January 23, 2012
It is a story of soul searching, self-exploration and American faith. It is the story of Father Isaac Thomas Hecker, Servant of God and founder of the Paulist Fathers. It is a story that almost demands to be shared, with film being the perfect venue.
Rev. Mr. Tom Gibbons, a Paulist student, was working on another project and realized a documentary on Father Hecker was not only doable, but necessary.
“Being that the community didn’t really have a documentary with which it could offer a brief synopsis of Hecker’s life, I also saw it as an unmet need,” said Rev. Mr. Gibbons, who premiered Hecker: The Journey of an American Seeker Jan. 18 during Paulist Charism Night at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C.
The documentary takes viewers through Father Hecker’s life – from his birth as the son of German immigrants living in Manhattan and his search for spiritual fulfillment to his adult baptism into the Catholic Church and ordination as a Catholic priest. Much explored is Hecker’s time spent at Brook Farm and Fruitlands with the likes of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott and other Transcendentalists.
Nancy Nugent, a 2009 graduate of the Union, said it is important to share such powerful stories of faith, especially stories that involve conversion.
“It is interesting to explore these stories and to see that this is how the church moves and grows,” she said. “It was a great film.”
Rev. Mr. Gibbons said he began “picking” at the documentary project in 2008. The film got its big start when Rev. Mr. Gibbons took an independent study course in order to do research in the spring of 2011. That summer, Rev. Mr. Gibbons filmed interviews and other footage in Washington, D.C, New York City, Boston and Concord, Mass.
“While I was in New York, Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral was good enough to let me do some shooting of their church where Hecker was baptized,” said Rev. Mr. Gibbons. “It was fun filming in the same location where The Godfather was filmed 40 years ago!
Because of the time period and admiration for his work, Rev. Mr. Gibbons created a Ken Burns-style documentary.”
“I thought that approach would work the best,” he said. “My main focus during this time was that I wanted to make an American film about a Catholic, not a Catholic film about an American.
“I wanted to make a film that someone who was interested in the Catholic Church could appreciate, someone who was interested in American literature could appreciate, and someone who was interested in history could appreciate. I wanted to tell the story of a person’s spiritual conversion in a way that would be accessible to as many people as possible,” Rev. Mr. Gibbons concluded.
As the film covers one aspect of Father Hecker’s life – his religious conversion – a sequel may well be in the works.
“The rest of [Father Hecker’s] life is just as interesting, especially when considering the tensions between the Catholic Church and liberal democracies during that time period,” Rev. Mr. Gibbons said. “What I would like to do eventually is expand the film to cover these other times in his life.”