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hello and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco, welcome to mosaic. i think we all know the word evangelizatio and evangelist and related words. we associate these with religious preaching and proselytizing. but back up int the root parts of this word and it looks less narrow and focused. the angel part of it indicates messenger or message and little -- is a greek particle with letters , a tiny particle with a large meeting that means good. or to address, helpful, welcome. evangelist a a person bringing a welcomed message, glad tidings of good news, useful information. thos are only preachers who evangelize in that sense, not a all that our guest is a literary scholar, theologian an teacher who will discuss with us how makers of art and literature , fiction, film, poetry are also bringing us goo news and revealing to us truth

that can help us live wisely an well. yes, that is, we know ho to read their books and watch their films. now how do we watch and read even the product of our secular culture? as to grow in wisdom and faith and grace. day with us as we talk with dr. margaret . about fiction, film and faith around us and depth of rich , human insight that can be found in th best of the art.

hello and welcome to mosaic meet our guest today, dr. margaret turek. now you are 18 sure, professor of dan matics at the st. patrick's seminary you have taught also at the university of dallas. you have an ma in systematic theology and a doctoral degree from th university of days in theology as well. you are a learned scholar, and experienced teacher, you are a writer, i know all of that. what you want to talk to us about today, is evangelization and film and art we know what evangelization is

as a catholic outreach to peopl about faith. we do film and literary arts come into that ta >> i would like to suggest that the serious screenplay writer and movie director and novelist, fiction writer, that they are all in the business of revelation. and by that, i mea the serious screenplay writer and maybe direct to , they appl their imagination and their talents to the task of bringin others to see more than action-packed expenses like ca chases and to see more than beautiful costumes and breathtaking scenery. the serious screenplay writer, movie director, writer of fiction, has as his or her primary aim, to ring others to

see. to see a vision of life, a vision of life . i'm mindful of what joseph conrad had said. joseph conrad is a novelist, a you know. perhaps his best-known work is the novel , heart of darkness that inspired the movie apocalypse now . joseph conrad, he summed up his task in this way. he said, my task is to bring you to feel . and above all, to make you see to see the meaning of life . he goes on. he says, my stories are concerned with nothing less than the whole point of living the whole point of living . >> that is serious art. >> that is serious. the serious

screenplay writer, the serious novelist , they are intent upon intensifying our capacity to feel, but to feel what it is w truly hunger for, thirst for her. what it is we long for now, hope for. they are intent upon deepening our capacity to see what makes life worth living. to see what makes life fully human. and leads to authentic happiness. >> now that is interesting in that i have mentioned the word evangelize and evangelization, and we think of it as giving a religious message to someone that they can receptor or rejec . but you are talking about whether conrad is catholic or not or whether any artist is, a serious deep and human remain artist is trying to get us to see , trying to get us to feel. in other words, not to adopt a

position about something . mayb not even to assent to metaphysics he is selling. but to see, truly and to feel, truly. >> almost to intensify their experience of being human. >> which seems paradoxical to me. being human is such an intense experience already. we tended to defend ourselves, right? we defend ourselves against, i think, we developed a little bit of crust, a little shell. what is the artist bringing us out of the shell, taking the scales of our eyes but but absolutely. referring back to conrad, the task is to make you feel. to make you see. at an intensity and to adapt a never before. flannery o'connor, as well, catholic fiction writer. >> american writer, active in the mid-20th century, a famous

catholic. >> i know that you know of her works quite well, john. she wil admit her method, her literary method often involves this kind of shock tactic. she has to shock her readers to come to a spiritual awakening . to see th human condition , especially in its contemporary setting. as never before. >> yeah. >> we think we see, we think we feel. but we are, are riddled with so many blind spots. we ar hampered by so much spiritual blindness. >> let's talk about that, our contemporary situation which dates back to flannery o'connor this endless media available , movies, there's videos, there's books, every kind of mode we are discussing here. there's so much of it we may have to guar ourselves against it. but what is the challenge to the makers of these products, to in this

