Unseen Episode: ‘Sacred’ or Profane?

Howard Rosenberg argues against ABC’s decision not to air a “controversial” episode of “Nothing Sacred” (“Is a Priest With AIDS Too ‘Sacred’?,” Jan. 9). The episode revolves around a Catholic priest who breaks his vow of celibacy and contracts AIDS from a homosexual encounter.

Funny that ABC would think that the subject matter was a bit too much. That one sentence alone is a laundry list of sins against God and the Catholic Church. It is also typical of the supermarket-tabloid subject matter the show engages in.

I would like to applaud ABC for its restraint. As a Catholic, I consider the story line offensive. This is our religion, not some ambiguous playground for TV producers and columnists. When a priest breaks his vows to God, it isn’t “controversial,” it’s wrong. When a priest gives advice contrary to the church in a confessional, that is blasphemous! It doesn’t matter who wrote the script.

In “Nothing Sacred,” Catholics must endure, week in and week out, a TV show that takes our beliefs and traditions, chews them up and spits them out like so much used tobacco. Is it any wonder why no one is watching?

TRI FRITZ

Los Angeles

While the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has indeed championed worthy causes in the past, in my estimation they are dead wrong in concluding that “Nothing Sacred” presents an avowedly anti-Catholic stance. As a priest for nearly 24 years, I believe this series’ willingness to tackle substantive religious issues of a deeply spiritual nature has been a breath of fresh air.

I would hope that they and all of us heed the recent words of Cardinal Ratzinger when he said, “. . . the Church must not make martyrs, but be a church of martyrs. . . .”

THE VERY REV.

ARTHUR A. HOLQUIN

Rector, Holy Family Cathedral

Orange

Among dramatic shows, the groundbreaking “Nothing Sacred” is in a class by itself and, if Rosenberg’s description is accurate, the beleaguered-priest-with-AIDS episode promises to be as significant as the Christmas show. That episode glowed with inspiration, and I will remember it as one of television’s finest moments--a gift of and for the spirit.

I would ask the executives at ABC if they think it is right to deny millions of viewers another such moving experience solely to placate a vocal, narrow-minded minority that prefers a stern, punitive God to a loving, compassionate one.

DAVID NELSON

Santa Barbara

ABC has had the courage to run the series despite threats of economic boycott. It is too bad their courage faltered on the issue of priests having AIDS.

In 1994, I dedicated my part in the first California AIDS Ride to the memory of Father Thomas Charbeneau, who as a Jesuit missionary to Japan had been of great help to me when I visited Vietnam in 1967 doing research on the morality of the Vietnam War. Tom subsequently died of AIDS, but he was never shunned by his fellow Jesuits.

Celibacy and clerical sexuality should be discussed, not locked away in television’s ecclesiastical closet.

JAMES C. FLECK

Sherman Oaks

Frankly, I’m sick and tired of having my sexuality continually associated in the media with disease and death. It’s a real relief to see an increasing number of gay male characters in film and TV who don’t have AIDS and are doing things other than sitting around and waiting to die.

Let this “Nothing Sacred” episode rot in the vaults where it belongs.

MARK GABRISH CONLAN

San Diego