L'Angelus were doing a concert of their Sacred Hymns in the local church, and what a treat that was. Beautiful acoustic hymns in the best of settings. They performed most of the material on their Sacred Hymns Collection album, with some pleasant surprises like Amazing Grace, People Get Ready and Lead Kindly Light. The event was entertaining, inspiring and prayerful. My own contribution was to lend the band a double bass! I think it worked well acoustically and visually. With the band's permission I filmed the event and am including one song, Be Thou My Vision, in this post. As time allows I'll upload more - you'll find them on my new YouTube channel - faithartswebsite. I've three done so far. On July 15th I had hosted a more "secular" gig with L'Angélus in Arklow, and that was also excellent. Even then we got treated to at least three spiritual songs. I'll be uploading some of that material soon.

The previous night I got to see Tom Paxton live in the National Concert Hall. He's not particularly a gospel singer though any sixties folk singer couldn't help but be influenced by gospel music. There was talk about heaven and angels in his songs, especially when singing about his family. And the opening song How Beautiful Upon the Mountain was based on Isaiah 52:7. The music and lyrics are catchy - "How beautiful upon the mountains are the steps of those who walk in peace …. God knows the courage you possessed, And Isaiah said it best…". We're familiar with some of those lines in Our God Reigns. Though Paxton is at the latter end of his career, an impressive four decades, he was like a spring lamb on the night, full of enthusiasm and witty repartee. And he stayed on for quite a while after the gig, signing autographs. I bought the DVD Tom Paxton Live at Huntingdon Hall, recorded last September. Song list is pretty much the same as on the night at the Concert Hall - the only difference being the backup musicians. Good job I got this on the night as I can't find a trace of it for sale on the web!

13/7/10
Hadn't realised it was so long since I wrote here. Image, being too busy on teacher's holidays!
Anyway, have been coming across various little spiritual gems on largely secular albums of late so I thought I'd mention a few here over the next few posts. Apart from personal enjoyment and inspiration many of these songs are suitable for school use, e.g. for meditation, school folk groups, religion and arts courses etc.
As I'm hosting a concert this week with this group (see news page) I thought I'd start with the album Ça C'est Bon by L'Angélus. "The Waltz of the Sorrowful Mysteries" is a lovely French version of the Hail Mary - "Je vous salue Marie, pleine de grace...", while "The Waltz of St Cecilia" is a poignant song of separation and hope - "And your name on my lips will be my morning prayer, until again we dance the Waltz of St Cecilia". Both songs can be previewed, or/and downloaded for $0.99 at CDBaby)

There was much to like and much to dislike about Rev. the new comedy series that started recently on BBC 2. Practising Christians will easily relate to the mild mannered vicar who struggles to make ends meet in an inner city parish. His Archdeacon (on the way to the launch of atheist Christopher Hitchens' latest book!), is breathing down his neck and mocking his puny fund raising ideas - he needs the money to repair a vandalised window of artistic merit. In an unlikely plot twist the congregation is swelled by new members who are there only to gain some Christian credentials so that their children can attend the highly rated local Church school. The new attendees don't know whether to stand or kneel, mobile phones go off, brats play with their games consoles, others read the newspaper in church.
There are interesting, if stereotyped, secondary characters - the inevitable foil Nigel, the Rev's assistant who is rather stuffy, revelling in the chance to flush out a few hypocrites, the rather underwritten vicar's wife, and the eccentric parishioner Colin who deeply resents Richard Dawkins for writing a book about God being deluded! Then there's the attractive young headmistress that the Rev fancies, and regularly compliments, though it's not clear how much he's aware of this attraction.
The show goes over the top in showing the Rev to be an ordinary guy - he smokes, swears and sometimes drinks to excess. Unfortunately the programme is unnecessarily crude at times, probably alienating quite a segment of the show's natural audience, which is a pity, as the show is relatively positive towards the Rev, and isn't negative to religion as such, but does skewer hypocrisy, vanity, politicking, and religious pretence.
In one of the best scenes, the Rev has a little prayer to God where he apologises for his vulgarity and reflects on his problems - I hope such a set piece will be a regular feature.

17/6/10
Saw the film Premonition on RTE 1 last night. Sandra Bullock played a married woman who has premonitions of her husband's death. It was quite a rivetting thriller with all sorts of timeshifting twists and turns. It raised some interesting issues about love, relationships and what's important in life. At one stage the Bullock character visits a priest to get some guidance - it's an intersting exchange, about two thirds of the way through. He suggests that faithless people leave a vacuum in their lives that other forces may then occupy, and that it's important to know what's really important in your life and to fight for that.

Further to what I've said below about storytelling in the Bible, I came across this interesting quote when corecting my 2nd year house exams: "God will forgive everything unless you steal one of his apples". And there were some creative metaphors - how about this: "purgatory is where you get filtered for heaven". From the mouths of babes!

13/6/10
Sometimes when I wonder if all this Faitharts stuff is on the right track I remind myself that Jesus himself often used stories to make a point - what a powerful impact the stories of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan have had over two thousand years. In today's gospel there was a very brief story (also from Luke's Gospel, Ch 7), but what an effective illustration of the theme of forgiveness: 'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he let them both off. Which of them will love him more?' Simon answered, 'The one who was let off more, I suppose.' Jesus said, 'You are right.' Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon ... I tell you that her sins, many as they are, have been forgiven her, because she has shown such great love. It is someone who is forgiven little who shows little love.' Simon was a Pharisee that Jesus was dining with, and the woman was she "who had a bad name", she who wept at his feet.
(Illustration by Elizabeth Wang, copyright © Radiant Light 2006, www.radiantlight.org.uk Artist's description: Christ looks with delight at the ex-hostesses who have left behind their old lifestyle and now share with old friends the Good News about the peace and joy to be found in Christ's love and forgiveness)

9/6/10
Last Saturday evening on EWTN, there was a fine programme with an unwieldy name - New, Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal: Colloquium XIX. The programme featured highlights from the 2009 Colloquium of The Church Music Association of America (CMAA), and event which dealt with the importance and distinctive nature of sacred music in the Catholic Church.
The spirit was infectious as we got to see and experience so many Catholics getting enthusiastic about liturgical music. And they weren't just discussing it - several times we got to see the rehearsal sessions, small groups practising outdoors in beautiful gardens or by a lakeshore and the sung masses that were the event's high points. What struck me most was the predominance of young people - all the more interesting as the music was mainly traditional chant and in Latin. As one of the directors pointed out this was no bunch of oldies trying to turn the church clock back - most weren't even around for Vatican II. In fact the philosophy of the event seemed very much rooted in Church documents on the liturgy.
The discussions and interviews were creatively presented as well - more like conversations as various groups of two sat down informally to talk about church music and what it means for the liturgy. The participants were hugely committed to the traditional sacred music in the church, especially in Latin, and that's fine, but I think I detected, from some contributors, something of a subtle distaste for more modern music in the vernacular, especially if it wasn't in some sort of traditional mould. Fair enough, there can be excesses of tacky trendiness in churches today, but I've experienced some very respectful, beautiful and sacred music in more modern idioms. And, it must be said, without the proper guidance and spiritual formation, the traditional music can be become too much of a lofty performance that excludes rather than uplifts the congregation. Whatever the case I'm sure it must have been a wonderful experience to take part in this event - details of the event, and the full programme under review, can be viewed online (http://musicasacra.com/colloquium/ ). Fortunately this summer there's a similar event closer to home - the 41st annual Irish Church Music Association Summer School of Church Music takes place at St Patrick's College, Maynooth, from 5-9 July 2010 (see News Page).

7/6/10
Holidays at last - thought those last two weeks would never end. So, finally, a chance to catch up on a few things. Have just discovered a new (to me) Catholic composer and singer from America - John Angotti. He has an excellent voice and has some impressive material - check out the song I Can Only Imagine, in the video clip on left. I believe a short Irish tour is planned for September - watch this space for details. His own website is here, and his Facebook page here. where you can find more video clips, not just of his music, but of his talks as well.

30/5/10
Today is Trinity Sunday, and if wasn't such a busy time of year in school, and if I was better organised, I'd have compiled loads of resources for the occasion. Oh well. Have a look at that beautiful Trinity picture on the home page, and there's a curious Trinity video on the spoken word videos page (Jesus B.C.). My favourite Trinity song is "Lord of Love" sung by Michael Card and Charlie Peacock - first track on the Coram Deo album - the song can be previewed here.

28/5/10
Had to watch that ending of Lost again! And still very moving. (See clip on left) And what about that beautiful background music - simple but effective.
Interesting that in its final moment the show opted for what's a largely religious approach. The main characters from the show gather at a church, which apparently is some sort of Limbo or Purgatory state, before they move on to the afterlife. One character, a man with the significant name of Christian Shephard (!), opens the door to reveal a heavenly light, as the characters take their seats in the church as if for a service. The light pervades the church in a beautiful optimistic moment. These scenes, and the earlier scenes where the characters re-unite emotionally in this most attractive of afterlife scenarios, are intercut with scenes of Jack dying. It's not that the characters were dead all the time on the island (at least I don't think so) - but that they all died at various stages on or off the island, and find each other in this "church" state where time doesn't matter and they prepare to move on together. It seems like a Christian church - there's a large welcoming statue of Jesus outside and most of the imagery is Christian, even Catholic, but the ante-room where Jack Shephard meets his deceased father features symbols and icons from many religions - in particular there's a stained-glass window with the symbols of the major religions - suggesting perhaps that there's room in heaven for people of good will from all faiths. I could see myself using this scene, as a discussion starter in RE class when dealing with the afterlife, and it has already sparked some discussion in class. There's also a lovely scene just before they go into the church where Ben (one of the show's nasties, who achieves a measure of redemption) asks Locke (one of the show's most enigmatic characters) for forgiveness and gets it very graciously. Definitely a good one for forgiveness and reconciliation themes.
[Added 1/6/10 - video clip of this scene now on videos page]
I mustn't get carried away however. The show doesn't coincide neatly with orthodox Christian thinking. There doesn't seem to a consistent purification process in this purgatory state. Some of the characters have very serious morality deficits that aren't really sorted out (murder, promiscuity and more), more a case of them being ignored. But I do like the way a good character like Hurley can find the residual goodness in Sayid, who is very down about the evil he has done. The most obvious omission in this afterlife scenario is God, unless we are to take "Christian Shephard" as some sort of God figure as well as being Jack's father, or unless we are to take Hurley as some sort of rotund Jesus figure. Maybe one could assume that the next phase in this death experience is to meet God, and I suppose it's not surprising that the programme makers didn't get too explicit about such a meeting.
Looking at reaction on the web it's evident that many fans were disappointed at the ending, but I don't share that. Some complain that all the questions were not answered, but isn't that ambiguity what gives the show its appeal? One of the most puzzling things for me was what to make of the alternate life scenarios we've been getting for the characters throughout this 6th series. It was a clever move for the script writers who haven't been content to sit on their laurels. In early seasons we got to see lots of flashbacks, telling us about the character's backstories. Then, in a startling move, it was flashforwards to how some of the characters got on when they managed to leave the island. Later we had time-shifting. Finally in series 6 we saw the characters having alternative lives - where they all met and interacted, but in different ways (impossible for the casual viewer to follow!). Gradually however this seemed to be a façade, one that in some way the characters created as a way of finding each other again (as Christian Shephard implies) and one that crumbled away as characters remembered their island lives - sometimes remembering how they died, and realising, with remarkable calmness and serenity that they were dead. But even in death there was solidarity, the bonds of friendship surviving death and becoming even stronger. That "church" reunion scene resonates with what we'd all aspire to - meeting those we love as we move into the afterlife.

24/5/10
Well, I'm reeling. Just after watching the final episode ever of US drama series Lost, and what a finish! Just a few initial reactions here. I'll return with a more detailed analysis.
It was one of the most hotly anticipated finales for years - even deserving of a schedule change from Sky and RTE 2 to bring it more in line with the American showing. It even got a mention on today's Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1. Over its six impressive seasons it has had many religious themes. In this final double episode there was plenty of that - a very prominent role for a character called Christian Shephard, a statue of Jesus very prominent, a reference to Moses' burning bush, an answered prayer to escape the island, and a final, emotionally charged gathering in a church, one that seemed Christian and yet had symbols of many faiths, and seemed to border on heaven!
There were moving themes of faith, hope, love, sacrifice, forgiveness and redemption, and most of all some credence to the afterlife speculation that has followed the show from early on. The final episode exemplified what made the show such a hit - sharp scriptwriting, humour, characters we could care about, excellent acting even in minor roles, spiritual themes, adventure, unbearable tension and food for the brain. I think the hard-core fans will be pleased - they/we will dissect it for quite a while to come!

