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priests

Corpus Christi – The Body of Christ

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“Each of us is a priest of Christ. Me, you. Each and every one of you.”

Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi (for Best International Feature Film) explores what it means to be a priest of Christ. But it does so through the story of an imposter who finds a community in need. The story is inspired by actual events. There are various such accounts for the filmmaker to chose from. The story is told with comedy, but also with darkness and pathos. In doing so, the balance creates an environment to consider our own role in serving Christ.

Twenty year old Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia) has had a spiritual awakening while in a juvenile detention center. He serves as an acolyte for the Father Tomasz who holds services. When he is to be paroled, he wishes he could go to seminary, but none will accept him with his criminal record. He goes to a town where he is to report to a sawmill for work. He wanders into the church and meets Eliza (Eliza Rycembel) a young woman whose mother (Aleksandra Konieczna) seems to run the church. Trying to impress Eliza, Daniel claims to be a priest, and has a clergy collar to prove it.

When the local vicar has a spiritual breakdown and must go for treatment, he convinces Daniel (going by the name Father Tomasz) to fill in for a day or two. It is Daniel’s dream come true. But it turns out to be more than just a day or two. Soon Daniel is having to deal with various spiritual issues that the town is struggling with—especially the grief and anger over several people killed in an auto accident.

He soon becomes an important part of the community. He connects with young people (especially Eliza). He uses the kinds of therapy sessions he experienced in juvie to lead the people through their grief. His preaching brings joy and hope. He reaches out to the woman who many blame for the accident. He goes to the sawmill where he was supposed to work to give a blessing. But that also leads to problems when someone recognizes him.

During a Q&A at the screening I saw at AFI Fest, director Jan Komasa noted that the Catholic Church did not want to cooperate with the film because they thought it made it seem like anyone could act like a priest. I sympathize with that sentiment. Most churches have requirements about who can be ordained. Those standards are important. The fact that Daniel was not ordained could well bring into question the validity of the rites he presided over. But it is also true that Daniel was a gifted young man who brought the healing grace of God into a community that sorely needed it. He was, despite being an imposter, truly the priest of Christ for those people.

The title of the film comes from the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is one of the events Daniel presided over. It becomes a key event in the crisis the town is experiencing. That feast focuses on the real presence of Christ in the elements of the Eucharist. The term translates as “Body of Christ”. In this story we see what it means for the church to be the body of Christ—and for Christians to be Christ’s presence in the world.

Even though I understand the Catholic Church’s opposition to this story, I also support the way this film brings forth an important concept, the priesthood of all believers. Even though we may see the ordained ministry as important, we also need to remember that the ministry of God in the world is not limited to the men and women who have had hands laid on them. The words Father Tomasz (the real one) speaks to his juvenile detention center congregation (the quote that opens this review), is a reminder to us all that we are all, each and every one, priests of Christ to those we meet and serve.

Photos courtesy of Aurum Films

Thursday at AFIFest 2019

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As AFI Fest 2019 Presented by Audi draws to a close, it is time to thank the festival and it’s press office for allowing me to attend and report on the festival. I also want to thank the countless volunteers who helped to make the festival run smoothly and make sure I got in the right line when it was time to do so.

I am one of many people who has enjoyed Oliver Sacks’s books about various neurological maladies. Oliver Sachs: His Own Life is a documentary by Ric Burns. Burns was given very important access to Sacks in his final months before dying in 2015. The film tells of his life, his struggles (which include drugs and coming to grips with being gay). Above all, though, it paints him as a man who was amazingly empathetic and curious about people—especially patients with various neurological problems. He says that he always wanted to know what it was like to be another sentient being—to be another human being. That empathy is what made his books such a joy to read. When I read them, it was not just seeing some strange person or their illness; it was a chance to learn what it was like to be them as they lived with their malady—or in some cases, their gift.

In Corpus Christi from director Jan Komasa, Daniel is paroled out of the juvenile penal system and sent to work at a sawmill in a distant town. When he arrives, instead of reporting to work, he goes to the church to pray. When asked, he says he is a priest. He has a clergy collar and is taken to meet the local vicar. When the vicar becomes sick the next day, he asks Daniel to fill in for him a few days. Daniel has served as an altar boy, and would like to become a priest, but his conviction prevents him from going to seminary. Soon he’s hearing confession, presiding at mass, giving last rites and all the other things priests may have to do. In time, of course, his past will catch up with him. What I found interesting about the film is that even while knowing what he was doing was wrong, Daniel strove to do what was right. He applies the kind of tactics the chaplain in his facility had used to help the villagers work through grief and anger stemming from a traffic accident that killed several young people. At times we also see the awe that Daniel feels as he realizes what he is being called to do. While some may think it is anti-church in saying there is nothing special about the priesthood, it does serve as a reminder of the idea of the priesthood of all believers. Corpus Christi is Poland’s official Oscar submission for International Feature. It will open in the US in the spring of 2020.

The Club – Sin and Penitence

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“Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us. Give us peace.”

A group of aging priests live in a house outside a remote seaside town, looked after by a former nun. They spend their days in recreation and training a greyhound for the local races. They have a regimented life—almost monastic. When a new resident is brought to the house, we begin to learn why these men are here. Controversy arises, followed by a tragedy. In the ensuing investigation, many things come to light.

The Club is Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s look into the sins of the Catholic Church. It does not revel in the sins of the priests or of the hierarchy. Rather it exposes pain that cannot find healing until the sins of the past are confronted.

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This house is, as Sister Monica describes it, “a retreat for priests who can no longer work and must leave their parishes.” That is fairly innocuous as far as it goes. When Father Garcia arrives in the aftermath of the tragedy to investigate, we begin to learn a bit about why each of these people has been sent to live here. Each has made his own mistake—not all of them sexual but all very serious. They are here in theory to do penitence for their sins, but they have settled into a routine that is a pleasant enough life for them all. Fr. Garcia would like to close down the house and have the inhabitants jailed. The controversy that brought on the tragedy continues to fester, and will soon threaten to bring all the issues to light.

While the film touches upon the sins that have plagued the Church (and not only the Catholic Church) and the pain that has been caused by those sins, the important issue that comes to light here is not the sins themselves, but rather the lack of repentance and reconciliation that should be central to the way such problems should be handled. When Fr. Garcia speaks with each of the persons in the house, none is ready to take responsibility for their actions or do what would be necessary to try to make things right. In time, the group orchestrates its own severe penitence, but the road to forgiveness will continue to be hard.

There is a sense in which this story reflects not just what is needed for individuals to find their forgiveness, but also for the Church (again, not just the Catholic Church) and society and the task for bringing healing into places where our own flaws and failures have brought pain. It is easy to look at the sins that have come to light in Catholicism and pretend that it isn’t “our church” so we don’t have to confront our own sins. Like the priests in The Club we stand apart from any sense of responsibility or sin. But how faultless are any of us?

Photos courtesy of Music Box Films