This past
Friday our local senior center presented the French film “Of Gods and Men” as
part of its foreign film Festival series. The film was based on the life and
death of eight French Cistercian monks of Tiberherine in Algeria from
1993-1996. Although they lived in their monastery and sustained themselves by
what they grew there, the monks were not cloistered.
They played an
active role in the life of the small Moslem village in which they lived. They
participated in the life of the community and served the needs of the people. One
monk was a doctor and ministered to a seemingly endless stream of local
patients. They loved the people and the people loved them. One thankful Moslem
woman even described these men as the branches on which the villagers, the
birds, found support.
However,
Islamic fundamentalists are terrorizing the region. After a massacre of a crew
of foreign workers, the local army offers protection to the endangered French
monks. They refuse protection but still have to consider whether they should
stay and continue to minister to the local Moslem community or leave in the
face of the growing menace in their midst.
They decide to
stay but are eventually taken hostage by the terrorists. At the end of the film
we see them being driven by armed guards up their own hill of Calvary in the
snow of the Atlas Mountains. They were never seen again. Incredibly, shortly
after the film ended the news arrived from France of the terrible massacre by
Moslem extremists in Paris.
Today at
Sunday Mass our organist played a quiet but moving rendition of the French
national anthem, “La Marseillaise.” It brought to mind one of the best scenes
from the film classic, “Casablanca.” Vive la France!
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Frank, are we to take these incidents as the facts of living in the 21st century? Are we to deal with them as natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, or is someone going to lead a united front against this menance to civilization? At least for another year , we can't expect that leadership coming from the US. Wait until these barbarians get their hands on a nuclear device!!
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I've just read your Weekly Bystander piece. That film sounds a powerful one. Your description reminded me of a time some years ago when I was visiting schools in Lancashire. Because of its proximity to Ireland there are many Catholic schools there - state schools, not private ones. The head of one told me that the Catholic schools were always first choice for Hindu and Muslim families originating from India and Pakistan. This was because of the huge respect the parents had for the Catholic education provided in their home countries.
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