CURRICULUM VITAE

Born, 8th August, 1939, Sydney, Australia.

Education:

1945-7: Holy Family School, Maroubra Junction, NSW
1948-51: Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College, Bowral, NSW.
1952-56: Chevalier College, Bowral, NSW.

Novitiate: 1957: St Mary's Towers, Douglas Park, NSW.
Profession as a Missionary of the Sacred Heart: 26-2-58.
Final Profession: 26-2-61.
Ordination to the Priesthood, Rome, 3-4-65.

Teaching, Daramalan College, Canberra

1966-7

1970 (part-time)
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1. STUDIES

Philosophy and Theology

1958-1962, Sacred Heart Monasteries, Croydon, Vic, and Canberra, ACT
Included six units of Bachelor of Arts degree at the Australian National University.


Theology Degree

Licentiate in Theology (S.T.L.), Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, 1962-1966.
Special Study, 'Prayer and Poetry, the writings of Henri Bremond`, adapted for publication, Irish Theological Quarterly, 1968,


Arts Degree

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Australian National University,
Canberra, A.C.T., 1960-1, 1967.
Majors in English Literature, History,
Subjects: Latin I and II, Australian Literature.

Qualifying Course for Master of Arts, ANU, 1968-9.
Focus: Australian History.
Special study: Historiography, Australian History.
Thesis: The Catholic Church on a Goldfield's Parish, Braidwood, NSW.


Spiritual Direction

Siloam, diploma in Spiritual Direction, Melbourne, 1980.


Melbourne College of Divinity (now University of Divinity): Honorary Doctorate in Theology, 2008.


Sabbatical Studies

Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California,
First Quarter, 1978.
Christology
Book of Revelation
History of Spirituality
Apocalyptic Theology and American Literature (Doctoral Seminar).
Jung Seminars at Jung Institute, San Francisco.


Fordham University, New York. Summer, 1989.
Film Comedy
Film and History


New School, New York. First Quarter, 1989.
Freud and Cinema
Popular Cinema

Jung Studies at Jung Institute, New York City.


Myers Briggs Type Indicator, Qualification, 1986


2. LECTURING

Lecturing in Theology

1968-71. Sacred Heart Monastery, Canberra, ACT.

Theology of Faith and Revelation
Old Testament Studies.


1972-98

Yarra Theological Union.

The Mystery of Christ, Introduction to Theology, 1975-1983.
Introduction to Theology, 1980-1985.
Discovering an Australian Theology, 1984-1998.
Introduction to the Old Testament, 1972-1983.
Old Testament: the Prophets, 1976.
Theology and Religious Education, 1988.
Church and Media, 1973-1998.
Literature and Theology Courses, 1976-7.



National Pastoral Institute, Elsternwick, Vic.

1973-1988
1984-1988 fulltime

Faith and Revelation, 1973-1978.
Old Testament, 1980-88.
Church History, 1984-88.
Pastoral Theology, 1985-1988.
Church and Media, 1973-88.
Australian Theology, 1984-1988.
Personality Type, Myers Briggs.

Supervisor of Diploma of Social Communications, 1984-1988.


Heart of Life Spirituality Centre, Canterbury, Vic.

Staff Member 1983 - 1998, Acting Director 1992.
Seminars on spirituality and theology (also credited for Diploma of Spirituality Studies,
Yarra Theological Union).

Seminars, Religious Experience, Imagination and Story, 2011-2022.

Seminars and Workshops

- especially to school staffs (Theology, Scripture, Church and
Media, Myers Briggs Type Indicator) and Adult Education
centres.

Media workshops outside Australia

Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Ireland, United States, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, France, Germany, American Samoa, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Canada, South Africa, Namibia, Belarus, Cyprus, Philippines, Korea, Hong Kong, India, Romania, Cambodia, Tanzania, Bangladesh.


3. International Ministry

O.C.I.C. (International Catholic Organization for Cinema and Audio-Visuals)
President, Pacific Region, 1989-1998
Member, International Directors' Board, 1990-1998
World President, 1998-2001

SIGNIS World Catholic Association for Communication
President, 2001 - 2005
Cinema desk, international, 2006-2010.

PUBLICATIONS

COMPASS THEOLOGY REVIEW (Australia)

Editor, 1972 -1998.


BOOKS


MEMOIR

An Ever- Widening Screen

Connor Court, Ballarat, 2015.

Paul Stenhouse, A Distinctive and Distinguished Missionary of the Sacred Heart, (ed),

Australian Scholarly Press, Melbourne, 2020.

