This week I talked with Father James Martin & director Shannon Post about their documentary “Building a Bridge”. The documentary follows a priest on his mission to make the Catholic Church more accepting of our LGBTQ community despite loud opposition from both inside & outside the Church. The film tells the stories of people whose lives intersect in emotional & complicated ways with Father Martin’s journey as a voice for acceptance within the Church & the conflict between conservative & liberal Catholics over LGBTQ issues including Pope Francis. One of the highlights of the film is when Father Martin talks about how horrified he was by Catholic leaders’ silence in the wake of the Pulse Nightclub Massacre. He addresses this issue with a grieving Pulse mother Christine Leinonen whose son Dru was killed in the massacre. The film also follows Father Martin & the lives he has impacted including a family with three LGBTQ siblings & a college student trying to reconcile his gay & Catholic identities. Shannon co-directed & produced the film with Evan Mascagni a Catholic who was disenchanted by the Church but inspired by Father Martin’s message of building a bridge between the Church & our LGBTQ community that also resonated with Shannon as a queer person. The film came to the attention of Martin Scorsese who served as Executive Producer of “Building a Bridge” which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. "Building a Bridge" is now available on Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vimeo & YouTube. The film launches on AMC+ on June 21st & Sundance TV on June 26th. I talked to Father James & Shannon about what they hope to accomplish with this film & their spin on our LGBTQ issues. LISTEN
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