Congratulations to Wilfrid Harrington and Gerard Norton. I attended the removal of the remains of Fr Ned Wall on Wednesday in St Mary's Tallaght. Wilfrid preached a great few words. A most inspiring man. He spoke well of Fr Wall. And Gerard conducted a prayerful and dignified liturgy.
I first met Ned in Tallaght in 1969. He was someone who always intrigued me. A man of great intelligence, who saw through so much of the clerical nonsense. And maybe because of that, he suffered. A good man has died.
'The Lives of Others' has to be one of he best films I have seen.
It is set in East Germany before the wall comes down and is about the Stasi spying on an artist. The main character has been appointed to spy on an artist and in the process turns against the system and aligns himself with the man on whom he has been spying. He pays a high price.
He sets out as a true party member, a captain in the Stasi. But he comes to see that he has been duped by the people in charge.
His boss probably believes in nothing but is seduced by control and status. Like so many people in charge, he is a nobody. No, he is worse than that as he has the power to do great harm.
The main character, the captain, experiences no human love in his life, is probably a bitter man and then sees for himself how people can live lives of love - real love.
The film reminds me in many aspects of so much that is part of the clerical life.
It has now been running in Dublin for over two months but it is still on in the Screen. I can't imagine it will run for much longer.
A great film.
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2 comments:
Michael,
Even at this early stage in your blog, it is fairly clear what your agenda is. Its to ‘have a go’ the establishment within society in general and the Dominican Order in particular. Nothing wrong with that – we definitely need some mavericks in all walks of life – people who question the sanitised party line. And I suspect that much of what you say is true. The only reservation I have about all this is that I would’nt like to see you being portrayed as a crank – someone who is bitter because they were never accepted into the inner circle. I think you should acknowledge that, fundamentally, you want to be a radical, and that you like being on the outside. Once you accept that you can get on with your role as a shit-stirrer and really enjoy life! By all means be a radical priest – when you think about it it’s almost a requirement of the job, if you are to take it seriously. But have fun, and don’t be too hard on the people who lack the courage to be as outspoken as you are.
D.McG
Michael,
Like Donal I am delighted you have the courage and the competencies to produce a lively blog and a forum for debating matters of special interest to Doms and Formerdoms, and would caution at the same time that any snarkiness be avoided so as to encourage as many people as possible to participate.
I believe there is a need for such a forum and while there are protocols for blogs (as far as I know) there would also be additional practices akin to the 'rules' of the Disputatio expected of the Dominican family in general. I am particularly skeptical of anonymous contributions and wonder if they should be 'allowed'?
With these few words let me say welcome and congratulations! Looking forward to reading the blog and maybe even throwing in my own two cents worth from time to time.
SeanOS-Gerry
Ontario Canada
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