A Place for Us is an original Lent course based on the recent film production of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. Through study and discussion of key scenes from the movie, related to Lent passages from scripture, Lavinia Byrne and Jane McBride help us to reflect on fear, love, betrayal, death, and reconciliation.

The course is based on five weekly sessions exploring the following themes:

• Belonging
• Otherness and Difference
• The Gift of Love
• The Promise of a Place for Us
• The Tragedy of Betrayal

For each session, preparatory material including a Gospel reading is provided for the reader to reflect on the themes before meeting with a study group. Resources are then offered for the group, including a suggested film clip, discussion points and questions, exercises, a Psalm, and a poem by Phil Lane.

Lavinia Byrne is the author of many books including Woman at the Altar and The Journey is My Home. She worked at the Institute of Spirituality at Heythrop College and taught ordinands as a tutor at Westcott House, Cambridge. She broadcast regularly as a Catholic contributor to Radio 4’s Thought for the Day and the Daily Service. Lavinia now lives in retirement in Wells, Somerset.

Jane McBride was born in Northern Ireland. She lives in Belgium where she works as a conference interpreter for the European Commission and Parliament. She is also studying at Leuven University for a doctorate in feminist practical theology, telling the stories of missionary women religious. Brought up in the Church of Ireland, Jane is now a member of the Episcopal Church.