"Catholicist"
An Exploration of Religious Identity
This film is a journey through my past being raised in the Catholic faith and where I am now at University. This idea of contested identity has always been a huge part of my life. I always took being Catholic for granted, it was always something that I just was because of my parents' wishes, but being at University and having the freedom to make my own choices I found myself relying on outside perspectives to further explore my own personal religious identity.
This film explores both my past and present by going back through the archives on my personal religious history and then speaking to my family and my housemates and how they view not just religion but Catholicism in the present time.
'this side of paradise'
"She had once been a Catholic, but discovering that priests were infinitely more attentive when she was in process of losing or regaining faith in Mother Church, she maintained an enchantingly wavering attitude."
— F. Scott Fizgerald
BEHIND THE TITLE
At first glance the title is confusing.
"CATHOLICIST"
I'm sure people will look at it and say "oh look there is Lucy's dyslexia showing up again".
However this weird word as a title is intentional.
I agonised over what to call this project with the name changing every few hours. It was only when in the last few days of filming I was speaking to my housemate Sophie on camera when she couldn't find the word she was looking for and said
"I mean, I don't think you are a preachy... catholicist?"
We all started laughing and I realised that the word encapsulated my Catholic faith as well as my housemate's lack of knowledge surrounding this huge part of my upbringing. And so, I decided not only to include the clip of Sophie saying it, but to name my whole film after that one phrase.
