Do make some time to watch the first episode of a three-part documentary called ‘Catholics’ that showed this Thursday, 23 Feb, at 9pm on BBC4. You can watch it on iPlayer here.
Richard Alwyn and Jennifer Forde spent most of the spring of last year filming the series, and the first episode focusses entirely on Allen Hall and the vocational journeys of some of the men here. It’s an honest, unaffected, sympathetic and uncensored look into the life here. I’ll put a link to the iPlayer version when it is up after the broadcast: See the link here.
This is from the production company’s blurb:
Filmed over six months and with extraordinary access, CATHOLICS – PRIESTS is an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of Allen Hall in London, one of only three remaining Roman Catholic seminaries in Britain.
CATHOLICS – PRIESTS is the first of a remarkable new three-part series directed by award-winning documentary film-maker Richard Alwyn about being Catholic in Britain today. The three films – one about men, one about women, one about children – are each portraits of a different Catholic world, revealing Catholicism to be a rich but complex identity and observing how this identity shapes people’s lives.
As the Catholic priesthood struggles to recover from the scandal of child abuse, numbers of men applying to join have fallen greatly. In 2010 just 19 men were ordained in the whole of England and Wales.
In this first film, Alwyn meets the men who still feel themselves called to the priesthood.
Rob Hunt is in his first year at Allen Hall. A cradle Catholic, he ignored his faith for years, had several relationships and worked in various jobs, spending time as a roadie for a Funk band, before deciding his life was veering off course. With little education, he thought he had as much chance of becoming a priest as an astronaut. Today, surrounded by box sets of The Sweeney and Harold Lloyd, he is adapting to seminary life.
At the other end of the seminary, Andrew Gallagher is in his final year. Now 30 years old, he worked in a City law firm before joining the seminary. He sees this not as a career change but as a response to a life-long calling – at school, his nickname was “Priest”. Andrew Connick, is also in the last year of his ‘formation’. Intensely private, it was only at the end of his university years that he felt he too could no longer resist a calling that had been with him all his life.
CATHOLICS – PRIESTS follows Allen Hall’s seminarians as they pursue a timetable that swings from the esoteric to the practical – from Biblical Greek to lessons on how to live a celibate life. But Alwyn’s film reveals how seminary is no “Priest School”; beyond learning the tricks of the priestly trade, the seminarians believe that they are being prepared to be fundamentally altered as human beings… only then able to celebrate the Eucharist and perform the act that is central to Catholic life – the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This mystery is what Catholic priests exist for – to make Christ present in the world.
“I will give you shepherds after my own heart”, said the prophet Jeremiah, stating God’s chosen method for guiding and caring for His people. In CATHOLICS – PRIESTS, Richard Alwyn brings rare and moving insight into the lives of those who believe themselves to be God’s shepherds in the 21st Century.
CATHOLICS is a Wingspan Production in association with Jerusalem Productions.
And this is from an article by Joanna Morehead:
A few years ago he was a roadie with a band, living what he admits was a rock’n’roll lifestyle. Today, 42-year-old Rob Hunt is training for the Catholic priesthood in a seminary in central London. It’s a very different way of life from what he’s been used to. […]
The rethink that followed brought Mr Hunt to Allen Hall in London’s Chelsea, one of the four remaining Catholic seminaries in Britain, where he is one of 51 men studying for the priesthood. His story features in Catholics, a new BBC series starting this week, which lifts the lid on how priests are trained. In the film, Mr Hunt’s room in the seminary is shown, its walls covered with pictures of St Thérèse of Lisieux and the Virgin Mary. “In the past, you would have found slightly different women on the wall,” he says.
The documentary paints a picture of a life that borders on monastic. But another of those featured in the film, 26-year-old Mark Walker, who’s in his fifth year at the seminary and who expects to be ordained in summer next year, says it’s not all it seems. “You’re living in a mostly male environment, but there’s plenty of freedom to come and go,” he says.
Mr Walker says that, though the celibacy he must embrace as a priest seems strange to many, it’s not too difficult to accept. “There’s a belief that a good sex life is essential, that it’s what you need to make you happy,” he says. “But it’s not that your sexuality is turned off once you’re ordained, but you learn to fold it into the rest of your life.”
Mr Walker says he “always had a nagging thought” that the priesthood would be the right path for him. He was raised a Catholic, and it was on the day of his first communion, at the age of seven, that a priest suggested that he might have a vocation. “It planted an idea in my mind that never quite went away,” he says.
Father Christopher Jamison, director of the Catholic Church’s National Office for Vocation in London, says that although the number of men enrolling in seminaries hit an all-time low at the start of the 21st century, it is now significantly on the rise.
“In 2001, the number of men joining seminaries in England and Wales was 26, the lowest in living memory,” he says. “But from 2006 onwards the figure started to go up, and in 2010 there were 56 new recruits.”
The rise in seminarian numbers has been due in part to the setting up of “discernment groups” for Catholic men and women, Fr Jamison says. “It’s not about straightforward recruitment into the religious life. It’s about helping both men and women work out what’s right for them in their lives.”
In the wake of the child abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic church, the application process for would-be seminarians is, Fr Jamison says, extremely rigorous. “We have an in-depth psychological analysis including an explicit analysis of their sexuality. Candidates are asked to describe their sexual history; they are given tests by a psychologist and interviewed by a psychiatrist.”
