Priest Idol
Episode 2
It's January, and Father James is attempting to drum up business by offering blessings to new houses and cars. He performs all the christenings, weddings and funerals this unbelieving community demand of him. However none of this translates into any commitment or attendance at his services. Marketing experts Steve and Julian attend one Sunday and are bored. It needs 'more theatre', they say.
Problems of presentation
They are looking for a performance. Could the best preachers and teachers move easily into the theatre? Both have to deliver a complex message to captive audiences sitting on uncomfortable chairs – but there is more to it than presentation? Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu mesmerised their congregants, articulating their anger and frustration during times of great social unrest. Their example has been followed in Latin America and the Far East, where priests have challenged not just social injustice but repressive regimes – usually at great personal risk.
Lundwood, once a thriving mining community, has high unemployment. There is urban decay and cynicism but no revolution in the air, just karaoke. And their priest can't even sing. Is it his lack of charisma that is the problem? Dynamic fiery preachers may fill the pews but this can mask something more sinister. From the Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1978 through to the Waco siege in 1993 and mass suicides in Switzerland, France and Quebec, these magnetic but unbalanced individuals led their followers into the realms of insanity.
More than a makeover
Back in South Yorkshire, market research reveals much of what Steve and Julian already know. The church has no relevance to the lives of the community. For the marketing people it is just a question of re-branding: a corporate and interior makeover, complete with candles and soft furnishings.
Father David Nicholson, the previous vicar of St Mary Magdalene, and a traditionalist, is baffled and there are rumblings of discontent among the churchwardens. It is a common dilemma that arises throughout all religions and throughout the ages. Tradition versus change. It is not just the church font that needs to move.
