I don’t think I ever mentioned here, or provided a link to, the excellent article written by John Meagher of the Irish Independent when he interviewed me last October about my journey from belief to unbelief. It was published the date that the RTE documentary From Belief to Unbelief was first broadcast. You can read John’s article for free by clicking here. And you can listen to the documentary for free by clicking here.
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Tag Archives: Marist Fathers
Overwhelming feedback from my RTE documentary
I’ve been overwhelmed by the feedback to my documentary From Belief to Unbelief. Here, in no particular order, is an arbitrary selection of just some of the feedback. Sorry if I haven’t included yours hear. I just wanted to give a flavour.
- ‘Just listened to documentary. I was knocked out by it. I was shaken when it was over. It was a powerful piece of work, no blame, no shame, just fact.’ – BF
- ‘A five star rating. It is brilliant’ – EM
- ‘I stumbled across your documentary on the RTE website. Your programme was very evocative, speaking of a time and a mental space that does not exist any more and looking back now can seem unreal. Yet it was a time that went a long way to shaping me (for good and bad) into what I am now.’ JG
- ‘I thought it was excellent. Very insightful. Interesting people, each in their own way. Couldn’t be critical of the choices made by anyone!’ NC
- ‘I was truly moved by your radio doc. Thank you. Taken back through time to people, places and even feelings almost forgotten. Actually not forgotten, just dormant! Great job!’ – DM
- ‘Wonderful!’ – TL
- ‘Excellent documentary’ – CC
- ‘Brought back many rich memories. Missed out on how much being a Marist enriched my life’ OC
- ‘a beautiful documentary, very honest – about yourselves and the Marists. Gentle without being ‘soft’’. ‘You should be very proud as it is exceptional work. Very thoughtful and non-threatening which I appreciate. Exceptional work I must say. Very moving.’ – AM
- ‘It gave me goose-bumps. It brought back so many memories – not of the priesthood obviously, but the rest – the atmosphere, the Salve Regina, the rules, timetables, the rituals, being told what to think – were all part of my boarding school experience so it might as well have been a novitiate.’ MO
- ‘I really liked it! I will forward it my friends, believers and unbelievers alike.’ – CD
- ‘It’s wonderful, so interesting, so seamlessly constructed and love the special effects. Presume you know it’s one of RTE’s most listened to?’ PO
Richard Dawkins Foundation promotes Joe Armstrong’s documentary
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science has promoted my documentary on its website, and provides a direct link to the RTE Radio 1 website where you can listen to the 40-minute audio story of how three guys who joined the Marist Fathers’ seminary in Dublin in 1980 transitioned through insight, personal crisis, realization and personal decision from devout belief to happy and contented unbelief.
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My documentary ‘From Belief to Unbelief’ now live online
Click here to listen to my documentary ‘From Belief to Unbelief’ which charts the story of the journey of three men – Declan Wynne, John O’Sullivan and myself, each of us former members of a Roman Catholic religious congregation – from religious belief to outgrowing those beliefs.
John Murray Show interviews Declan, John & Joe
To listen to Declan Wynne, John O’Sullivan and Joe Armstrong being interviewed on Irish national radio about our journey from belief to unbelief, click here.
‘From Belief to Unbelief’ documentary on RTE Radio 1, Sat. 13 October, 2012.
I’ve spent more than six months working, with Nicoline Greer from the Documentary on One team at RTE Radio 1, on making a 40-minute documentary called ‘From Belief to Unbelief’.
It charts the story of my journey from belief to unbelief, and also that of two fellow novices, John O’Sullivan and Declan Wynne, who entered the Marist Fathers’ seminary at Mount St Mary’s, Milltown, Dublin, in September 1980.
Of the twenty who entered that year, only three remain in religious life. I left after nine years. Declan after ordination, having spent thirteen years in the order. John is the most recent to leave: he was a member of the order for some thirty years.
We each speak of the insights, realisations and key events in our personal paths starting with our sense of a call to the priesthood and religious life; entering the seminary; our challenges, questions and crises; our deeply personal and painful decisions to leave religious life; and our contented lives today as unbelievers.
The documentary is not only the personal story of three men: our lives may be seen as a microcosm for the transformation taking place in Irish society in the last 20, 30 or even 50 years. In the early 1980s there were some 40 seminarians in the Marist Fathers’ seminary in Ireland alone. Nowadays, there are no Irish seminarians in the order and Mount Saint Mary’s is no longer a seminary. The chapel which once reverberated to the sound of many young vibrant seminarians now lies silent and is rarely used. As recently as the early 1980s, the houses of the Marist Fathers in Ireland boasted full communities of priests, compared to the small and aging communities remaining today.
Thirty-two years after entering the order, I revisit the former seminary in the company of Father Denis Green SM, now in his nineties, who used to be my spiritual director.
Documentary maker: Joe Armstrong.
Production supervision by Nicoline Greer.
‘From Belief to Unbelief’ is scheduled for broadcast in the Documentary on One slot on RTE Radio One, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, 13 October. It will be repeated the following evening at 7 p.m. From broadcast date it can also be listened to online or downloaded from www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone as an mp3 or Podcast. If it isn’t on the front page of that link, simply search for ‘From Belief to Unbelief’ in the RTE Radio One, Documentary on One search bar, or find it under the ‘Life’ category.