THEOLOGY

The Mystery of Christ, a course introducing theology,
Yarra Theological Union, Melbourne, 1983.


Discovering an Australian Theology, (Co-ordinator and contributor),
St Pauls, Sydney, 1988.


Traces of God
Collins -Dove, Melbourne, 1991.


Developing an Australian Theology, (Co-ordinator and contributor)
Melbourne, St Pauls, 1999.


Jesus... according to the Scriptures
Chevalier Press, Sydney, 2009

Heart of Life Spirituality Centre. A History
Heart of Life, Melbourne, 2017.

Hearts Burning within Us
Scripture in the Parish, for small prayer groups & for private prayer
Coventry Press, Melbourne, 2018.

Compass Theology Review
A History, 50 Years of Doing Theology in Australia
ATF Press, Adelaide, 2020.

10 Minutes, Scriptural Reflections for Mind and Heart

Coventry Press, Melbourne, 2021

CINEMA AND THEOLOGY

The Film
Chevalier Press, Sydney, 1971.


The Writing on the Wall
Westbooks, Perth, 1973; revised edition, Sydney, 1978.


200 Movies and Discussions I
Chevalier Press, Syndey, 1973


200 Movies and Discussions II
Chevalier Press, Sydney, 1975


Films and Values
Chevalier Press, Melbourne, 1978.


Nuclear Films,
Spectrum, 1985, Melbourne.


In Black and White and Colour. A Survey of Aborigines in Australian Feature Films,
Spectrum, Melbourne, 1987.


Movie Christs and Antichrists
Parish Ministry, Sydney, 1988
US Edition, Crossroads, New York, 1990


The Australian Video Guide
Collins Dove, Melbourne, 1990.


Worth Watching: 30 Film Reviewers on Review (Co-ordinator and Contributor),
Spectrum, Melbourne, 1994.


Cinema Down Under Australian Movies at Home and to the World
OCIC, Brussells, 1996.


From Back Pews to Front Stalls. The Churches in a Hundred Years of Australian Feature Films (Co-ordinator and contributor),
Chevalier Press, Sydney, 1996.


Cinema, Religion, Values
OCIC, Brussels, 1999.


Myth and Meaning. Australian Directors in their own Words.
Currency Press, Sydney, 2001.


Lights Camera... Faith! A Movie Lectionary, Cycle A,
Pauline Media, Boston, 2001.


On Screen
Pauline Media, Manila, 2001.


Lights Camera...Faith! A Movie Lectionary, Cycle B,
Pauline Media, Boston, 2002.


Lights Camera...Faith! A Movie Lectionary, Cycle C,
Pauline Media, Boston, 2003.


Can Movies be a Moral Compass?
Pauline Media/WACC, London, 2005.


5000 Movies and discussions,
CD, SIGNIS, Brussels, 2005.


Lights Camera… Faith! The Ten Commandments,
Pauline Media, Boston, 2006.


Through a Catholic Lens (Co-ordinator and contributor)
Rowman and Whitfield (Sheed and Ward), New York, 2007.


Film and Faith
(CFA, Manila, 2008)


Mary on the Screen

Nelen Yubu, Kensington, 2009


Film, Faith and Church
(CFA, Manila, 2009)


Film and Sacraments
(CFA, Manila, 2011)


Film and Mary
(CFA, Manila, 2012)


Screen Jesus, Portrayals of Jesus in Film and Television.
Scarecrow Press, Maryland, 2012


Screen Priests
Depictions of Catholic Priests in Cinema, 1900-2018
ATF. Adelaide, 2019


Dear Movies
Coventry Press, Melbourne, 2020


LIFE STORIES

My Names,
Nelen Yubu, Sydney, 2000.



MYERS BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

Let A Viking Do It, Hagar and Family Illustrate the Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Collins Dove, Melbourne, 1988, 1989.
David Lovell, Melbourne, 1996.


Myers Briggs Goes to the Movies
Spectrum, Melbourne, 1991.


Mirror, Mirror on the Screen, Type and Movies
Type Resources, Gaithersberg MD, USA, 1995


The Same as Christ Jesus, Gospel and Type
St Pauls, London, 2000


The Type and Movie Book, Personality through the lens of film.
Inkshed Press, Melbourne, 2012.
_


CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOOKS (Selection)

'Jesus for Australians', in Gallagher, Brian (ed), A New Heart for a New World. An Exploration of the desires of God's Heart,
St Paul Publications, 1986.

'Who is Jesus?' and 'The Living Word' in Macdonald, Shirley (ed), Collins Dove, 1983.

