No doubt about it, the creators of ABC\u2019s \u201cNothing Sacred\u201d knew which scenes would get the most ink.<\/p>\n\n
Like the premiere\u2019s scene in which a girl confesses that she\u2019s tempted to get an abortion and Father Ray tells her to follow her conscience. Or that night at the Valhalla Inn when he is tempted to sleep with the woman who was his lover during seminary.<\/p>\n\n
But the real headline grabber is Father Ray\u2019s hip sermon bemoaning the church\u2019s obsession with sex.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI am declaring a moratorium on sins of the flesh in St. Thomas Parish,\u201d he says, and then holds up a Bible. \u201cYou see this little book? This is the gospel. If it was written today, it wouldn\u2019t get published. Not enough sex. And all of the stuff that we\u2019ve reduced religion to \u2014 contraception, homosexuality, promiscuity, abortion \u2014 they aren\u2019t in here. Oh, maybe a mention. But they\u2019re not what the book is about. And I was not ordained to be a sexual traffic cop, which is what I\u2019m turning into most of the time. So, until further notice, I will not hear any more sexual sins in the confessional.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Cue the congregation, which applauds.<\/p>\n\n
Father Ray isn\u2019t obsessed with sex, of course, and neither are the writers of this fall\u2019s most controversial new offering in prime time. And executive producer David Manson is shocked \u2014 repeat shocked \u2014 that many have been offended by events in this fictional parish.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHopefully, it\u2019ll be clear after a period of time that we\u2019re trying to give voice to many different points of view, that we believe there is an active pluralism inside the church,\u201d he wrote, defending the series on its Internet site. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to make sure that different points of view get articulated intelligently and with passion. \u2026 We would like to get people thinking and talking about not only issues of the spirit but about the notion of inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Millions of American Catholics would say \u201camen\u201d and will find \u201cNothing Sacred\u201d beautiful, well acted, accurate and spiritually sensitive. These Catholics feel at home in the pluralistic body that many commentators call the American Catholic Church. But millions of others will disagree and see the series as another Hollywood attack on the Roman Catholic Church. One person\u2019s \u201cdialogue\u201d is another\u2019s \u201cdissent.\u201d Meanwhile, the gospel according to \u201cNothing Sacred\u201d is crystal clear: discipline, doctrines and creeds are the enemies of freedom, faith and spirituality.<\/p>\n\n
In addition to sex, the premiere punched other buttons. Entertainment Weekly reports that it was written by Father Bill Kane, a Jesuit, using the pseudonym Paul Leland.<\/p>\n\n
One reason Father Ray is so exhausted and angry is that he is hounded by critics who tape his unorthodox whispers in the confession booth and leak them to the ecclesiastical police. \u201cIt\u2019s just politics,\u201d says another priest. The problem, another priest adds, is a traditionalist hit squad called \u201cVinculum Caritatis\u201d \u2013 Latin for \u201cchains of love.\u201d This fictionalized group is probably a cross between advocates of the Latin Mass and another conservative group called Catholics United for the Faith.<\/p>\n\n
And then there are the sacraments. During Mass, Father Ray offers a prayer over the bread and wine that is straight out of the Shirley Maclaine school of liturgy, saying: \u201cTransform us, as you will transform these gifts, into life \u2013 deep and true.\u201d Later, he baptizes an infant without making the sign of the cross or referring to the Trinity of \u201cFather, Son and Holy Spirit.\u201d In the most dramatic scene, the priest dabs holy oil on the forehead of a troubled teen who has rejected Christianity, while invoking the Eastern martial arts traditions of Sholin monks.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe show\u2019s central premise is that the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic,\u201d said Father Gregory Coiro, media relations director for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, who has been critiquing rough scripts for ABC. \u201cIt\u2019s like they are saying that traditional Roman Catholicism is now a false substitute for the `real thing,\u2019 which is some kind of new faith that is completely built on experience and feelings. Well, that isn\u2019t the Catholic faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No doubt about it, the creators of ABC\u2019s \u201cNothing Sacred\u201d knew which scenes would get the most ink. Like the premiere\u2019s scene in which a girl confesses that she\u2019s tempted to get an abortion and Father Ray tells her to follow her conscience. Or that night at the Valhalla Inn when he is tempted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n