The Seven Channels of Cultural Influence - THE PRODIGAL ALTAR BOY BLOG

THE PRODIGAL ALTAR BOY BLOG

180-DAY COUNTDOWN

T-179 DAYS AND COUNTING

Karen Everett Inner Circle Work:

• More administrative work for the Inner Circle website
• Inner Circle “Mastermind Call” 3-4PM PDT
• Contact with logo artist for Prodigal Altar Boy logo
• Inner Circle homework (module 1 of "Editing the Character-Driven Documentary) 

Music Practice:

• Stratocaster warm up
• “So What?”  Miles Davis
• Inversion Excursion work
• Cm7 – Bb/D – F# - G progression work

Body Work:

L.A. Fitness Workout - Legs

Single Leg Press - 8X8

Leg Press Calf Raise - 25X8

Hack Squat - 8X8

Leg Extension - 8X8

Treadmill work - 60/30 intervals for 20 minutes

The Seven Channels of Cultural Influence

TQ set out to change the Church by changing the people in the church.  When TQ set out on this quest, the available tools were crude compared to our (ahem) “connected” society.  Crude tools aside, TQ discovered something in the late 50’s/early 60’s that is being touted as “new” today.

In his book “The Next Christians,” Gabe Lyons writes at length about “The Seven Channels of Cultural Influence.”  Those channels are:

• Media
• Education
• Arts & Entertainment
• Business
• Government
• Social Sector
• Church

Of these channels, Lyons explains, “Most people fit into one or more of these channels. Those who aren't directly contributing to a particular one are likely

influenced by it. For instance, even if you don't work in the film

industry, the latest movie you saw probably affected your attitude and imagination. You may not be a politician, but the laws they make have a profound impact on your life, and so on.”

Gabe goes on to posit, “The spread of ideas-specifically, the Christian idea of

Restoration will happen best and most powerfully when every channel of culture is leveraged. Keeping restoration isolated just to the church channel will only further separate Christians from the rest of the world. It's one explanation given for why

parts of our culture have grown darker in recent decades. Christians separated and retreated, leaving a vacuum where others have spread their ideas instead. We left our posts.”

One thing I want to show with the documentary is TQ leveraged all seven channels of influence over the course of his ministry.  TQ understood and wanted others to understand the role of Christians in the world.  TQ used the theory of adaptation to co-opt and leverage Media as well as Arts and Entertainment to advance the liturgy.  His lifelong ministry of teaching, whether one-on-one, group teaching of books, and his administration of Catholic education at every parish he served speaks to the Education channel.  The Thrift Shop in Poquoson and his devotion to the sick show his dedication to the Social channel.  The demographics of his northern Virginia parishes, to include senior military and civilian workers populating the halls of the Pentagon, CIA, etc., show how TQ influenced the Government channel.  When you look at the quantity of productions TQ put on and the materials required, TQ would have absolute influence on local Business channel.  Finally as a pastor, TQ would have locked down the Church channel.

I leave you with this excerpt from Lyon’s book, which, while talking about the future of Christianity, in fact describes TQ’s game plan since the start of his ministry:

As a natural by-product of God's plan for his Kingdom, the

next Christians are being dispersed as restorers throughout all

channels of culture. They are carrying the message of Jesus­

bringing restoration, renewal, and healing; fighting injustice;

telling the truth; affirming goodness; and celebrating beauty ­

in their places of service. They play a key role in overcoming the

evil that otherwise overwhelms everything.

Stay tuned.

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 20^th (and 21^st) 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.

Read the article

The Prodigal Altar Boy Blog - Rev. Thomas J. Quinlan 23 April 1929 - 24 April 2012

Rev. Thomas J. Quinlan

23 April 1929 - 24 April 2012

Daniel 12:13

"As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance."

TQ passed away this morning.  Yesterday (23 April) was his  83rd  birthday.  The last time I spoke with TQ, he sounded hopeful, and lamented how he was not able to get around.  I still remember the graveside service for my grandmother, where he tied burial to our agrarian roots and the analogy of a seed planted.  The seed must die for the plant within to express its new existence.  He took that moment to remind us that the body that remains is but s shell, and that the spirit moves out into the universe, eternal.  He probably would have disagreed with the verse above, because he did not believe in bodies rising from the grave on judgment day, but in the spirit rising from the body, shooting out into the universe and to heaven. 

I finished the assembly edit of the documentary before he passed and TQ was excited about that.  Now it’s time to turn the assembly edit into the rough cut and from there to the eventual fine cut and locked picture.  When I was editing, I always visualized TQ seeing the finished film in a theater, reacting to each scene.  During the last few phone calls I had with TQ, he would always end the call exhorting, “Keep editing!”  I will, TQ, I will.

We can now fill in the date on the “Chock Full ‘O Nuts” can, and  put his ashes in the St. Kateri Tekakwitha columbarium.  Fly on, Blue Angel.