'The Church's Story is Our Story' in Macdonald, Shirley (ed), Take Hold of Life, Collins Dove, 1985.

'Values, Beliefs and Spirituality in Film' in Kathleen Engebretson (ed), Creating Meaning, Essays in Belief, Social
Science Press, 1996.

`Jesus on Screen' in May, John R. (ed), New Images of Religious Film, Sheed and Ward, 1997.

`Brides of Christ in Devils' Playgrounds' in Screening the Past, Latrobe University, 1994.

'A De Profundis Film' in Bad Boy Bubby, Rolf de Heer, Currency Press, 1996.

`Edward Scissorhands and Christology' in Marsh, Clive and Ortiz, Gaye (eds), Explorations in Theology and Film,
Blackwells, 1997.

‘Movies Matter: The Movies – an Experience’ in What Are Movies Telling Us…? Cahayasura Communications Centre, Kuala Lumpur, 2000.

‘Cinema Can Always Highlight Family Values. But will it?’ in Stories We Tell Our People, Asian Culture, Cinema, Values and More (edited by Jacob Srampickal and Leela Joseph), OCIC Asia Secretariat, New Delhii, 2000.

'The Roman Catholic Church and Cinema (1967 to the Present'. Lyden, John C. (ed), The Routledge Companion to Religion and Film,
Routledge, 2009.

'Catholicism and Cinema', Bllizek, W (ed), Companion to Religion and Film, Continuum, 2009.

'Celebrating the 20th Year of the Ecumenical Awards at the Berlin Film Festival.. An Overview', in De Oekumenische Jury aud der Berlinale, Preistrager 1992-2010. SIGNIS and Interfilm, 2010.

'Out of the Depths, Out of the Shallows, Enter the Void' in Sellers, J (ed), Light Shines in a Dark Place. Pickwick Publications, 2012.

'Images and Stories', Anthology of Spiritual Direction, Volume 1, Equilibrium, 2012/

‘Fred Schepisi’ in Fred Schepisi: Interviews, Tom Ryan (ed), University of Mississippi, 2012.

‘Baz on the Bard’ in Baz Luhrmann: Interviews, University of Mississippi, 2014.
'Humorous and Irreverent Screen Portrayals of Jesus' in Cinematic Transformation of the Gospels, Marek Lis (ed), University of Opole, 2013.

'Dei Verbum: Media and Communication' in God's Word and the Church's Council, Vatican II and Divine Revelation', Mark O'Brien and Christopher Monaghan (eds), ATF, Adelaide, 2014.

‘Mediating Peace and Reconciliation Through Film’, Mediating Peace, Reconciliation through Visual Art, Music and Film, Sebastian Kim, Pauline Kollontai, Sue Yore, (eds), Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.

“Satan in Cinema’, The Bible in Motion, A Handbook of the Bible and its Reception in Film, Part 1, (ed Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch), De Gruter, 2016.

‘”Who do you say I am?”: Responses to Cinema Sequences of the Woman Taken in Adultery’, The T & T Clark Handbook of Jesus and Film, Richard Walsh (ed), t & t Clark, 2021.

Contributions to the de Gruyter Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception.

Articles in conference proceedings of Associations of Psychological Type on the Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
USA: 1989, 1995.
Australia: 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998.

Articles on Film and Type in the MBTI reviews from Australia (1998- ), Britain (2002 -), US (1998-2004).


Cassette Volumes

Introducing the Old Testament,
Daughters of St Paul, (12 x 40 minutes), 1986.

The New Testament Jesus in the Light of the Old,
Daughters of St Paul, (12 x 40 minutes), 1987.

The Church's Unfolding History,
Parish Ministry, (24 x 40 minutes) 1990.


ARTICLES

Contributions to a wide range of papers, magazines and
periodicals including, Compass, Irish Theological Quarterly, Pacifica,
Australasian Catholic Record, Sidoc, Sursum Corda,
Interchange, Dialogue, Twentieth Century, Scripture in Church
Eureka Street, Women -Church, Eremos, Ten- Ten..., The Swag.


