MovieChat Forums > Going My Way (1944) Discussion > Depictions of Mass

Depictions of Mass

posted 16 years ago by TorontoJediMaster
11 replies | jump to latest

One thing I've noticed in watching films from the 1940's that feature Catholic priests was they seemed to avoid ever showing them celebrating Mass.

In Going My Way, Father O'Malley is never even seen doing anything in the church itself. His main activities seem to be working with the local ruffians and trying to raise money through recording success.

In similar films, like The Keys to the Kingdom, Francis Chisolm is shown mainly performing first-aid in a free clinic rather than doing anything in a church. Again, like O'Malley he's never even seen wearing vestments.

Another film of the era, Angels with Dirty Faces, Pat O'Brian's character is also more consumed with either working with the Dead End Kids, and then with his "crusdade" as opposed to handling day-to-day parish duties.

As well, none of these films showed the characters performing any rituals or saying any prayers in Latin -the language used in the Church until the 1960's.

I was wondering if this was due to the studio's fear of anti-Catholicism amonst audiences. Were they afraid that everything would too "mysterious" for mainstream, middle-American (i.e. Protestant) audiences?

Did anyone else notice this?

[–] telegonus 16 years ago

I think you nailed it, my friend. To most Protestant Americans back sixty or seventy years ago the Catholic church seemed exotic, the masses mysterious, even a tad frightening, what with all that Latin and all. Hollywood, which had a fair number of Catholics in high places (Metro's Eddie Mannix, John Considine and Jack Conway, Fox's Winnie Sheehan, comedy producer Hal Roach; directors John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Eddie Sutherland, Leo McCary, John Farrow) wanted to present the Church in a positive light, to ease tensions that sometimes existed between Catholics and Protestants. Even non-Christian studio chiefs such as Louis Mayer went out of their way to maintain good relations with Catholics, and Mayer was himself pro-Catholic in his political and social leanings. So in a sense the many films of the 30's and 40's that featured priests were a kind of gentle PR for Roman Catholic Americans, and the strategy seemed to work, as tensions between the two began to ease up considerably in the years after World War II, to a degree that an at the time not very well known Catholic senator from Massachusetts was able to win the presidency in 1960. I wouldn't go so far as to say that all those movies featuring Catholic priests back in the studio days were directly responsible for electing a president, but in their modest way they helped

[–] TorontoJediMaster 16 years ago

Oh, I agree that almost all of these portrayals were very positive. However, almost none of them showed these priests doing any actual work in their churches. It was like they were shown as general do-gooders, crusaders, etc.

The one thing they were never shown doing was saying Mass. The closest was a brief scene in Going My Way where Father Fitzgibbon is delivering his Homily, which is done in English and pretty much consists of him asking people to be generous when the collection basket is passed around.

So far as I know, one of the first films that actually showed a priest doing prayers in Latin was -oddly enough- in Sands of Iwo Jima. During an early battle scene on Tarawa; in the aftermath, a Navy Catholic Chaplain (you can even see the stole he's wearing) administering Last Rites to a dead Marine.

I believe, in two earlier war movies, The Fighting 69th and Guadalcanal Diary, there are also scenes where a Catholic chaplain (played by Pat O'Brian and Preston Foster, respectively) administers Last Rites, in Latin.

Maybe it was felt that Last Rites was unique -and brief- enough that it could be shown without any sense of alienation.

[–] originaLee 13 years ago

telegonus, we certianly could use Hollywood legends like Hal Roach, Leo MCary, Winnie Sheehan, and the others today! It seems like today's Hollywood has a very serious case of bigotry when it comes to Catholics. Many movies, like "Priest", "Dogma", "DaVinci Code", "Eurotrip", would be considered hate crimes if thier targets were groups other than Catholics, like Jews or blacks.

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[–] rekcilorf 14 years ago

I don't think there is anything deep here, or ominous or anything else.
This movie is about a man who happens to be a priest. He helps people and that is the theme of the movie. Mass can be a stirring event but on the screen I just don't think there would be any purpose to it. We already know that he and Fr. Fitzgibbon are priests, so that fact does not have to be further established. Fr. Fitzgibbon is also scend praying alone in church and reading his breiary (the book of daily prayer required of all priests). By the way, there is an element of truth in this film. Father O'Malley is based on a real priest who got a gang of boys off the streets by getting them into a choir. I believe it was in the Bronx, NY and a few years earlier than the movie and his name MAY have been O'Malley but I am not 100% sure about that. I have no idea if any other events in the movie are based on his life.

[–] justaudrey 14 years ago

I do see your point, one film, though that does feature a priest celebrating Mass (if I remember correctly)is I Confess.

[–] Kuato_and_George 13 years ago

One thing I've noticed in watching films from the 1940's that feature Catholic priests was they seemed to avoid ever showing them celebrating Mass.

Maybe because it's really boring?

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[–] boxerrebellion 10 years ago

Funny you mention this. Fr. O'Malley WAS doing the day-to-day Pastor's work - he was taking care of his Parish. Priests say Mass at least once a day, but in many Parishes there is only one daily Mass during the week. In fact, with many sharing Priests NOW, a church may not have a daily Mass.

Also, we live on a US Base, so our Priest is a Navy Chaplain. We get a new one every 12-14 months. One of them we had about nine years ago wore the, I call it a cassock, the long black coat over his Priest garb. I told him that he always reminded me of Bing. I did think it must be dreadfully hot since we live in GTMO.

[–] bastasch8647 10 years ago

My theory: the Mass is considered sacrosanct by Catholic filmgoers. For an actor to "go through the motions" of the Mass is a very iffy proposition for many Catholics. It's not like "Bible church" Protestantism, which can easily be portrayed by actors reciting scripture and giving (scripted) sermons. The Mass is called by the Church "a MYSTERY" in which Christ himself becomes spiritually AND BODILY present on the altar. Obviously, regardless of one's beliefs about the Mass, this is very sensitive material. That's probably why Hollywood shies away from explicit portrayals of the Mass. One notable exception is the beautifully-portrayed but very brief depiction in The Exorcist of Fr. Damien Karras' celebration of Mass: the first scene shows him leading the congregation in prayer, the second actually shows him consecrating the Host (wafer) and the chalice of wine. No one would complain about this brief snippet, respectfully presented and reverently photographed...

[–] astockton_uk 8 years ago

Watching a priest say Mass in a movie is not blasphemous, it's simply boring. The priest is not interacting with anyone, so it's not going to advance the plot.

[–] oldblackandwhite 8 years ago

bastasch8647 is correct.

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He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45

[–] matt_garth 8 years ago

In 1944's THE SULLIVANS, the parish priest played by Roy Roberts is shown performing several rites and sacraments, including Baptism, Confession, and first Communion.