Let me know what you think, and what impressions it makes, in the comments below.
Bridges and Tangents 
This sounds unmissable!
Catholics are a large part of the British population and it is about time that British television stopped pandering to the extreme minorities and stopped attacking Catholics for their Christian way of life. We are expected to hide or apologise for our Faith. We dont demand that others believe in our ways of faith just that we live in a tolerant and just society with equal rights to all. This series is a wonderful way, not only explaining what is misunderstood but highlighting those who have taken an unselfish approach to their religion. It is a start to standing up for what we believe. I hope that the producers continue with their good work.
Very well said Anne! I fully agree with you.
Having watched the documentary, I feel humbled at the devotion these men have to their faith. It also left me with the thought that is so refreshing, in this era, for men to turn away from the material things of life to study, train for and contemplate a way of life that most people would find unusual. No big bucks salary, 24 hours on call, not owning your own home, no wife and kids. And yet, here were men who were joyful about their calling. It reminded me of a survey done many years ago of job satisfaction in various occupations. Catholic Priests were top of the list with the highest level of satisfaction in their jobs. There must be something in that as the majority stay as Priests for the rest of their lives, doing what they do to the glory of God.
I got the feeling that, although it answered a lot of questions, there will be an awful lot resulting from the programme, which can only be good as it lays open the path for explaining our faith to others. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
By the way, it was good to see you teaching the Philosophy class Fr Stephen.
I am not a catholic, but I do feel angry that Christians in general and Catholics in particular are attacked so often for their faith. Take the paedophile scandal for example. Of course the church handled it badly for decades. They appeared to cover it up, by moving priests to other parishes or diocese.
What they were doing was to do what they always do when a Priest breaks his vow of celibacy. Move them. It mattered not who the Priest was having sex with, woman, man or child, the fact was he should not have been having sex with anyone at all, so the same action applied. Move them.
As the Catholic church now admits, this was wrong, insufficient and it badly failed thousands of victims. The perpetrators of child abuse should be pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
However, I am greatly heartened by how seriously the current Catholic church are taking this issue. They are unique in recognising and tackling this crime and are taking steps to route it out and prevent it happening in future. Could they be doing more? of course and they should do more, but they should also be heartily congratulated for taking on this task in the first place.
I am yet to see ANY other religion do so. Immams and Rabbis are also still abusing children and I see no condemnation in the media. Paganism is rife with sexual exploitation again this is left un-investigated. Outside religion, child abuse also happens in many other organisations. The Holly Greig case in Scotland exposes the highest levels of the state being involved in paedophile rings. Child protection services, social services, the judiciary, the police, The NHS, schools, all have their paedophiles and all of them cover it up! It is the rare exceptions that get exposure and coverage in the news.
So well done to the Catholic Church for taking a BIG step in the right direction.
Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve had a very difficult day and this programme has lifted my spirits immensely. I can’t think of better words than those you’ve already chosen – honest and unaffected. The divine grace and rich humanity of the community at Allen Hall shone through the programme. I was particularly touched by the seminarian receiving feedback on his sermon, and the speechless moment after a few of the men were asked whether mass was particularly important, compared with all their other pastoral ministries.
You can not watch the video if you are reading this blog from outside the U.K. Anyone knows a way around this problem?
I haven’t heard of any way yet – I don’t think it has been put onto YouTube or anything yet.
Watched with a glad smile and a happy heart. It also answered a few of ‘ my own’ questions. I myself had spent a few years in wonderment as to weither or not, I could have made it. Whilst I would have lovef to make the lunge, there was the (stronger) yearning to marry and to have children.
As a follow on from previous coment left (I was mailing from phone and managed to clear before sending.. derrr)I was a Eucharistic minister in my old Church and hope some day soon to do so again. Whilst I still long to do more for God, I Love my role in life as a Proud father of two Beautiful infant Children (My Son is two, My Daughter is one)I indeed am a Very lucky man and I ‘Love’ my wife. I hope in the fullness of time to be able to give to God in a different way, if not to be a priest, find another way. Time will tell for me, but in the meantime, I send my prayers and thoughts to those on their quest. May God give them strengh and the wisdom to be great priest’s. God Bless them, Truely. Jc
Jonny . . . what about a deacon.
I liked it, I once went to an Allen Hall ordination so it was fascinating to watch the process. Just have to ask you Fr Wang, how did you take to the singing lessons?
Yes, the staff signed up for lessons as well!
I just watched on iplayer Catholics – Women, and I thought it was beautiful. My personal favourite by a golden mile of all 3 episodes.
Because it captured something of the beauty, richness, depth, wonder, resilience and feminine warmth of what it is to journey as a woman. They all shared their heart felt moments with openness, honesty and a blessed integrity. So very sincere . . .No wonder the women were trusted and valued to ‘minister unto Him of their substance’
The mystery of Jesus choosing a woman to be the first disciple at the well, of taking rest in the home of Martha and Mary of Bethany, and of being beloved friends with Mary Magdalene, is not really a mystery at all. He so courageously, gently and publically lived against the social norms of the day. Complimentary together, they, the men and women, be an example to us all.
How about a 4th episode where men and women actually integrate!
I have not watched the documentary but would really loved too watch it. I am a seminarian in the PACIFIC and would really love to get a whole of three part documentary for insights of what it means to be a seminarian.