Page - 25 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

Religion and Communication Spaces | 25www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 23–30 one can escape), the religious space is in us, a space made up of institutional organisa- tions, rituals, beliefs (which one may not believe) and rules for behaviour (which one may not obey). We shall also see that we do not all have the same religious space and that it may consequently prove useful to our analysis to construct several religious spaces, depending on the religion under consideration and the cultural tradition of the place where communication is occurring. Catholics Come Home (2008) The first film sets out to promote the Catholic faith. It is quite long for an advert (two minutes) and divided into two acts, underlined by the commentary and music, and by a break in the sequence of pictures. The discursive mode is clearly dominant, the film taking the form of an illustrated speech. The voice-over is omnipresent, almost press- ing in its speedy delivery. It conveys the message the film aims to transport and makes for a consistent whole: without the commentary, we would not be able to connect up the images we are shown (which is not to say that the images are weak). The first part of the commentary consists of short sentences, all starting with the personal pronoun “we”. The film is quite openly a statement by a community in whose name it speaks. This community is described as a universal family: “Our family is made up every race, we are young and old, rich and poor, men and women, sin- ners and saints.” The last two terms in this list have a special status: not only do they encompass all the individuals cited in the preceding list, but they also qualify them, dividing them into two categories, with the terms setting them apart as belonging to a religious community. What follows confirms this implicit assumption: it points out the fields in which the community intervenes, with God’s help, fields which, in themselves, do not belong in the religious space: public health, charity work, educa- tion, science. One is struck by the explicitly self-congratulatory tone of these state- ments, which underline the scale of their impact (“We are the largest organization on the planet bringing relief and comfort [...] We educate more children than any other scholarly or religious institution”) and the historically innovative character (“We founded the college system”) of this community in the world. The film emphasises then the communitys part in defending life (as this claim coincides with a picture of a pregnant woman, it may be seen as condemning abortion), marriage and the family. Then it moves on to sentences showing how the community is deeply rooted in the world, in history and religious tradition (in particular the holy scriptures, with the Bible and the holy spirit presented as having served as guides for the past 2,000 years). Only at the end of this sequence is the reference of the deictic made explicit: “We are the Catholic church.” The second part follows directly the Catholic religious axis: it refers to sacraments, mass (celebrated for centuries, every hour and every day), Jesus Christ, Peter, the full lineage of popes who have assembled around them, in love and truth, Catholics and