The priest behind the screen

This year marks the 25th anniversary of what was at the time a daring experiment in putting religion on television: the sadly short-lived ABC series Nothing Sacred (1997–1998). This was a smart depiction of a Chicago Catholic priest, Francis Xavier “Ray” Reyneaux, played by Kevin Anderson, who must confront so many issues familiar to clergy: debates over women’s ordination, the presence of undocumented immigrants, and the general stresses of keeping the parish ministries going day by day.

The show gave an excellent sense of contemporary Catholic realities, in a way that many other efforts conspicuously did not, both then and now. (The show’s creator, Bill Cain, was himself a Jesuit priest). Father Ray emerged as an upstanding and even heroic figure, one clearly on the liberal end of the spectrum—and his stubborn resistance to his superiors made the series deeply controversial for conservatives. In retrospect, however, any such show that might be made today would have little option but to deal with far more explosive issues, especially child abuse by clergy. Looking back at Nothing Sacred today seems to take us to the Elysian days before the Fall.

Clergy, of course, turn up in any number of fictional television shows. (You may recall the “hot priest” in Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s much lauded series Fleabag.) But has any other show explored clerical issues as knowledgeably and sympathetically as Nothing Sacred? I make no claim to comprehensive knowledge here, but several examples do stand out. I think of three in particular—interestingly, all from European countries generally regarded as quite secular.