Monday, October 7, 2013

Archbishop Lefebvre: A Documentary


The life story of this son of the Church who was an African Missionary in Gabon, Archbishop of Dakar, Apostolic Delegate for all French speaking Africa, Superior General of the Holy Ghost Fathers,  Member of the Preparatory Council for Vatican II, Founder of the Society of Saint Pius X. How did he come to find himself in the center of a storm which is still buffeting the Church to this day?  
This documentary retraces the life of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.  The film will be screened at RONNIES 20 in St. Louis on Sunday, October 27 at 1pm. For tickets, call 314-436-4544.

Screening dates and venues in other cities are listed here.
View the trailer here.

God bless you!

3 comments:

Rory said...

So how about a review, sis?

Not everybody has seen it yet. A new showing has been booked at Bridgeport Village Theater, Portland OR on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 2 P.M. 360-944-5233 for further info.



HSMom said...

How I wish I could! We had sickness in the house that Sunday and were unable to make it, most unfortunately.

But hey, I'll be delighted to give you guest-post space right here on MMC for your full review after you've seen it! It would be a great lead-in article to the DVD sales which begin on December 1.

Rory said...

I think we had a little over a hundred folks at our venue, almost half the parish.

It was good. The enthusiasm with which the DVDs were purchased shows that it was a success. Those with some background in the biographies and Mgr. Lefebvre's books need to remember that the purpose wasn't to replace the books, but to make Abp. Lefebvre come alive a little bit to a new generation of Traditionalists either entering adulthood, or having recently come to Tradition without a living memory of the situation twenty years ago and more.

I am always critical of dubbing. Thankfully they never dubbed Abp. Lefebvre. It just seems like you miss a lot when somebody is talking over the person. Yes, you get the correct translation, but you miss other ways we communicate audibly that seem important as well. There was one short spot where Cardinal Ottaviani seemed animated and I really wanted the "overvoice" to quiet down.

Anyway, that is really my only complaint. The theater was accommodating and really terrific. They greeted us immediately as we by-passed the ticket booth and showed us to the event, making a nice sign with the name of our church on it so that parishioners would see where to go. It was pretty neat to see above the door for our screen, "Archbishop Lefebvre" in lights.

If there were any guests in the audience I missed them. It all happened so quickly that we really didn't have opportunity to promote the event. Everyone seemed very satisfied and I have to include myself. The time went by quickly.

Its hard to say what our Novus Ordo friends and relatives will think. The subject matter is very close to our hearts and so to see a movie in a theater about it is pretty energizing. It seems like at bare minimum, a fair viewing would dispel some misconceptions about stubbornness. There are pictures and video of his time in Africa which demonstrate how the Archbishop allowed African culture to inform the native worship within a Traditional framework. It seemed quite progressive to me, in a way of which it seems no one could disapprove. I think the film shows that Mgr. Lefebvre was clearly unwilling to bend an article of faith. But his firm courage was gentle and thoughtful without the angry zeal that is the occasional scourge of Tradionalists.