The Vocation of Father lived out in Robert Bolt's Play a Man for All Seasons

St. Thomas More is still today a much loved and admired saint by people of all beliefs. He is admired for being a virtuous man, a great statesman and the epitome of a family man. The atheist author, Robert Bolt, successfully portrayed St. Thomas More's struggle for the truth with King Hennery VIII in his play A Man For All Seasons. Bolt's presentation of the most critical moments in Moore's life demonstrates not only St. Thomas Moore the statesman, but also St. Thomas Moore the father. This paper aims to briefly outline what a Catholic Father is and explore Bolt's presentation of St. Thomas Moore as a Catholic father.

Bolt portrays St. Thomas More’s vocation as father, the head of the domestic church. In a world today that looks strikingly similar to the world of More’s day, this great saint as expressed by Bolt can be a work of encouragement. The play expresses a father who knows his role and lives out his vocation to the fullest.

“The family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.” (CCC 1666) Bolt understood that it is within this domestic church that “all members of the family exercise the priesthood of the baptized.”(CCC 1657) As a husband and father, More, lived out his vocation to the married life by looking after the physical and spiritual wellbeing of his family. The play demonstrates More as the head of his domestic church.

All those who are baptized are called to the threefold priestly office of priest, prophet, and king. “The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly. The faithful exercise their baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet, and king.” (CCC 1546) A father exercises his priestly role through leading his family in worship and desiring to pass on his love of the faith to his children. “In a very special way, parents share in the office of sanctifying "by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to the Christian education of their children." (CCC 892) He fulfills his role as prophet by teaching his children about the faith. “that is, the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life." (CCC  905) Just as important as his priestly and prophetic offices is his kingly office. A father fulfills his kingly office by cooperating with his pastor to work towards the salvation of the souls of his family. (CCC 910)

From the very beginning of the play Bolt presents More as exercising his priestly role. Thomas More is called for one night by Cardinal Woolsey and must leave his home quickly. Before leaving, however, he exercises his priestly office, leading his family in their night prayers. The playwright includes in the stage directions the note that the “The More family, as a matter of routine, put their hands together.” (Bolt 15) More, Margaret and Alice then pray “Dear Lord, give us rest tonight, or if we must be wakeful, cheerful. Careful only for our soul’s salvation. For Christ’s sake. Amen.” (Bolt 15) Bolt makes it clear through his stage direction and the content of his prayer that More’s family is a family that has a habit of routine prayer which has led them to a comfort in addressing the Lord personally.

St. Thomas More acts as prophet or teacher to his family primarily through his example. Bolt demonstrates his example by clearly showing More’s saintly character. When the king comes to visit the More household, he arrives just as More is leaving his chapel after praying vespers, dressed simply. When Thomas is criticized by his wife for wearing simple cloths in front of the king, he does not admonish his wife. Rather he explains humbly as a teacher , his reason. “The service of God is not a dishonor to any office. Believe me, my friend, I do not belittle the honor His Majesty is doing me.” (Bolt 46) More, through his example and simple words, teaches a very complex lesson on the relationship between Church and State. Understanding the relationship between Church and State, he is able to effectively teach the lesson to his family through his example.

Bolt portrays More exercising his kingly power over his daughter who, in the first act of the play, desires to marry Roper, a heretic. Thomas makes it clear that he will not consent to the marriage until Roper returns to the Catholic Church. “Roper, the answer is “no” and will be “no” as long as you’re a heretic.” (Bolt 30) In refusing permission for his daughter’s hand in marriage, More, like a good king is looking out for the best interest of his subject, his daughter. Even when it is necessary for More to be stern, he still conducts himself as a Christian, he calmly rejects Roper’s request with an explanation, but does not demean Roper.

Bolt again shows More exercising his kingly character in a different way in the second act. More advises his then son in law, Roper, who had returned to the Catholic faith and married More’s daughter to be silent rather than commit high treason because he needs to look after his family. More here is demonstrated as having a proper relationship with his grown children and their families. Since his children have been raised properly he does not force anything upon them yet he still continues to offer his fatherly advice.

Bolt leaves no doubt in his audiences mind that More loves and cares for his family as any good father should. He goes to great length to show that More refuses to tell his family his exact views of the king’s petition to divorce and remarry. While his family surly knows his view, he refuses to state it so as to keep his family from being tempted to sin. By never telling them his view, they could still, in good conscience, tell government officials that they did not know his views rather than be tempted into sin.

It is surprising that an atheist had the ability to successfully portray St. Thomas More as a Catholic Father. The play A Man For All Seasons successfully demonstrates St. Thomas more exercising his role as priest, prophet and king in virtue of his baptism as he guides his family, the domestic church. Bolt’s play presents Thomas More as a Catholic Father. By reading this book fathers can find for themselves a model to follow for raising their children.

Bolt, Robert. A Man For All Seasons. New York: Vintage International, 1990. Print.

Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2nd ed. Vatican: Libreria Editrice

      Vaticana, 2000. Print.

When my Conscience Conflicts with the Teachings of the Church: A Reflection.