age of ours, what is missing? i seems to me that the structure of christianity, as the narrative of our world, has sunk in importance, yeah? >> yes, yes. so i'm sorry, john, you want me to address th challenge that is based ? >> yeah. >> you are saying the christian artist, the christian writer of fiction, the christian green play writer, but also, his or her readership and audience. again, if i might , i have requested the wisdom of flannery o'connor and rely on her experience. sheba mount the fact that today, the world is going through something like a dark night of the soul. the world, it's an increasingly secular condition, is losing its capacity to sea. to see

the presence of god , the stirrings of grace. as well a conversion experiences. >> hold that thought, and we will take a brief break. we wil be back again shortly with our guest, dr. margaret turek to talk about faith, fiction and film.

hello and welcome back. we are talking with dr. margaret turek about evangelizing. and that is, not only preaching but -- the christian method, but seeing the christian truth and finding it, in unexpected ways in which to see it. you mentioned flannery o'connor,

and her encapsulation of her vocation as a writer was -- >> she had said at one point, the primary gift that she needed as a catholic writer, wa the gift of prophetic vision. noticed that his vision, a capacity to sea. entity prophetically by which she meant, not the capacity to read the future. at the capacity to see what is hidden. and again, for her, it is primarily the hidden presence of god, our god is a manual, our god is with us but in our increasingly secula age, god is less and less visible. more easily forgettable. so god is becomin increasingly hidden and what she needs to do, she says is to find ways in this secular culture to impregnate her

stories with the presence of god. often, the presence of god is best seen or recognized by the negative pointers that she embeds in her texts. she forces you to face the seeming absence of god , the seeming boyd , this desert experience of our contemporary and secular culture . excuse me. >> the experience meaning ther is not nourishment for the soul available and we are talking about film and fiction and so o and there's lot of escapist literature, lots of autoerotic literature and importance, a lot of car crashes and various other things. but the serious art is perhaps having a struggle to find itself. you mentioned, you told me about , you do teach or hold seminars o watching film and sharpening

your vision to see what is in that film. you do that for all ages, think? >> i do. i've done it for high school students as well as teachers. i have done at the college level, at the graduate level, at the seminary, st. patrick's seminary, most recently. i've also gone out to parishes throughout the bay are and that given evening presentations, full days of retreat . a weekend, where i train the eye. to see god, to find god and recognize his patterns of relating to us. albeit in the dark. and to recognize also the stirrings of grace, the promptings of race. that god is always trying to lure us, to woo us back to himself. to see him with us, under any condition and since the current condition is most pervasively in the dark, we've got to develop a night vision. the capacity, this prophetic

vision. to see god in the dark to recognize stirrings of grace opportunities for and conversion in the shadows, in the twilight. the faith limited vision to see in the dark. >> i think it is develop -- difficult to develop humane sensibilities. the human race i a villain of peace these days. we are either accidents or we are sort of a virus on the planet, the health. where is the affirmation of my human nature and my soul, where canno be found? you mentioned, we tal about helms from here on out and this seems to be a vivid specialty of yours. you mentioned groundhog day. is that an examination of despairing world? >> yes. yes, now as i see and interpret groundhog day --

>> which everyone knows, a film from the '80s, bill murray is the same day over and over. >> over and over again. it star bill murray as phil connors and andy mcdonnell as his eventual love interest, rita. it is a story , a portrait that is about , the whole point of living. it is a wonderful illustration of conrad's point in film. that the story is about the whole point of living what makes life worth living. and as the movie opens, phil connors, the protagonist, believes he knows what makes hi life worth living . and as i view the movie, and there is a variety of ways in which you ca view it, i see phil initially, illustrating freudian psychology. the freudian theor of the ultimate motivating factor of human behavior. why

do we do what we do? what are we truly seeking? fright, is well known for the pleasure principle. but ultimately, what motivates us is the pleasure. we seek pleasure. and today more than ever, pleasure , sexual pleasure. so phil connors, he initially goes about his life seeking sexual pleasure and he does so quite winningly, we could say. but i is not enough. you watch his character, because according t the story, he has to live this day again and again. he is forced to live out and intensifying concentrated form , this theory of life. and he comes to realize soon enough, experientially, not by reading book, experientially, that the

pleasure principle is not enough. phil will choose to kill himself . he will choose to stop living rather than be forced, within this one theory it's not enough. the pleasure principle if not worthy of phil's humanity. that is what he shows us. >> he is better than that. let' pause that .. we will take a break and come back soon for a final segment of this program and talk about the movie gravit with dr. margaret turek.

