Despite boycott, 'Sacred' draws Catholic applause - ABC-TV series 'Nothing Sacred'

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 10, 1997 by John Allen

The richly diverse American Catholic church rarely speaks with a single voice, and its pluralism is again in evidence in the debate over the new ABC television show "Nothing Sacred."

The hourlong drama has drawn fire from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a New York-based group that monitors anti-Catholic defamation, and from a handful of bishops. Other catholic leaders, however, have hailed the show as compelling drama and have even suggested that its positive depiction of an urban parish could boost vocations and church attendance.

Meanwhile, the controversy may be hurting the show where it counts -- with advertisers and in the ratings. So far, eleven sponsors have announced their intention not to appear on "Nothing Sacred," and the show finished fourth in its time slot in its second week.

"There's a political message here [on `Nothing Sacred'] I'm tired of," said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. "It's propaganda. The show suggests that everyone who is loyal to the church is a terrible, coldhearted bastard, while all the good, caring Catholics disregard the church's teaching." The league has been joined in its campaign by 29 mostly conservative Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups. A few bishops, including Washington's Cardinal James Hickey and Camden's Bishop James McHugh, have also published negative reactions to the show in their diocesan papers.

Many Catholics, however, have welcomed "Nothing Sacred."

"I like it a lot," said Paulist Fr. Ellwood Kieser, head of Paulist Pictures and coproducer of the films "Romero" and "Entertaining Angels."

"It portrays honest conflict," Kieser said. "It certainly pulls you into a God-centered universe, and makes you think about questions of faith. The writing is terrific."

Kieser even predicted that Fr. Ray -- the smart, caring and pastorally effective lead character, played by Kevin Anderson -- might draw more young men to consider vocations, in the same way, he said, that the popular show "E.R." has apparently helped increase applications for trauma specialties in medical schools.

Mary Ann Glendon of the Harvard Law School said, "I haven't seen the show, but Catholics I know and trust do not have a problem with it." Glendon is a high-profile Catholic who was chosen by the Vatican to head its delegation to the 1995 United Nations Women's Conference in Beijing.

She also serves on the board of advisers for the Catholic League and suggested that the group's sensitivity to anti-Catholic bias may predispose it occasionally to overreact. "I'm glad the Catholic League exists," Glendon said, "because there really is Catholic-bashing out there. But sometimes such groups can be a little overly sensitive," she said. "This may be a case in point."

In the season premiere, the show's central character, Fr. Ray, encouraged a woman to follow her own conscience on abortion. The second episode revolved around the parish's efforts to keep its soup kitchen open, despite city council opposition. Coming story lines include a priest suffering from AIDS who is considering leaving the priesthood. Critical reaction to "Nothing Sacred" has been generally positive, with Time calling it "by far the best of the new shows" and Entertainment Weekly saying the show is "clearheaded" and "beautifully conceived."

Still, the Catholic League senses an implicit anti-Catholic agenda at work. "The average Catholic is not Fr. Ray," Donohue said. "Some blacks blow each other up on the streets and some gays go to bathhouses," he said, "but on television you see Cosby and Ellen. But Catholics have to put up with Fr. Ray? Catholics want priests who accept the teachings of the church," he said.

"It's not that clear-cut," said Henry Herx, director of the Office of Film and Broadcast -- the successor to the Legion of Decency -- for the U.S. Catholic Conference. "There is a wide variety of Catholic views about the show, so it's not accurate that the Catholic League speaks for the Catholic perspective," Herx said. He emphasized that the Catholic League is not an official agency of the church.

"Donohue wants a Bing Crosby kind of priest," said Kieser, "but that's just not the real world of 1997 -- if indeed it ever was the real world at all."

ABC has worked to head off Catholic opposition, even editing the series premiere l to satisfy concerns expressed by church officials who had viewed it at the network's request. In the pilot, dialogue took place that could have suggested a bishop's approval for tape-recording a confession; by the time the episode aired, the conversation was edited to make it clear that the bishop would not approve.

Despite those efforts, Catholic observers of the show still point to some ecclesiological gaffes. Kieser said he doubts that a priest would tell his congregation not to confess any more sexual sins, as Fr. Ray does in the first episode. Herx said many Catholics would not find "edifying" the suggestion in the second episode that the parish's youth minister was involved in a sexual relationship before marriage.