Catholics 

In the near future, the Catholic church has joined with other western religions in an ecumenical movement that has washed out much of the original message of the religion. A group of Irish ... See full summary »

Director:

Jack Gold

Writers:

Brian Moore (screenplay), Brian Moore (novel)

Stars:

Trevor Howard, Raf Vallone, Martin Sheen

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Trevor Howard	...	The Abbot
Raf Vallone	...	Father General
Martin Sheen	...	Father Kinsella
Cyril Cusack	...	Father Manus
Andrew Keir	...	Father Matthew
Godfrey Quigley	...	Father Walter
Michael Gambon	...	Brother Kevin
Leon Vitali	...	Brother Donald
Seamus Healy	...	Brother Pius
John Kelly	...	Brother Paul
John Franklyn	...	Brother Martin
Patrick Long	...	Brother Sean
Cecil Sheridan	...	Brother Malachy
Tom Jordan	...	Father Terrence
Liam Burk	...	Brother Daniel

Storyline

In the near future, the Catholic church has joined with other western religions in an ecumenical movement that has washed out much of the original message of the religion. A group of Irish monks have begun saying the mass again in Latin and have begun to have an international following. Martin Sheen is sent from Rome to bring them to task and they must confront what is truly essential in their worship and what is not.

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Plot Keywords:

religion | latin | ireland | rural ireland | monastery | 

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Taglines:

Riveting for believers, half-believers and unbelievers alike [Video Australia]

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 November 1973 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Ireland

Company Credits

Production Co:

HTV, Hemisphere Productions, Sidney Glazier Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Lonely Passion of Brian Moore (1986)

User Reviews

Not just for Catholics; Trevor Howard is magnificent

This play is about a group of Catholic monks and an abbot and does involve a theological - actually liturgical - dispute set some time in a future that it now turns out never actually occurred (one in which the Catholic Church apparently did not all but disappear because of its hierarchy's demented obsessions with sex). But that is merely the setting; the point of the story is much more universal and has to do with how people tend to huddle together to find meaning in life; how the relationships formed between different sorts of individuals may in the end be all the meaning there is to life. In the final analysis the monks, a fairly limited lot, are lost without their abbot, who provides the meaning they need in their lives, and he in turn, far more aware than any of the others, and therefore most anguished by their common predicament, is lost without his flock of monks' need of his leadership, which is the only meaning he can grasp in life.

Trevor Howard gives an absolutely magnificent performance. His abbot is intelligent, articulate, cunning and in the end so courageously and purely alone that the final image of him on the screen has stayed with me for years.