A high-definition series exploring the beauty and richness of
Catholicism is set to air on over 80 public television stations across
the U.S. this fall.
Fr. Robert Barron, head of Word on Fire media
and the visionary behind the “Catholicism” series, told CNA his hope is
that the films will be used “as a tool of evangelization for
everybody.”
“I want the series to go out beyond the walls of the
Church,” he said in an Aug. 10 interview.
“That's why we're so happy
it's going to be on public television.”
Set in 50 locations in
over 16 countries, the series examines major themes within the Church
such as the person of Christ, the mystery of God, the Virgin Mary,
Saints Peter and Paul, the “missionary thrust of the Church,” the
liturgy and the Eucharist, prayer and spirituality and the saints, Fr.
Barron said.
In the episode on the Virgin Mary, for instance,
the crew traveled to the Holy Land, France, Mexico and “around the world
to see where the Marian faith shows up.”
“The approach I used,” he said, “was just to go to places around the world that visually show the themes I'm talking about.”
Fr.
Barron said that the series comes at time when the U.S. is going
through what he believes to be “the darkest period in the history of the
American Catholic Church,” and that the “wrong” people are telling the
story of what the Church actually is.
He pointed to the secular
media's depiction of the Church “as the place where the sex abuse
scandal happened,” a narrative that he finds “so tiresome and
counterproductive.”
“I think Catholics from the inside have to
tell a much richer, broader, fascinating story,” Fr. Barron said,
stressing the importance of not allowing the Church to be “reduced to
the sex abuse scandal.”
He noted that during challenging times in
Church history, the saints “tended to come forward in the times of
crisis and bring things back to their evangelical basics.”
Taking his cue from the saints, Fr. Barron said he was inspired to show Catholicism for what it really is.
“Whether
its Francis, Dominic, Benedict, or Ignatius – they came forward at a
time of crisis and said, 'what is the Church fundamentally about?'”
Fr. Barron also said he wanted to address the modern problem of what he called “domesticating” Jesus.
“I
see that happening a lot both in high academic culture and the wider
culture too—and that is turning Jesus into one more guru,” along with
“sufi mystics, Hindu wisemen, Jewish rabbis or Deepak Chopra.”
“People
look around to the spiritual world and then Jesus becomes one more of
those figures,” he explained. “And I just think that's the way to miss
him.”
“The Gospel presents him as this deeply challenging figure,”
Fr. Barron noted. “Jesus is distinctive. He stands out in a sharp
profile vis a vis other religious founders and I think Christians have
to make that difference clear.”
The Chicago priest, who also holds
the Francis Cardinal George Chair of Faith and Culture at the
University of St. Mary of the Lake, said the project has taken close to
four years to complete since its inception.
After getting
permission to begin filming the series from the Archbishop of Chicago,
Cardinal Francis George, the team began the unenviable task of
fundraising.
“We had to raise about 3 million dollars to make this
possible,” Fr. Barron said, “so we started in Chicago where we're
based, but we ended up going all over the country.”
Fr. Barron
said the project was done on a “shoe-string” budget compared to most
productions of this size and that the team traveled in spurts for nearly
two years – from 2008 to 2010 – whenever enough money was raised to
journey to each location.
“The experience was immeasurable and I'm still unpacking it,” he added.
Noting
the quality of the series, he said that top film and production experts
from NBC worked with high-definition equipment to capture the lush
colors and intricate details of every location. The episodes also
feature an original musical score by Chicago composer Steven Mullen.
“That
was from the the beginning a strong emphasis of mine. I said, 'if we're
going to show off this beautiful tradition that we have, I don't want
to do it in some second-rate way,'” Fr. Barron recalled.
He added
that a “wonderful study program” has also been created to go along with
the episodes and that it is intended for parish use such as RCIA
classes.
The priest expressed his desire that people who are “not
religious at all – maybe they're atheists, agnostics, fallen away
Catholics – would see the series and maybe be drawn in by the beauty of
it, drawn in by culture, drawn in by history.”
“That's my hope – that it would be used inside the Catholic world but also as an evangelical tool outside the Catholic world.”
For more information, visit: www.catholicismproject.org