15/5/10
Managed to get to the Don McClean concert in the new Grand Canal Theatre last week. I was always a fan, but my appetite for his music was whetted by the recent "Ar Stáitse" concert on TG4 - see entry below for 1/5/10). In that entry I wrote about the religious themes in American Pie, which of course he performed on the night. It was going around in my head for days. Other songs of his also had spiritual themes. I'd always thought Genesis (In the Beginning) was an arrogant kind of song - "We have grown, we have captured the throne of the kingdom God made". But hearing it live and paying more attention to the words I'm not so sure. You could read it as a criticism of the arrogance of people, or a tribute to our maturing - the kingdom is described as one "God made for our winning". The song starts promisingly - "In the beginning there was nothingness and God but waved his hand/and from the endless void there sprang the beauty of the land", but I'm not so sure how God or humankind comes out of this line: "man was but a molecule that God had left behind". The Adam and Eve story is retold in a traditional fashion, but a warning, that sounds like a reference to original sin, is sounded ("though the father sets the price, the children pay the cost"). That warning is echoed in the chorus ("our children alone/have so little time left for beginning.") That might seem to support the idea that we are being criticised for not developing a kind of world that's helpful to our children. Jerusalem used that city as symbol of unity between faiths, though the ideas were more simplistic than is usual for McLean - "The markets and the alleys, the temples and the tombs. A place for all believers, it has so many rooms."
Apart from his own songs McLean performed a respectful version of an old Rev Gary Davis spiritual Keys to the kingdom, - "I've got the keys to the kingdom,/The world can't do me no harm",. He captured the righteous anger in Bob Dylan's Masters of War : "For threatening my baby/Unborn and unnamed/You ain't worth the blood/That runs in your veins." And includes a Biblical flavour - "Like Judas of old/You lie and deceive". But there's an understandable forgiveness deficit - "even Jesus would never/Forgive what you do". Homeless Brother (see clip above) is one of my favourite McLean songs - full of compassion for the homeless, and Jesus gets a mention here too - "Somewhere the dogs are barking and the children seem to know/That Jesus on the highway was a lost hobo". One could argue with that description but no doubt it is respectful and sincere. I've been listening to the "Homeless Brother" album of late after many years. That features a version of Crying the Chapel (remember the Elvis version?). I used to think that was an irreverent send up of tacky and sentimental religious songs, but now I'm not so sure. Now I find more heart in it.
In general the concert was enjoyable but while the new venue is impressive I thought the sound could have been better. And while it was good to hear such a wide range of songs, I was puzzled that there was nothing from his new album "Addicted to Black". Though it was on sale in the foyer it wasn't even mentioned. Hardly a vote of confidence from the artist! The backing group was musically proficient, but somehow I felt that a certain spark was missing.

2/5/10
Recently I was trying to think of musical resources for the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation and came up with a few ideas. Would love to hear more from anybody. Many of the songs are available on YouTube, iTunes, 7Digital etc. Some could probably be streamed live in class through the likes of Lastfm or Spotify, though I haven't tried these in class yet.
Sometimes having done the Sacrament of Reconciliation I use these songs in a prayer service or just at the end of class. Healing of the soul in general features in the calming song Healer of My Soul by John Michael Talbot. It's on his "Signatures" album and on the album "Brother to Brother" where Talbot duets with Michael Card. Only in God, also on the "Signatures" album implies reconciliation with God - "Only in God is my soul at rest". Where Do I Go, sung by Ashley Cleveland and Gary Chapman on the excellent "Songs From the Loft" album covers similar ground. Tell It All Brother is a little known song recorded by Kenny Rogers when he did music with an edge with the First Edition group (before the awful Lucille!) - mightn't be to everybody's taste but great for the confession theme (listen to the song above).
Under the Rug (video clip on left) by RandyStonehill uses the title metaphor to convey the way we sweep our sins under the rug instead of dealing with them. In Paradise by Sal Solo (saw him giving a great concert in Rathmines church a few years ago) tells the story of the reconciliation of the good thief on the cross. It's on Solo's album "Look at Christ", which is hard to find, but well worth tracking down - it's a light rock version of the Rosary, though it wasn't marketed as such, I presume to appeal more widely than just a Catholic audience.

1/5/10
Last week American singer-songwriter Don McLean featured in TG4's Ar Stáitse - a great new series featuring well-known performers in concerts from the seventies. These are films which have been gathering dust in the RTE archives and have been cleaned up for the series. What a nostalgia trip! The McLean concert showed up the main fault with the series - the episodes are too short! Here we had what was probably a two-hour concert whittled down to less than thirty minutes - we didn't see him play the banjo he brought on stage and the ending of his best known song, American Pie, was cut off by the continuity announcer! Grouching aside the music was great - McLean was at his best when singing beautifully crafted songs of human interaction - we got only two of them in this show, the yearningly optimistic If We Try ("something yearns within to grow beyond infatuation"), and the poignant Empty Chairs ("although you said you'd go/Until you did I never thought you would"). There were some good-time songs like Lovesick Blues and the inevitable American Pie - it would take quite a while to decipher all the imagery in that one, and I'm sure thousands of words have been written trying just that. And there's plenty of religious imagery, not surprising for a guy that got a Catholic education, though it's not easy to detect the faith perspective. "Do you have faith in God above?" sounds like the renewal of Baptismal promises, but almost immediately the songwriter takes a different line and asks "Can music save your mortal soul?" It seems as if music becomes a kind of religion to the dedicated fans - "I went down to the sacred store/Where I'd heard the music years before". Yet there's also the suggestion that even God was sad when early rock singer Buddy Holly died - "the three men I admire most:/The father, son, and the holy ghost,/They caught the last train for the coast/The day the music died." (Three men?).

25/4/10
Recently I've been doing classes on Images of God with 2nd years - see below. To finish this topic we had a prayer service where some of the songs I played (on CD!) reflected this theme - quite a few interesting images of God in music and I got to thinking of some songs I didn't use as well. So here's a few that might help - some suitable for class work, some for prayer services and some for both. I use the music of John Michael Talbot frequently. On the "City of God" album he covers Carey Landry's song Abba Father, and on "Table of Plenty" he sings Michael Joncas' well know Eagles Wings. His "Signatures" album contains many of his best known works. In Only in God (Psalm 62) God is "my stronghold, my saviour" (see clip on left). In Come Worship the Lord there's the traditional image of God as shepherd. (No doubt there'll be no trouble finding recordings of the more traditional The Lord is My Shepherd). The image in I Am the Bread of Life is also suitable for classes on Eucharist. Included is the image of God as "Healer of my Soul" in the lovely song of the same name, also featured in the "Brother to Brother" album - duets with Talbot and Michael Card. Michael Card's solo album "Starkindler" has a combination of images in the song The King of Love My Shepherd Is, which also features on the excellent L'Angelus album "Sacred Hymns Collection". Card joins with Charlie Peacock for Lord of Love (from the album "Coram Deo - In the Presence of God". It's an effective image for God, and a great song for reflecting on the Trinity. For something more quirky try Julie Miller's My Psychiatrist from the "Meet Julie Miller album" - God as the psychiatrist whose "therapy is free of charge"! Or Larry Norman's UFO - God as an "unidentified flying object" who's come to save your soul! It's on his album "In Another Land", and covered by Geoff Moore and the Distance on the tribute album "One Way - The Songs of Larry Norman". Samples of the songs can often be found on the artists' websites, or downloaded from sites like iTunes and 7Digital.

18/4/10
Over the last few days I've been using the German film Sophie Scholl - The Final Days with the 5th Year students and it seems to have them riveted. I find myself deeply moved each time I see it It tells the true story of a young German student who defied the Nazis during World War II - she was part of the White Rose group. She is such a great role model for young people, and the film is superbly done - in particular Julia Jentsch is outstanding in the title role. There's one especially good sequence, about two thirds of the way through - Sophie says a prayer in her cell and this is followed by her final interrogation, which in particular raises issues of conscience and principle. It's also useful for classes on the relationship between morality and the law. Most of this is in the above clip which I've made larger than usual so that the subtitles are legible.

6/4/10
Fr Liam Lawton presented an excellent Good Friday programme on RTE Radio 1. A Love Beyond All Telling was an hour-long reflection on the events of the first Good Friday - simply but effectively capturing the mood of the day. Some of the spoken reflections came from Fr Lawton's recent book The Hope Prayer, and sought to help us understand these events at an emotional level - there were touching meditations on guilt, heartbreak and betrayal. Yet there was hope - e.g. how radical Jesus was even in his death - forgiving those who had crucified him. The words were complemented by appropriate music, including some of Lawton's own compositions, and included also work by John Michael Talbot and Matt Maher. You can listen to the programme by clicking this link.

29/3/10
Last Friday to celebrate the school holidays I got to the cinema to see The Blind Side - the film that won a Best Actress award this year for Sandra Bullock. It tells the true story of a black teenager, uniquely skilled at American football, adopted into a white family. It was moving, uplifting and absorbing, though overlong and certainly sentimental.
There's a faith dimension, but it's not too preachy. Bullock does a great job playing the mother of the adoptive family, a gutsy Christian woman who opens her home to the homeless boy, who is enrolled into a private Christian college. When the authorities there are reluctant, considering the boy's background, one character suggests that the word "Christian" on the school's sign should be painted over or taken seriously. A challenge to all our Christian schools.
Themes of racism and family conflict are touched on subtly, but there are no huge conflicts. This makes the film less intense, but more gentle, and it's certainly imbued with a respect and love for its characters - at the end we get to see footage of the real life characters the film is based on.
This family is certainly well off (huge house!), and while their material wealth isn't questioned there is an empathy for those who are poorer, e.g. in Bullock's visit to the boy's birth mother.
Maybe I'd like it to have been a little rougher around the edges. Is the family too sweet to be wholesome? Perhaps, but it was good for a change not to have the family members having clichéd rows just for dramatic effect. It was certainly believable.

Picture this: an obviously repentant man, on the verge of execution, goes to Confession seeking absolution for his sins. A scruffy priest refuses, telling the man he hasn't time to repent and that the devil awaits him in hell, and then walks off taking the man's Bible with him!
So it was in the latest top-notch episode of Lost, the cult drama series on RTE 2 (Thursdays) and Sky One (Tuesdays). And it gives me another worthy addition to my collection of Confession scenes from TV and movie drama! (this episode is due on Sky One this Tuesday 30/3)
This scene, set in 1867, was part of the backstory of Richard Alpert, the character who never seems to age. After accidentally killing a man he is taken in chains to the new world only to crash land (in a ship!) on the Lost island. Gripping as that was, far more interesting were his encounters with the island's two main protagonists - Jacob and a nameless man in black that I'll call Black Smoke Guy (BSG) - he turns into a black smoke creature to wreak destruction.
I've written here before about Lost being a kind of Purgatory experience (here), but in the flashback Richard believed BSG that the island was Hell and that Jacob was the Devil, who had stolen his humanity and trapped him on the island. Richard believed this for years and assured the modern-day crash survivors that they were all dead and in Hell. But Jacob seemed more likely to be the good guy - he explained how the island was like a cork in a bottle, keeping evil (BSG) imprisoned. He brought people to the island to find "candidates", people worthy to replace him, and to help people learn right from wrong on their own - he says it's meaningless if he has to step in and force them. BSG, he claimed, thinks people are corruptible and likely to sin by their very nature. It's an intriguing stand off with cosmic implications, and the philosophical implications are as complicated as the mind twisting plot developments.
Are these two meant to be God and Devil slugging it out? It's hard to see it in purely Christian terms - e.g. Richard asks Jacob if he can absolve his sins, but Jacob says he can't so he's hardly meant to be God. The show certainly makes more demands on people's brains that the average drama series, yet it doesn't lack a strong emotional content - there was one particularly touching scene last week when Richard's deceased wife from 1867 paid him a visit in the present.

22/3/10
I've been doing the "Images of God" theme with 2nd Year students - always a popular section of the course. Getting them to draw God produces some interesting questions as usual. There were a few blank pages and lots of bearded old men! Doing Images of God on film we looked at the scene in Bruce Almighty where Bruce meets God for the first time. This is mentioned specifically in the book we're using (Know the Way) and despite it's being a few years old now many students recognise it. I also used clips from some of the old "Insight" videos Veritas used to sell - God as a young man in a white suit in The Walls Came Tumbling Down, God as an office clerk in Packy, God as Trinity in Jesus B.C. (see clip on left - some silliness, but the only film I know that makes a stab at showing the Trinity in this way). There's a very stereotyped God in the movie Almost an Angel - in a scene near the start the main character (Paul Hogan) meets a probation officer God played by Charlton Heston - robe, big beard, judgemental but grudgingly forgiving. Not the best image of God, but it raises interesting discussions about stereotypes and pre-conceived notions.

18/3/10
Haven't had time to do much blogging recently - too much schoolwork, corrections etc, and I've been giving a few IT courses to RE teachers. Have managed to listen to plenty of music in the car however, and one CD I've been enjoying is Songs of Inspiration by Father Marino Nguekam. Some of you may have seen him on Joe Duffy's Spirit Level a few weeks ago, or heard him on Liveline before Christmas. I've reviewed the album here. It's available from the Pro-Cathedral. The video clip on left should give a good idea of Father Marino's distinctive style.

28/2/10
On Thursday light I found my way to Colfer's pub in Carrig-on-Bannow, Co. Wexford for a gig by American Cajun band L'Angélus. I first came across the band when they appeared on Today With Pat Kenny last summer and when they played for Catholic Underground during that first Irish visit. I enjoyed their Sacred Hymns Collection (see review here), and wasn't disappointed hearing the live for the first time.
This was vibrant, high-energy stuff from Katie, Paige and Stephen Rees - I've rarely seen a concert where the performers were enjoying themselves so much. It was mostly the "secular" material - Cajun two-steps and waltzes, country songs, Texas Swing, New Orleans Jazz and a touch of soul, but they also gave a beautiful rendition of Be Thou My Vision, from the "Sacred Hymns" album.
The original material, like the poignant Waltz of St Cecilia, was mixed with standards like Jambalaya, Peggy Sue and My Girl, and relatively unfamiliar songs like Wait a Minute (see video clip). I always like to get more at a live gig than just a performance of CD album material, and it was a great delight to see how much fun there was in this performance - Stephen Rees in particular was a howl, moving from sensitive ballads to growling shouting blues. His fiddle and sax playing was superb, while Paige's bass playing and Katie's rhythm guitar dove the music along, completing the excellent vocals. I was great to get to talk to the trio during the break and hopefully they will get back to Ireland this summer.
On the night I bought their album "Ca C'est Bon", and will give it a mention here after a few turns in the CD player.

