A fascinating e-mail from a young pastor in Europe. He asked me to remove a couple of details to protect his privacy:

I have been reading your blog since last Autumn, having read The Benedict Option. I enjoyed it, and your blog has since then encouraged me to also preach against all kinds of awakening totalitarianism in my sermons. There is a lot I’d like to write to you about, but today I wanted to share with you something that is not related to politics or faith in any way, but that still does make me feel somewhat hopeful.

The thing is, as a young male I have felt like a dinosaur not only due to my Christian values and pro-life/classic sexual morals but also due to my love towards many things analog: I love taking photographs on film and I even make home movies on super-8 small-gauge film — which we then watch as a family projected with an authentic film projector.

Eight years ago I was really getting into all this. And I felt devastated: all news regarding film photography and cinematography seemed to be filled with stories of it all ending: Kodak, Chapter 11; Fujifilm stopping the production of movie film; yet another film laboratory closing. I really felt like all the beautiful things were disappearing: Christianity in the West, and even film photography. I had found something and now I’d have to see it disappear, way too early. Every (large) batch of film I bought I bought with dread: this might be the last one.

Then something happened. While I was busy with my family and my work, something changed. In the past couple months I have heard really positive news. And I mean something like a total reversal of everything I saw in the past eight years. Not only is Kodak expanding because they have trouble fulfilling all orders, it seems that even the most die-hard digital photographers are finally getting over the attitude of “film is dead, and if it isn’t, it should already die” — apparently even dpreview, which has been very anti-film ,has now a subsection for film photography on their forums. Young people (male and female!) have discovered film and are buying cameras, film, and film developing chemicals.

Couple of links here:
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/large-format-film-kodak-2020-no-time-to-die-tenet-wonder-woman-1984-1202213355/
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/eastman-kodak-strong-increasing-demand-for-movie-film.172406/
https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/my-local-camera-shop-business-booming-anyone-else.168718/page-8#post-2256353

Anyway, I’m not saying this is going to be analogous with how things are turning out with Christian values and Faith in the West. What I’m saying, however, is that future is shrouded. What might seem inevitable might still not be inevitable.

Also, it might be that we have to see the “Chapter 11” [bankruptcy] of our churches before things get better, the total loss of power and status — like what happened to film. After all, it was the only way photos and movies were made for over a century, its position was really strong … but then came the total humiliation, loss of status and supposed death through the victory of digital photography. And then … unexpected resurrection?

One young Christian from the Czech Republic I met some years ago told me that in his country most of the old people are very reserved and against Christianity due to the Communist propaganda. However, young Czechs have never heard of Christianity. They are curious. They are open to it in ways that most of the young adults in my country would never be — they are too well “vaccinated” against it.

It’ll be interesting to see how things turn out and on what time scale. There will be need to build “home monasteries”. But I’m hopeful. God sometimes works in mysterious ways. And if it’s already time for parousia – Maranatha!