The rule: never confect a real sacrament for a scene
The sacraments are real acts of Christ in his Church. They are not pictures of grace; they give it. So a production never brings one about as a performance, and never allows one to happen by accident.
- No valid consecration. No one says the words of consecration over bread and wine with the intention of consecrating them. Use an unconsecrated host. If a real priest plays the celebrant, he does not intend to consecrate, and most will prefer to alter the words or have you cut before the words of institution and pick up after. Agree with him in advance what he will say on camera.
- No real absolution. An actor playing a priest cannot absolve, and a real priest playing a priest must not. The scene is a fiction; there is no penitent and no confession. Even so, many priests will not say the full formula over an actor, and you should respect that. Cut around it or alter it.
- No real marriage vows. Do not have a man and a woman who could actually marry each other exchange full vows before a real priest as a scene. Consent given as a performance is not matrimonial consent, but nobody should have to explain that to a tribunal. Alter the words or cut around the exchange.
- Baptism is the one to watch. Any person can baptize. Pouring water on someone's head while saying the Trinitarian formula with the intention of baptizing does the thing. Use a doll, or a child who is already baptized, and alter or cut the formula. Do not let a scene become the only baptism someone ever receives.
For confirmation, anointing of the sick and ordination the minister must be a priest or bishop. With a real one in the role, the same rule applies: no intention, no full formula, and usually a cut.
Practical staging
- Unconsecrated hosts. Buy them from a supplier of altar breads, or borrow a small number from a parish with the pastor's permission. They are not consecrated. Handle them with respect anyway: no throwing, no crushing for a laugh, none on the floor. The audience sees a Host, and so does your crew.
- Never a consecrated Host. Nothing from a tabernacle is ever used on a set. Obvious, and worth saying in every briefing. Any wine or grape juice will do for the chalice.
- Vestments and vessels. Rent vestments from a theatrical costumer, or borrow from a parish sacristy with the pastor's permission and return them cleaned. Tell him what the scene is. A chalice blessed for the altar should stay at the altar; church-goods suppliers sell unblessed replicas.
- A real priest may play a priest. He must not confect. He should ask his own superior first, and the production should assume his diocese may want to know.
- The tabernacle. In a church where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, the lit sanctuary lamp means Christ is present. Behave as if that were true: genuflect or bow, keep crew voices down, and never put coffee, gear or a bag on the altar. Ask the pastor whether he will move the Blessed Sacrament to a chapel for the shoot. Many will.
Getting the details right
Catholic audiences notice. A purple vestment in July is the sacrament-scene equivalent of a boom in the shot. Find a consultant: a priest, a seminarian, a trained sacristan, or the diocesan office of worship. Have that person on set for the scene, not only at the script stage.
- Rubrics. Where the priest stands, how he holds his hands, when he bows and kisses the altar, when the bells ring, where the servers are.
- Colors by season. Green in Ordinary Time, violet in Advent and Lent, white for Christmas, Easter and many feasts, red for Pentecost and for martyrs, rose on two Sundays a year. Set the date of your scene and match the color to it.
- The words of absolution. The formula is fixed and the English text has been revised in recent years. Get the current approved wording from your consultant. Do not copy it from an older film or from memory. "I forgive you" is not it.
- The order of Mass. Which parts happen at the chair, the ambo and the altar, and in what sequence. And which Mass: a film set before the late 1960s shows a different rite, in Latin. Period accuracy applies to liturgy as much as to cars.
- The altar. A cloth, candles, a crucifix, the corporal, the chalice, the missal on its stand. The Lectionary lives at the ambo, not on the altar. And Catholic extras who know when to kneel save an hour of direction; ask a parish.
Filming in a real church
- Permission. Always from the pastor, and in many dioceses also from the chancery or the communications office, especially for a film with a commercial release. Get it in writing. Give a synopsis and the specific scenes you will shoot there.
- No surprises. If a scene set in the church shows sacrilege, violence or a priest behaving badly, say so before you ask. It may be a no. It may be a yes with conditions. A pastor who learns what the scene was from the trailer will make sure no production shoots in that diocese again.
- Liturgy comes first. No filming during Mass, confessions, adoration, a wedding or a funeral, and nothing that intrudes on them, unless the pastor has explicitly allowed it. Funerals are scheduled at short notice. Build slack for them.
- The sanctuary. The altar is consecrated. No one stands on it, sits on it or rests equipment on it. Ask before moving anything in the sanctuary, and the tabernacle is never touched by the crew.
- Insurance and restoration. A certificate of insurance naming the parish, a location fee or a donation, and the space returned as you found it. Photograph everything before the first case comes in. The sacristan is your best friend on the day; do what he or she asks.
Parishes, abbeys and schools that have said they welcome crews are listed under Locations.
Common mistakes
- The stole worn over the chasuble instead of under it.
- The wrong liturgical color for the season.
- A cross with no figure of Christ on it over a Catholic altar. Catholic churches have a crucifix.
- A confession in which the priest asks the penitent's name.
- Communion handed out like a cracker, chewed on camera, or dropped for effect.
- The communicant not answering "Amen."
- The Sign of the Cross made right shoulder first. In the Latin rite it is forehead, chest, left, right.
- Nobody genuflecting when they pass the tabernacle.
- A rosary worn as a necklace by a devout character.
- A modern Mass in a film set in 1950.