Brides of Christ appeared on TV in 1991, giving the ABC national broadcaster its biggest-ever audience for a non-sporting programme. The series became an international hit, attracting c8 million viewers in the US and UK. Critics lavished the series with praise and secondary school students read it in English classes. The history of the series came from the Sydney Morning Herald but the review is all my own.
Filmed in Sydney, the film was set in a Catholic convent in the 1960s, the fictional Santu Spiritu School for Girls. The plot dramatised the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), with Rome loosening old traditions and rites. From his election in 1958, Pope John XXIII moved fast in modernising the Church, right in the middle of the social and political changes charging throughout most western nations. Consider the radical events then: civil rights, Vietnam, rock-n-roll music, tv in every household, women’s liberation, abortion and divorce: all were explored.
Conformity was out and almost everything was up for discussion: hierarchy, traditional structures, relationship between knowledgeable priests and subservient believers, what was expected of religious men and women, and their clothes. Soon the Latin Mass said by a priest in full regalia with his back to the congregation, was replaced by a language and practice that worshippers could understand and share. Of course these changes shook a lot of Catholic communities to the core. Monasteries and convents were at the forefront.. and then the schools.
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Other reviewers believed young Catholics always carried with them the indoctrination of Catholicism for life. [Give me a child till he is 7 years old, said St Ignatius Loyola, and I will show you the man.] So although I didn’t notice this myself, the show might have provided a vehicle for the grief felt viewers who couldn’t express their individuality in their own lives.
Looking back, I DID know the Catholic Church formally ordered that IVF would never acceptable in 1987. So when we saw Brides in 1991, would have infertile Catholic couples have resolved their pain and accepted a life without children? Not at all! Perhaps that was why not all Catholic men approved of the series.
And consider 2,000 years of tradition Vs the thrill of reform and dialogue. For some, the openness was exciting, for others terrifying.
Meanwhile the world outside the convent was rapidly changing too. There were cheap and safe birth control options that could greatly improve the lives of the working classes. There were migrants, changing our cities. Everyone worried about conscription to the Vietnam war and early feminism was teaching women they have brains, bodies and choices. No wonder I indentified so strongly with the young women in this great tv series.
**
This week The Australian’s journalist Bernard Salt was reminiscing about his most memorable teachers. He wrote that 50 years ago, in St Thomas School in Terang, Sister Andrew would regale the class with stories of her life before entering the convent and her passion for dancing. Her class was always ecstatic.
Filmed in Sydney, the film was set in a Catholic convent in the 1960s, the fictional Santu Spiritu School for Girls. The plot dramatised the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), with Rome loosening old traditions and rites. From his election in 1958, Pope John XXIII moved fast in modernising the Church, right in the middle of the social and political changes charging throughout most western nations. Consider the radical events then: civil rights, Vietnam, rock-n-roll music, tv in every household, women’s liberation, abortion and divorce: all were explored.
Conformity was out and almost everything was up for discussion: hierarchy, traditional structures, relationship between knowledgeable priests and subservient believers, what was expected of religious men and women, and their clothes. Soon the Latin Mass said by a priest in full regalia with his back to the congregation, was replaced by a language and practice that worshippers could understand and share. Of course these changes shook a lot of Catholic communities to the core. Monasteries and convents were at the forefront.. and then the schools.
Clockwise from top left: Josephine Byrnes, Brenda Fricker, Sandy Gore,
Lisa Hensley, Melissa Thomas, Naomi Watts and Kym Wilson.
What stood out in the series? In contrast to other TV dramas, Brides of Christ’s characters were not defined primarily by their relationships with men. This was about women, created by and starring talented female writers, producers and actors.
And the miniseries retained its ambiguity. It was able to criticise and rebuke the practices of the Church (i.e its moneyed, male hierarchy and its stand on birth control) and at the same time genuinely convey the spiritual and communal warmth of these nuns and their religious fervour. While Sister Catherine and Sister Paul viewed Vatican II as a chance to modernise the church, their older colleagues, Sister Agnes and Sister Philomena, fought to conserve existing Catholic teachings and practices. Facing intense pressure from the church’s male hierarchy, Mother Ambrose had to keep the peace.
