From the 1930s, Catholics were prominent in Hollywood, whether actors such as Spencer Tracy and James Cagney or directors like John Ford and Leo McCarey.

Producers turned to Catholic actors to perform what was judged to be the difficult and delicate role of a priest.

Thus Bing Crosby played in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St Mary's (1945), and Gregory Peck in The Keys to the Kingdom (1944).

The individual characters may have varied, but the portrayal of the priest remained constant: an image of conviction and steadfastness, compassion and courage, and maturity of judgment.

More recent decades have given rise to different images. In the 1970s, priests began to be cast in an unfavourable light - for example, Saturday Night Fever (1977) and The Exorcist series (1973 and 1977).

They were depicted as insipid, immature and, at times, embittered men. In Saturday Night Fever, the young priest leaves his vocation.

In the last scene, his brother (played by John Travolta) tries on the clerical collar, only to hold it tightly round his neck in the form of a noose.

This demeaning image of the priesthood resulted from a convergence of factors.

They included anti-Catholic prejudice, which intensified as a result of the Church's stand on "life" issues such as abortion; the clerical abuse scandals, which have damaged the Church's moral credibility in the wider society and, perversely, in the very areas of sexual morality that were already under cultural attack; and, finally, a general decline of heroic and admirable characters (of which the priest was formerly one), especially affecting male figures in the family and society.

More recently, there has been some recovery of the image of the priest, in movies such as Gran Torino (2008), where a loving cleric reaches out to a troubled war veteran (Clint Eastwood), and For Greater Glory (2012), which features Peter O'Toole as a kindly martyr priest. Continue reading

Sources

• Catholic Herald article by Karl Schmude, a former university librarian and a founding fellow of the Catholic liberal arts college Campion College, in New South Wales.
• Image: cinemagumbo

The Omaha Archdiocese in Nebraska closed the diocesan phase of the investigation with a June 18 Mass at St Cecilia's Cathedral.

The notary for the diocesan tribunal investigating the cause said he was struck by stories from former Boys Town residents who knew Fr Flanagan.

"I have had World War II veterans weep in front of me as they recall what Fr Flanagan did for them when they were just boys," said Omar Gutierrez.

Fr Flanagan helped at least 10,000 boys at Boys Town in his lifetime, and his influence extended around the world.

The priest's work inspired 80 other Boys Towns around the world.

The original Boys Town now serves about 80,000 children and families each year.

Steven Wolf, president of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion and vice-postulator of his cause, said he thinks there is abundant evidence of the priest's heroic virtue.

"He completely poured his life into saving these kids nobody else wanted to deal with," Mr Wolf said.

Fr Flanagan integrated young boys, "built a society around them, and put love, God's love, in the middle of their circumstances and helped them to become whole and complete people".

After World War II, the priest helped care for orphans and displaced children in war-ravaged Japan, Germany and Austria, at the request of US President Harry Truman.

Mr Wolf noted that the priest broke with the segregationist practices of his time, serving all boys, regardless of their race and religion.

Fr Flanagan's response to racist criticism was to ask what colour a person's soul was.

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Fr Flanagan in the 1938 movie Boys Town.

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Crux
• Image: Communio blog