Film Reviews, 1968-1998

Annals Australia, 1968-1998
Cinema Papers, passim since 1983
Catholic Leader, Brisbane, since 1991
Church Scene, 1995-7
Cine & Media, since 1991
Sun Pictorial, Melbourne, passim, 1984, 1985.
Catholic Voice, Canberra, since 1996
Standard, Hobart, since 1997
Catholic Weekly, since 1998
The Advocate, Melbourne, passim 1983-1990
Kairos, Melbourne, passim 1990-6, regularly since 1997
On Being Alive, since 1998
3 AW, 1973-1991
3 ZZ, 1994-6
Kick AM 1995-6.
The Swag, 2015-
Film Reviews, 1998-

The Universe, Manchester, 2000-2008
Westminster Gazette, passim
The Catholic Weekly, Sydney
Kairos, Melbourne
Catholic Leader, Brisbane
Catholic Voice, Canberra
SIGNIS Media, Brussels

Vatican Radio
BBC Radio 4, passim

Film Reviews, Websites

All releases on OCIC and, now, www.signis.net
Australian Catholic Bishops conference, Cath News
Catholic Communications, UK and Wales
Archdiocese of Hong Kong
Catholic Independent News, UK
Habitus, World Council of Churches


Memberships

Association for Psychological Type (US)

Australian Catholic Theological Association

Australian Film Institute

Australian Association for Psychological Type
Foundation President, 1990-1991.
Victorian President, 1991-1993.

FILM DISCUSSION RESOURCE

AN INTRODUCTION

A website with discussion material on several thousand films?

It is best to go back to the beginning to try to explain what is on this site, how it got there and how you might be able to use it.

Some history

One of the exhilarating aspects of life in the Catholic Church in the mid to late 1960s was the new attention given to the media and, especially, to cinema. In Europe there had been an International Catholic Organisation for Cinema (OCIC), established in what are called the Benelux nations. This was in 1928, just over thirty years after the Lumiere Brothers screened their first short films in December 1895. Some of the aims of OCIC were to promote cinema culture by review, critique, assistance in distribution of films and their exhibition and, if it were possible (which budgets soon indicated it was not), production.

This was a positive approach, in line with a 1900-year tradition of the Church encouraging the arts. Meanwhile, in the United States, 1934 saw the establishment of the Legion of Decency, an approach to movies that was more cautious, alert to possible objections and difficulties before considering the movie as a whole. World War II interrupted the work of OCIC but, by 1947 it began to be present to the professional world of cinema through juries at film festivals, beginning with Venice and Cannes. This was to spread during the 1950s to the 1970s when partnerships with Interfilm Juries led to the establishing of shared juries with Protestants: Ecumenical Juries.

This way of thinking about film was encouraged by the renewal of the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965.

The 1960s changes

If you have a copy of New Images of Religious Film, edited by John C. May (Sheed and Ward, 1997) as well as Companion to Religion and Cinema, edited by John Lyden (Routledge, 2009) with the article, The Roman Catholic Church and Cinema, 1967 to the present, you will find a chapter he wrote tracing the developments in the English-speaking world, especially in the United States during the latter 1960s and listing a number of the books that were written at that time opening up serious cinema as well as the popular movies for religious, theological and spiritual reflection and appreciation.

This was the time when I began to write books called The Film and Films and Values and review films for the popular magazine published by my religious congregation in Australia, The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart: Annals Australia. This was the beginning of 1968. Along with reviewing, I was able to introduce some media and film courses into the seminary program and as part of renewal courses and retreats for members of religious orders. Not everyone agreed with that approach, but I was lucky enough to have a number of confreres and Annals readers who were supportive. It was just the time when films were becoming franker in themes, treatment and language. It was not always easy to find the right words for a balanced review.

Film discussion

That is the context for explaining this collection of film discussions. A group of young Catholics in Chicago took this new approach very enthusiastically and, with a great deal of energy, began to prepare and publish study guides on all kinds of films. Many of these booklets found their way to Canberra. Their impact was infectious so, in an inspired (or deluded?) moment, I decided that I would do the same. The first ‘discussion sheet’, as I have been calling them, was for the British film, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, one of those films of the late 1950s and early 1960s that were referred to as ‘kitchen-sink dramas’, just the thing for serious discussion about values, in those days. Besides that, Paul Newman had been appearing in serious films like Hud, Hombre and Cool Hand Luke and we were seeing Christ-figures in these films.

Our Novice Master told us at the beginning of the novitiate year that a habit begins with the first act. So, from Saturday Night to Sunday Morning, I have developed a habit of doing a discussion film on most of the films that I have seen (although I am still a thousand or more behind in getting them all done). That means that this could be the greatest folly of my life or something quite special. I hope the latter even if the former is true!

