March 15, 2009 – Cleveland, Ohio
Today I performed my one-man Hilaire Belloc show at a parish in Akron. This appeared to be a fairly typical suburban parish, albeit one with a solid priest – which means that, except for a few Chestertonians and literature buffs in the audience, no one really knew who Belloc was, and no one was prepared for the onslaught that Old Thunder brings with him. I was at least partially prepared to be crucified.
When we perform our “Journey of St. Paul” show, I take delight in quoting Paul as saying, “… submitting yourselves one to another in the Fear of God!” since that phrase “Fear of God” is probably never uttered in the suburbs anymore, the one place where the Fear of God is most lacking, and where that virtue most needs to be cultivated.
But Belloc is even more confrontational than Paul. Much of my show is a lecture culled from “The Great Heresies”, Belloc’s prophetic look at the Church’s past and the Church’s future. He is uncompromising on the dangers of heresy, especially Islam, Puritanism, Protestantism, and Modernism. This part of my show is about as far from a typical modern homily as you can get – and yet, much to my surprise, people seemed to like it. The show, meaning Mr. Belloc, was very well received.
Many of the audience members even drove a half hour toward Cleveland to see our “Journey of St. Paul” show later the same day. One woman came up to us after “St. Paul” with tears in her eyes, telling us how much the show meant to her. “Paul is my favorite,” she said. “And to see him and his life right there in front of me, and to hear his words spoken like that …” and she began to tear up.
So, with all my complaining in these posts (see below), I am not conveying the most astonishing thing about our attempts to revive Catholic culture through drama. It’s working! I mean, we might not make inroads on the culture in general, which shows all signs of becoming more and more depraved; but we have discovered that even ordinary Catholics – in the suburbs, no less – have a real hunger for true spiritual food, especially when presented in an engaging and dramatic way.
May God continue to bless this surprising form of evangelization! Hilaire Belloc and St. Paul the Apostle, pray for us! … and blog readers, too.
Dear Kevin, My family and I attended “Old Thunder” in Akron this past Sunday. Having seen you on EWTN many times, we were happy to finally attend one of your live performances. We were very impressed with your performance–how you could remember so much dialogue and deliver it with such force and timing–and humor too. We appreciated your selection of material from Belloc’s writings–topics that showed not only his intellect and faith but his prophetic insight as well. (And yes, we have a “strong” priest here. We are thankful to our Lord and to our Bishop for assigning him to our parish.)