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Making a Documentary—A Tale of Sacrifice,
Sweat, Tears for CSUN Associate Dean

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Dec. 11, 2007) — Anyone who has made a documentary and lived to tell the tale will describe a journey filled with sacrifice, sweat and tears. Karen Kearns, associate dean of Cal State Northridge’s Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication, has joined the throng of independent souls who have made the trip and emerged with a new understanding of the art of filmmaking.

"That All May Be One," Kearns’ beautifully realized documentary about the indomitable spirit of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, was previewed at Northridge in October, and shortly after was screened at Mount St. Mary’s College.

The documentary evolved after Kearns’ 2000 visit to her native St. Louis. Sister Joan Lampton, Kearns’ cousin and a leadership figure among the St. Joseph sisters, told the CSUN administrator of her order’s decision to undertake the monumental renovation of its mother house overlooking the Mississippi, built in 1840 in a poor south St. Louis neighborhood.

Back in California, Kearns read a newspaper account of disappearing orders of Catholic sisters in the U.S. It hit her that she had a story to tell, about an order of sisters persisting at a time when others are in decline.

"In a way," Kearns said, "it was like chronicling an endangered species. After hundreds of years, this system of sisters teaching sisters, being nurses and ministering to others is disappearing."

But though her 55-minute film deals with the death of a way of life—six of the nuns of St. Joseph died during the five years it took to make the documentary—it is also about hope. "It looks at how the work of these sisters goes on even as their numbers dwindle," Kearns said.

Founded in October 1650 in France, the order in 1836 sent six sisters to begin religious work in a log cabin in Carondelet, a poor Creole community of St. Louis, Mo. Under Sister Celestine Pommerel, their numbers grew to about 150 throughout the U.S. and Canada. In St. Louis, they operate one of the country’s oldest schools for the deaf, a nursing home for nuns and lay people, and an all-girls high school.

Their decision to renovate rather than raze or abandon the mother house represents the nuns’ respect for mission rooted in their ruling dictum "That All May Be One," taken from St. JohnŠs Gospel. The documentary observes in loving detail their restoration of the structure, now used as a retreat and conference center shared with the lay community. The camera lingers on intricate oak and walnut floors and gorgeous paneling, and on a secret floor trap door which may have been a hiding place on the Underground Railroad.

But Kearns’ focus remained on the nuns themselves. One sister described her pre-Vatican II habit as "a wall" she had happily doffed, while for another it was a "visible sign" that protected her. Yet another calmly pronounced that "we are alive, we are well, we are still instigators of grace…still vital members of this neighborhood called the world.Ú One aging, graceful sister is shown ministering to the shut-in. "This is where the cry of the poor takes place," her voice-over narrates. "This is where we live."

To get "That All May Be One" made, Kearns "wrote it, directed it, narrated it, mixed the sound and wrote the checks," though some funding came from the Department of Cinema and Television Arts. "We mixed all the sound right in my kitchen," recalled the filmmaker. "A friend brought his Mac laptop and some huge hard drives. Within eight hours, we had mixed and corrected all of it."

Some important early help came from CSUN colleagues such as music professor Elizabeth Sellers, who composed deeply felt tracks in response to Kearns’ request for themes that were "lyrical and hopeful, but in a minor key" to suit the film’s blend of light and dark.

CSUN art professor Magdy Rizk, music professor Katherine Ramos Baker and the CSUN Women’s Chorale, and Plaza del Sol Performance Hall managing director Kathy Anthony also were part of Kearn’s team.

The next step for "That All May Be One" is its entry into the competitive round of film festivals. "It took nearly six years," Kearns said, "but holy cow, it’s finished!"