26/2/10
On Monday last I got to see the Irish Premier of the film Lourdes, shown as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. It tells the story of a young woman, almost paralysed with MS, who visits Lourdes with a pilgrimage group, helped by Order of Malta volunteers.
It's a hard one to review as I have conflicted feelings about it. It certainly held the attention throughout its ninety or so minutes, even though for much of it there was nothing dramatic going on. I found it completely unpredictable, which helped, and I suppose because it was subtitled I had to concentrate all the more. The characters were ordinary, but still interesting. Sylvie Testud as the main character Christine was superb - the whole thing might have collapsed without such an intriguing performance. She managed to capture a whole range of emotions - sadness, anger, enthusiasm, loneliness - and yet there were times she was inscrutable.
The location work at Lourdes captured the atmosphere really well, in fact at times it had a documentary feel to it. But it was difficult to figure out what the viewpoint of the film was. Yes there were possible miracles, lots of prayer and devotion, and the main character, despite her suffering was at least open to faith. But ultimately it seemed like an agnostic's view of the Lourdes experience (and here I'm not making any assumptions about writer-director Jessica Haussner, except that she's highly talented). I felt the film lacked warmth towards faith, and I didn't feel any sense of relationship with Our Lady or Jesus. It's as if Haussner was saying: here's what might happen on an average pilgrimage to Lourdes - what do you make of it?
And yet it wasn't entirely objective or dispassionate. There was a quiet empathy with the invalids, especially as so many little cruelties were shown to them - e.g. when Cécile, the chief nurse announces that there will be an outing next day, but that those in wheelchairs would have to stay behind. The carers do their job, often with a smile, but too often they are more interested in flirting with each other - believable but unsettling. "We are not here to have fun", says the irritating chief nurse, and sure enough there is little enough of it. Everything is just a bit too slow moving and uninspiring.
The pilgrimage chaplain is a very average priest, mostly OK with the pilgrims, but his answers to their deep questions smack too much of platitude. The other pilgrims are a mixed bunch, from devotional to cynical. The chief nurse is all smiles and efficiency, not too likeable, but then she is shown to have her own suffering. The chief Order of Malta man attracts the eyes of all the ladies, including the main character, but he too, ultimately, seems hollow.
Talking to some people after the film confirmed what I suspected, that people will have wildly different assessments of the film. Maybe this lack of a clear stance will charm some and disconcert others, but while I did find it riveting, sometimes funny, and even quite hopeful at times, I thought the final impression it left was on the bleak side.
For that reason I wouldn't be rushing to show it in school, though there was one interesting Confession scene with the main character and the chaplain, where she calmly confesses her anger. I like collecting Confession scenes from film and TV drama, and this will be a worthy addition.

21/2/10
Stephen Greydanus at Decent Films (and movie reviewer with the National Catholic Register) is one of my favourite film reviewers - I find myself agreeing with his assessments more often than not. His website is an excellent resource, not just for the treasure trove of film reviews, but for his many insightful articles on various film and media issues. Currently he has an article suggesting a variety of films that make for appropriate Lenten viewing. Worth a look.

17/2/10
Last night I got a chance to see one of the first Irish screenings of a new feature film about the appearances of Our Lady of Fatima.
The 13th Day was written and directed by Ian and Dominic Higgins. It's great to see Catholic filmmakers turning their talents to spiritual matters in such a creative and imaginative way. Visually the film is a treat - it's not surprising that the Higgins brothers come from an artistic background. Each frame of the film would make for a beautiful still picture - mostly it's black and white, with colour being used when Our Lady appears and Heaven touches the earth. Watching it I was reminded of arty YouTube videos, European cinema, and even The Blair Witch Project (visual effect not content!).
It was almost surreal in its presentation, which made it quite captivating at times. The film seems to tell the Fatima story faithfully, framing it by using the reminiscences of Sr Lucia as she writes her memoirs. For me the telling of the story was somewhat episodic, always a potential problem when filming real life events. I also felt there was too much narration and not enough dialogue given to the actors which made it difficult for them to really inhabit their roles. That being said the girl who played the young Lucia, Filipa Fernandez, had a striking screen presence, crucial when she was the central personality of the film.
One thing the filmmakers have achieved is to present this timeless story to a modern audience in an idiom they can understand and relate to. I didn't find it corny or preachy or sentimental, and these are also traps that a religious film can fall into.
As always I wondered about its use in Religious Education. There would have to be plenty of discussion afterwards, and the teacher would want to be well informed about the background to the Fatima story. The vision of hell and one rather scary angel make it more suitable for secondary students. For teachers who might like to use just an extract, the scene of the miracle of the sun is quite striking and captures the essence of the film. At the time of writing The 13th Day is available only on Region 1 DVD (USA). More info on the film's website.
I saw the film at the Film Society of the Fraternity of St Genesius, which meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. I was glad to finally get there and meet people of like mind! Fr John Hogan, Father-Director of the Fraternity gave an interesting opening address, where he made some interesting comparisons with the earlier film version The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima (1952), made at a time when it was popular in Hollywood to make films that were positive towards the Catholic Church. Oh how things have changed!

15/2/10
Lost? How many viewers still watch this US drama series that returned to RTE last week? It started with a total recap episode which might have brought the casual viewers up to date with the deliciously convoluted plot, but I'd say they were re-established in a state of confusion once the season opener got going. It didn't disappoint. Earlier seasons have had flashbacks, flashforwards and people going backwards and forwards through time - this season there's an even more intriguing plot device of having parallel or alternative futures. Not much religion yet, but the Sayid character, as he approached death reckoned he'd be going to a bad place because of all the torturing he had done, and later he has a sort of resurrection experience. A hidden temple was discovered on the island - seemed like a sort of religion, but the devotees there certainly didn't have hospitality as a core value - their first reaction to a bunch of strangers was "Shoot them!".
These are the "Others", a mysterious group that have been on the Lost island since the beginning. Their mystical leader Jacob was mentioned but never seen for the first few series - making his appearance last year all the more dramatic. One could see him as a sort of god-like or prophet figure and perhaps his nemesis (smartly named Esau by some smart ones on the web), the black smoke guy, is a sort of devil figure. But it would be a headbreaker to try and fit the plot into some orthodox version of the Christian story.

Caught an episode of EWTN's youth magazine show Life on the Rock last weekend. It highlighted the work of Epiphany Studio - a Catholic-Christian US theatre group that specialises in spiritual material. In particular we got to see clips from Lolek, a one-man show by Jeremy Stanbary on the young adult days in the life of John Paul II. In the studio interview Stanbary explained how he found the world of secular theatre creating conflicts with his faith, leading himself, along with his wife Sarah into their present work. No sign of an Irish tour yet, but I've emailed to see if this might be a possibility for the future. Some of their performances can be ordered on DVD from their website's store. Clips, previews, and interviews are also available on their YouTube channel.
And on the same show there was an interview with Max Espinosa about the Holywood Acting Studio - a new studio that educates actors in their craft, but also pays attention to their spiritual life, helping them to make better choices in the mainstream. Signs of hope!

9/2/10
Started a module on the virtues with 5th Year students today. Used a worksheet to start with, which helped get the students thinking. To finish I got them to do some artwork on the first virtue I tackled - Justice. I got some interesting specimens. Interestingly no one went for the traditional scales of justice figure. The most striking one was a guillotine on fire! Another had an electric chair being rejected. I have a series of these Virtue Worksheets available on request - use email link above.

8/2/10
Well, I did a bit for Catholic School's Week, but it didn't help that we were in the middle of Mock Exams, with no school assemblies as a result. Still, we did make use of our Prayer Room for some class services and conducted some classes on the theme. Apart from the discussions, I got students doing some artwork - e.g. posters to highlight the event, which got them thinking, I hope. At the prayer services I used the folllowing songs: Where To Now Edmund from the album "Islands of the Heart" by Peter Kearney - it's about the vision of Edmund Rice (it's a CBS); Be Thou My Vision by Cajun Group L'Angelus from their excellent "Sacred Hymns Collection"; and the very appropriate Salt and Light Amy Delaine from the compilation album "Songs From the Loft" (a must for every RE Dept!).

1/2/10
This week is Catholic Schools Week in Ireland. The resource materials have been sent to schools but are also available here. The secondary schools booklet includes a poem St Brigid, A Blessing by Christy Kenneally. I tried it in a few classes today and it went well I think. For the feast of the Presentation tomorrow T.S. Eliot's Song for Simeon might be useful , but probably too complex to use as a prayer. In the resource materials there are also prayers, readings, full services, fun activities and even recipes! Would be interested in hearing from anyone trying some interesting activities this week.

27/1/10
Recently I noted the passing of Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, (see entry for 27/9/09) and now another great female singer has died. Kate McGarrigle, along with her sister Anna wrote and sang some wonderful songs, with the sweetest harmonies, like Heart Like a Wheel, Heartbeats Accelerating and Love Over and Over. Their best work I think was in their earlier 70's and 80's albums, especially their first, simply titled "Kate and Anna McGarrigle". That has to be one of my favourite albums of all time. I've seen them live a few times, which was such a treat. Little of their output was religious material, but their Catholic French Canadian background shone through at times. There was Travelling on for Jesus from that first album, and the many Christmas songs from their album "The McGarrigle Christmas Hour". The latter includes her song about the Three Wise Men - I've included a video of her singing it on the left. It's not the best recording and she wasn't that well at the time, but it's recent and worth a look. Rest in Peace.

16/1/10
As outlined below I've been using an extract from Jesus of Nazareth to illustrate classes on the moral teaching of Jesus. Part of that extract has come in handy when I've been doing "table-fellowship" with second year students. There's a useful segment where Jesus goes for a meal to Matthew's house (Luke 5:27-39). Matthew being a hated tax collector the apostles try to convince him not to go - danger of scandal and defilement! In the Prodigal Son story Jesus tells towards the end of the extract another meal figures - the feast thrown for the returning son. When I've asked to students to name events in the life of Jesus that centre around meals many suggested the Last Supper, which was reassuring. I showed the Last Supper scene from BBC's Passion, which I've referred to here many times before. You can see it in the clip on left - Last Supper begins about 3 minutes in, but the lead in is interesting too. I also used the Last Supper scene from The Manchester Passion, another BBC production that presented a modern version of the story with contemporary music. This held the students' attention, though I found that it worked better with older classes. I'm enjoying the table-fellowship theme from the Junior Cert course - meals, eating, feasts figure rather prominently in the Bible stories, whether Jesus is eating with people or telling stories about eating - e.g. comparing the Kingdom to a feast.

13/1/10
With 5th Year students I've been doing the moral teachings of Jesus - I usually start by showing what I think is a powerful extract from Jesus of Nazareth - from where Jesus meets Peter on the shores of lake Galilee to where Peter and Matthew reconcile after Jesus tells the Prodigal Son story - about 20 minutes or so. There's so much in this for the moral teaching topic. You have the apostle John wanting scripture to come alive in people's hearts; there's the scene of the miraculous catch of fish (beautifully portrayed) which emphasises the value of generosity; there's trust - Peter has to trust Jesus and head out again even after catching nothing so far; hospitality is highlighted when Peter invites Jesus to his house (along with quite a crowd!), and when Matthew welcomes Jesus into his house; the concepts of invitation and challenge are strong in Jesus' efforts to get Peter and Matthew together; there's a powerful lesson in reconciliation and forgiveness when they do put aside their differences, which they must do if the are to follow the Lord; forgiveness of sins is an issue when Jesus cures the crippled man who is let in through Peter's roof ; the apostles try to argue Jesus out of visiting the despised tax collector Matthew, but Jesus stresses that the heart of the law is mercy, and that he has come to call sinners, not the virtuous. This extract has always held the attention of the senior boys, and did again this time, but one thing I noticed this time was the giggles when Jesus is shown with a heavenly expression or aura - this just happens briefly at the start of the extract, but most the time the portrayal of Robert Powell in the role of Jesus is very moving and naturalistic - Powell holds the viewer as Jesus holds the listeners in the telling of the Prodigal Son story - all the more affecting as we can see the parallel with the reconciliation of Matthew (the prodigal) and Peter (the grouchy older brother). You can watch the start of the extract here, and the telling of the Prodigal Son story here.

5/1/09
With constant repeats on RTE and Channel 4 one can get overdosed on the Simpsons, but to be fair it takes a lot of repeating to drain the humour out of it. Last weekend both channels showed The Simpsons Movie, and like a lot of comedy shows transferring to the big screen it was a questionable exercise - yes, the movie was funny, but it didn't offer much more than a typical bunch of episodes shown back to back. As always there was an amount of religious content - and while you might welcome films that show religion as a common part of life (airbrushed out of most American shows) you'd smart at the sharp barbs thrown at believers. The story began on a Sunday morning with Homer once again grumbling about going to church - why, he says, can't he be allowed worship God in his own way - "like praying like hell on my death bed". He grouches about Rev Lovejoy's congregation, "pious morons" with their "phoney baloney God". Grandpa Simpson starts speaking in tongues about some apocalyptic event, and wouldn't you know, it was to be an environmental disaster. The show often pokes fun at those believers who are big into "the end times". There was one hilarious scene when the end of the world was nigh (yet again) - the believers abandoned the church and headed for the bar, while the drinkers rushed out of the bar and made for the church. The sign on the church said "We Told You So"!
While Ned Flanders was presented, as usual, as a Holy Joe, he is also portrayed as the most human and caring of the Springfield folks - providing such a stable father figure that Bart wants him as father instead, but only for a while of course. Yes, its mildly crude and borderline irreverent, but its definitely funny, and even thought provoking. And suitably for the time that's in it, it gave an outing to the idea of "epiphany" - Homer must get a deep insight into his selfishness or he won't be able to save Springfield and win his family back. And was there every any doubt about the outcome?

