Dare to Believe aims to connect with all Catholics, whether committed, luke-warm, or lapsed, as well as other christians and non-christians alike to pose the question: What if it's all true?
Conceived as an episodic series, the first pilot episode explores the mystery of The Eucharist. The documentary format allowed the team to meet individuals in downtown Madison to find out their understanding, experience, and questions about the Eucharist.
I honestly don't know if I have a good answer for that... What would inspire me to go back to [the church]?
These man-on-the-street interviews were then shared with Bishop Donald Hying. This created a unique opportunity to watch him react realtime to some of the comments and questions raised by our interview subjects. Always the model of wisdom and charity, Bishop Hying then provided empathetic commentary on the state of the world and the general misconceptions and lack of understanding about the Eucharist, even within the church.
In order to give a visual representation of Christ’s model of discipleship, we also captured three different testimonies about conversion and the Eucharist and then invited the subjects to a campfire conversation with the Bishop.
This free flowing dialogue was meant to serve as an example of effective Christian fellowship and give encouragement to any viewers that might wonder how best to reach their loved ones who struggle with faith. It is through sharing testimony, encouraging one another, and even challenging when necessary that we walk with our fellow Christians wherever they may be on the journey.
At the close of the documentary, we returned to our skeptics to ask them to entertain the hypothetical question: What if it was true? Their responses are eye opening and frankly, some of the most hopeful signs we’ve see about the potential future of the church. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
If I was convinced that was I was ingesting was the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ, I think it would change a lot of the ways I think about tradition and the symbolism of the last supper.
