Script 2 - Amy McDonald

Following one's instinct / leads to / a life of honesty, integrity, and spiritual fulfillment.

Premise: A young priest who has never known a life outside of the tight, abusive grasp of the Catholic Church stumbles across some documents that lead him to question the authenticity of the resident Bishop, and ultimately that of his own ordainment. In his quest to find out the truth, he enlists the help of his dearest friend, a nun burdened with similar suspicions. However, their search will not be easy as there are many who do not want the dark secrets of the church revealed.

His stature alone would cause most to cower in Father Benedict’s presence. But combined with his high level of authority and strict adherence to the Church’s and boarding school’s rules and expectations most children beginning there life at the Saint Patrick’s Academy make efforts to deliberately avoid him and his threatening appearance. But by avoiding him, most children do not realize that Father Benedict is the most dedicated and thoughtful priest in the congregation. His involuntary stutter during his sermons begins to humanize him to the children; an infliction since childhood that years of prayer has not rid him of.

Father Benedict understands the fear and confusion of the school children as he was one at the Academy himself. His parents, upset with the changes of the Catholic Church under Pope John Paul II, moved Michael Lewis (his birth name) from Los Angeles to a small town in Washington when he was 9. Before the move, Michael enjoyed a fairly normal childhood that was lightly influenced by their Catholic Church they attended. But then when it was revealed that Pope John Paul II would accept the English mass instead of Latin and would allow women to wear pants and no head cover inside the Catholic Churches, Michael’s parents felt threatened that their belief system was being attacked. So they found a boarding school/church in the Northwest that rejected the Pope’s lenient standards. Since that time, Michael was beaten at the hands of many priests and began to associate the Church with fear, and only God with love. Bishop Shoecart was the head of the Church and Michael endured the most beatings from his hand. Michael’s commitment to be a good person and live a life dedicated to God began before the move and with zero influence from his parents or their church at the time. He had always felt drawn to that life and knew it was his destiny. He followed through with that commitment at Saint Patrick’s Academy, but after the abuse he endured he did so more out of obligation and fear than for his love of God. His faith in God had not wavered over those many years, but his faith in humanity had.

Father Benedict has done some terrible things himself. His fear of Bishop Shoecart is still prevalent as an adult and because of this fear; he has disciplined children in the way the Bishop demanded. This meant physical abuse. It may have been out of habit as well. This is what he knew and to do different would be to question the culture he knew. But father Benedict’s guilt has led him to whip himself at night, his personal form of penance – knowing that this abuse was wrong and not what a loving God would want. His remorse for his actions also led him to begin studying in secret the theology of Catholicism in order to reconcile his and his Church's brutal actions. The Bishop could never know about his curiosity for the historical and theological past of the Catholic Church. Benedict knew that the Bishop fervently fought to keep outside sources and teachings out of the Academy, but Benedict could not stop himself from researching. He also knew that there was only one person in the world that he could trust, Sister Maria, he oldest and dearest friend. It was she that he could confide in and talk openly about his questions with the Church. Together they organized a plan on how each one of them could leave the Church grounds in order to speak with local Catholic theologians and other local Bishops. For the one day that each of them were able to do this, they both discovered the same thing, but could not be caught by the other priests and nuns talking about it in person. They had to write letters and sneak them to each other’s sleeping quarters. Their letters revealed their findings: that with the rejection of Pope John Paul II’s orders, Saint Patrick’s Academy is not recognized as a Catholic Church by the Vatican. This was not that surprising to both Benedict and Mary, but there was something more shocking. Bishop Shoecart was not a Bishop at all. He was never ordained in the Catholic Church; instead he just had forged several documents and then started his own Church (Saint Patrick’s) where no one would question him. This information was both devastating and exciting. Devastating because this meant that no one ordained under Shoecart was officially a priest or nun in the Vatican’s eyes. Hundreds of people’s lives will change forever if this information is revealed. Their belief system will be crushed and the many dark secrets committed by the nuns and priests will come out; including Benedict’s.  The exciting part is that Benedict now has an out, a chance to leave something behind that he has known as wrong for far too many years.

As Mary and Benedict's planning on how to reveal this information accelerates, Shoecart begins to notice their suspicious behavior. He has Benedict watched and followed and discovers that Benedict has information that can destroy him. (I have not decided how their convergence will take place yet).

Benedict and Mary end up revealing the information and the Church is in upheaval and Benedict has to go into hiding. But there are many in the Church who refuse to believe the revelation that their lives have been a lie and choose to stay and rebuild the institution. A bond that was built in turmoil became unbreakable, and Benedict (now Michael again) and Mary (Anna) allowed themselves for the first time, to embrace their love for each other; moving  to Las Vegas where they can marry and live out their Christian lives in peace and without the condemnation that they received in the Northwest. They still practiced Christianity, but not in a church. Instead, they were able to finally express their spirituality in a loving and accepting environment; each other's company.