Catholics: Handmaids of the Lord

"To a great extent the level of any civilisation is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilisation could actually be written in terms of the level of its women."

(Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen)

Hmm. I was eager to view the third of Richard Alwyn's films about Catholics last Thursday night, focusing on Catholic women and their role in the church today. I am female after all, cradle-Catholic with a convent school education and I've also become a member of the Catholic Women's League in recent months. I know quite a few Catholic women who are gloriously strong and warm, in their faith and all areas of their lives. Too often, non-Catholic friends of mine (naming no names but mostly male) have poked fun at media perceptions of Catholic birds: repressed and edgy ex-convent types; WI rejects in knitted cloche hats, knitting yet more cloche hats and enthusing about jam; and Mrs Doyle...  Ach go on; we all know the stereotypes. I quite liked the gently inquisitive approach of Alwyn's first film, about priests. I hoped the last of his trilogy would offer insight into the huge role that women play in the Catholic Church, accepted but rarely understood.

In fact, when I first watched the film last week, I was disappointed. I felt I shouldn't put fingertip to keyboard until I'd put my own expectations away and watched it again. First time round, my impression was that Alwyn had sat back and allowed the participants' insecurities and doubts to the fore, before toying with them. There was an initial feeling that most of the women he interviewed had come to the Catholic Church or revived their faith after disappointment or tragedy in their lives: it filled voids but with what? I was on the point of irritation with Rose, "second-in-command" in administration at Westminster Cathedral. Rose had converted to Catholicism at the age of twenty to enable her marriage; years later, she was divorced and immersing herself in the rituals and machinations of the faith. Yet she hadn't grasped the essential Eucharistic difference between Catholicism and the Church of England, Transubstantiation. Alwyn's questioning seemed quietly smug. I wasn't too sure about her pouring holy water onto the plants either, although they seemed to be thriving at least. She seemed hazy about the corporeal assumption of the Virgin Mary: "Well, she must've died in some respect mustn't she?"  I feared that my pre-occupation with poor, inoffensive Rose clouded my judgement of the rest of the film. Last night, after a sunny day in Brighton and armed with some fig rolls and lemon and ginger tea, I sat down to watch it all again.

I'm rather glad that I gave the film a second chance. Alwyn had spent a few weeks last summer sitting out around Westminster Cathedral and the visual results are stunning. The Cathedral, Britain's Catholic HQ and the Mother Church, looked gorgeous whether lit or dimmed, empty or bustling. The Cathedral was probably the enigmatic star of the show, which went a long way in explaining why some of the women featured couldn't articulate what the Cathedral meant to them or why they felt drawn to visit, some everyday. The film opened with the assertion that the Catholic Church is famously patriarchal by tradition and definition, yet historically has always had this strong and formidable female presence in the pews and behind the scenes. The Church herself is a "she", traditionally referred to as such.  Alwyn spoke to a female archivist at the Cathedral who referred to Our Lady as the co-redemptrix of the faith. She showed him the plans of the Lady Chapel, explaining that the Catholic acknowledgement and devotion to the Mother of God distinguishes the faith from other Christian churches. She saw Mary's unswerving acceptance that she would bear the Son of God as strong feminine capability rather than passivity or even submission, as suggested by Alwyn.

Jenny on the Information Desk seemed to have had the archetypal claustrophobic experience at her convent school in the 1940s and 50s. She spoke about the warnings to "stay pure to stay Catholic", of indoctrination and blind faith. She even suggested that some girls at that time may have married as soon as they could simply to have sex. Fortunately, I don't have similar memories of my convent school years. Yet this lady was still with the Catholic Church, still drawing some support from it; even planning a trip to Lourdes.

There was a doctor who said she couldn't reconcile her experience and knowledge with the attitude of the church on contraception and the management of AIDS in Africa. Yet she valued the moral grounding she attributed to her Catholicism: of doing to others as you would have them do to you. Sitting on the steps of the Cathedral on a sunny afternoon as tourists and office workers stepped in and out around her, she spoke of her Catholicism making sense of the chaos. There was the elderly recovering stroke victim who planned to come to Westminster from Harrow everyday, now that she had more confidence to travel. She said she had been in palaces and remained unphased by the grandeur and opulence, yet the beauty and love she experienced in the Cathedral moved her to tears. Having lapsed as a young girl, she had notched up 60 years of hedonism, largely in the fashion business. She felt no guilt at the time of her excesses, but no unconditional happiness either. She felt guilt now, but described the seven months since returning to the church as "glorious". Her face was a picture of serenity and unexpected joy; I felt her revival of faith was essential to her ongoing physical recovery.