30/12/09
Got to have another look at the film Millions on DVD last night. It's a film by Danny Boyle of Slumdog Millionaire fame and features a young boy who's a moral anchor for those close to him who compromise so easily. He tries so hard to be good, and is fascinated by the stories of the saints, many of whom appear to him, complete with halos, in little vignettes through the film. A big bag of money, the proceeds of a train robbery, comes his way - he thinks it's a gift from God and wants to use it responsibly, but finds it so hard just to give it to the poor. It's a sweet film, but not overly sentimental, and it's imbued with a warm attitude to religious faith. The scenes with the saints are particularly clever and amusing. It's not for very young children as there is some menace, complex moral issues and a one-night stand (with possibilities for the future!) between the widowed father and a charity worker.

28/12/09
At last some blogging time during the holidays. A few ideas from before Christmas first: sometimes I get frustrated with the way RE classes tend to get dumped on for matches, visiting speakers etc, but I've tried of late to see it as a blessing. Admittedly it can be a break from tough senior RE classes, but when there's only a few students left in the class it can be turned to advantage. Once recently I was asked by a student if he could use the time to write a song. I agreed if it could be a spiritual song! I keep a guitar in my classroom so he borrowed that and got to work with some other students. The end product was a bit rough, but not bad I suppose for 40 minutes. On other such occasions I let students read from my modest library of religious books and papers. I was pleasantly surprised when one senior student got into a Joan of Arc story and actually borrowed it to finish at home. In these situations the class dynamic changes and there is more opportunity for discussion, with individuals or groups.

23/12/09
I've been catching up on the US drama series Heroes via the box sets -I find it a strange way to watch a series. When it was first broadcast I didn't think I'd be interested as I'm not that much into superhero stories. But this time the characters are not super heroes in costumes, but humans with extraordinary abilities - some can read minds, some can be invisible, some can time travel and some can even fly. Episodes start and end with philosophical reflections on what evolutionary or other processes have lead to this phenomenon, and the series seems quite open to the idea of God. Themes of choice and personal responsibility abound as some characters use their powers for good, some for evil. And there is political resonance for today - in the third series, for example, shadowy government forces start to discard civil liberties and round up the ones with special powers - in one scene, as they are hauled off to some unknown destination chained and hooded in their orange jumpsuits, there's an obvious suggestion of rendition flights and Guantanamo Bay. A few days ago in school I was doing classes on the 10 Commandments and when I came to the 8th and 9th there was the usual difficulty in explaining the meaning of "covet". I was able to refer to one of the villains in Heroes (Sylar) who admits that he covets the special abilities of other gifted/cursed ones - and goes to murderous lengths to get these powers. One of students maintained that this greed for abilities is one of Sylar's powers/abilities/curses which raised the issue of choice - how much control does he have or is this lethal coveting something he can't help? In some episodes he tried to be one of the good guys but it didn't last, and in one of the posssible futures shown Sylar is seen as a reformed family man!

11/12/09
Recently I got to see the Irish premiere of a multi-award winning documentary The Human Experience. Can documentaries be regarded as art? Whatever the case, this film was well put together, and it should prove a great resource for teachers doing classes on the search for meaning. Unfortunately it is not available on DVD yet. It tells the story of two young American brothers, Cliff and Jeff Azize, who are searching for meaning in their lives. They live with the homeless in their native New York, visit a care centre for disabled children in Lima, Peru, and visit a leper colony in Ghana, Africa. I thought the Peru segment was the best - the children were so positive, considering their situation. One of the things I liked about the film was the way they let the people they visited speak for themselves. Also, the fact that it is segmented makes it particularly classroom friendly. There is a parallel story running through the film - one of the brothers reflects on his own upbringing and has many issues to confront - this culminates in an emotional reunion with his father. There are many thought provoking quotes interspersed through the film, which again should help in the classroom context. It's a film I'd like to see again to make a fuller judgement. Some of the film makers were present at the screening which was a treat. I asked about the DVD release but was told it would be a while yet as they were working on distribution arrangements. For the moment check out the film's website, and watch the trailer above.

8/12/09
Blogging has had to take a back seat for the last while, what with Christmas Exams and other pressing deadlines. I've also been having fun giving ICT courses for Religious Education Support - good to meet many Faitharts subscribers at these sessions. Two left to go - Navan Education Centre this Thurs 10 Dec, and Co Wexford Education Centre in Enniscorthy on Tues 15th Dec, both 7 to 9.30 pm. If interested ring Angela at Co Wexford Education Centre.

I love this time of year for the music. I've been using Christmas songs at Advent Prayer Services as usual. My article (here) on Advent and Christmas Resources gives an idea of the material I'm using. This year also some of my third year students are doing the journal title on special times of the year, concentrating on Christmas, so today we had a class on Christmas music, with clips of various songs, including ones they suggested themselves. I had most of them on CD or tape, but the 7Digital music download site is good for finding some clips (free) or whole songs (cheap!). One request was for Mistletoe and Wine - not one of my favourites! But they knew it well and even joined in the singing.

There are some interesting new Christmas albums out this year (see recent additions to the news page). Strangest of all must be Bob Dylan's Christmas in the Heart - I've been listening to some of preview clips on CD Universe and it's certainly an acquired taste! Christmas with gravel! I've noticed that some performers are not inclined to mention Christmas in their album titles - e.g. Sting's new album If on a Winter's Night, Midwinter Graces by Tori Amos and Song For a Winter's Night by Tommy Fleming all these, especially the latter, feature many Christmas songs and carols, so is this political correctness, a chance to include a wider range of songs or an attempt to reach a broader market?

21/11/09
Have just been watching this morning's live coverage on EWTN of Pope Benedict's meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel. Loads of food for thought there and I suppose, I hope, in a way it's a validation of the work of Faitharts and similar ventures!
The event was flagged as the first of many efforts to rekindle the relationship between religion and artists, surely a worthy and even urgent ambition. Around 300 artists from various disciplines gathered in this most appropriate of venues and when they weren't watching the Pope they were staring at the ceiling - not a bad idea when you're in the Sistine Chapel. It wasn't just the visual art that was on show - the chapel choir sang some of Palestrina's work at the beginning and end of the event, though we didn't see much of them as they were tucked away in the loft! It was the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists and the event started with a reading of that letter by an Italian film director, followed by an introduction from Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who spoke of the desire to renew the special relationship between religion and the arts. As we travelled a path of beauty and light the arts could open souls to the eternal. Pope Benedict himself was also inspiring in his address. But he was also realistic - accepting that some of those present might be remote from the practice of religion. Yet his language was the language of friendship, dialogue and collaboration. He stressed that the world needs beauty if it's not to fall into despair, and that the artists were the custodians of beauty. He was also conscious that there were problems, that there could sometimes be an escape into mere aestheticism, there could be the guise of indecency, and gratuitous gratification. But the pursuit of authentic beauty wouldn't go down those roads, in fact it could even wound us, which I found a rather striking idea, but makes sense if you think of a pained reaction to the depiction of suffering in a film for example, and indeed you wouldn't have to go much further that the Sistine Chapel art works to find examples of that. Finally, against the amazing backdrop of Michelangelo's Last Judgement he called on the artists to be aware of their responsibilities and grateful for their gifts as their God-given talents glorified the Creator and challenged them to be heralds of hope for humanity. As soon as I find video of the event and the text of the address I'll post the links, but it should be up on YouTube soon at www.youtube.com/vatican
[video added above 22/11/09, full text of address here ]

16/11/09
Today in school we had a retreat with the Net Ministries team, most of whom are young Canadians visiting Ireland. We used the local parish centre and students thought it was helpful to get out of the school for the day. The team was excellent - dedicated, courteous and professional. I was glad to see them using plenty of arts resources - they sang, involved the students in the singing, and used short dramas to illustrate their points. I joined the team and students for a prayer service in the local church, which was a special experience for me too. One of the team sang at the prayer service, while there was some beautiful reflective music during the time for individual prayer (I hope to draw attention to some of this music when I can track it down - it was a compilation from various sources). I have rarely seen my senior students so quiet, reflective and focussed!

3/11/09
I know it's unseasonal, but last week I got to attend the multimedia screening of A Christmas Carol - this is Robert Zemeckis' new film adaptation of the Dickens story for Disney, and what a treat it is! Those who have seen his Polar Express will be familiar with the kind of animation applied here - a technique of motion capture that has the characters looking incredibly like the actors that do their voices. The effect here is immeasurably heightened by the eye-popping 3D effects. And it's not just the occasional gimmicky scare with something being flung at the audience - the 3D effects are seamlessly integrated throughout and you'd wonder how you could ever bear to watch it in 2D cinema or DVD. You seem to fly through the air with the characters, it seems to be snowing in the cinema, and yes, occasionally a few things appear to fly into the audience, the most delightfully disgusting being Jacob Marley's ghostly spittle as he tries to warn Scrooge about the consequences of leading a selfish life. The amount of detail is incredible - we see textured wrinkles and spotty skin, which doesn't sound very appealing but in the context it's brilliant.
The technical wizardry is jaw-droppingly impressive, but without a good story it would ultimately leave an empty feeling. Of course, Dickens provides a timeless and very human story of redemption at Christmas time which is told faithfully in this adaptation. Jim Carrey plays the central role of Scrooge with his usual zest - he savours the role, wallows in it, hams it up at times, and yet, despite many laughs it is a very serious story and we get to feel all of Scrooge's changing emotions. Yet, for some reason it fell that little bit short at the emotional level, perhaps because of the fact that the characters are animated no matter how realistic the detail. I felt this particularly to be the case when Scrooge is given a glimpse of the sweetheart of his youth, estranged by his over concern with money. The emotional resonance should, I thought, have been much stronger here. One of my favourite previous versions was the Muppet Christmas Carol and amidst all the crazy Muppets, the real Michael Caine did a better job at capturing the humanity of Scrooge.
The film doesn't hedge on either the frightening or the religious elements of the story - if anything they are heightened. Smaller children may get a legacy of nightmares from the death coach that chases Scrooge, or the horrors of the graveyard scene where the ghost of Christmas come lets Scrooge see what a miserable future and death he will have if he continues with his self-centred behaviour. After a series of horrors he finds himself dangling over a yawning grave, with his open coffin waiting for him, and under that a hellish red glow. Then there's the horrific appearance (video clip on left) of the ghost of Scrooge's deceased partner Jacob Marley - he seems to have come from hell or more likely purgatory carrying the chains he has made for himself in life (reminded me of the first appearance of the ghost in Hamlet). And as he leaves we get a scary vision, worthy of Dante, of many other troubled souls, tortured by the choices they have made in life.
But it's primarily a story of redemption and salvation and so the other religious elements are more positive, apart from a dig at "men of the cloth" who seem responsible for Sunday closure of a place where the poor can cook their food (reminded me of those who criticised Christ for healing on the Sabbath). There was liberal use of traditional Christmas hymns on the soundtrack. Sometimes it's just a hint, (Ave Maria), sometimes more prominent (Hark the Herald Angels Sing) and sometimes quite central (Adeste Fideles). On the end credits there's a new song, where Adrea Bocelli takes up Tiny Tim's "God Bless us Everyone".
Christmas Carol is due in cinemas on Nov 6th - go see it! For more info and trailers see the official website.

27/10/09
On holidays at last, and I get to catch up on Hamlet. Act I Scene iii features the departure of Laertes for France. He warns his sister Ophelia to mind her honour with Hamlet, but she's a sharp one, reminding him to practice what he preaches, giving Shakespeare a chance to get in a dig at hypocritical clergy who don't follow their own teaching. Ah the timelessness of it!
" ... But, good my brother
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whilst, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads"
I have found that saying farewell to family members going on long journeys is a special but sometimes painful experience. Laertes recognises how much of a blessing it can be, especially as he gets a chance for a second farewell:
"A double blessing is a double grace;
Occasion smiles upon a second leave".

Towards the end of the half-term, the first year student (see entry for 30/9) who promised to sing U2's Yahweh finally came up trumps. He did well considering that the student who was going to sing with him couldn't find the lyrics! I'm really taken aback by how much of an impact this song has made in this particular 1st Year class - they still request it! I must incorporate more music into this class.

18/10/09
Finally I get to Hamlet. As I'm doing this with a 5th Year English I thought I'd reflect on the religious references that abound in the play. When he sees a ghost (Hamlet's father) in Act I Scene i Horatio, Hamlet's friend, on seeing a ghost declares "Before my God, I might not this believe /Without the sensible and true avouch /Of mine own eyes." - this reminded me of the apostle Thomas not believing in Christ's resurrection until he could feel the wounds. The ghost disappears when the cock grows for dawn leading Marcellus to say that there's a legend that approaching Christmas the cock crows all night long so that ghosts can't appear at all, even at night: "Some say that ever, 'gainst that season comes/Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, /The bird of dawning singeth all night long; /And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad". In Scene ii Hamlet is heartbroken that his father is dead and his mother remarried to his uncle Claudius. He won't however commit suicide as it's against God's law: "O … that the Everlasting had not fix'd /His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!" Needless to say Hamlet is shocked to hear that his father's ghost is appearing, and reckons it's a sign that evil has been afoot, but will be revealed: "Foul deeds will rise, /Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's eyes". To be continued ....

13/10/09
At the moment I'm covering the Junior Cert Course material that deals with the events of the last few days in the life of Jesus. Apart from doing the scripture readings and seeing what the text has to say, I use video clips to illustrate the events. For the Last Supper I used the relevant clip from BBC's Passion (written by the late Frank Deasy), with Joseph Mawle as Jesus. I love the way they do the scene, and it ties in with the later Resurrection sequence where the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognise him in the breaking of bread. For the other scenes I use Jesus of Nazareth clips which haven't dated that much and still hold the students' attention quite well. The trial before the Sanhedrin can be viewed in the clip on left.

