RAPINIAMO IL DUCE/ROBBING MUSSOLINI

Italy, 2022, 96 minutes, Colour.

Pietro Castellitto, Matilda De Angelis, Tommaso Ragno, Isabella Ferrari, Alberto Astori, Filippo Timi.

Directed by Renato De Maria.

A combination of history, a heist, some comedy – and the statement that some of this action is based on actual events.

It is 1944-45, Mussolini is still in control but is moving towards downfall, and escaping to Switzerland with the accumulated money, jewellery and artworks. We are in Milan. Which is where the treasure is, a fortified area of the city, heavily cut off and guarded.

The main character in this story is, actually a thief, inheriting from his family, something of a confidence man as well. Contacts also with the partisans. He is played by Pietro Castellitto (son of celebrated Italian actor, Sergio Castellitto, quite some visual similarity). He is also in love with a singer at a night club, Yvonne (Matilda De Angelis) who is also the mistress of one of the commanders in Milan, specialising in interrogation – and some violent torture. He is actually married to a fading actress, Nora (Isabella Ferrari – who, in fact, is the wife of the film’s director, Renato De Maria). She still seeks the limelight, watches her old movies, and wants payback for the infidelities of her husband.

And, of course, the idea is to steal all the treasure and the group has only five days to gather together, prepare a plan, execution. And, on screen, we see the notes of how many days till the heist.

The main character has the nickname Isola because he is a loner. Which is not quite true because he relies very much on a friend of his father, Marcello, a white-haired bearded grizzled old character (who looks very much like American actor Sam Elliott). There is also a young accountant who is prepared to join in the plan and a young woman, agile and shrewd, who takes a liking to the young man. Marcello does a bit of recruiting, finding and old comrades with whom he has fallen out but it is an expert in explosives. And they also invite a champion car driver to join them.

Yvonne has to give them inside information as well as to steal the commander’s seal so that fact documents can be produced.

A lot of attention is given to the characters themselves, quite lively, and preparing the plot for the robbery. There is also an attention to the alienation of Nora from her husband and his wanting to escape with the treasure and Eve on to Switzerland.

There is quite an unexpected twist when Nora confronts Isola and attempts to take charge of the whole heist, her bodyguard, her henchman, the to-ing and fro-ing of power. And her violent attack on her unfaithful husband.

So, a lot of interest in the characters and the preparation for the heist, collaborations and betrayals, and the details of how the heist is actually done, infiltration of the secure zone by pretending that Isola is a prisoner to be transferred, the setting up of the dynamite, the attack on the troops, the partisans, the getaway car, the finding of the treasure and luxuriating in it. As well as Isola and Yvonne on being happily reunited – and the demise of Nora!

Aiming for Excellence, book celebrating 50 years of the Yarra Theological Union.

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were one of the original congregations establishing the YTU in 1972. Except for the period, 1986-2000, all our students have been at YTU.  At the moment we have four, Trieu, Daniel, Vincent and Hoa while Nang and Long are in the course of English as a second language.

The book, edited by Peter Malone MSC, has 50 memories from staff and students from over the 50 years.

Aloysius Rego

Ann Lorkin

Anne Hunt

Anneliese Reinhard

Ben Ho

Bernadette Micallef

Brian Gallagher

Bruce Duncan

Carmel Posa

Catherine McCahill

Cecilia Francisco-Tan

Chris Chaplin

Claire Renkin

Daniel Magadia

Eva Dabasy

Gary Harkin

Gavin Brown

Janette Elliot

John Collins

John McDowell

John Mulrooney

Jonathan Rowe

Kathleen Williams

Margaret Bentley

Margaret Smith

Mark O’Brien

Mary Coloe

Mary Reaburn

Mary Scarfe

Maryanne Confoy

Matthew Beckman

Michael Hardie

Michael Kelly

Paul Beirne

Paul Chandler

Peter Whiting

Philip Malone

Pia Pagotto

Robyn Reynolds

Rose Marie Prosser

Rosie Joyce

Ross Fishburn

Stephen Bliss

Stephen Hackett

Sue Phillips

Sue Richardson

Tim Norton

Tom McDonough

Tony Kelly

Vincent Long

Foreword, Peter Sherlock.

Origins of YTU, Peter Malone

Looking Forward, Chris Monaghan

From the Coventry Press catalogue.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) was a time of great enthusiasm in the Catholic Church.  Major changes in liturgy, ecumenism and religious life proposed new ways of understanding the church's life, structure and ministry.

Reform and renewal affected many established institutions - including religious orders and congregations - inviting them to revisit their origins and traditions; and how they could adapt and reform in order to reflect the changes effected by the Council.

Among these was the need to revisit formation and education; and the establishment of what would become Yarra Theological Union reflects those exciting times.

