Louisville filmmaker Morgan Atkinson didn’t expect that his career would include producing two documentaries on a local religious congregation of women. But that’s “just the way it turned out,” he said in a recent interview.
Atkinson’s newest documentary — “In the Company of Change” — is his second film on the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville. His first, “A Change in Order,” released in 1987, reflected on how the Ursuline Sisters were affected by the cultural shifts of the 1980s.
While producing the first film, Atkinson said, he met the late Ursuline Sister Martha Buser, who became a friend.
“Going back to that first documentary, you know, I asked for someone from the Ursulines who could sort of guide me through what, to me, was a mystery. She was presented as that guide,” he said.
In the second documentary, Atkinson reflects on the changes in U.S. culture, especially within religious communities, through the lens of Sister Buser’s life.
“I wasn’t consciously thinking at the time, well, we’ll do a documentary in 30 or 40 years.”
— Morgan Atkinson
Atkinson didn’t have the second film in mind when he produced the first, he said. But it was his friendship with Sister Buser, which continued until her passing in 2023, that led to the second production, he said.
“When I finished the first one in the ‘80s, I thought, well, that’s that,” he said. “I wasn’t consciously thinking at the time, well, we’ll do a documentary in 30 or 40 years.”
In the decades that followed, Sister Buser became a spiritual guide and a trusted friend, he said.
“We were friends, and she was also my spiritual director. And so I would go to her and talk to her about anything that was on my mind.”
It uses some of his footage from the ‘80s, including footage from multiple interviews with Sister Buser, he said. The early footage, in conjunction with his later interviews with Sister Buser, reveals an “evolution” in her spirituality, he said.
The film is, in part, a tribute to Sister Buser, he said. But it’s also a tribute to the congregation, as well as a reflection on his spiritual development, he noted.
He sees the Ursulines as “role models of people who have been there through the good and persevered through the bad, who have been true to the promises and vows that they made in their life,” he said.
“Seeing this congregation — the way they’ve been active and vital, despite the headwinds that they’ve had to deal with — it has been an inspiration.”
On Aug. 7, more than 30 people — including sisters, administrative staff of Sacred Heart Schools and friends of the Ursulines — gathered at the Ursuline Sisters’ original motherhouse for a pre-screening of the documentary.
Following the screening, Ursuline Sister Jean Anne Zappa, president of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, said, “I believe this documentary by Morgan Atkinson clearly reflects the wisdom of St. Angela in facing changes of our times and circumstances. One can view the changes of religious life in our community through the firsthand experiences of Sister Martha Buser’s life.”
The documentary will be broadcast on KET on Sept. 14 at 2 p.m. and on KETKY on Sept. 19, 20, 24 and 27 at various times. It can also be viewed online at vimeo.com/1088506320.
Atkinson has also produced two documentaries on the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton. More information on his films can be found at morganatkinson.com.
