Cavalry and Leadership

I finished the Irish film Cavalry today and was imbued with a deep sense of its relevance for the Western church and leadership today. (Spoilers follow).

The film opens with our protagnist in a confessional. A man enters describes his sexual abuse at the hands of priests as a child and then states his intention to murder the “good priest” on the other side of the screen.

What follows are seven days where we see the priest’s struggles against the cynicism of the townsfolk. Generally, Fr. James remains a patient listener as adulterers, investment bankers, and atheists flaunt their sins. This Irish town has lost its faith even as all the townsfolk receive communion on Sunday.

Fr. James reaches his breaking point after his Church is burned (while the townsfolk jeer him), he falls off the wagon, his fellow priest departs, and his dog is murdered. He packs up his things and heads to the airport.

It is there that he is reminded of his Vocation. A runs into a lady whose husband had died in a tragic accident earlier in the film. She is taking his body back to his family in Italy. As one of the few non-cynical people, he (and we) encounter, her words cause him to pause and return. In discussing her grief, she states that she continues to go on, even through it.

Fr. James this returns to meet his fate and the film ends showing the need for the priest even amongst the cynical and abused.

It is this idea of confronting our suffering (as Catholic leaders) and maintaining our pathway forward that is key. Fr. James might not model firm adherence to doctrinal matters but he does model the necessity of listening, of prayer, and of patience.

Amidst the Church, politics, and even education, we encounter a great deal of cynicism. Our Institutional Faith has been hollowed out by moral, financial, and sexual deviancy, sin, and cowardice. Our nation is lead by a misogynistic and abusive conman. Our opposition party celebrates the ability to murder babies as the one enshrined right. Our teachers are underpaid and overtaxed, even as the family structure decays. Our Catholic schools are under enrolled, poorly financed, constrained to neighborhoods and buildings that don’t function anymore. The days seem dark.

And yet. There is hope. Jesus went through his time in the Garden, on trial, on the Way, on the Cross, and into death before Resurrecting. Much as Fr. James does in his own Cavalry, we must follow our call to be a light of hope and trust in the Lord. Our students, our nation, our Church need us; even if they act and say that they don’t.

The film ends with that sense of emptiness for Fr. James (and maybe even the Church he represents) is no longer there. We see each of the characters, in their vices, awaiting salvation. We see each of the locales from the film, devoid of life. Who will step up to bear his torch?