Making the News

The Pathé newsreels, short movies shown before the main feature in cinemas, are an excellent source of social history. Three Bishops of Kildare and Leighlin from the early twentieth century made the news.

The first is Bishop Patrick Foley. A native of the Diocese, he was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (and titular Bishop of Amyclae) at the relatively young age of 38 in 1895. He became Ordinary only a year later on the death of Bishop Lynch. Bishop Foley was to occupy the See of Kildare and Leighlin for thirty years, through the struggle for Home Rule, the First World War, the War of Independence and the Civil War. The image above, a still from the newsreel report of the sod-turning ceremony of the Carlow Sugar Factory in 1926.

The second is Bishop Matthew Cullen, also a native of the Diocese. He became bishop in 1927, following the untimely death of Bishop Foley a year earlier. Although his episcopate was relatively short, not quite nine years in fact, he made an outstanding contribution to the Country through his support for Gaelic athletics and language, and also to the Church through his support for the newly founded Saint Patrick's Missionary Society with its headquarters in his own native Parish at Kiltegan. The still above is taken from the newsreel report of the blessing the foundation of the new buildings at Clongowes Wood College in 1929.

The third is Bishop Thomas Keogh, another native of the Diocese, who became Bishop in 1936 in succession to Bishop Cullen. He remained as Bishop until 1967, when he became the first Irish Bishop to resign in accordance with the novel rules that had been established by Pope Paul VI's Motu Proprio Ecclesiae Sanctae in August, 1966. (Please note: sometimes Motu Proprios are taken seriously!)

Bishop Keogh can be seen in the newsreel report of the opening of the Portarlington Power Station in 1950. The newsreel report from which the stills image above is taken is a report of the centenary celebrations of the Dominican College, Newbridge, in 1952. Bishop Keogh is seen standing to the camera's right of Archbishop O'Hara who was then Papal Nuncio to Ireland. After his retirement Bishop Keogh was created titular Bishop of Turris Tamalleni and lived a further two years. The fortieth anniversary of his death (and the centenary of his ordination) were marked by St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association with a Requiem Mass in his native Parish.

Forthcoming Masses (September & October)

St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association is organising two Masses in the Kildare area in the near future. Both Masses will be offered for Priests.

The first is in Cill Mhuire, Ballymany, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, on Friday, 4th September, at 6 p.m.


The second is in the Church of the Assumption and St. Patrick, Rathangan, Co. Kildare, on Saturday, 31st October, at 2 p.m.

The Portrayal of Priests - Part III

As the Boys' Town series ended, another pair of films portraying Priests was released, namely Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of Saint Mary's (1945). In both, the character of Fr. 'Chuck' O'Malley, the somewhat too up-to-date troubleshooter for a Parish in trouble, is played by Bing Crosby. The role came in the middle of the 'Road Movies', a series of comedic films in which he starred. The contrast is distinct and uncomfortable. On the other hand, Crosby was the biggest box office draw during these years and his portrayal of a Priest, while less than dogmatic, can only be regarded as sympathetic.

His relationship with Fr. Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald) must be one of the most human and generous portrayals of the Priesthood in film. In the clip above, Fr. O'Malley sings the ill and elderly Fr. Fitzgibbon to sleep.

A third Priest, the avuncular Fr. O'Dowd played by Frank McHugh (who played the same character again in 1952 in another Leo McCarey production My Son John), is a classmate of Fr. O'Malley. The pair are engaged in a 'generation gap' plotline in contrast to Fr. Fitzgibbon, although the youngsters are shown taking matters of religion quite as seriously. Golf, of which Crosby was famously fond, is the first testing ground - nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors as Fr. Fitzgibbon has it. Nevertheless, the fraternal charity of brother Priests wins out in the end.

Even the question of Priestly celibacy is dealt with in the film. Genevieve Linden, a star of the Metropolitan Opera in New York (played by Risë Stevens, who was actually a star of the Met and whose famous 'Carmen' is reprised on screen), whose career has interrupted a romance between her and Chuck O'Malley (before he entered the Seminary, mind you), meets O'Malley again without realising that he is a Priest. However, once she realised that he is a Priest she never drops the title 'Father' when addressing him.

In the end, Fr. Fitzgibbon settles the matter: "We're separated by many years, Fr. O'Malley, which may be the reason we haven't seen eye-to-eye in many instances, but 'though we've had many differences, we never differed in fundamentals. 'twas only in method... but never in our hearts." That it might ever be so.

In the second film, Fr. O'Malley crosses wits with another set-in-their ways individual. This time Sr. M. Benedict, played by Ingrid Bergman, who would go on the play St. Joan of Arc a few years later. The dramatic structure is essentially the same - conflict, crisis, resolution.

