And unexpectedly, it is over. All votes are cast. All documents written. All jobs that were complete-able are complete. We suddenly find ourselves on the last day, with a last Mass this evening and tonight the goodbyes will begin. We only knew it yesterday. It is slightly unreal. I will see some of the Jesuits from the Aula next week in London; some I will never see … [Read more...]
A Distraction
I have an armed guard outside my bedroom. Two soldiers and an armoured car. At first I thought that it might be to protect the Brexit Provincial from the hordes of angry Roman Pro-Europeans, but I was assured that this was not the case and this strategy was part of a generally heightened security around Italy following the terrorist attacks in France and Germany. For the … [Read more...]
Crimson Tide
The late Tony Scott, was a movie director who was somewhat overshadowed by his more acclaimed Oscar-winning film-maker brother, Ridley Scott; but the corpus of Tony’s movie work, if more populist, is not slight. “Top Gun”, with Tom Cruise, was Scott’s breakthrough movie; and others ( e.g. ‘Enemy of the State’ and ‘Déjà Vu’) are certainly worth an evening of popcorn and … [Read more...]
The Borge Dilemma
After a concert at Carnegie Hall, the wonderful comic pianist, Victor Borge, had an unexpected visitor to his dressing room: a Secret Service agent for the US Vice President, who had been in the audience that night. The Secret Service man said: “The Vice President will be with you in 30 seconds, and you can ask him anything you like.” This caught Borge off-guard… ask … [Read more...]
Moonraker
Over the last year, I have been reading and enjoying the James Bond novels. It is good to get beyond the famous movie franchise and see Bond and the narratives as they were originally portrayed by the author, Ian Fleming. Fleming’s prose is wonderfully visual and crisp. As the story-line in the novels develops, Bond matures: the tightly-coiled 007 of Casino Royale is simple, … [Read more...]
To an Unknown Soldier
Dear Brother in Christ, I do not know who you are. I write this on Thursday and you will be elected as Father General on Friday. Whether you are old or young, or whether I know you well, or whether we have only exchanged a smile and a few words in these last days, I will speak. Firstly, the days of murmuratio will have been gruelling for your soul: as the hours have … [Read more...]
Schola Invictus
Federico Fellini, the great Italian film director, would have loved the cinematic possibilities for the opening of Day 5. We were off to Mass in the Vatican. All of the delegates gathered on the steps of the Jesuit Curia at 7am. For some, like myself, who live in the Curia, that was a relatively straight-forward task; but for those hardy types lodging in the Russicum and the … [Read more...]