Today in our community's morning prayer together we prayed especially for priests. Soon the special "Year of the Priest" celebrated by the church will conclude. Some people's image of a Catholic priest comes solely from Hollywood's depictions of Catholic priests. Our Sister Rose Pacatte contributes to the film reviews on St. Anthony Messenger's website. Here is a link to what Sr. Rose thinks about film priests: http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jun2010/Feature2.asp#F1
One film depiction I consider honest and positive is that in Clint Eastwood's 2008 "Gran Torino." The young parish priest, Father Janovich, portrayed by Christopher Carley, perseveres in visiting the tough widowed veteran Walt Kowalski. Carley makes a believable, hard working parish priest. He respects Eastwood's character, while he works for justice in his racially mixed parish. Father Janovich never loses contact with Walt even when he becomes involved with neighbors threatened by a Hmong gang.
If you haven't seen the movie, see it and ponder what you think of how a priest is presented.
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