LAWRENCE — As you sit in the pews at St. Patrick Parish, you can feel the history around you. Built in 1872, the red brick church with the green steeple on South Broadway served as a home to the city's immigrant Irish mill workers for more than a century.
But the city has undergone tremendous change since the church was first established, and the faces in the pews of St. Patrick have changed as well. That has created a whole new level of tension, as the once predominantly Irish parish is now a diverse mix of Latino, Vietnamese and other nationalities, a reflection of the neighborhood around it.
In his new documentary, "Scenes from a Parish," Newton filmmaker James Rutenbeck set out to chronicle those tensions and show how they reflect what is happening all across the country. He spent four years in Lawrence, chronicling the lives of nine parishioners of differing nationalities and perspectives.
Now, that story is finally ready to be shown. The 90-minute film will premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on April 8, followed by additional screenings at the MFA, the Boston International Film Festival and Boston College.
Rutenbeck, 56, had produced a handful of documentaries in the past, in addition to his work as a freelance editor. For this project, he was looking for a story that would allow him to do a multi-character film with multi-story threads.
As a practicing Catholic from what he acknowledges is a "very homogeneous" parish, he thought it would be interesting to focus on a church undergoing a great deal of change.
"One thing we were thinking about early on was that it would be interesting to find characters seeking to become part of something larger than themselves," Rutenbeck said. "Like a recent immigrant, or an older person who feels as if they're losing something. We wanted to follow them over four years and see if they could come together."
He spoke to people from many different churches before settling on St. Patrick — partly because of its proximity to his home, but also because he recognized that the Rev. Paul O'Brien, the pastor at St. Patrick, understood what he was looking to accomplish.
"It was partly because he (O'Brien) was so open," Rutenbeck said. "But I also thought there was something very interesting about St. Patrick's — a church with an Irish-American identity in a Latino city.
"I have a strong interest in the lives of ordinary people. I thought with the tensions here, and a hugely diverse group of parishioners, there would be stories here that would be really compelling."
Rutenbeck and his crew spent a great deal of time observing and interacting with parishioners before deciding on the nine people who would make up the core of the film.
They include Frank Martin, a longtime parishioner who initially questions some of O'Brien's moves. He has worked to help the poor in Lawrence for 40 years, but his compassion is waning.
Another key figure is Elvys Guzman, a young immigrant from the Dominican Republic who struggles with his identity and other issues associated with growing up in an unfamiliar country.
"I was surprised from the beginning," O'Brien said. "People were open. I would have thought they would have been more hesitant. But actually, from young to old, it seems the vast majority of people were comfortable having cameras around all the time."
Rutenbeck said the greatest difficulty the filmmakers encountered was finding members of the parish who had become disaffected and left the church because they didn't like the direction St. Patrick was headed. They did ultimately find them, but it took time.
One of the stories in the film centers on the Cor Unum Meal Center, which was conceived by the Rev. O'Brien and his friends late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien and former Red Sox player Sean Casey. The meal center, which opened in September 2006, has provided more than 300,000 meals.
The movie shows the Rev. O'Brien as he embarks on a plan to build the church-based meal center. He enlists enough high-profile allies to help while dealing with tensions from throughout the parish. The film delves into the personal stories of a rich collection of characters who come to the church seeking fellowship, but face obstacles that threaten to drive them apart.
"It's not a propaganda film about how great this parish is," Rutenbeck said. "I'm just trying to tell the story in an honest way."
After next month's premiere and screenings, Rutenbeck said he plans to try to find financial backers who could help distribute the film nationally, so it could be used by local parishes. From there, the film could also be shown at future film festivals as well.
O'Brien said he was extremely impressed with Rutenbeck's vision, and he thinks the film carries a message of hope about the future of this country.
"It's an eye opener for people of all different perspectives to see on film what's going on in this community," he said. "I think it certainly can help people understand experiences and perspectives that are not theirs. I think it is impossible to watch the film with an open heart and mind and not have one's perspective broadened.
"It's a Lawrence story, but it's a story about people in the United States of America today facing very important struggles about right and wrong. You could do this in many inner-city American communities that are changing and have the same ethnic groups. They're universal issues."
IF YOU GO
What: "Scenes from a Parish"
Where: The Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston
When: April 8, at 6 p.m.; April 9, at 7:30 p.m.; April 11, at 10:15 a.m.; April 12, at 3:15 p.m.; and April 17, at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, students and museum members; to purchase, go to www.mfa.org or call 617-267-9300.
"Scenes from a Parish" will also be shown in the McGuinn Hall Auditorium at Boston College on April 23 from 6 to 8:30 p.m., and at the Boston International Film Festival in late April.
