Following a sell-out premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival earlier this year and at the recent Galway Film Fleadh, feature-length documentary The Judas Iscariot Lunch will be broadcast on RTÉ 1 this evening, Monday July 18th at 9.35 pm.
Directed by Teresa O’Grady-Peyton and produced by TJ O’Grady-Peyton, the film tells the story of former priests who have left the priesthood. These men regularly meet up to discuss their faith and lives and to become part of a community after they were no longer considered part of the community of the Church. Named by the Pope at the time as ‘Judas Iscariots’, but considering themselves as pioneers, they explore the reasons that people entered the priesthood at the time, issues of celibacy and the lack of preparation for priests, scandals in the priesthood and why they might have occurred, and what happens next to those who decide to leave.
Thirteen Irish ex-priests speak candidly about how they came to be missionaries in East Asia, the Pacific and South America in the 1960’s and 70’s. Immersed in their new situations, these young idealists resonated and developed much broader ideas about God, their own humanity and needs, and about faiths, cultures and economies.
You can check out a trailer for The Judas Iscariot Lunch here. For a candid and refreshing look at one of the most complicated topics in Irish culture, make sure to tune in to RTÉ 1 tonight at 9.35.