Today we seem to live in a world that puts too much emphasis on our thoughts, feelings and desires. Personally I want to rise above my own thoughts, feelings and desires which are prone to mistakes and live in conformity with the truth. Where then can I turn to be sure I am living in conformity with the truth? To answer this we must take a quick overview of the history of the world. God created the world. Man messed up by falling into sin but God loved us so much he sent his Son Jesus into the world to die for us. God knew man, when left to his own, messes up so he left behind a Church and sent the Holy Spirit to guide the Church which he promised to be with for eternity.[1]

You and I are blessed to live in the Church, the Catholic Church. God promised that He would be with this Church until the end of time. This promise from God makes the Church the only true safe haven for us in the pursuit of truth. Knowing that Christ left us with a Church protected by the Holy Spirit makes it pretty obvious that we should place our starting point for truth in the teachings of the Church. We should begin our quest for truth with the Church and end our quest for the truth in the Church.

While there have certainly been many other great thinkers and founders of religions none of them hold up against the Church. Jesus, who was both God and man, died and rose, all other founders of religions and great thinkers were merely men and woman who died and remained dead. Personally I would rather place my faith in Jesus who proved himself by rising from the dead over any other great thinker who has died and stayed dead.

Now our Church does not advocate a blind faith nor does our Church make a statement about the truth of all things. No God gave us our minds to comprehend Him. Yet our minds are not perfect and need guidance. The Church advocates the use of one’s mind, the use of one’s mind with the eyes of faith. Pope John Paul II was very clear about this. He wrote an entire encyclical, Fides et Ratio, that showed faith and reason do not contradict. He pointed out that since both faith and reason come from God, they have the same starting point, they cannot contradict each other.

There are two ways to approach questions about the truth. The healthy way to question is with an attitude of questioning to understand while the unhealthy way of questioning is centered on the ego, a manner of questioning where we think ourselves greater than anyone else including the Church and try to disprove to satisfy our ego. In many ways our minds are like ships. A ship is not built to stay in the harbor; rather a ship is built to go out to sea. But just as the ship is intended to go out to sea it is also intended to return to the harbor, ideally having made some money. Likewise our minds were intended to think but then to return to the harbor, the Church, with a richer understanding.

When someone tells me they disagree with the Church there are two questions I try to keep in mind; namely what and why. I have found often people have mistaken notions of what the Church actually teaches. This can happen very easily because there is so much misleading information out there. Many times I find that people disagree with what they think the Church teaches or if they know what the Church teaches they disagree in part because they do not understand why the Church teaches what She does.

I have found that people often disagree with the teachings of the Church because they want a life of comfort. They need to ask themselves deep down why they really disagree with the Church. When pressed about why people believe things that contradict the Church they will often say well I feel that … I’m so sick of hearing I feel. I feel like I deserve a million dollars. Does that mean I get a million dollars? No. Just because I feel something doesn’t mean I can do it. I can feel like killing you but it would still be wrong to kill you. Well why should I trust my heart? I don’t know about you, but I would rather trust the Church which God promised would last forever over me whom I know makes mistakes. Other times I hear people say they feel passionately about something. Well simply because someone believes passionately about something doesn’t mean it is true. I can passionately believe I can fly but when I jump out of an airplane without a parachute guess what happens? I passionately die! I don’t want to follow my heart I want to follow God’s heart. But to truly know His heart I must study, which requires hard work.

I think when we feel as though our conscience is going against the Church we need to ask some simple questions. We first need to ask what does the Church really teach and why? We live in a bumper sticker world. Everyone wants just a simple slogan answer but the truth is these answers are usually wrong or are only half right. We need to move beyond bumper stick slogans to find out what the Church really teaches. This is not easy, it requires study. To find out what the Church teaches go to approved texts not popular books. I suggest the Catechism, or the Vatican’s website. If you are going to read a book to understand the teachings of the Church check the inside cover of the book and see if it has a Nihil Obstat. A Nihil Obstat is a statement by a theologian assigned by the bishop to read the book that says it contains nothing contrary to the teachings of the Church. If you can’t understand or find what you are looking for ask your priest, youth minister, theology teacher or contact me by email.

Secondly you need to understand what you believe and why. Do you have valid reasons or is it just a feeling or a desire? Obviously if it is just a feeling or desire it needs to be rejected. Third you need to ask if this is an issue that you are bound to believe. Catholics are only bound to believe in public revelation that comes to us from Jesus handed on through Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition preserved by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. There are certainly levels of authority but simply speaking anything that the Church, through the pope or the Magisterium in their official role has taught we are bound to accept.

If the Church has made an official statement we need to submit to the teachings of the Church out of humility. Now when I say this people will often say, doesn’t the Church say to follow your conscience? Well yes She does but She says to follow your well formed conscience and if you conscience disagrees with an official teaching of the Church it is not well formed. To think of it in another way whom would you rather place your trust in, your brain or the mind of the Church? Personally I would like to put my trust in the Church Jesus founded, promised never to abandon, and has passed every test to remain strong for over 2000 years. If however we disagree with a statement that we are not bound to believe we need to understand where our conflict with the teaching of the Church comes in. Lastly we must then seek out clarification and rebuttals to our position from experts. If we have a solid argument in the end I would argue it is fine to hold that position. Even though we hold a position we must not let pride sneak in. We must still be willing to engage the question and admit if we have made mistakes.  

You and I are blessed to be a member of a Church founded by God. God loves us so much he wants nothing more than for us to be happy. When we go against the teachings of the Church we end up either broken or hurt. Our Father in heaven knows and wants what is best for us so why not be a daddies girl and let Him, through His Church, lead you to heaven. The sure path to heaven is the Church who contains the fullness o f the truth. Run to the Church to find your sanctuary.  

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[1] For biblical proof of the Church see. Mt 16:18, Eph 2:20, 1 Peter 2:6, and Revelation 21:14