24x18 - The Mission: Part 1 - Beginnings

May 30, 2010

Three Nigerian Catholic priests are sent to save Tasmania’s struggling church. But will the dwindling congregations and the resistance of the local clergy prove too hard a cross to bear? In episode 1, Beginnings, Fathers Christopher, Felix and Kene arrive in Tasmania on its coldest winter’s day. It’s a whirlwind of ‘enculturation’ Tassie style as they encounter Tasmanian Devils, colonial villages and snowfields. There’s the even colder reality of elderly congregations in largely empty churches and an aging local priesthood. Fr Kene goes to Launceston where the harsh reality and loneliness of being an African in Australia starts to bite. Fr Felix, sent to Tasmania’s isolated West Coast, struggles with a church culture vastly different to his own. Fr Christopher stays in Hobart’s Cathedral Parish, where it’s clear his mentor doesn’t believe importing priests is the solution to Tasmania’s clerical crisis.