The movie Priest tells the story of a young Catholic priest sent to a church in working class Liverpool, England. When he arrives we find him struggling to come to grips with the liberal religious views of the other parish priest. But we soon discover that his struggle is part of a greater internal struggle – you see our newly arrived priest is gay. He tries to resist, but fails, and in the end starts leading a double life, on the one hand spending time with his gay friend away from the church while on the other genuinely seeking to serve his parish community. And in the middle of all this is his anguished struggle.
Towards the end of the movie he and his gay friend are caught in public and arrested – homosexuality is against the laws of the land. Once news gets out that a priest has been arrested the media gets interested and its flashed across the local newspapers in no time. The young priest is broken, driven almost to the point of nervous breakdown.
The movie ends with an enormously powerful scene. The faithful gather for mass, with everybody now aware of the young priests situation. When it comes time to serve communion both the young priest and the older priest serve. People form queues in the aisle, lining up to receive the bread and wine from one of the two priests. Scandalised by his sexuality everybody lines up to receive communion from the older priest. Not one person is willing to be served by the younger, gay priest. The camera pans to his face. His lips quiver, his eyes burning with hurt and rejection.
Then a young girl walks forward. Throughout the movie the younger priest has discovered in the confessional that her father regularly abuses her. He confronts the father but the father simply threatens him. Bound by the confidentiality of the confessional the priest is unable to do anything more. And so the church sadly fails this young girl. She’s left in her abusive situation. Well, at the communion scene which closes the movie, when everyone avoids being served by the young priest, this broken and wounded girl walks up to the young priest and receives communion from him. They embrace and together, these two wounded and rejected ones, share in the communion.
Application: Judgementalism, judging, holiness, grace, welcome, acceptance, church. The movie raises the tension between the church's belief in grace, and therefore welcome to the sinner, and holiness, and therefore maintaining its particular moral values. At the close of the movie we see the parishioners choosing holiness, and so excluding the young priest, while the abused girls alone chooses the expression of grace.
Application: Homosexuality. The movie highlights the terrible tension gay Christians frequently feel between their sexual yearnings and their faith. And it shows just how toxic the church can be when it is unable to show grace to those who are homosexual.
Source: Scott Higgins, based upon the movie priest