FIFTY AND ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO
In retrospect: from the Cathedral Chronicle Christ – A Box-office Success
A Glimpse of Catholic Canada
It is quite remarkable that after the ‘death of God,’ a musical celebrating Christ should be played in the West End of secularised London, and give every indication that its success will equal that of the two most successful current West End musicals: Hair and The Canterbury Tales. Godspell often echoes Hair in its idiom, but avoids its banality. In its joie de vivre and sheer gaiety it is evocative of The Canterbury Tales, but hardly possesses the unity of coherence of the Tales nor the sophistication that lies behind so much of Chaucer’s material. Indeed, at times, Godspell’s simplicity is child-like and brings to mind a script written for a children’s drama. Yet, it yields nothing to Hair or The Canterbury Tales in its acting, singing or choreography. The lyrics are devotional in content – factors which have not prevented their ‘making the charts.’ Above all, it is memorable for its infectious gaiety and good humour which creates a marvellous sense of unity amongst audience and cast which is symbolised in the sharing of wine on the stage during the interval.
We landed under a cloudless sky and to the rhythm of the early morning peal of bells. It was a week-day and no holiday, and yet, when we had managed to scramble through the Customs and dash into the first available church, we found a remarkably large congregation attending Mass. This, of course, is as it should be, but for a newcomer it stamps a country as Catholic when business men and women, with portfolios and dispatch cases, are seen crowding in for Low Mass on a day which is neither a Feast of Obligation nor of Devotion. Montreal is rich in churches, and it does not take very long to discover them. One hardly turns a street corner without coming up against a fine Catholic edifice. On the other hand, a Protestant temple advertised for sale is by no means an infrequent sight in this populous city.
Central Questions Unasked
The principal monument is Notre Dame Church, erected little more than a century ago, close to the site of the first chapel built by the French colonists in 1642, which served as parish church for the early settlers on the island of ‘Mont Royal’. The beauty and vastness of this glorious basilica is said to be unsurpassed by any other in North America. The architect was an Irish Protestant, James O’Donnell, whose zeal for the beauty of the House of God finally won for him the light of the true faith. He died a Catholic and was buried in the crypt of the church.
While it purports to be a musical based on the St Matthew’s Gospel, it would be more accurate to describe it as a dramatisation of episodes from the Gospel. Its most serious defect is a lack of unity. For instance, while the crucifixion is splendidly dramatised and the carrying off of the dead Christ to the sounds of ‘Long live God’ is as moving as it is ambivalent, nevertheless, the whole episode is inexplicable in the context. There is hardly a hint in the earlier section of the play of the root of the catastrophe. Compared to Jesus Christ, Superstar, Godspell lacks psychological insight; there is nothing in it comparable to the song of Mary Magdalene in Superstar. In general, its characterisation is somewhat thin and the probing note of Superstar: ‘Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,/Who are You? What have you sacrificed?’ is never heard. In fact, the central character is so poorly delineated that the power of the Gospel proclamation – ‘Jesus is the Christ’ – tends to be lost.
Hardly less impressive is the new Cathedral of St James, with its great frontage, and its almost incessant bell reminding the busy city that all work and no prayer does not lead very far. Night prayers said from the pulpit every evening at 7.30pm are largely attended, and it is pleasing to note that much is rendered by the people as well as by the priest in Latin. But what struck us in particular in the many churches of Montreal which we visited was the fervent devotion of the faithful to St Peter. His statue is greatly in evidence, and there is always someone kneeling at its feet. Merely to kiss the image and gain an indulgence thereby does not appear to satisfy the Montrealer who will spend several minutes in prayer before the figure of the first Pope. There is a lesson to be learnt from the Canadian Catholics who cling so tenaciously to St Peter and to that for which he stands. Ubi Petrus, ibi Ecclesia has almost become a trite saying, but throughout Catholic Canada we have been told there is a deep devotion to the Papacy, and is not this the explanation of the rapid strides which the Church is making in this great Dominion?
from the February 1972 Westminster Cathedral Journal
from the February 1922 Westminster Cathedral Chronicle
FEBRUARY 2022
Oremus
21
