THE
P RTAL
October 2012
It was the first autumnal night of the season and it was rather
cosily agreeable to be spending it sunk on to a sofa watching a
good film with a mug of tea and some shortbread.
At least, some of our number were
sunk on sofas, some on other chairs
and any more people would have had
the floor.
Ordinariate Film Nights
This was the first of the season’s
Ordinariate Film Nights and it was a
big success. A Film Night is a way of
raising funds for the Ordinariate while
also watching something inspiring
and bringing people together in a
good atmosphere.
We were at Visitation House, Balham and the film
was Mother Teresa, starring Olivia Hussey. Holy Ghost
parish is a large and thriving parish with a great many
young people –and I was grateful to the latter for
sorting out the technology! Volunteers were soon busy
serving refreshments and my agreeable tasks were
passing cups and plates, and collecting cash in a bowl.
Sunk in a sofa!
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na
wri tes
We raised a good sum with this one;
watch the Ordinariate website for the
next Balham films, and for various
other venues.
Meanwhile, if you are in the Midlands, there’s a
Film Night on Wednesday October 17 th : John Paul II
starring Jon Voight. Contact The Portal for more info.
wider Catholic community
The idea isn’t just to raise funds for the Ordinariate,
but also to inform the wider Catholic community.
People mostly have relied on bits of news from the
a good movie
media, which means they don’t really understand what
Mother Teresa is a good movie about a great woman, the Ordinariate is about. A quick talk at the start of the
and there was absolute silence as the drama unfolded – Film Evening, plus some leaflets, and something has
Hindu/Moslem riots in 1949, the poverty on Calcutta’s been achieved.
streets, the hungry begging for food, Mother Teresa’s
“call within a call” to leave the work in a school and an Ordinariate stall
to work with the “poorest of the poor”. What emerges
Another good way of spreading information is a
from the film is the reality of the struggles she faced presence at major Catholic events. There will be an
when tackling some worthwhile venture.
Ordinariate stall at the Towards Advent Festival in
Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday November
Chiefly not hostility or vicious opposition but 24 th . Home-made goodies and craft goods will be on
bureaucracy, ineptitude, and misunderstanding, as sale, and literature distributed.
well as everyday muddles, illnesses, disappointments
The Festival is always an enjoyable day, and this
and so on. The film hints at her own spiritual struggles
and at the end we are left with a message which is year it includes a special celebration of Blessed John
Henry Newman, with a workshop presented by the
inspiring, down-to-earth, and challenging.
Centre for Faith and Culture in Oxford. And there is
Film Night on
also, in this Olympic year, a special talk by a former
Wednesday October 17 th
Olympic speed skater, who is now a Franciscan nun!
When the lights went up I said something about Official Opening with Archbishop Vincent Nichols at
feeling that one ought to be trying to do something 10.30am. Come and join in!
larger and more dynamic with one’s life– and someone
Interested in a Film Night in your area? Contact me:
else said “Ah, but that’s not what Mother Teresa’s
message is: she said we should do small and ordinary [email protected]
things but with great love.” This is true, and that brings
Joanna Bogle
us back to these Ordinariate Film Nights.