Rémy Rougeau

Tuesday of last week, CBS News Sunday Morning was here. Brian Healy and his crew traveled out from Washington, D.C., after reading my novel (just out) titled All We Know of Heaven. Brian explained how he looks at nearly 500 books a year but does segments on perhaps three. When someone at CBS suggested my book, he objected. "I've already done stories on monasteries," he said. But after reading the novel, he had to come out.

PRINTDISCUSSE-MAILRSSRECOMMEND...SINGLE PAGE

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

The crew included cameraman Izzy Bleckman and sound engineer Dan Gianneschi. They were the nicest people anyone could hope to work with. The monks took to them straightaway. No uneasy feelings about media intrusion; the camera was more or less forgotten.

First thing to be filmed was the Mass, and I worried because we're temporarily squeezed into St. Joseph's chapel while the big abbey church is being renovated. The tangle and bustle of filming, I thought, might bring the sacred liturgy to a standstill. But Brian, Izzy, and Dan were so discreet they became nearly invisible.

Next to be filmed was the evening meal. We ate in silence while Brother Alban read from Tuesdays With Morrie. When they finished, the crew had a quick bite, and I ushered them into the gutted abbey church to film the monastic schola singing Gregorian chant. Our big vaulted Romanesque church was built on the open prairie back in 1906 and hasn't been rewired or repaired since those days. Pews and choir stalls are out. A new cement floor has been laid. Reverberation is perhaps a little too much for speaking purposes, but it's wonderful for languid Gregorian chant with its free rhythm.

After that, the CBS crew filmed Brother Llewellyn in the pottery studio, Brother Anthony in the laundry, Brother Louie on the farm, Brother Jacob seeding oats in the field, Brother Pierre seeding potatoes in the garden, Brother Bertrand in the tailor shop, and Novice Joseph and Postulant Rick raking the lawn. Dan Gianneschi followed Izzy Bleckman everywhere with a boom. They never seemed bored. In fact, Izzy climbed right into the tractor cab with Jacob, then onto the potato seeder with Pierre. Out in the apiary, he moved very close to beehives. Down on the farm he showed no fear of big cows protecting their calves. He was fascinated by everything.

Brian interviewed the abbot, along with several of the monks, and then myself. Charles Osgood will be spliced into these intimate conversations, making it appear as though he, instead of Brian, had been here. Various "cutaways" were also done so that after editing, the segment will look smooth, for all the world like it had been filmed in sequence. Makes me realize how television is really an illusion!

I was not particularly pleased with my interview; I don't remember having uttered a single coherent line. The questions were too difficult. But the pressure was off me, being that Brian interviewed other monks. I can count on them being articulate and genuine.

Cameras can be very disturbing in a quiet life such as ours. But the sincere kindness with which the monks received CBS made me realize, once again, how my monastic community is a grace. My book is about a monastery. Not about me. Perhaps that's why Brian wanted to come out here: to see monks, working together. He was pleased with what he got, I could tell.

Next Tuesday, Doreen Carvajal of The New York Times will be here. No cameras this time, but probably the same difficult questions: Why are there monks in the world? (I don't know! I guess because there always seem to be men who want to be monks.); Are all monks priests? (No.); Are all monks celibate? (Yes. Although, come to think of it, I don't know enough about Hindu or Zen monks to speak for them.)

PRINTE-MAILRECOMMEND...RSS

FacebookMySpace Mixx Digg Reddit del.icio.us Furl Ma.gnolia SphereStumbleUponCLOSE

SPONSORED CONTENT