12/10/09
Have been covering the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the week, and among the resources I've used have been clips from various dramas that feature Confession scenes I've gathered over the years. Best of all is the scene from The Mission (about quarter way in) where the priest played by Jeremy Irons visits the slave trader played by Robert de Niro who is consumed by guilt after killing his brother in a fight over a woman. The priest challenges him to set his own penance - and there follows a painful trip up the mountains carrying a bundle of his armour that scene also is great for symbolism of guilt and forgiveness. I also use a clip from Ken Loach's film Raining Stones - near the end a man confesses an unintentional killing to a priest, played with dignity by Tom Hickey (anyone remember Benjy from The Riordans?). It's very intense and the emotions are raw but genuine. There's one F-Word in the scene, but in the context I think it's acceptable in a senior class, considering how effective the scene is. Argue with me if I'm wrong! There's a scene in Hamlet (click here to read it and hear an audio file) where the murderous King Claudius tries to repent of his sins but can't because he's not prepared to give up what he has stolen. Kenneth Brannagh, in his film version sets this scene in a Confession box, which heightens the whole repentance theme. The scene ends in the vision of a bloody stabbing (not in Shakespeare!) so I usually cut it just before then. A Confession scene from the old US drama series Nothing Sacred features a usually "trendy liberal" priest giving a hard time to a young student who has got his girlfriend pregnant. One student found the priest too heavy handed, but the young man probably needed a tough reality check. While these scenes teach a lot about the sacrament, I also use two clips that are more for focussing attention - one from the X-Files where Scully seeks advice more than reconciliation in the Confession box, and a similar one from Prison Break where Michael Scofield is having moral quandaries about the way he is letting the ends justify the means, and is having difficulty letting go of his guilt, not quite willing to sin no more. There's certainly something about a Confession box that lends itself to intense drama!

4/10/09
It's rather unseasonal I know, but I've being doing Patrick Kavanagh's poem Advent with a 5th year English class. Sometimes I think I teach more religion in English class. I introduce Advent as a sort of mini-Lent, a time of fasting before the feasting of Christmas. Thus we have the "dry black bread" and the "sugarless tea", symbols of the self-denial that can make us spiritually fit for Christmas (hinted at in imagery like "stables where time begins"). And there is a reward - the recovery of innocence and freshness. Kavanagh makes the need for repentance clear: "We have tested and tasted too much". There is a sense that the poet has overindulged, has become satiated with experience, like a person who feels uncomfortably bloated after too much food or fizzy drink, and so needs to cut back. But Kavanagh is concerned more with inner well-being: "penance will charm back the luxury of a child's soul". And then there will be a change of perspective, once again he will be able to see things as he did when he was a child, he will rediscover "the newness that was in a every stale thing", for example "the spirit-shocking/ Wonder in a black slanting Ulster hill". Towards the end of the poem Kavanagh opts for an experiential approach to religion, rather than one that is too analytical/intellectual (Artists 1 - Theologians 0). He wants to experience God and His creation with the heart rather than the head: "we shall not ask for reason's payment … Nor analyse God's breath in common statement". Ironically he rejects another kind of experience - that of sin). He might seem to have a thing against knowledge, but he seems to be reacting against his own over indulgence, negative experiences, knowledge of sin: "The knowledge we stole but could not use". It's not too much of a jump to see a link with the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Now the "wages" of sin are to be "thrown into the dust-bin" so that Kavanagh can move spiritually refreshed into Christmas and the new year: "Christ comes with a January flower".

I got to use clips from Kings (see below) in class at last! I'm doing the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation with 6th year students and two clips were useful - one from The New King 1 where King Silas forces his son Jack into a humiliating apology. "Forgiveness is an act of love, and I don't love you" he says, imperiously, much to the annoyance of his wife, and follows it with a crude remark. It's unsettling stuff but fitted right in with what we had been discussing in class. In this case neither the apology nor the forgiveness were genuine, but in the next clip, from The New King 2 Rev Samuels makes a heartfelt apology to God for his sins - a model of genuine repentance.

1/10/09
Kings Episode 12 - The New King 2: And so it ends. This episode sees the end of the series and it won't be back - it was cancelled in the USA when it didn't get enough audience support. It was obvious from the finale that certain plot threads were opened up for the second series that was originally envisaged. There are some interesting comments from the show's creator Michael Green (also involved as a producer on Heroes) on the Kings website.
On the religious angles here's what he had to say: "The network had no negative reaction at any stage to religious content within the show. In fact, they encouraged it and found it hopeful…. It was only when time came to market the show that a decision was made not to promote the show as a biblically inspired tale. Fear of reprisal from the religious audience was the described cause. Something NBC has had bad experiences with before. As such, any references to 'King David' were actively avoided, in favor of the limited marketing campaign that many of you saw and have commented on with derision … There was no "religious agenda" among the writers. The writing staff was deliberately comprised of a diverse group of geniuses. Including believers and non-believers, lapsed and actives, people who are atheist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim. All had done their homework. All their perspectives were invaluable…. Most religious viewers actually quite liked the show. Understanding that our creative task was not transcription".
And what a finale! (see highlights in video clip above) It was high-tension stuff all the way as the political and personal conflict between King Silas and his son Jack came to a head. Rev Samuels pays the price for being involved in the plot against Silas - but before that he has an excellent scene of repentance - a heartfelt prayer to God. I'll certainly use that in RE class when I'm doing the topic of repentance. Samuel's remorse is certainly genuine, and it's a powerhouse performance by Eamonn Walker in the role. And his character has a really interesting role to play towards the end of the episode. Samuels wouldn't give his blessing or benediction to the crowning of Jack as King and so fell out of favour with the arch conspirator, Silas' brother-in-law. We got the incongruous scene of a civil servant reading out a pre-prepared blessing instead - saying something about church-state relations perhaps, or about how some states and some politicians can use the trappings of religion to suit their own very secular purposes.
The presence of God is felt strongly in this episode - at one stage Silas begs God for a sign, challenging Him to knock over a whiskey glass! God appears to oblige, but Silas wasn't looking. Later in a knockout scene reminiscent of King Lear, we see Silas in a thunderstorm, talking to God, and apparently being told by God that David is the chosen one to take over the kingdom (no spoiler to those who know their Old Testament David!) - this has been pretty obvious all along, but David hasn't seen it - has just doggedly persisted in his duty to be loyal to the King. He now knows of Silas' evildoing but helps him back to the throne because the plotters are worse and planning war when Silas favoured peace. Silas is not pleased at this news from God, and while at first he seems grudgingly resigned, he declares himself an enemy of God and plans to stop David who must escape into exile.
I hope these reviews have been of interest. After going back to school and having less time I sometimes regretted committing myself to reviewing every episode, but at least the work is done now. Maybe when I get more time I'll write a shorter article to bring all the threads together in a more compact way.

30/9/09
Kings Episode 11- The New King 1: It's a pity they didn't do this as a two-part finale for the series - it would have been a heck of a conclusion. However there was plenty in this episode to satisfy. There was one scene I could see myself using in school with senior classes when dealing with issues relating to forgiveness/reconciliation. King Silas makes his son Jack go through a humiliating and grovelling apology for his actions during the dramatic trial scene conclusion in the previous episode. Obviously I'd see this a lesson in how NOT to do forgiveness! It would make an interesting contrast with the prodigal son story. Without giving too much away the romance between David and Michelle is in trouble, and no-one but Michelle and Queen Rose knows about the baby resulting from the affair between David and Michelle. The political machinations become even more twisted, with David threatened with execution and an assassination plot on Silas. The final scenes are high octane as the fates of the main characters hang in the balance as the political intrigues reach a climax. Roll on the final episode!

I've used U2's song Yahweh several times from the CD (How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb), especially when looking at religious themes in music. Then I found a beautiful acoustic version of it (video on left) from a U2 concert in Chicago. As Bono gets a mention in the RE book Know the Way I thought I'd play this for some junior classes. It has been a big hit with 1st Years - after the first playing of the clip I got plenty of requests to play it again the next day. One student said he'd started learning it on guitar and has promised to play it for the class soon! I never get tired of listening to it myself, though I have mixed feelings about U2. See the lyrics of Yahweh here.

27/9/09
Kings Episode 10 - Javelin: As I expected this was a very dramatic episode. The Americans do trial scenes better than anybody and the trial of David for treason was very tense. I was reminded of the trial of St Thomas Moore, at least as portrayed in A Man for All Seasons. David protested his loyalty to the king even as the king was part of the plot to get him condemned on trumped up charges. He remonstrates with Silas saying his only offence was to keep his affair with Michelle, the King's daughter, a secret - no sign of the affair itself being regarded as a sin! The concluding scene was one of the most dramatic scenes in the series so far. Again the scenes between Rev Samuels and the King are intense and really well written - at one stage he cautions Silas that David is becoming only what he is intended to be - presumable king at a later stage. "Don't give God reason to tear from you this kingdom", he also warns, suggesting his spiritual powers by causing a blackout in the store where they meet. But Samuels has been compromised by an incident in the past and Silas resents him taking the high moral ground now.

RIP - Mary Travers, Frank Deasy
Was very sad last week to hear of the death on Sept 16th of Mary Travers (left), of Peter, Paul and Mary, a folk group that sang and recorded together for five decades, producing a consistently high standard of great music. They popularised the works of Bob Dylan, recorded some of the best civil rights songs of the sixties and often included gospel music in their repertoire. PP&M - traditional standards like Sinner Man, All My Trials, Tell It On the Mountain, along with contemporary Christian music (CCM) like Hymn and Christmas Dinner - both written by Paul (Noel Paul Stookey) who had a solo career in CCM - he wrote The Wedding Song - There is Love. PP&M's album A Holiday Celebration is one of my favourite Christmas albums and I've often used tracks from it in school prayer services. See early video of PP&M here. More tributes and info at peterpaulandmary.com
Frank Deasy also died last week, on Sept 17th. He had been interviewed on RTE Radio 1's Liveline early that week about organ transplants, but unfortunately he didn't last the week. Frank was an award winning TV scriptwriter whose work included BBC's life of Christ The Passion from two years ago, which I reviewed in detail on the blog. His other work included Prime Suspect and this year's Father and Son.

24/9/09
Today I started on Patrick Kavanagh's A Christmas Childhood in English class. It's full of spiritual content. The poem will ring a bell with anyone who has happy memories of Christmas childhoods. The religious aspect of Christmas doesn't get short changed here: there are the "Mass-going feet", the "Three Wise Kings" are brought to mind by three "whin bushes" on the horizon, the cow-house reminds the poet of the stable of Bethlehem: "The light of her stable-lamp was a star/And the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle". And in the imagination of the child "The light between the ricks of hay and straw/Was a hole in heaven's gable". Such use of light, common in religious poetry, also figures strongly elsewhere in the poem - the "stars in the morning east", "the winking glitter of a frosty dawn". Music mightn't have figured strongly in the original Christmas story (apart from the angels singing), but it is prominent here - from the actual music of his father who "played the melodeon", to the metaphorical "music of milking" and the sounds from the paling-post: "the music that came out was magical". But it's not just a poem of happy memories - some deeper philosophical issues are touched on. There is a sense of the sin that has taken the poet away from childhood innocence, and there is that link with knowledge and the Garden of Eden: "O you, Eve, were the world that tempted me/To eat the knowledge that grew in clay/And death the germ within it". He can recover innocence, in a way, by memory ("Now and then/I can remember something of the gay/Garden that was childhood's") and the poem ends with a flower image suggesting innocence: "And I had a prayer like a white rose pinned/On the Virgin Mary's blouse".

20/9/09
Back at school a week or so now, and it's tiring! We don't have Transition Year in our school this year so I won't be doing my religion and arts course. However I've written extensively on this in the blogs over the last few years. This year I'll be trying to use arts resources more consistently in my regular religion classes, so I should have plenty to write about. No doubt, also, I'll be coming across several religious themes in my English teaching. Patrick Kavanagh (pictured, left) and Gerard Manley Hopkins are on the Leaving Cert English course for the exam in 2011, as in Hamlet, so I'll have plenty to write about there. We started with Kavanagh's poem Shancoduff, not one of Kavanagh's most spiritual poems by any means, but it does have an odd Biblical reference - he says that if Lot's wife had been as "incurious" as his "Black hills" of Shancoduff, she wouldn't have turned to a pillar of salt! Kavanagh does tend to go for one-off exotic references.

Kings: Episode 9: Chapter One. A very scriptural episode you might say! While there are various interesting plot developments in this episode, the most interesting angle is the writing of the show's equivalent of Scripture. A scribe in the court of King Silas is writing the Book of Silas. David has been sent on a dangerous mission, to recover the charter of Gilboa (similar in appearance I thought to the American Declaration of Independence) and with him out of the way Silas wants to be the hero of his own story. David's plight is not the only example of someone being sent into dangerous territory, perhaps with a view to his convenient demise (what King David story does that remind you of?). However the writing of this particular scripture takes a different turn and we end up with the writing of the Book of David. It's fascinating and subtle. On the plot level the Queen and King are up to their usual machinations, abusing their power in secret, while often appearing magnanimous to the general public. There is an interesting discussion between King Silas and David's mother about David's destiny - a destiny that will not appeal to mother or king ("You and I will wish it never happened", she says to him). Ian McShane continues to chew the scenery as Silas - I'm be disappointed he's not nominated for an Emmy Award. Silas' relationship with God continues to intrigue - in this episode he again feels that he is not in God's favour (not surprising!) - he asks "Why does he reject all my offerings?". The dramatic ending of this episode, the arrest of David, promises some intense scenes to come.