To traditionalist eyes looking in hindsight, the portrayal of Priests in these films seems to be very close to modernist vs. traditionalist, with the modernist having all the best songs - and the writer on his side. Viewed in that light, they are offensive to pious eyes. However, viewed with a certain artistic license and with a suspension of dis-disbelief, they portray the Priest as a human with sympathy and as a Priest of God with due respect.

The Priest in these films is always put into context. His relationships with layfolk, with brother Priests, with women, and even with himself and with God are balanced, articulated and decent. These relationships are not always easy but are always portrayed in a proper and reverent way.

The Portrayal of Priests - Part II

Two years after San Francisco and the same year as Boys' Town, Angels with Dirty Faces was released, starring Jimmy Cagney as gangster Rocky Sullivan, Pat O'Brien as his boyhood friend, Fr. Jerry Connolly, Anne Sheridan as Laury Ferguson, Cagney/Sullivan's childhood sweetheart, and Humphrey Bogart as James Frazier, Cagney/Sullivan's partner in crime and general villain of the piece.

The plot bears striking resemblance to that in San Francisco as regards the relationships between the three principal characters. However, the portrayal of the Priest is now deeper and the spiritual conflict stronger. This is a fight for souls, not only for the soul of Cagney but also for the young hoodlums who idolize him. It should also be noted that Hollywood makes some amends in this film for the glorification of violence in so many of its other films - especially those starring Cagney himself.

At the climax of the film, Cagney faces the death penalty. Unrepentent and hard-nosed to the end, he refuses O'Briens plea to 'turn yellow', that is, to show cowardice as he goes to the chair to break the heroic image the young hoodlums have of him. He remains unrepentant to the end... almost. In the end, it seems, he met eternity making a sacrifice of his own reputation for the sake of others.

Pat O'Brien was known as 'the Irishman in residence' in Hollywood. He was also a regular in the role of a Priest, most famously as the eponimous Fighting Father Dunne. The plot, based upon the true story of a Fr. Dunne of St. Louis, MO, the founder of a Paperboys' Home, is in the mould of Boys' Town, and similarly portrays the Priest as friend of the poor and hero of the children abandoned by Society. He would also go on to play Fr. Francis P. Duffy next to Cagney in The Fighting 69th. O'Brien was part of the so-called Hollywood Irish Mafia, which also included Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Cagney and Frank McHugh.

The Portrayal of Priests - Part I

Mention of Fr. Edward J. Flanagan and the film Boys' Town brings to mind the portrayal of Catholic Priests in popular culture. During what was known as 'the golden age of Hollywood', that portrayal was generally sympathetic. While the addage that Hollywood consisted of Jews making Catholic films for Protestants must be taken with a grain of salt, the grain of truth is there already. We must exercise a critical faculty with such movies, and exercise right judgement both with the work itself and in regard to those who appeared in and worked on it, generally there is much edification in many of them.

Spencer Tracy, himself a Catholic, although not always an exemplary one, played the part of a Priest four times. First in San Francisco in 1936 and then in Boys' Town in 1938 and its sequal, Men of Boys' Town, in 1941, as well as in The Devil at 4 o'clock, in 1961.

San Francisco is set in that city about the time of the Great Earthquake and consequent Great Fire of 1906. The plot follows a familiar pattern of two childhood friends, one who has chosen a life of goodness (Tracy as Fr. Tim Mullen), the other a life of wickedness (Clarke Gable as 'Blackie' Norton, together with the lady (Jeanette MacDonald as Mary Blake) who helps to reawaken the good that was always within him.

In the first clip, we see MacDonald/Blake singing in Church at Christmas. The second clip, the final scene, shows Gable/Norton's final conversion in thanksgiving for the survival of MacDonald/Blake. The admixture of piety and materialism can be viewed in a favourable or an unfavourable light. One is tempted to see Americanism there, except that these movies are the world glancing at the Faith rather than the other way around.

Although they can be seen with a Catholic eye, the themes are not overtly Catholic. However, the film is essentially respectful, edifying and, which is not to be dismissed, a good opportunity to see Jeanette MacDonald at the peak of her talent!

Blessed John Henry, Cardinal Newman

DECREES OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE CAUSES OF SAINTS

VATICAN CITY, 3 JUL 2009 (VIS) - Today, during a private audience with Archbishop Angelo Amato S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Pope authorised the congregation to promulgate the following decrees:

- Servant of God John Henry Newman, English cardinal and founder of the Oratories of St. Philip Neri in England (1801-1890).

Blessed John Henry, Cardinal Newman, pray for us!