Aiming for Excellence is the story of fifty years of YTU - a story of change and development in how theological education and formation began, adapted and transformed in that half century - and the gradual enrolment and significant contribution of religious sisters and lay people to the culture of the community. 

In a series of very personal reflections, the contributors - all former students or lecturers - recall key events, personalities, insights that grew their faith, deepened friendships, contributed to a keener understanding of the Council's challenge to witness the gospel in our times.

It is a book of remembrance and of celebration, an occasion for jubilee reflection on the extraordinary achievement of what has become a key educational institution in the life of Catholics and other Christians in Australia and beyond.

Australian Laity of the Chevalier Family

Fred Stubenrauch informs us that at a recent retreat at St Mary’s Towers, a new National Council was formed, with some new faces on board. The National Council comprises: 

Fred and Alison

• Fred Stubenrauch – Chair
• Therese Poulton - Vice Chair
• Margaret Donohoe - Minute Secretary
• Chris McDermott – Treasurer
• Aidan Johnson – Communications (FB, Instagram, website etc.)
• Clare Johnson – Communications
• Kerrie Wehbe
• Lee Toll
• Sandy Abbey
• Narita Perrotta
• Paul Compton
• Ellenmary Lomman
• Fr Michael Fallon MSC – Spiritual Companion

The past foretelling the future.

General Assembly Laity of Chevalier Family (LCF) 2024: This international Assembly will be held in the Philippines in 2024. The Australian LCF is committed to raising funds to help send two delegates from Pacific countries and four from Australia. Please see the attached communication from Fred explaining what they hope to achieve and their fundraising efforts.

For Further information on the Lay NSC, see the sections on this site.  Below the site of the International Lay MSC

RIP, Peter Maher, vigorous priest, Sydney, longtime editor of The Swag

Peter was PP of Dulwich Hill, of Newtown for 20 years, outreach to the LGBQTI+ community, serving the National Council of Priests, contributing to the Church through The Swag.

About Me (from Peter Maherls site) Peter is a Catholic priest now retired from parish ministry. He is editor of The Swag, the National Council of Priests quarterly magazine. He is Co-chair of Rainbow Catholics InterAgency for Ministry, Australia. He is chair of Rachel's Vineyard Retreat Ministries, Sydney. He sits on the Human Research Ethics Ethics Committee of The University of Technology Sydney. He is chaplain to PALMS Australia. His qualifications include Bachelor of Theology from the Catholic Institute of Sydney and Masters in Education (Adult) UTS He received a UTS Human Rights Award in 2008 - The Ally Award Celebrating and Supporting Sexual Diversity and Identity and the Alumni Community Award in 2015. He also was awarded an OAM in 2015.

Farewell from Newotown after 20 years

Vision for the Church in Australia: 'The Cardijn method of see judge and act is essential to a deep listening, a competent dialogue and a compassionate and just course of action. This means all involved need to carefully listen to the experience of those normally excluded or silenced, study the biblical, social and theological perspectives and discern action in favour of the experience of the erased and silenced. Just as the Syrophoenician woman became Jesus’ teacher, the outsider and excluded stories inform the process of dialogue, reflection and action.'

'A new course is essential and we need all the leaders and ministers we can ‘ordain’ to begin pulling the levers and hauling up anchors so we can set sail in a new direction where no one is excluded from the priestly, regal and prophetic community on board the Catholic ark. Let’s set sail with a new vision where each can fulfil their God-given giftedness without prejudice. Let’s imagine and create a ship with an ordained community of the baptised – hands laid on, if necessary, for commissioning some community tasks, based on the kaleidoscope of diversity in age, gender, spirituality, training, sexuality, marital status and different abilities.'

A series of Zoom events addressing Inclusion in the Church. of which Peter was part. Following the success of the earlier Building the Church We Need webinar series, we are proud to present a follow up series Creating A Just, Synodal Church. Brought to you by Yarra Theological Union (YTU), the Australasian Coalition for Catholic Church Reform (ACCCR) and Garratt Publishing, Creating a Just, Synodal Church will address the issues of governance, synodality and inclusion post the Australian Plenary Council’s final assembly in July 2022, and the upcoming Synod on Synodality in 2023.

A personal tribute from the editor of this site for Peter’s long support of cinema and religious themes.

Rome Novice Masters' meeting.  Khoi Nguyen writes:

REPORT ON THE MSC CONGREGATIONAL NOVICE MASTERS MEETING, Rome, October 28 - November 3, 2022 

By Khoi Nguyen msc. Novitiate DIrector, Australian Province

This meeting gathered 9 novice masters from 8 entities in the Congregation across the world. We had one from Australia (me), two from Brazil (Getullio and Gilberto), one from the Philippines (Nords), one from India (Alex), one from Indonesia (Eddie, one from South Korea (Ireneo), one from Africa (Jonas), one from Pacific Islands (Tetoaitii). This meeting was facilitated by Chris Chaplin (Assistant General in charge of Ongoing Formation) and Humberto Henriques  (Assistant General in charge of Initial Formation), with translation assistance from Mike Miller, the Secretary General, and Absalon Tovar, the Superior General. 