13/9/09
Kings Episode 8, Pilgrimage: David joins King Silas on a "pilgrimage", but to his surprise it's a visit to Silas' lover - it seems he is rekindling that affair after abandoning it in some sort of deal with God (as he imagines it) to save the son he had in this relationship. David is not so forthcoming about his affair with the King's daughter Michelle, leading to major trust issues. Meanwhile the Queen is desperate to keep her son Jack's gay affair out the public eye, increasingly difficult after his lover tries to go public and commits suicide. Quite a potboiler. Of course the Bible stories on which all this is more than loosely based features lots of immoral goings on, but the moral perspective was clear, whereas in Kings the moral perspective is far from Biblical! David's affair with Michelle is, I think, seen in a favourable light (though the deception aspect of it threatens to cause them serious trouble), while a modern gay rights agenda seems more and more strongly to inform the story of Jack's difficulties. The lover who commits suicide is, to an extent, worryingly portrayed as a hero (even by Rev Samuels who presides at the funeral and is seen by many of the kingdom to have the voice of God), while Jack is tempted to come out of the closet - the programme seems to take the point of view that he should embrace his homosexuality.

31/8/09
Kings Episode 7: The Sabbath Queen. I've just started watching the series Heroes and may write about that at a later stage, but I notice that the creator of Kings, Michael Green, was also a producer on that show and wrote some of the episodes (a point made in the interview - clip on left - with Susannah Thompson who plays Queen Rose Benjamin in Kings). Not surprising in a way, as both shows are interested in philosophical issues.
I've started adding the programme titles to these reviews as there is some variation in the episode numbering on various websites - depending on whether the opening double was numbered just as episode 1, or as 1 and 2. The official website doesn't number the episodes, and for some reason leaves out the episode "Judgement Day".
This "Sabbath Queen" episode slowed down the pace. The city of Shiloh is hit by a power blackout and various characters take advantage of the darkness - Jack to resume briefly his gay love affair, David and Michelle to have a one-night stand and an unidentified assassin to make an attempt on the king's life - you'd think these people never got out! I was reminded about various Biblical quotes about sin and darkness - e.g. this one from John 3:19: "Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil", or this from Ephesians 5: 8-13: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible".
Apart from the assassination attempt, it wasn't clear that the one night stands were seen as sinful - yes, they were furtive, and in the case of David and Michelle, you'd get the impression it was going to come back to haunt them, but you could argue that the programme was portraying these events as good, hardly a Biblical perspective. And again they were portrayed in a way that would make teachers hesitant in using the material in schools.
David still seems to want to do God's will, but wonders which of the voices in his head come from God, and there was an another interesting God-thread in is episode, conveyed mostly through flashbacks - the whole idea of making deals with God. When Michelle was young she was at death's door, in fact what appeared to be a personification of death arrived to take her, but Silas bargained for her life. Ironically, so did Michelle herself, vowing a life of service to humanity rather than to herself, if she survived. She seems to regard this as precluding her from marriage, but curiously not from an affair with David! Not exactly a vow of celibacy. So, which deal, if any, saved her life? Stay tuned.

23/8/09

Gave a plug during the summer to the band L'Angélus who were touring in Ireland and performed at Catholic Underground events. After listening to them on Today With Pat Kenny on RTE Radio 1 I ordered one of their CDs, Sacred Hymns Collection, and it was certainly worth it. There's great music on the CD that is suitable for school use, for meditation, school choirs and folk groups. What I like best is the fresh contemporary arrangements given to familiar hymns, especially the beautiful version of Be Thou My Vision, which I think will help young people discover the value and beauty of songs that have become too familiar in uninspired arrangements. I've often thought that the old hymns needed an uplift. Many contemporary Irish performers have reinvigiorated old Irish folks songs, rescuing them from come-all-ye hell, but I'm still waiting for a similar approach to our heritage of great hymns. This release will help, as did some tracks by Van Morrison (who also recorded Be Thou My Vision) and Beth Nielsen Chaman (on her Hymns and Prism albums), but I'm still waiting for the definitive work! See also my review of the album here.

Kings Episode 6: Brotherhood. Yet another shift of mood in Kings this episode as two new plot lines develop. The city of Gilboa is struck by a plague (very Old Testament!) and King Silas orders a curfew reminiscent of the Passover - he even mentions a passing over and avoiding the "angel of death", as every household is asked to put a candle in the window as a sign of solidarity. Of course the Passover is out of sync chronologically with the Saul/David story in the Bible which provides most of the characters and plotlines, but the writers of Kings are not setting out to provide an exact parallel and there are all sorts of resonances from elsewhere in the Bible and from more modern events. In the plague story for example Michelle annoys her mother the Queen by tending to a young boy who is dying alone from the plague - "she can't be mother to them all", a phrase which brought Mary, the mother of Jesus to my mind at least.
Silas blames God for the plague - He tests me beyond endurance, he complains to Rev Samuels, who suggests the problem is something rotten within his kingdom, a poison that needs to be purged (hints of Macbeth and Hamlet?)
Meanwhile on the political front David and the King's son Jack are on a mission to capture a terrorist - the visual style here, as they fight in the forests, reminded me of stories about partisans in World War II (as in the recent film Defiance).
The relationship between David and Jack (Jonathan in the Bible) develops - Jack resents David, seeing him as a usurper of his father's attentions, yet he says he doesn't regard him as an enemy, in fact he can't understand David. There are hints of the Prodigal Son story here (actor Sebastian Stan as Jacks exudes an intense anguish of jealousy), and it's a plot that figures strongly in films like Gladiator and Road to Perdition - the inadequate son replaced in the affections of the leader by a newcomer, who becomes the son and heir the leader wished his real son had been. The relationship between Jack and David gets more intricate as each saves the other's life during the mission, and both end up in the embrace of King Silas, who has just seen off another challenge to his authority.

11/8/09
Kings Episode 5: Judgement Day: One of the things I like about this programme is the way each new episode (so far) has something distinctive - a change of location, a change of tone, a new character or whatever, so there are always surprises. This episode centres around Judgement Day - a special event in the Kingdom of Gilboa when the King takes on ten cases to deliver his own personal judgement - "divine wisdom my only counsel" he says. Sounds a bit like Solomon, and sure enough his son Jack passes some sarcastic comment about cutting babies in half. Petitioners make their pleas in orange envelopes and the dramatic sight of thousands of these strewn around the palace floors is a powerful image of dashed hopes. David is torn between loyalty to the King and loyalty to his family as his brother Ethan goes on trial for treason. Chris Egan as David (pictured above with Ian McShane as Silas) portrays the pain so convincingly. Struggling with his dilemma he says he doesn't even know if there is a God, but later in an interesting discussion with the king feels he understands the ways of God - he sees God working through King Silas, as he seems to accept Silas' declaration: "I am justice".
The romantic subplot between David and Michelle the King's daughter (Michal, daughter of Saul from the Bible) takes a few interesting twists, while the mysterious Edward (Macaulay Culkin), the Queen's nephew, returns from exile. The best scenes I think are those intense discussions between King Silas and David (as at the end of this episode) and the king and Rev Samuels, usually about faith and God's will. Some of these would be useful for RE teaching. Unfortunately I can't say the same for an unpleasant sex scene, fairly strong by US network TV standards, at the start of this episode.

2/8/09
Kings Episode 4: As expected, a much more political episode this time and quite a political thriller, with lots of tension crammed into the 45 minutes. Lots of Holy Land suggestions with the people of Port Prosperity rebelling against the King's decision to hand back this land to neighbouring Gath as part of the peace process. The locals don't want their God-given "promised land" to be handed over or divided. You couldn't help but see parallels from Bible times to the modern Middle East. And in the portrayal of the shipyard riots there was surely a visual reference to the Solidarity protests in Poland.
Ian McShane continues to excel in the role of King Silas while Chris Egan perfectly captures the pain of the innocent David - trying to be loyal to his King and to his family in Port Prosperity. A political coup is thwarted, the King's son Jack (presumably a parallel for Saul's son Jonathan in the Bible) is even plotting against him. There's even a possible dig at CNN - the TV news in the Kingdom of Gilboa is UNN, and there's interesting talk of the news being "crafted"! Fascinating stuff, and if you weren't aware of the Biblical connections you'd probably find it so and even more intriguing.

30/7/09
On last Sunday's episode of Joe Duffy's Spirit Level on RTE 1 Helen Toner of the recent Knock Youth Festival reckoned that music was very effective at engaging young people, and sure enough there was some quality Christian rock on the show (a genre underexposed in the Irish media) - from the North of Ireland there was a video of the Rend Collective Experiment (the song was more accessible than the name!), and in the studio we got another soulful gospel song from Padraig Rushe (pictured above) - a former Dublin Gospel Choir singer who has a promising solo recording career - check him out on My Space.
It wasn't just the musical arts that figured on the programme. The recent Icons in Transformation exhibition in Christchurch was really unusual, and not just because the Protestant Church, according to Joe Duffy, was traditionally suspicious of religious images. The work of Ludmilla Pawlowska of the Eastern Orthodox Church was a combination of traditional icons and modern works inspired by them. It was striking how much the human eye figured prominently in the modern works, and how the colours were just as vibrant as in the traditional counterparts, but in a very different way.
Last Thursday Cajun group L'Angelus played a superb live set for Today With Pat Kenny on RTE Radio 1, which included a beautiful rendition of Be Thou My Vision. While they play many "secular" gigs their Catholic faith is important to them and to the whole Cajun culture. In their Irish tour they have been playing for the Catholic Underground, an innovative group that combines prayer and the arts, an initiative described enthusiastically on the show by Fr Sylvester of the Friars of the Renewal in Moyross. On the strength of that show I've just bought their album Sacred Hymns Collection and will review it here shortly.

26/7/09
Kings: Episode 3 (Shown on RTE 2 last Thurs). Episode 3 moved at a slower pace than usual and had a very different mood. The King's son Jack took young David on a sleazy night out in the city, but despite Jack's best efforts he kept his virtue (though there are photos that falsely suggest otherwise) - he still seems smitten by the King's daughter. We learn that the King's wife has been the architect of the kingdom and it's royal family ("we are the performance" she says as the great and good of Shiloh come to a ballet), a kingdom that she has moulded from when it was just a place of warring tribes, and she'll be as manipulative as it takes to keep it that way.
Since his alienation from God King Silas complains "My plans are frustrated", and he returns to God and Rev Samuels for help when his love child gets seriously ill leading to some interesting exchanges about what God wants by way of sacrifice - he accidentally knock's over a deer and wonders if that will do! The Biblical flavour is present, and not just in the storyline - King Silas's love child is called Seth, in the Bible one of Adam and Eve's sons; there's talk of David's star "shining bright"; talk of an alternative sacrificial lamb; and when a sponsor wants to pay ten times more for a seat beside David than for a seat beside the king, the Queen feels the sense of threat - "David commands his 100,000, the King commands his 10,000".
The next episode promises to be more political as resentment is brewing over Silas giving away some Gilboan territory to seal a peace treaty with Gath. Rev Samuels disapproves as part of the deal with God (covenant?) seems to be "undivided lands, as promised", perhaps a suggestion of present day issues in the Middle East as well as in Biblical times. You could even see and Irish political reference in that, though somehow I doubt it was intended!

20/7/09

The only thing disappointing about Episode 2 of Kings (the Old Testament modernisation on RTE 2 Thursday nights) was the fact that it was only 40 minutes or so in length - the pilot had obviously been a double episode. Though settling into series mode the quality remained as high.
Plot wise, David continues to serve King Silas in the city of Shiloh, not realising that Silas plans to have him assassinated as he considers him a threat. David's character (sympathetically played by Christopher Egan) is appealing - though he can be naive, he is gentle and idealistic, and in most cases is diplomatic, always finding the right word to say in awkward situations. The Biblical King David's interest in music is reflected in David's interest in playing the piano. In this episode he takes drastic action to save the peace treaty with Gath, without which he reckons his brother's death will have been pointless. In this episode there's a strong emphasis on a sense of destiny for David. His mother Jesse feels this and wants him home because he thinks it will be dangerous. Silas feels it, feels threatened and wants him dead. David himself wants to follow the signs given to him. He gets some very strong "Don't go" messages, including one dramatic scene where he apparently dreams that Silas is calling out "Don't go" to God in the Heavens. His dead brother appears with the same message, but it takes David a while to figure out how he should apply it.
Rev Samuels doesn't figure so much this time, and Silas believes he can manage without his benediction. The political shenanigans continue in the kingdom as the King's brother in law tries to ruin him by withdrawing gold from the treasury, while welcome comic relief is developed through two of the temple guards who have to clear some birds (pigeons or possibly doves) out of the palace. The birds have a symbolic role interfering in the assassination plot on David in the dramatic conclusion. There is excellent background material on Matt Page's Bible Films Blog, while the official website for the series features some useful material, though the clips and full episodes are for US viewers only.

19/7/09
I watched the first episode of Kings again last night (see entry for 12/7) and found it useful to have a second viewing. Since then I've also done some revision on the Old Testament stories on which this modernisation is based. I'm still positive about the show - it's visually appealing and intelligently scripted. The Biblical parallels are fairly clear - King Silas (a great performance from Ian McShane) is Saul, Rev Samuels is the prophet Samuel, the kingdom of Gath (with their Goliath tanks!) is presumably the Philistines (in the Bible Gath was one of the royal cities of the Phillistines). Jesse is David's mother rather than his father as in the Bible. Apart from such clear references there is an "Old Testament flavour" permeating the show - e.g. in the names of other characters and places - Eli (David's brother), Benjamin (the surname of the royal family), Shiloh (King Silas' new city, and in the Bible an important city for the people of Israel), Gilboa (Silas' kingdom in the show, but a mountain where King Saul was killed in battle in the Bible). You could even detect a New Testament element - in one emotional scene when David offers his blood to Gath people in order to make peace, the sense of self sacrifice was reminiscent of Jesus' own sacrifice. And I was further reminded of the American political background with the reference to "the Vineyard" - seemed to be a summer palace for the king, reminiscent of Martha's Vineyard in USA, which had links with US politicians including the Clintons.
Review of episode 2 to follow soon.

