New Purgatory Film Focuses on ‘The Forgotten Church’

NC Register ^ | November 2, 2013 | JOSEPH PRONECHEN

[NYer]

What led you to make this film?

I have done a lot of long-format films, in terms of documentaries and biographies, and I always kicked around the area of doing something on purgatory more out of curiosity. When I was older and became a friar, and my mom passed away — that was 2008; my dad died 20 years earlier — it just became more personal.

I had Gregorian Masses said for her, and I really started to think about all the people I know who had died.

I was in a small chapel in Arizona praying for my mom about three weeks after her death. She was a social worker in a hospital, and I knew a lot of people were praying for her. I was thinking of people I knew who had died but were not surrounded with that support system [of prayer].

I did research and found so many people, and even priests, who were ignorant and ill-informed, due to poor preaching and a poor understanding of what purgatory is. There’s a lot of misinformation out there. It’s a great expression of God’s mercy and very reasonable to most people when they have it explained to them in the way we hope we have done in the film.

Purgatory does not become this side chapel of hell, as many people think of it, but a wonderful expression of God’s mercy. That’s essentially why I decided to do the film.

How did you approach the idea of purgatory?

I wanted to do a comprehensive film on the topic. To do that, I needed a Churchman, Cardinal Francis George; a scientist; a systematic theologian; a rabbi; Father James Kubicki, a Jesuit; a purgatory expert and author, Susan Tassone; and Drew Mariani, for a pulse on the culture [radio host].

[NYer]

Purgatory: The Forgotten Church, recently released on DVD (PurgatoryForgottenChurch.com), is the latest film written and directed by Franciscan Friar John Clote.

It follows in the steps of his other work, like the award-winning Ocean of Mercy and films about St. Maximilian Kolbe, Blessed John Paul II, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos and Venerable Solanus Casey. The documentary is a production of Lightbridge, a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars of St. Bonaventure Province in Chicago, to which Friar John, a seminarian, belongs.

[NYer]

Catholic ping!

[Salvation]

People sometimes forget the three levels of Church.

Church Triumphant — the souls in heaven
Church Militant — that’s us — the souls living now
Church Suffering — the souls in Purgatory.

[SumProVita]

We discussed this in our last RCIA class!

;-)

[mlizzy]

Here is the trailer: http://purgatoryforgottenchurch.com/