The Prodigal Altar Boy

Friday, April 27, 2012

Prodigal Altar Boy Blog 180-Day Countdown: Prologue



Prodigal Altar Boy Blog
180-Day Countdown
T+3 Days and Counting
Prologue

The “Last Hundred Days of 2011” experiment was a success.  Now it is time to stretch out.  At the end of the month, I will be part of Karen Everett’s “Inner Circle 6.0,” which is a six-month program where a group of filmmakers gets together with Karen for group consultation to move their documentary projects along. 

Taking what I learned from the 100-day blog experiment, I am going to do a 180-day blog.  My goal is to blog every day for six months.

Here are my goals for those 180 days:


Goal 1:  2 hours per day working on the film

Goal 2:  30 minutes per day music practice

Goal 3:  30 minutes exercise per day

Now that TQ is gone, finishing the documentary has to move up to the front burner.  In fact, it may have to occupy both front burners (and the back two, too!).  It is just that important.  My mother tells me that TQ made the front page of the Virginian Pilot. I will post that down the road.
What I do have for you is a 1974 TIME Magazine article about TQ.  The title point to what my original thesis for the documentary, the media attention TQ garnered when he did his shock liturgy caused people to fixate on the media hype rather than the adaptation of the Gospel to the 20th (and 21st) century. 

The article is important because it captures a pivotal point in TQ’s journey, as he moves from predominantly white suburban northern Virginia parish to the predominantly African-American urban parish in Norfolk Virginia. I think TQ really hit his stride during his stay at St. Mary’s.  While riding in a Volkswagen or on a forklift into church woke people up, the double adaptation, fusing contemporary cinema and Broadway to the liturgy would blow their minds.  Once launched, it would be impossible to see where the show left off and the liturgy began.  TQ explained at length, “These weren’t gimmicks,” the liturgy committee planned the entire liturgy out.