14/7/09
The Message Behind the Movie by Douglas M Beaumont is a new book about "how to engage with a film without disengaging your faith". Beaumont, who teaches Bible and philosophy at the Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina USA, has a work that is really three books in one. At times it's a work of Christian apologetics from a Protestant perspective (in fact the Protestant sensibility is evident many times). I particularly liked his outline of how reasonable it is to believe in God and can see myself using some of that material in school. Secondly there's an ongoing piece of fiction running through the book as some young adults talk about faith using various films as starting points. I found this the weakest point in the book as it's not compelling fiction, and more distracts from than illustrates the points the author is making. The treatment of faith and films is the core of the book, and what is said is thought provoking, though I'd like to see a more in-depth in approach. The films used as examples are right up to date, and it's good for a change to find a book considering the moral implications of films, not just their artistic merit. Particularly useful is the point that even if we consider a film harmless because it mightn't have an adult rating, it's important also to consider the values being imparted even if the content seems innocuous enough. The book also has the feel of a manual, aimed perhaps at the education market - the exposition is straightforward and there are "Reflection Questions" at the end of each section. Further, there's a very detailed reference section at the end which contains lots of interesting side comments.

12/7/09
Kings is a new American drama series that started on RTE 2 last Thursday night and it certainly is different. It's a modernisation of the story of the kings in the Old Testament, with David being a central character.
The setting seems vaguely American, present day, but the leader is a king, King Silas. He presides over a powerful kingdom and as the story starts dedicates the new city of Shiloh, an urban landscape not unlike New York. He's at war with the neighbouring kingdom of Gath a conflict that provides a background of political intrigue. Silas is convinced that he has God's approval, symbolised by a mystical experience with butterflies, and has been anointed to his role by the mysterious Rev Samuels. He is quite upfront about declaring this despite the unease of his political advisors ("God isn't popular at the moment"). However he is no paragon of virtue, not averse to bumping off political opponents, and having a mistress on the side despite his loving family and finally Rev Samuels tells him he has lost God's favour and protection because he agreed to a treacherous war at the behest of a ruthless businessman to whom he is beholden. David appears as a David Shepherd (clever!), a country boy who has risen to prominence in the war because he saved the king's son Jack (does every series have to have a Jack?), and in the process knocked out a tank called Goliath!
Earlier Rev Samuels had met him and in wiping a car oil smudge off his face seemed to anoint him for great things in the future. By the end of this episode David is visited by the butterflies while Silas looks on ruefully, while the shadowy businessman is plotting to put the pliable, grumpy and secretly gay Jack on the throne - in a modern nod to political correctness Silas tells him that if he lives his life "as God made him" he won't be fit for the throne. The programmer works on a least three levels - firstly it's a reasonably good political thriller, featuring all the usual conniving, with some of the clichés of the genre balanced by many imaginative touches. Secondly it could be viewed as a political allegory - a way of teasing out the political power issues of modern America - the war scenes for example take place in a desert where the visual imagery is suggestive of Afghanistan or Iraq. And thirdly of course there's the obvious Biblical parallel - I watched it before I revised my Old Testament so I could judge that it stood on its own as a good story, but these Biblical references make it fascinating, adding that extra layer that makes it stand out. So far I find it respectful to religion. Of course you'd squirm at the idea of a modern despot (even if he's benign at times) claiming divine approval, but Rev Samuels provides a moral grounding in his role as prophet or conscience - "don't pretend I don't know" he says to Silas on several occasions.
This show has been running for some time in the USA where it has met with mixed fortunes - it started out in prime time but has since been bumped to a less prominent slot, though not as bad as what RTE has done with it - virtually ensuring obscurity by plonking it after midnight.
As regards using it in school, I'll certainly be adding clips when I do religious themes in drama with Transition Year, but there are many useful clips for other topics, especially those encounters with Rev Samuel - could be useful for classes on conscience, on anointing in the sacraments, on church-state relations, relevance of bible stories for modern times and more.

2/7/09
I'm surprised and delighted to see so many events/initiatives this summer in the faith/arts area. Check out the news page for full details, but there's the Quilty Artists, a new group for those interested in this area, a summer conference, on the Image of God, in Glenstal Abbey, organised by the International Society of Christian Artists, an exhibition of Icons in Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, a songwriting competition for the Year of Evangelisation in Dublin diocese, and quite a few interesting events in the National Concert Hall Dublin, including the intriguing Rosary for Solo Piano!

Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Karl Malden died yesterday at the age of 97. One of his most famous roles was as the priest Fr Barry in On the Waterfront (1954). The clip on the left shows him speaking out against mob corruption, and makes for a great classroom resource on many topics from justice to the religion in film.

22/6/09
I went to the MAD (Make a Difference) Christian Music Festival in Glenealy Co. Wicklow last Sunday and caught some good performances. I didn't catch every band, but Emmaus was the best of what I did see. Fronted by Ronan Johnston they performed some driving Christian Rock as well as some meditative worship music. Particularly impressive were their new version of St Patrick's breastplate (Patrick's Shield) and the moving You Have Never Let Me Down, both on their new album Mountaintop. Ben Cantelon and Soul Survivor, returning from last year, were similar in style. Also returning was Shel Perris. Her material was very dance orientated, sung to backing tracks, which wasn't my cup of tea, but she impressed in the few slower, ballads-type, songs she performed with her band.
Many T-Shirts proclaimed "God Loves Hip-Hop", but I found that group LZ7 way too loud and took a walk to the Mad Café tent, one of the best new ideas this year, a new stage which featured (apart from the food) some more low key and acoustic groups. The Revival Gospel Choir from Arklow livened the place up big time, while groups Just Mercy and Water's Edge produced good music without being the least bit flashy. Two members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal sang a few heartfelt spiritual songs and seemed to go down well with the audience, a majority of which was probably non-Catholic Christian.
As a non-denominational Christian event it was quite interesting - evangelical prayer groups in some areas (even to the side of the main stage), the Franciscan Friars having impromptu prayers in another corner of the field, and everybody having a great time in the sunshine. And what a great venue - a huge flat field, plenty of room, more than adequate parking and toilet facilities. Great place to be on the longest day!

15/6/09
The Shack: This novel by William Paul Young has been a big hit in evangelical circles, and while I enjoyed parts of it, I have some issues with it. Without giving too much away, it's about Mack, a man whose daughter Missy is kidnapped. During his trauma Mack meets God and learns a lot about himself, about life and about God.
The earlier part of the book, including the kidnapping, is really well written, as gripping as any thriller, with thoroughly interesting characters. In the long middle section, where he meets God, the pace slows down dramatically, to suit that unusual plot development, but I felt it took from the novel as a novel. In that section it was too much like a theology book, too much like the author rather unsubtly using the characters to drive home his own vision of God. I like theology and I like fiction, but theology thinly veiled as fiction I'm not too keen on.
However I did like the way God is portrayed - the imagery is striking. God is most definitely portrayed as a Trinity. God the Father is Papa, no surprises there, but Papa is a kindly female figure - God needs to approach Mack this way as Mack has had unhappy experiences with his own father. Jesus is Jesus, another kindly figure who loves Mack and accompanies him on parts of his journey of discovery. The Holy Spirit is Sarayu, an ethereal being, hard to pin down, hard to focus on. God is entirely loving, forgiving and understanding, altogether a pleasantly warm presence. I particularly liked the bit where God has hung pictures painted by humans in the Shack - just like any loving parent would hang picture painted by their young children.
There is an issue with a human writer putting words in God's mouth that aren't scriptural, and any Christian writer has to proceed with caution. God has a lot to say in this novel, and at times He's overly dismissive of religion, and even politics, which grated. Also He's not keen on moral rules, which I thought was naïve on the writer's part. Fair enough, some believers can be too legalistic, and also if we are all perfect, we would be moral without any need for rules, but we're far from perfect!
The novel falls into the trap of going for spirituality over religion, which to me suggests of an underlying distaste for the imperfect community of struggling and flawed believers who make up any religion.

7/6/09
Got a chance at the weekend to see a preview of the film Sinner, a new independent film from USA. It looked promising, but was a real disappointment. The storyline features a middle-aged priest (Fr Romano) who had a secret love affair in the past that he feels guilty about. He has to share a parish with a young priest (Fr Stephen) who is conservative but in an unpleasant way (surprise, surprise) e.g. he rails against Vatican II liberals. Eventually Fr Romano sends him away for psychiatric evaluation! Yes, it's a bad time to be conservative! Into this mix comes a prostitute who preys on priests - Fr Stephen hits her - to protect his celibacy, he says. She tries to blackmail him but Fr Romano takes a more compassionate approach, though resists her advances. Meanwhile Fr Stephen takes pictures to build up a case against Fr Romano with the bishop. It's a pretty hackneyed male fantasy pot-boiler as might be obvious by now, but perhaps something good might have been made of it. However it's ruined by poor pacing and plotting, stereotypes and most of all by many objectionable elements - nudity, loads of foul language and many distasteful scenes.

5/6/09
Shock horror! I've just discovered I've written no blog entry for May! A sign of how busy things were in school. I'll make up for it in June. I've barely managed to get some new stuff and the news page and keep the media previews updated. Anyway, time to put things right. I've always regretted not writing down every funny thing I've got in exams or homeworks from students. Correcting TY exams recently a student was discussing art and religion and referred to Michelangelo painting the "16th Chapel"! Mentioned this in the staffroom but a history teacher had also got this in the past.

30/4/09
I've started working on Eucharist with my 6th Year students. It's rather late in the year I know, but I'm trying to lead into the Graduation Mass and make it more meaningful. It's not easy to get attention at this time of year so it's a struggle. A few days ago I used a few useful video clips and these really did hold the attention of the students.
First off I showed the Last Supper scene from BBC's Passion - it's very down to earth and realistic but doesn't hedge on the Eucharist. I take it from the start of the washing of feet scene (around 3mins 15 seconds into the clip on left) and on to where Jesus and the apostles rise from the meal. Then I go to the post resurrection where Jesus meets the disciples on the road to Emmaus - Jesus is played by a different actor, which works really well I think, until they recognise him in the breaking of bread - the Eucharist scene here matches the Last Supper scene and showing the clips together effectively makes a point. For contrast I then showeed the Last Supper scene from BBC's Manchester Passion - (you can se the full video here - the scene is 10 mins 30 secs into this video) - it's a modern setting, with music, where Jesus uses a burger bun and a bottle of wine - sounds "off" but I find it serious and respectful. The song used is Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division, which some of the students knew and even sang along with in one class!

27/4/09
Regular readers will know I look forward to the musical items on the show Spirit Level, the monthly religious magazine programme on RTE 1, and once again I wasn't disappointed. There were two soulful performers - Padraig Rushe, formerly of the Dublin Gospel Choir sang the catchy Free Now from his new album Greyworld, while Joseph Fitzgerald's best song was the haunting and unaccompanied "Deep". See it all at the Spirit Level website.

17/4/09
Recently I finished reading an excellent novel - Danny Gospel by American writer David Athey. It came highly recommended and I wasn't disappointed. It's a spiritual novel, but the touch is light, and it's not doing any heavy evangelising. Danny Gospel, the central character, has an interesting family background - part of a family gospel singing group, but a family that has known great tragedy. Yet the tragedy is blended with hope, and while at times the approach seems surreal and mystical there are no pat solutions. At times it's achingly beautiful and at times achingly painful, as Danny searches for meaning after the events of 9/11 leave a profound mark on him. I love books and films where the minor characters are well developed and this is certainly the case here. I came back every night to the book as I would to a good thriller, and have just started re-reading it and am enjoying it all over again, and hoping to make better sense of what mystified me first time around. It has been well received as the reviews on Amazon testify (and on Amazon, with the "look inside" feature you can even read the first 12 pages), and I'd certainly recommend it to Religious Education teachers for their own enjoyment and inspiration. Selected passages might also be useful for senior classes doing "search for meaning".

16/4/09
Oh well, I'm disappointed with the way the 24 series has turned out. I had hoped for more of a redemption theme (see previous entry) but when the new series started one of the first things was Jack Bauer defending his questioning techniques (i.e. torture!) to a legal hearing, and it was the investigator who was trying to combat human rights abuses who came across as the fussy one! In the second episode there was a corny scene where a young policeman driving Bauer said he thought Bauer was getting a raw deal. The only sop to a changing attitude was Bauer saying he wanted it all out in the open, so the public he was so patriotically protecting could judge how far they wanted him to go. The end justifies the means in 24 land! Ironically in another scene Bauer warns against the dangers of compromising on standards. He should take some of his own medicine. OK, it's still riveting drama, heightened by the trademark real-time approach, and the new female president (a Hilary Clinton look-alike) looks like a decent sort, concerned with human rights abuses in a fictional African country. Also, it's early days yet, or should I say early hours, so maybe things will improve.

