by Lionel Bascom — December 21st, 2007 — 1 comment
A blog called “The Deacon’s Bench” is an unlikely place to look for me but when I stumbled on this place “where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the world,” it delivered me to that wonderful place where you have no choice but to think your way to some other place that is uniquely your own.
It will provoke you too.
“In God’s Name”: seeking Him and filming the quest
In early 2002, I got a phone call from CBS News executive producer Susan Zirinsky, asking me if I would be interested in helping her with a project she was trying to throw together in just a few weeks. I’ve known Susan for a long time — she was the inspiration for the Holly Hunter character in “Broadcast News”, but I knew her as just plain “Z,” a legendary and tireless news producer who had seemingly been everywhere with everyone, twice. I worked for her in the early ’80s when I was a lowly production secretary in the CBS News Washington bureau, and had later worked for her as the writer for “48 Hours.” It’s impossible to say “No” to Z. So I said “Sure.”
The project was the documentary “9/11″ — to my mind, the definitive account of what happened on that awful day. It was created by two French brothers, Jules and Gideon Naudet, who were working with a young fireman named James Hanlon (seen with them on the left) to document life at a New York City firehouse when the planes struck the World Trade Center. The Naudets followed the firefighters into the buildings, and captured the only footage from inside the towers after the attack. CBS hired Robert DeNiro to introduce and act as host for the film — that’s where I came in, to write his material — and the resulting two-hour film was shown on CBS without commercial interruption on the six-month anniversary of the attacks: March 11, 2002.
The Naudets searched for another project after that, and finally, this Sunday, they will premiere their followup: “In God’s Name,” also on CBS, also executive produced by Zirinsky. The Naudets spoke about the new film to Bill McGarvey of Busted Halo:
On the morning of September 11, 2001 French filmmakers Jules and Gedeon Naudet—who had been working for three months on a documentary on firemen—found themselves filming inside the World Trade Towers as they collapsed. The events they captured on film that morning became the basis for their Emmy and Peabody Award winning documentary 9/11. According to Jules, their first-hand experience of that tragedy became the “first step in a journey that would take us around the world searching for answers to the meaning of life.”
That journey is chronicled in In God’s Name, which is the Naudets’ first film since 9/11. In God’s Name (Sunday, December 23, CBS, 9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) follows the personal lives and beliefs of 12 diverse religious leaders from around the globe who represent more than four billion faithful.”
11:49 PM in Uncategorized, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, Related Stories, Freedom Tower News, Politics
Yesterday morning, I had to travel no further than New Fairfield, CT, and step into St. Edward the Confessor Roman Catholic Church to discover the meaning of life.
Singing at the funeral Mass for a wonderful 53 year old woman, mother and overall kind soul named Debbie Krompinger, I was deeply moved by the vision before me: a church, filled to capacity with individuals whom this one woman gently touched during her stay here on this planet. Debbie died unexpectantly on Dec. 16, leaving her husband, 5 children, two grandchildren, other family members and friends in shock that her gentle, nurturing and wise self will not be sharing this Christmas with us, a holiday she loved to celebrate. Although she is not here in person, her spirit will remain with all of us who knew her.
Debbie’s devotion to her role as mother, homemaker and friend illustrates that we each need to have faith in our goodness and talent, using those gifts for one sole purpose: to propel humankind forward in the image and likeness of God.
Occasionally, we become distracted by others who plant seeds of doubt in our minds. Oh please, “lead us not into temptation…” Our duty is to ignore the ignorance that tempts us away from our goodness and to focus on fulfilling the goals for which our unique nature has been created. Our strength rests on the faith that we have in God, who directs us according to His time frame, not ours, always moving us forward if we set ourselves in a position to listen and then bravely release our energies into the world, utilizing the powerful force that emanates from our hearts. No matter how torn or broken those hearts may be, each individual carries the rations needed to set goals and eventually reach fulfillment.
I end this comment with a segment of the song, “Old Irish Blessing” that we sang as a farewell to Debbie:
May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.
Jeanne · December 22nd, 2007 at 10:00 pm