This was a gathering not to solve the problems of formation in our congregation and in today's context, to make any decisions or to update any formation documents, but the primary invitation was to 'be together' in fellowship as formators, with prayerfulness and discernment, trying to listen collectively and communally what the Spirit of God is saying to us, not merely as individual formators from different entities, but also as a whole, as one congregation. We are invited to shift from our ego-system to the emerging ecosystem, from 'the ME to the WE'. In this space of being together, praying together, sharing together, listening together, moving together, we experienced enrichment and nourishment from one another and from the whole body of novice masters. This enrichment called us to integrate and to become more whole as individual selves and as a community with a common mission given by God. 

Every morning, we spent a quality of time doing the practice of communal wisdom, articulated and promoted by Brian Gallagher. This process might not be new to us in the Australian Province but might well be to many others in other parts of the world. This challenged ourselves to deepen our awareness and to expand our horizon to that of the whole group, the whole community across the globe, through contemplative listening to self and one another. The resounding call was to let go of our intellectualising in the process and to move with the heart, its emotions and feelings, its sensing and telling of a story or an image. 

During the day, we continued to proceed to formation agendas with this sense of communal listening from the heart. These agendas include: 

- Re-evaluation of our novitiate programs and structures according to our experiences 

- Building up group identity and recognising group vulnerabilities in formation process

- The central role of formative accompaniment

- Psycho-spiritual framework in formation accompaniment 

- Re-reading and re-evaluating the Valladolid Document 

- Understanding the complexities and complications of our world today and of our formation candidates - a sense of dealing with mystery rather than mere problems and issues 

- Criteria for approving profession as MSC 

• Co-sensing the possibility of international formation houses across the congregation
• Structural issues and challenges in novitiate (i.e. relation and communication with entity leadership, coherence between formation stages, cooperation within the local formation team and with other teams from other entities, screening for candidates coming into formation, external resources in accompaniment and professional help)-
• What are our hopes and dreams for our formation coming into the future together? 

By the end of the meeting, we communally felt greatly grateful for this opportunity to come and be together as brothers in common mission of making the heart of Jesus to be known and loved through our mission of accompanying new members of the community. 

We are looking forward to more collaboration and 'being together' in the future, especially when another international conference of MSC formators is being organised and finalised for May 2023, prior to the General Chapter, and/or in any other ways we can. We continued to share our hope and our call to participate in and contribute to this same mission and vision of community and love. 

November 6^th – an MSC Feastday celebrating our Beati of Canet del Mar, 1936

Today we remember our seven young Spanish members from Canet de Mar, Spain, who lives were taken brutally as they lived out the Mission of being in the world the Heart of Christ. They were killed on September 29, 1936 in Pont de Ser, between Banyoles and Besalú (Gerona), for the mere fact of being "friars." A ruined house was the only witness.

Father Antonio Arribas Hortigüela was born in Cardeñadijo (Burgos) on April 29, 1908. He had ten years as an MSC and little more than a year of priesthood. His first and only ministry was the Little Work (MSC Seminary) of Canet de Mar. At the moment of his death he shouted “Long live Christ the King”, which machine gun burst prevented him from ending. He was 28 years old.

Father Abundio Martín Rodríguez was a native of Villaescusa de Ecla (Burgos), where he was born on April 14, 1908. He had been a priest for five years. When he was killed he was 28 years old.

Father José Vergara Echevarría, from Navarro, a native of Almandoz. He was born on June 18, 1908. He had been a member of the MSC for nine years. He was ordained a priest in 1934. He had been a teacher-educator for future missionaries for two years. He was, when killed, 28 years old.

Father Joseph Oriol Isern Massó was from Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona). He had entered the MSC at age 20. In 1933 he was ordained a priest and assigned to the house of Canet de Mar. He was 23 years old when he was killed.

Brother Gumersindo Gómez Rodrigo was born in Benuza (León). When he was killed he was 25 years old. He made his religious profession as Brother in 1929. An example of humility and charity.

21 years old. He had made his first religious profession in 1934; Brother José del Amo del Amo was the youngest. He was just 20 when he was killed. He was born in Pumarejo de Tera (Zamora). He had only been an MSC Brother for four years.

RIP Jos Beelen MSC

Peter Hendriks writes: Peter Guy called to say that Jos Beelen died early this morning at St Joseph’s.