A long process

Before I indicate of what use these discussion sheets might be, I should add that those on this site are part of an ongoing process. They began by being hand-written and then typed during the 1970s by some MSC students and some very good and patient friends. By 1973, I had worked out that it was better to jot some notes and then speak the material on to tape and have them transcribed. This is the moment to pay tribute to a person who has been listening to me for now over thirty years (and 99.9% of the time hearing me correctly – though sometimes inclined to question or improve my grammar), a paragon of friendship and loyalty, Phyl Coffey, from Croydon, Victoria. I know she will feel that this material appearing on this site is some sort of satisfaction for spending so much of her life listening and typing. Actually, the dates are, March 1976 to October, 2013, more than 37 years. Since 1990, it has been a little easier since the typing was straight onto the computer. However, in recent years, there has also been the task of scanning the discussions originally on paper into the computer – and she has done that too. Thanks seems, at this moment, a rather inadequate word of appreciation of what Phyl has done. Sister Leonie Wallace PBVM completed the putting text on to the site and added many stills, so thanks to her as well.

During the 1970s, Paul Stenhouse MSC, editor of Annals Australia who introduced the film reviews in the magazine, published two books of these sheets, ‘200 Movies and Discussions’, I and II. This is obviously the place to acknowledge his encouragement and support (and the fact that I saw quite a number of the films on the list with him). For the 40th anniversary of Hiroshima, it seemed a good idea to prepare a book of films on nuclear issues and Val Noone, of Catholics for Peace in Melbourne, published ‘Nuclear Films’, with about 70 discussions, in 1985. (I had better add that my good friend, Sister John Ogilvie of the Sisters of Nazareth in Hammersmith, London, scanned for me the 200 Movies books and Nuclear Films. Some more thanks.)

What does the discussion resource offer?

So, what will you find here? A growing resource for those who want to reflect on films or who want to use them for education and religious purposes. I had better ask for indulgence from potential users and remind them that my style of questions has changed somewhat over 36 years and it would be nice to edit their content and style. However, there is no time and I know readers will make allowances. I also decided not to update most of the reviews. There is a bit of historical interest seeing a review of, say, The Godfather, written on the film’s release in 1972 before Al Pacino was such a celebrity star.

Basically, the discussion sheet is a tool – like one of those informative websites that looks a bit flat because it is all written information without artwork. So, here is the writing (more than you need, probably) plus a poster.

Format

The format is this:
The poster (though the majority were lost in 2019 when the site was moved to another housing site),
Credits (country of origin, year of release, running time – which cannot always be trusted, sources often differ and films are cut, re-edited, but it gives some idea - and whether the film is in black and white or colour,
Principal cast,
Director.

Then follows a range of suggested questions. The first couple are general, helping readers and viewers to think about the film as film. Then we move into the questions of values and issues. Often, the development of the questions will follow the plot outline of the film. Sometimes, it will focus on the range of characters. I hope that this series of questions will help readers to remember the plot, identify the characters and be able to articulate what the film was trying to communicate.

For some of the films, there are no questions, only credits and introduction. These are there for completeness. The film may not be worth seeing or discussing. Or, it may be of historical interest only. But, by and large I have tried to do questions for the films, those that everybody could see or those that I have seen at festivals since the 1970s. (As I attend press previews these days and see some films that are trivial or trashy – though I am accused of liking everything I see – a friend ruefully shakes his head and tells me my trouble is that I am a completist; he doesn’t know the Enneagram but, for those who do, I would claim to be a redeemed 5, so that makes it all right!!)

Obviously, this is a project that should not be read from beginning to end (not even the questions for one film need to be scrutinised from beginning to end unless you are using that film for discussion).

Film, values and spirituality sites

If you have a copy of any of the Lights Camera Faith volumes published by Pauline Media in Boston, you will see from the annotated booklist that there is an increasing number of books on cinema and values, often with a pastoral perspective. In the annotated website lists compiled by fellow-writer, Sister Rose Pacatte of the Daughters of St Paul, you will realise that there are any number of sites on films, values, religious and spirituality. These can amplify and offer slants on the films you may be considering or studying.

Most films these years also have their own website.

The final thanks goes to the secretary general of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication, Robert Molhant. He has been secretary-general in Brussels of OCIC from 1979- 2001 and then secretary-general of SIGNIS from 2001-2005, an enthusiast from the time he began to the time he is now finishing. ‘Thank you’ seems a meagre phrase of appreciation for all that he has done and the support and friendship he has offered during my time as president of OCIC and then of SIGNIS. It was his idea to produce a CD of 5000 titles for the SIGNIS General Assembly in 2005. It was also his idea to put these discussions on this website for which he was responsible.

And now to add some more titles – it may take a long time.