It’s been gone for nearly 15 years, and I still miss Nothing Sacred like I miss fifth-grade recess. Nothing Sacred was a TV drama that shone brightly — and briefly — during the 1997-98 season on ABC. Some conservative Catholics thought America ought not to be exposed to programming about a priest who questioned his church’s doctrines and his own faith. At the same time, it was heaven on earth for me, a Seattle P-I television critic who had once thought he might become a priest. ABC pulled the plug a few episodes shy of a full season; the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which deemed the show deeply offensive and had urged a boycott of any company that dared sponsor it, claimed victory. Nevertheless, Nothing Sacred received a Peabody Award and a Humanitas Prize for its rich affirmation of human dignity. Here’s what I wrote at the time:

It is sad irony that Nothing Sacred, the most catholic of shows, faces excommunication. Nowhere is there a more universal, all-inclusive series that speaks so eloquently to the “values” that critics of mainstream television harp on. … Sure, Father Ray is a liberal priest, but his compassion and generosity of spirit in the face of ecclesiastical paradox are the central elements in Nothing Sacred, not his politics. Unlike other values-oriented programming, the character development is deep, the writing thoughtful and clear, the plots provocative and often surprising.

I mention this because the show’s creator, Bill Cain, is the author of How to Write a New Book for the Bible. True to Cain’s intellectual nature — he’s a Jesuit priest with a fine sense of what constitutes community — Nothing Sacred was all about discovering the love and compassion that exist in a family. This is precisely the essence of How to Write a New Book for the Bible. The difference here is that the family is Cain’s own insular family, not an entire parish. read full post »