William Donohue offered the following comments on the November 13 episode of the ABC show, “Nothing Sacred”:
“Though new messengers are evident on ‘Nothing Sacred,’ it’s the same old message. Instead of having Fr. Ray buck the Church, we now have Sister Mo. The exchanges she had with Rachel, the brazenly unrepentant young woman who continues to work at the church after having her abortion, were the high point of the show.
“Rachel is welcome by Fr. Ray and Sister Mo precisely because they themselves are incapable of defending the Church’s teachings on sexuality. Moreover, it was striking to hear how upset Mo was when Rachel broached the subject of excommunication. She would prefer her not to dwell on such ‘oppressive’ Church teachings and simply get on with her life.
“As always, this show depicts those who oppose the Church’s teachings as victims. Poor Rachel admits that though she never had any interest in going to Communion before she had her abortion, now that she wants to go, she can’t. She can’t because she won’t go to Confession: to do that, she would have to admit that what she did was wrong, and that is not something she is prepared to do. No matter, the scene portrays the Church as the ogre, thus affording Rachel victim status.
“It was touching to hear Rachel ask Mo if she would hear her confession. Given her earlier experience with Fr. Ray, it’s hard to blame her for shopping around, even if Mo has no more authority to attend to the sacraments than does the resident atheist, Sidney. In fairness, Rachel was on to something when she suggested to Mo that they start their own church. This seems to us just right. One suggestion-they should take the dysfunctional, depressed and doubting priests with them.”
