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A popular Connecticut priest shields a seminary rebel from the wrath of a stern monsignor.A popular Connecticut priest shields a seminary rebel from the wrath of a stern monsignor.A popular Connecticut priest shields a seminary rebel from the wrath of a stern monsignor.
- Awards
- 1 win
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to actor Zeljko Ivanek, the fish sermon scene was shot 15 times from three different angles. Although Ivanek considers the last take the best, most of it didn't make the final cut because it was too emotionally jarring for the audience.
- Quotes
Father Tim Farley: You're a lunatic! And Christ NEEDS lunatics. But the trouble with lunatics is, they don't know how to survive.
- Crazy creditsThis picture is dedicated to the memory of Ray A. Kroc.
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Dune/Starman/Mass Appeal/Runaway (1984)
Featured review
The Catholic Church is as much, if not more, political than it is spiritual. As a young Catholic boy considering the priesthood yet conflicted between my own feelings and myself and that which the Church demanded, in the end I decided to go to high school instead of entering the Seminary.
I saw this movie as a young lay man. There was such a resonance for me as a Catholic and as a young man struggling with the Church, sexuality, and spirituality.
The pastor (Lemmon) was very much the pastor of a parish that was part of my experience. As much as he was devoted to his calling, he was also responsible for the political games that are played in everyone's life. The young seminarian (Ivenek) was honest, open and young with new ideas; everything the Church wanted to suppress.
The pastor wanted nothing more than to continue his comfortable position in his parish. He was assigned a new priest-to-be who had shown himself to be a bit of a radical at the seminary. It's not to be ignored the "office politics" that were in place in the assignment.
The elder was being punished and tested, so to speak, with the assignment of this younger priest. He did his best to impose his wisdom on the younger; but the younger sought spirituality more than acceptance of the status quo. In other words, he ruffled parishioners' feathers.
When complaints were lodged about this young radical priest, his sexuality came into question. What those "powers that be" were concerned about was this young priest's sermons and indictments of false spirituality dressed up as devotion. After all, if the Church had ever really been concerned with sexuality, there'd not have been a molestation of any alter boy.
This film shows how the Church picks and chooses who to persecute. Persecution of the parish priest for not playing the political games, persecution of the young seminarian who desires to spread the Word of God.
It also indicts us as parishioners. Do we go to church to be told what we want to hear or are we there to hear God's truth? Should our contributions to the collection plate influence what we hear; or should the Word of God actually mean something? This is a memorable movie in that it makes us think about what brings us to Church.
I saw this movie as a young lay man. There was such a resonance for me as a Catholic and as a young man struggling with the Church, sexuality, and spirituality.
The pastor (Lemmon) was very much the pastor of a parish that was part of my experience. As much as he was devoted to his calling, he was also responsible for the political games that are played in everyone's life. The young seminarian (Ivenek) was honest, open and young with new ideas; everything the Church wanted to suppress.
The pastor wanted nothing more than to continue his comfortable position in his parish. He was assigned a new priest-to-be who had shown himself to be a bit of a radical at the seminary. It's not to be ignored the "office politics" that were in place in the assignment.
The elder was being punished and tested, so to speak, with the assignment of this younger priest. He did his best to impose his wisdom on the younger; but the younger sought spirituality more than acceptance of the status quo. In other words, he ruffled parishioners' feathers.
When complaints were lodged about this young radical priest, his sexuality came into question. What those "powers that be" were concerned about was this young priest's sermons and indictments of false spirituality dressed up as devotion. After all, if the Church had ever really been concerned with sexuality, there'd not have been a molestation of any alter boy.
This film shows how the Church picks and chooses who to persecute. Persecution of the parish priest for not playing the political games, persecution of the young seminarian who desires to spread the Word of God.
It also indicts us as parishioners. Do we go to church to be told what we want to hear or are we there to hear God's truth? Should our contributions to the collection plate influence what we hear; or should the Word of God actually mean something? This is a memorable movie in that it makes us think about what brings us to Church.
- bionicjoeyawitch
- Nov 22, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Die Auseinandersetzung
- Filming locations
- Claremont, California, USA(myself, as I was an extra in this film)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $7,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,945,658
- Gross worldwide
- $1,945,658
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