[Diocese of Pittsburgh] Bishop Dorsey McConnell of the Diocese of Pittsburgh has released a video reflection on the lessons of faith contained in the new hit movie, “The Fault in Our Stars.”

The film is based on the popular novel by John Green, who often speaks of how his own life and ministry as an Episcopalian influenced his writing this story about two young cancer patients. In his video, McConnell speaks of meeting Christ in those who suffer. Recalling his own bout with illness years ago, the bishop dons a hospital gown and says, “In the end, underneath all our fancy clothes, our masks, our daily situations, we all look like this. We are all waiting for healing.”

The Pittsburgh diocese has several ties to the movie. The producers chose St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon to film scenes where the main characters initially meet in a support group and where they return later in the film. A cast member in that support group is Alexander Murph, a teenage cancer patient and member of St. Thomas Memorial Church, Oakmont. His father and St. Thomas rector, the Rev. Jeffrey Murph, also appears as an unidentified extra. Murph told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that church-centered care for those who suffer rang true in his own family’s situation, “because the church really did support us. I don’t know how people manage without that kind of support.”

Bishop McConnell’s video is posted on the diocesan website and on YouTube.

http://youtu.be/j2ZEfXXUkrk