What is the meaning of life? Why am I here? What am I doing here? And nobody seems to have an answer to that.” Questions of faithĪsked why he was drawn to make three films exploring the Catholic faith, Whyte says, “it comes back to the perennial question that everybody asks.
In fact, it is the final work of a trilogy, following on from No Greater Love, a documentary about a Carmelite Monastery in London and Relics and Roses, which charts the journey of the Relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux on their visit to England. This is not the director’s first foray into faith based filmmaking. “I think that people have a rather simplistic view of the work of a priest they tend to see it as quite an easy life, they’ve got a roof over their heads, they’ve got a job for life, they’ve got God on their side… I wanted to show that it was much more than that, and also to show that priests are human beings, they have feelings, they’re not removed from the day to day anxieties and stresses of life.” In an interview with Vatican Radio, Michael Whyte explains why he wanted to make a film that explores the highs and lows of priestly mission. Made before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film shows the priest supporting parishioners in various moments of their lives from the opening scene of a funeral, to the administering of the Last Rites. He then went on to train for the priesthood at the Venerable English College in Rome in the late 80s to mid-90s. However, in a new film currently available online, British director Michael Whyte chooses instead to present a “fly on the wall” view of day-to-day priestly life.Įntitled simply “Priest”, the documentary follows Father Paul Grogan as he carries out his ministry in the parish of Mary, Mother of God, in the city of Bradford, in the north of England.įr Grogan, originally from Halifax, worked as a journalist after graduating from the University of Cambridge. Chesterton’s amiable Father Brown or Fr Dowling.
Television too, has had its fair share of clerics, some of whom end up helping the local constabulary with their crime cracking abilities: think G.K. Down through the years, there have been numerous portrayals of priests on the big screen, whether it be two time Oscar winner Spencer Tracy in Boys Town or a young Gregory Peck in Keys to the Kingdom.