My impatience with Rose the first time round prevented me from fully appreciating the enthusiasm of two younger women, included early in the film. The young mum with her two toddlers attended mass at her local - the Cathedral - every Sunday and would attend every day if her schedule allowed. She was unabashed about her love for the Catholic Church, describing herself as having "Catholic bones". She announced cheerfully that she went to mass regularly because she really enjoyed it. Also the blonde former Buddhist, sat cross-legged on the Cathedral steps, who smiled shyly as she spoke about her conversion: she'd wanted to be a Catholic because of the beauty and sense she found in the Eucharist. 

And what of Rose? I felt I'd been dismissive of Rose; although I do believe that the film-maker had exposed a lack of formal instruction and exploited both her eagerness to please and her discomfort with such attention. Rose clearly loves the Catholic Church: it fulfils her to offer her time and support; ultimately, why should I look for further validity or motive for focusing on her in this film? I began to find her stoic affection for the Cathedral and her priests infectious: she talked of priests on holiday who turned up to concelebrate with "nothing with 'em; no alb, nothing!"  I would have welcomed the inclusion of one or two women who had remained in strong Catholic marriages and had chosen to send their daughters to convent school because of happy memories. And teenage girls themselves, perhaps in the midst of a Catholic education. And nuns? I would certainly like to have seen the odd visiting member of the Catholic Women's League - and we're actually not that odd, by the way. I think I was initially disappointed because the film seemed to lack female dynamism; I do believe that women are a force to be reckoned with within the Catholic Church. I understand why the church will never ordain women: it certainly doesn't follow that women are forever disdained by the Mother Church.

"Woman"  Neneh Cherry

Catholics - parts one, two and three

"I will give you shepherds after my own heart"
(Jeremiah 3.15)

A new three part series of documentary films opened on BBC4 last night, simply titled "Catholics". The episodes focus on priests, children and finally women. The series was commissioned by BBC4 controller Richard Klein. "Catholic Christianity is at the very centre of many of the Western world's cultural and institutional sensibilities, and yet Catholics today can feel at times like they are set apart from mainstream society. So this is a series that asks a simple question: what is it like, being a Catholic?" Klein  has said. The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, has recommended the series, praising it's sensitivity and "great beauty".

The Diocese of Westminster featured heavily in last night's episode, filmed mainly around Allen Hall in Chelsea; one of only three remaining Roman Catholic seminaries in England. Bafta nominated filmmaker Richard Alwyn directed and produced the series and seems to have been allowed extraordinary access to the seminary and some of the men there, at various stages of their journey into Catholic priesthood. This lent the programme exceptional candour. Alwyn was allowed to film at the seminary for six months. Training for the Catholic priesthood is long: the Catholic church prefers to call it "formation". Usually, 2 years of "in-house" instruction and guidance will be followed by a year of practical placement within a parish, culminating in a three year Theology degree. We were shown that the instruction at Allen House covers Latin and Greek, philosophy, the Liturgy and more particular subjects such as celibacy and "special morality"; the latter including war. It costs around £20,000 a year for each seminarian to receive formation at Allen Hall. Although the Catholic church has struggled to recruit young men to the priesthood in recent years, there are currently 45 seminarians at Allen House: a ten year high. However, it must be noted that, with 5 million Catholics in Britain today, only 19 priests were ordained across England and Wales in 2010.

We met some of the seminarians,  most memorably Robert Hunt in his first year. Robert described himself as a "cradle Catholic", but said he had felt he had as much chance of becoming an astronaut as a priest when he was younger. Slightly terse and with a dry, almost dour humour, he made me think of comic Ade Edmondson if he were ever to become a monk. Robert had been in several "imperfect" relationships and had spent ten years of his life as a a roadie for a rock band. He'd always felt that his taste in music wouldn't be appropriate for the seminary; he'd brought his cds and downloads with him, along with his boxed set of The Sweeney for light relief. He pointed out that he still has female pin-ups, although these days they tend to be Saints Bernadette and Therese of Lisieuix.

In his final year of the seminary, Andrew Gallagher is 30 years old. He worked for a city law firm before what might seem a startling career change. Andrew said he didn't realise he had a calling while he attended non-Catholic school, although he always felt rather different and his fellow pupils had nicknamed him "The Priest". Interestingly, he felt his time working in the city literally "pushed" him towards the priesthood. He didn't recall being particularly holy as a child, although he was strongly influenced by his Catholic Irish grandmother (I do have a personal theory that every Catholic in England and Wales is mostly likely to have had an Irish grandmother somewhere). Considering his background, Andrew was edgy and diffident, and as excited as a child when he spoke about finding the right chasuble.

The simplicity of the film-making highlighted the rich and complex nature of Catholicism. Many non-Catholics appear almost fascinated by the ritual and tradition of the religion; the "smells and bells". Certainly the reverence and poignancy of ceremony in the Catholic church was displayed beautifully in this film. Alwyn remarked that a Catholic priest is the bridge between man and God: the seminarians came across as ordinary blokes who were at the same time somehow extraordinary. With (uncredited) mesmeric music trickling throughout, the film offered insight but ultmately maintained the mystique which is at the heart of Catholic faith.