John Frith was with him yesterday for quite some time, keeping him company. Sr Pauline said he was very much at peace in his last days.

Jos was 97 years of age.

Jos was born in Holland and grew up there, including during the war years. He and some of his family migrated to Australia.

He joined the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in his early 30s, making his novitiate in 1957-1958, making his profession on the then traditional date for Brothers’ professions, August 5^th, 1958.

He has been on the staff of MSC Colleges, but was appointed in 1964 to the MSC General House in Rome. It was the time of Vatican II with many MSC bishops staying there for the sessions of the Council and the General Administration hosting dinners and hospitality for those attending the Council.  In recent years, he has been living at the Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensington and, more recently, at St Joseph’s Home, Kensington.

MSC Melbourne, our second largest community, Chapter discussions, the Synodal way.

The wisdom of years:  Brian Gallagher and Frank Andersen

More wisdom of years, Kew: Peter Curry, Philip Malone, Peter Malone, Paul Castley.

Our professed, Trieu, Daniel, Mark Hanns, Vincent, Hoa.

Our aspirants, Nang and Long who live in the parish presbytery with Alo, who had to leave the meeting for the parish Mass.

Prayer, communal discernment – and good ideas. And Chung who is at Heart of Life was present - seen on the right next to Paul.

Chevalier Family Heart Spirituality for the First Friday, November 2022

Each month the Chevalier Family, MSC, OLSH, MSC Sisters, Lay MSC prepares a poster with theme, awareness, prayer and action.

NEKROTRONIC 

Australia, 2018, 95 minutes, Colour.

Ben O'Toole, Monica Bellucci, Caroline Ford, Tess Haubrich, Epine Bob Savea, David Wenham, Felix Williamson.

Directed by Kiah Roache- Turner.

Succinct review: for those who enjoy this kind of thing, it is very watchable.

But, of course, the question arises: what is this kind of thing?

This is the work of two brothers, Kai and Tristan Roache- Turner. They have collaborated on short films but made their mark with their feature, Wyrmwood, Road of the Dead (2014), an entry into the world of horror films and zombies. This time they are interested in incarnations of Demons and the necromancers who, with a touch of the Ghostbusters, hunt and destroy them.

The tone is immediately set, some low-budget basic animation, jokingly, and swearingly, giving the audience an overview of the situation in the world, the breakthrough of Demons into the contemporary world, the tradition of those who hunt the Demons. So, a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere is established – with the promise of demon-hunting and, of course, some gory horror.

It is a bit of a shock to find the opening sequence in real life, two men, one Australian, one with Maori or South Sea background, driving a truck full of what used to be called “night soil”. Howard is an earnest driver. Rangi is fixed and fixated on his phone, curious about exotic games and appearances of ghosts. Eventually, with some shock, they encounter them!

In the meantime, there is the arch-demon, incongruously named Finnegan, especially since she is played by Italian actress, Monica Bellucci, a female version of the Darth Vader desire to be on the dark side. She has many minions, Demons disguised as humans, and she gains her energy by drawing out the souls and life force of human victims.

There are some shootouts and illustrations of this soul-sucking power but also some serious moments, courtesy of David Wenham, who with his two daughters, Molly and Torquel (Caroline Ford and Tess Haubrich) explains the situation to Howard revealing to him that he is the long lost, thought dead, son of Finnegan. She had killed her husband, lusting for power, building up an empire. She is now seeking her son. (Unfortunately, David Wenham gets killed off after 25 minutes – he would have been welcome in the rest of the film).

Rangi is forever saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, eager to see ghosts, goes with this experience, becomes a ghost – but is perpetually haunting Howard and the allies, providing some dumb, often irritating, comic touches.

The rest of the film is preparing Howard for his crusading mission. Initially he is bewildered, quite reluctant, suffering from a demon attacking him with an axe and finding himself in hospital – and, for a couple of scenes of training, doing them in his pyjamas. However, he finally gets some demon-hunting armour. He also has a telling and challenging sequence with his ambitious and cruel mother.

The Roache- Turner brothers, both writing the script, Kiah directing, are entertainingly inventive with variations on the Demon films and the Ghostbusters. There are all kinds of tactics to destroy the Demons, a great deal of special effects machinery. Of course, it all has to build up to Howard confronting his mother, the assistance of the two sisters, their risking their lives to save the human race. At one moment, it looks as though Finnegan is winning as we see people all around the world looking at their smart phones and their souls being absorbed through them. But, not without several combative attempts, victory is won.

While there have been Demon films a-plenty over the decades, and plenty of films of demon-hunters, this is an enjoyable contribution to the genre for the fans – and, it is very much 21^st century because the Demons have entered into the Internet and use the techniques of cyberspace to achieve their ends.