6/4/09
The US drama series 24 has returned and started on RTE last Monday night with a two hour drama special to lead into the new series. 24: Redemption has been out on DVD for a few months, and the cover tells us that Jack Bauer has been working as a missionary in Africa, so I was intrigued, as Jack has been a rather ruthless anti-terrorist agent up to now, a bit of a fascist actually, torturing prisoners, even the innocent. As always it was a tense and riveting drama, but I felt they could have done more with the redemption theme. If anything, redemption comes for a friend of Jack's who is seems to be a missionary of sorts working with disadvantaged children in a troubled African country. Jack is helping out at the school, though whether to make up for his sins as one character suggests, or just to hide out from the American authorities (sleazy stereotypes as usual!) isn't too clear. The issue of child soldiers is central to the story and Jack certainly shows courage in defending them, but I can't help feeling that for the programme makers this is just an excuse, a plot on which to hang some vicious fighting and blood letting. Maybe I'm too cynical about this. I'll watch the new series for the drama and tension, and hope that the redemption theme is continued, but I wouldn't be hopeful that religion teachers will find much in 24 that they can use in class. Check out a video trailer for 24: Redemption at Amazon's page for the DVD.

Right, I learned a lesson this week - never do a prayer servivce on April Fool's Day! I brought a group of 1st year students to the prayer room for service leading into Holy Week and Easter. I was all set with my music selections and prayers, but it went pear-shaped. The students were unsettled for April 1st, and then started acting up because allegedly there was a spider in the room. It wasn't a pretty sight to see 1st years getting so agitated about a spider. I assumed this was an April Fool's prank and soldiered on with great difficulty. Later I returned on my own to the prayer room and found the remains of a poor spider - so maybe there was something in it. Anyway, lesson learned!

26/3/09
Have enjoyed doing the Resurrection with my 3rd Year students. Apart from reading the gospel accounts and doing the theological content I showed the Resurrection scenes from Jesus of Nazareth and from BBC's Passion. Students did well at figuring out what was left in or left out or added for the video. On the BBC version they had no problem with the different actors playing Jesus after the Resurrection, a novel way to get across the idea of Mary Magdalen and the disciples on the road to Emmaus not recognising him at first, but they weren't too keen on the way Mary Magdalen looses the cool and starts throwing stones around when she finds the empty tomb. Though I've seen both versions several times I still find them very moving.

24/3/09
Last Sunday I tuned into the second episode of RTE's new monthly religious programme Spirit Level, and again I was quite pleased with the content. The formula was the same - a mixture of discussion and musical items. Not exactly an innovative format (it reminds me of BBC's now defunct Heaven and Earth show), but hey, it's "easy like Sunday morning", and in my book it works. I was curious to know what musical items would feature this time - appropriately there was a less familiar than usual Ave Maria by singing group Acabella, and at the end a song by Ronan Keating from a new album of his mother's favourites. I'm not a Keating fan (boy bands yuk) but he sang one of my favourite songs, Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time so I was conflicted. It was well sung, but was a music video, which lost the sense of immediacy and presence of a live performance. The two shows broadcast so far can be viewed here.
Still on the artistic beat there was an item about the new film The Secret of Kells, an animated feature about a young boy working on the famous book. Director Tomm Moore accepted it wasn't a religious story as such, but of course it had religious symbolism. He had set his story at a crossover point between the old pagan ways and the new Christian way and, as he put it, wanted to be respectful to al that was going on then. In reflective mode he felt a bond between the original illuminators of the book and the present day animators. Certainly judging by the clips shown it is a beautifully animated work. Robin Adams of Trinity College Library that is home to the Book of Kells was happy to be associated with this project as he felt the book was treated with respect in Moore's work. The film's website has resources for schools, trailers and lots more. See also News page.

16/3/09
Had my best laugh of the week watching the world premier of a new Simpsons episode In the Name of the Grandfather - it's a special on Sky 1 for St Patrick's Day (7.30 pm), but I got an invite to an advance screening today in the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield Dublin.
Best of all was getting to meet Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart), James L. Brooks, (Producer) and Al Jean, (Executive Producer). They were really good humoured people who obviously still enjoyed their work. Getting paid to play! There wasn't a lot of time for detailed discussion but I asked Brooks about the way the show portrayed religion, and he said that they just wanted to show a regular family that watches TV and goes to Church every Sunday! With around 15 writers working on the show I didn't get the impression that there was any party line on religion. I asked Al Jean about the target audience - yes it was originally conceived as an adult show, but it was obvious considering the format that children would be drawn to it. And while they didn't aim the show directly at children, they didn't intend to do anything "R" rated. Cartwright was really enthusiastic about her work and obliged with a few of the funny voices. Interestingly she lamented the lack of positive role models for young people today, but accepted that Bart Simpson wasn't quite what she had in mind.

As for the episode itself - of course you'd expect a rake of Irish stereotypes as the Simpsons came to Ireland - and it would be churlish to complain. They did it quite cleverly - having most of the Oirish clichés in Grandpa Abe Simpson's flashback to when he spent great times on the Emerald Isle, and so there were pints galore, dancin' in bars and cabbage on tap as runny as the beer. So now as he returns years later (on a Derry Air plane) all is changed as the Celtic tiger has transformed the land (this was written last summer!) - Abe's favourite pub is empty, the owner (voiced by Colm Meaney) can't even remember how to pronounce pub or pint, and everywhere you look there's signs of dubious progress - we get glimpses of the Hewlett Fitzpackard and Mick R O'Soft companies, and yupprechauns walk the streets. As they tire of this new bland Ireland they are encouraged to stay by a busker - yes, it was Glen Hansard from the film Once in one of the funniest turns in the episode.
Homer and Abe revive the pub by letting people defy the smoking ban - until they are busted by the gardai - the scriptwriters' research slipped up here with "Police" instead of "Garda" signs. As usual there were a few crude bits, but no religious content. When it does do religion it can range from gentle mockery to support, but whatever the case it amazes me how the show can keep the standard of writing so fresh and funny for twenty years and around 450 episodes.

13/3/09

Today I was covering the theme of search for meaning in modern culture with a 2nd year class - I normally do this kind of thing with senior classes, so I wondered how I'd fare out. We looked at examples from music today and will look at film and TV next week. One resource I found useful in class was the music download site 7Digital - as I was referring to search for meaning, especially spiritual meaning, in the songs of the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan etc. I was able to play clips of these songs using the preview facility on the site. Actually, necessity was the mother of invention as I'd forgotten my CDs! One student suggested Heal the World by Michael Jackson, but unfortunately I couldn't find it. Found it later though by first checking which of his albums it came from (Dangerous). I've found 7Digital a great resource for finding individual songs for class. They only cost around 99 cent, and many come in MP3 format with no digital rights restrictions, so they should be easy to burn to CD or transfer to memory stick for classroom use. I've rarely searched for a track in vain, and the sites includes a huge range of gospel/spiritual/religious music. You can pay per song rather than having to pay a subscription per month as with some download sites.

11/3/09
Have started on my module about religious themes in poetry with Transition Year students. Fortunately the course poems for Leaving Cert 2011 are available so I'm able to include the incentive that these poems relate directly to their Leaving Cert course. Kavanagh and Hopkins are on for that year so I'm spoiled for choice - started with three Kavanagh poems - Advent, Canal Bank Walk and A Christmas Childhood. It was hard to get the students' enthusiasm going, but their discussion of the poems was perceptive. Hopkins next week! That'll be an even greater challenge.

6/3/09

Have just come across a beautiful Stations of the Cross presentation online that could be used in class as part of the preparation for Holy Week. Stained glass artist Richard King produced this work which is available as an online slideshow - the pictures move on rather quickly so you may want to use the pause button. The original work is in Swinford Church. See it here.

Writer Christopher Nolan figured in religion texts in the 80's. Nolan had to write with his mother's help using a "unicorn stick" on a word processor, a witness to human dignity showing great creativity despite his disability. Unfortunately Nolan died recently. I came across a nice tribute to him from fellow blogger Raymond Arroya. Check it out here.

Yesterday I wrote about my Religious Themes in Drama module in Transition Year. I used many of the same resources as last year (check out the drama archive - link on left). One new resource I used when doing the section on animated drama was Give Up Yer Aul Sins - animated versions on Dublin youngsters from the 60's telling gospel stories. It went down really well with my students (15 year old boys). Fortunately this is now readily available on YouTube. The one I used, about the death of Jesus is the video on left.

5/3/09
Yesterday in school we had our annual visit from the Covenant Players, a group of travelling Christian actors. This was part of the Religious Themes in Drama module in Transition Year. Once again it went well - apart from some interesting and entertaining plays the actors involved the students in various drama exercises.

On other fronts I'm doing the last days of Jesus as part of the 3rd Year exam course - we read the different scriptural versions and then after each segment I show the relevant clip from Jesus of Nazareth for the most part. I used the Last Supper scene from the BBC Passion, with Joseph Mawle as Jesus. When I get to the Resurrection I'll use that again as it presents it in an unusual way - with two other actors playing Jesus - to convey how Mary Magdalen and the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't recognise him. For the arrest, trial and passion of Jesus the Robert Powell portrayal in Jesus of Nazareth is fine.It's interesting to see how the different gospel accounts are blended. The clip on left is of the questioning of Jesus before the Sanhedrin and also Peter's denial.

Have just finished doing the Sacrament of the Sick with 6th years. Among the resources I used were Hopkins' poem Felix Randal which shows in a very personal way the priest administering the last sacrament. I also played the song Now is the Time for Tears by Charlie Peacock from the excellent Coram Deo album - this is based on Job, and imagines a bereaved person asking his friends to grieve with him rather than try to fix him. Had also planned to play John Michael Talbot's beautiful Healer of My Soul but ran out of time.

28/2/09
The 80th anniversary of the Vatican state was celebrated recently. First I heard of this was on Salt and Light TV on the web (well worth a look), on their Zoom programme of news updates. There was a special Vatican concert featuring The Messiah performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra and Our Lady's Choral Society from Dublin. Pope Benedict attended and spoke of the value of music in announcing Christ, because it makes mystery perceptible with an eloquence completely its own. RTE's news coverage of the event can be found here. British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion also made an interesting comment recently: "People cannot expect to understand much of literature - from John Milton to TS Eliot - without learning the Bible first".

25/2/09
Last Sunday morning saw a new religious programme on RTE 1. Spirit Level got off to a promising start. Apart from the discussion (about forgiveness), the show was more innovative and appealing with its musical items - Nóirín Ní Riain sang the beautiful Jesus My All to Heaven Has Gone, with her two sons, and we also saw her rehearsing for her recent Celtic Joy album. In an interview with Anna Nolan she was positively enthusiastic about the monastic life (she shares in the life of the monks in Glenstal Abbey), about our roots in Celtic spirituality and about the Holy Trinity (you don't hear enthusiasm for the Trinity too often in the media!). A more surprising appearance was Luka Bloom (formerly Barry Moore) who sang the catchy Don't Be Afraid of the Light that Shines Within You (see video on left), a spiritual song in the broadest sense. The show finished with Elikya, an African gospel group, from Limerick!

19/2/09
Recently I gave my TY students a homework to review religious themes in a TV drama of their choice. One student did a review of The Simpsons, but as I read his essay it began to sound familiar - it was a piece I'd written for the blog on Faitharts! I reckon he had copied and pasted the article from my website and handed it up to me as homework! I asked where he got got it, and after looking a bit crestfallen admitted he had copied off some website. I asked if he knew who wrote it - "No", he said, "but it wasn't me". Actually it was me, I told him, and explained that if he had looked more closely he would have spotted my name on the page. Finally understanding, he broke into a broad grin and said "isn't that ironic!".

11/2/09
Have been doing Baptism with my 6th Year students and apart from covering the theology of it, have been using some video clips. If anyone else has other arts resources for Baptism in mind I'd love to hear about them, as I find it a tough subject with the seniors. I started with a clip of the Baptism of Jesus. I used the scene from Jesus of Nazareth with Michael York as John and Robert Powell as Jesus - I find this the most effective clip. Other versions were just not as effective. In Matthew, where Jesus is well played by Bruce Marchiano, John the Baptist just looks silly I think, and Jesus comes out of the water with a great splash and flourish which I liked, but I think my students would only laugh. And as this version uses only the Bible text it's a bit stiff, with characters saying nothing when you'd expect the to say something!
The Gospel of John suffers from similar problems, though I like Henry Ian Cusick as Jesus.
The film Jesus, with Brian Deacon, is also a bit stiff for this scene (see over). Haven't seen any of The Greatest Story Ever Told for quite a while, but the Baptism scene features some very tight close-ups which have really gone out of fashion and look dated.
I also used a Baptism scene from the TV series Lost - and though touching, it is problematic, and I felt the need to make some theological clarifications! For example Mr Eko, who pretends to be, or believes himself to be a priest, performs the Baptism on Claire and her son Aaron, and refers to Jesus' sins being washed away! Earlier in the episode Charlie had grabbed the baby and tried to do a secret Baptism, which at least gave me a chance to discuss the inappropriateness of baptising those who don't want it or whose parents don't seek it on a child's behalf.
I used a similar scene from The Simpsons, where Flanders tries to baptise the Simpsons kids without their parents' permission (he has an emergency Baptism kit at home). As the water is about to land on Bart Homer leaps forward and takes the Baptism instead! He growls and grimaces as if he was a demon after being exorcised, spouts some heavenly theology and promptly reverts to normal. I think it's on the borderline of respect (anyone think it's inappropriate?), but is good-humoured and can teach many lessons about the sacrament in a way that gets the attention of teenage boys!
There's another scene like that in the film Nacho Libre, where a wrestling monk tries to baptise a fellow wrestler when he's not looking - yes it's a wacky film! I also recall a Baptism scene in the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou! , accompanied by the singing of Down in the River to Pray. Yet the two who get baptised are dopey characters, while suave George Clooney is cynical about the while thing, so I'm not sure how the students would take this.
And speaking of Baptism music I might use that song even if I don't use the film clip, though the best song I think is Carey Landry's You Have Been Baptised in Christ - a good one to finish with as it captures so many Baptism themes.

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