But I am not a Christian and I couldn’t understand how the nuns were living/working in a medieval-type institution, yet they were creating very independent-thinking girls. [That was the paradox I still need to question, now that the episodes are streaming on Stan]. The series suggested that the girls, taught by nuns, were largely happy to be there and understood they were getting a top quality education. But as the nuns were very modern and liberal, and committed to a broad religious education, didn’t the young nuns themselves wonder how they would balance the contradictory impulses! There was enough turmoil within the Catholic Church in Rome and the world, so I had imagined the young nuns might have felt unsupported in their big issues.
Perhaps support between the nuns was the key issue. For women who had sworn to celibacy for the rest of their lives, and saw their own families rarely, human connections within the convent seemed to be the best way for individuals to deal with their personal struggles. While many nuns struggled with clashes between their sacred vows and inner desires, thank goodness the film’s view of the nuns was more honest than I had expected.
Some reviewers disagreed with me eg Hell Burns. Sister Philomena, for example, had lived a quiet, powerless life and suddenly she was being thrust into a world that she didn’t really understand, with a body that she didn’t want to reveal. Perhaps Philomena joined the seminary straight out of school and didn’t know how to evolve emotionally. Or perhaps she didn’t want to have to be mature.
And the miniseries retained its ambiguity. It was able to criticise and rebuke the practices of the Church (i.e its moneyed, male hierarchy and its stand on birth control) and at the same time genuinely convey the spiritual and communal warmth of these nuns and their religious fervour. While Sister Catherine and Sister Paul viewed Vatican II as a chance to modernise the church, their older colleagues, Sister Agnes and Sister Philomena, fought to conserve existing Catholic teachings and practices. Facing intense pressure from the church’s male hierarchy, Mother Ambrose had to keep the peace.
But I am not a Christian and I couldn’t understand how the nuns were living/working in a medieval-type institution, yet they were creating very independent-thinking girls. [That was the paradox I still need to question, now that the episodes are streaming on Stan]. The series suggested that the girls, taught by nuns, were largely happy to be there and understood they were getting a top quality education. But as the nuns were very modern and liberal, and committed to a broad religious education, didn’t the young nuns themselves wonder how they would balance the contradictory impulses! There was enough turmoil within the Catholic Church in Rome and the world, so I had imagined the young nuns might have felt unsupported in their big issues.
Perhaps support between the nuns was the key issue. For women who had sworn to celibacy for the rest of their lives, and saw their own families rarely, human connections within the convent seemed to be the best way for individuals to deal with their personal struggles. While many nuns struggled with clashes between their sacred vows and inner desires, thank goodness the film’s view of the nuns was more honest than I had expected.
Some reviewers disagreed with me eg Hell Burns. Sister Philomena, for example, had lived a quiet, powerless life and suddenly she was being thrust into a world that she didn’t really understand, with a body that she didn’t want to reveal. Perhaps Philomena joined the seminary straight out of school and didn’t know how to evolve emotionally. Or perhaps she didn’t want to have to be mature.
Other reviewers believed young Catholics always carried with them the indoctrination of Catholicism for life. [Give me a child till he is 7 years old, said St Ignatius Loyola, and I will show you the man.] So although I didn’t notice this myself, the show might have provided a vehicle for the grief felt viewers who couldn’t express their individuality in their own lives.
Looking back, I DID know the Catholic Church formally ordered that IVF would never acceptable in 1987. So when we saw Brides in 1991, would have infertile Catholic couples have resolved their pain and accepted a life without children? Not at all! Perhaps that was why not all Catholic men approved of the series.
And consider 2,000 years of tradition Vs the thrill of reform and dialogue. For some, the openness was exciting, for others terrifying.
Meanwhile the world outside the convent was rapidly changing too. There were cheap and safe birth control options that could greatly improve the lives of the working classes. There were migrants, changing our cities. Everyone worried about conscription to the Vietnam war and early feminism was teaching women they have brains, bodies and choices. No wonder I indentified so strongly with the young women in this great tv series.
**
This week The Australian’s journalist Bernard Salt was reminiscing about his most memorable teachers. He wrote that 50 years ago, in St Thomas School in Terang, Sister Andrew would regale the class with stories of her life before entering the convent and her passion for dancing. Her class was always ecstatic.