A great big tip of Godsbody’s straw hat to the Korrektiv, who dug up this little gem about a bunch of guys who signed on for a British reality-TV show set in a Benedictine Monastery.
“Although participants were not required to vote each other out, they faced the challenge of living together in a community and following a disciplined regime of work and prayer. By the end, the atheist, Tony Burke, 29, became a believer and gave up his job producing trailers for a sex chat line after having what he described as a ‘religious experience.'”
If he ends up with a monastic vocation, maybe they’ll let him man the guesthouse phone as penance.
It was a great series, that one. The monks came across as such wonderful men. Much better than ‘The Convent’ recently screened by the BBC, where all the women seemed like hysterical whingers, but, once again, the religious came across as fantastic representatives of the faith. Made me almost wish …
Anyway, Tony (the former chat line worker) was one of those that took the whole process most seriously, I think because he had come to see his former life as futile. The summing-up episode was particularly interesting because of the obvious change in his life and his new found focus.
A rare piece of inspirational ‘Catholic’ programme in the cultural wasteland that is modern Britain!
Emily x