hello and welcome back to mosaic. dr. margaret turek, a keen insight into films and a sense for where the serious artist is revealing god to you whether the artist intends to o not. we've talked about this wonderful film from a few years ago, i think an oscar winner, gravity. a space movie. tell us about what you see there. >> the movie, at the surface level, it is a survival story. is about a woman who survived life-threatening accident in outer space. but the story is really about much more. it is really about the whole point of

living. the title gravity , in my mind, this is my interpretation. it alludes to gravitas, the weight, the depth the fullness. meaning the fullness of life. we need gravitas, meaningfulness , sufficient to prompt us , motivate us to say yes to our next breath. to say yes to a life that often is shrouded in darkness, that often confronts us with very tragic, very heartbreaking events. so this movie begins with a dark screen. the screen is black and these stark letters in white emerge. and it says basically, life in space is impossible. it's impossible. now, space i

a metaphor. outer space is a metaphor for interspace. what this woman, sandra bullock's character dr. ryan stone is living on earth , and the condition of her life on earth is impossible. it's impossible to affirm it, to endure it. in any meaningful way. and so, what the filmmakers do, is they show you what life in space is about. it is cold. it is stark. it is silent. there is no communication. there is no air. to carry sound. so it is a state of isolation, silence, noncommunication, darkness, coldness and so forth. will tha is really the state of dr. rya stone's life on earth. but in space, she is now living this

out in a way that is magnified for us, dramatically. and what the story brings us, what her story, as she endeavors to survive in artist base, the themes that become prominent are themes such as the importance of being tethered , the importance of being in communion with others. we learned that on earth, she lost her daughter , her 4-year-old daughter died a very tragic accidental death. and from tha moment on, dr. ryan stone lived a life disconnected, disengaged, disoriented. every day she says she's wake up, sh would go to work and just drive. it was purple lewis, aimless, dark and cold. in

outer space, she finds herself following this accident adrift aimless. >> her life is at risk, yes. >> and remember, time and again she's trying to communicate wit houston. saying houston, i am in the blind, i am in the blind i am running out of air and i a adrift. and it describes her life on earth. >> and that is a wonderful moment, to stop there because she's now in dante's position in the midst of life, i found myself in the dark , i have los my way. i don't think we can talk more about gravity but you recommend everybody watched. >> absolutely. and look for the cues. this homemaker is quite deliberate in bringing you to see that she's going through journey in the dark , toward conversion from spiritual blindness to spiritual insight

and that everything depends on her discovery of the importance of being tethered. not only to her comrade, matt kowalski, bu she discovers that she remains tethered to her daughter in th afterlife and it is all because she's ultimately and always tethered to god. she will speak about the importance of prayer and how no one taught her how t pray. no one trained her in thi original and fundamental way o being tethered to our god. who provides our tethers with each other. this communion of love and life that makes this life worth living, and endures into the afterlife. >> margaret, we have about 60 seconds left and i know that yo told me that when you have developed your vision in variou ways and have the identity, yo should return over and over again to the scriptures. >> ultimately to scripture .

>> you can read those better an better. >> yes. the best authors of novels and poetry , and of screenplays, are those who hav learned something from sacred scripture. salvation history, the human drama as per trade there as never before. and they will embed their works of art with clues that lead you to se and experience the poignancy of these moments because you recognize their allusions to th biblical meanings. >> developing your vision for art can blow the dust off the old scriptures and you go back with renewed interest impossibility. >> yes. >> i want to thank dr. margare turek for coming up and spendin time with us and we urge you to see the movie gravity and to read everything and see everything you encounter in the arts, with a discerning eye . and i for revelation that will serve you well. thanks for bein

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