Counter Culture

A haunting meditation on faith, authority, and the uneasy marriage between tradition and modernity, The Catholics (1978) transforms Brian Moore’s quietly provocative novel into a stark, windswept parable of conscience. Directed by Jack Gold and starring Trevor Howard, Martin Sheen, and Cyril Cusack, this Peabody‑winning ITV drama unfolds on a remote Irish island where monks defy Rome’s reforms by clinging to the Latin Mass—an act of devotion that becomes rebellion. Filmed with cinematic austerity and moral intensity, it remains one of British television’s most neglected masterpieces.

The Catholics, also known as Conflict, a Fable of the Future and The Visitor, was first broadcast on ITV in 1978 as part of their regular Sunday Night Theatre slot (series 6, episode 9).

Though formally a play, it’s much more of a film, though a short one at just shy of one hour and twenty minutes, cinematic and set almost entirely on location on the remote Irish island of Sherkin, off the coast of County Cork.

I’d never heard of it, but stumbled upon a version in CEX for £1.50 about three months ago, and finally got around to watching it the other night. I’m very glad I did. It’s superb and an ideal addition to your Easter viewing.

The good news is that it is in the public domain and free to view on YouTube.

It is set in the then seemingly far-off year of 2000. The story concerns a young American monk. Father Kinsella, played by Sheen, being dispatched from Rome to persuade, if possible, and compel if necessary a small, largely self-sufficient group of fellow monks on a remote Irish Island from continuing with their ‘outmoded’ methods of worship, in particular their insistence on continuing with the Latin Mass as opposed to the vernacular that had been initially introduced at the second Vatican Council held between 1962 and 1965, and which by this point has become mandatory.

(The Opening scene, where we see Father Kinsella being assigned this task by the Father General in Rome, has apparently been omitted in some of the available versions of the production.)

The young, modernist priest’s task is made more complicated by the fact that the intransigent monks, led by Father Abbot (Trevor Howard)  have attained a degree of celebrity status via a television documentary having been made about them, with both devout groups of traditionalist worshippers from the Irish mainland, and groups of tourists from all over the world making the hazardous boat trip to the island to either participate in or to observe their continuation of their ancient forms of devotion, and their harsh, remote life-style.

Indeed, it is precisely because of the monks new found fame that Father Kinsella has been sent on his mission to enforce change, the leadership of the church in Rome being concerned that public support and sympathy for them could be the seed of a traditionalist counter-revolution that might derail the ‘progressive’ changes in the church that had been set in motion by Vatican 2. This worry is compounded by the fact that not only are they attracting curiosity seekers and aging Catholics who yearn for a return to the certainties of the past, but are also attracting a new breed of young zealous converts who are seeking ordination, thus ensuring that the order won’t necessarily disappear as nature takes its course and those who have devoted their life to the community cease their Earthly existence.

 Negatives

I have only one, and even that may be revised through a second viewing.

But on first watch, I’m not entirely convinced that the futuristic setting of 2000 is strictly necessary.

Opposition within the church to some of the reforms of Vatican 2, especially as regards the gradual replacement of the old Roman Rite, would still have been strong less than a decade later, at the time that the play (or the original novel of the previous year) had been written, particularly in nations like Ireland that at that time remained traditionally Catholic

Indeed, opposition remains to this day, with the Latin Mass only permitted at the discretion of individual Bishops, and with knowledge of how to find one to attend often hard to come by. On a personal note, I formally became a Roman Catholic almost exactly one year ago, at Easter 2025, and it took time and a fair bit of online research for me to discover that the nearest traditional Mass to me was at a small church in Warrington. I’ve attended three so far. I prefer the vernacular because I lack the experience and knowledge to understand much of what is going on at the ancient rite. But it’s an interesting experience, the people are nice, and my view is that it should be available to those who want it, and it shouldn’t need to exist only as a semi-underground subculture.

I thought that this theme alone was enough to carry the story, and there was nothing about the settings that suggested ‘the future.’ The community itself could have existed at almost any point in the last millennia. The monks did have access to a telephone, but it was very much a 1970s telephone, and the helicopter that transported Father Kinsella to the island (after the local boatman refused to take him) was very much an early 1970s helicopter.

What tells us that we are not in the present day is the dialogue that reveals that the reforms within the church have gone much further than those of Vatican 2. By the year 2000, we have had not only a Vatican 3, but a Vatican 4! And it is not only the Latin Mass that is prohibited. So is private, confidential Confession between a priest and a parishioner. Confession now exists only as a collective group activity.

In addition, Father Kinsella wears casual clothing, explaining to one of Father Abbot’s main assistants that traditional dress is now reserved only for ‘special occasions.’

I’m not sure that all of this was strictly necessary.

But I thought the mention of a coming Catholic-Buddhist ecumenical council was interesting, especially as this West/East reproachment was beautifully illustrated in a beautiful silent shot of Father Kinsella meditating alone in full lotus position with his crucifix around his neck.

The discussion between Father Abbott and Father Kinsella around Liberation Theology, of ‘Priests overthrowing governments in Latin America was also interesting. But, again, this would have been a live issue in 1973, and would remain so for a while yet, even if it’s rarely talked about today.

Much of this was likely fleshed out more widely in Moore’s original novel, and I’d be interested to read it. There’s only so much that can be done in an hour and eighteen minutes of screen time.

Positives

As I said in my introduction, this is much more of a film than a play, and it looks great, clearly shot in film rather than on videotape.

It also has a lovely musical score by the established and well-regarded composer Carl Davis.

But it’s a wordy film, and the exceptional dialogue, especially that which takes place between Father Kinsella and Father Abbot, is worthy of some of the best playwriting in that golden age of the now almost non-existent British television play.

That this was shown at peak-viewing time on network television, and on ITV rather than BBC2 or even BBC1, is an indication of how far our popular entertainment culture has dumbed down over the last five decades or so.

The performances of both Sheen and Howard, the latter already a veteran legend of British stage and screen, are superb. The supporting cast is great too, with Cusack as Father Manus, and a young Michael Gambon as the ultra-militant traditionalist Brother Kevin, especially worthy of mention.

This is a story of deep themes. Of tradition versus modernism and whether change is always for the better, the extent to which Christianity should adapt itself to modern culture and fluid morality, and whether such adaptation attracts or repels those seeking spiritual meaning, is probably even more resonant now than it was then, and perhaps even more so for our Established church than for the Church of Rome.

In addition, there is a brilliant subplot that emerges slowly and subtly as the story progresses. This is of Father Abbot’s, ostensibly the chief defender of traditionalism and religious orthodoxy, own internal struggle to retain his Faith in God, which had begun during a visit to Lourdes several years earlier.

The way this internal battle is made visible by Howard as he attempts to pray the Our Father in the very final shot of the film is simply breathtaking.

A neglected masterpiece.

Anthony C Green, Good Friday, 2026