The British Catholic philosopher J.M.Cameron once wrote that poor taste was the infallible mark of the religious right. The tragic fate of this superb series is a case in point. I saw only one or two episodes, and what I saw was serious, intelligent drama of a high order.The Commonweal, which is probably the finest serious Catholic periodical in the English speaking world, praised it. However, it had an enemy, in the form of the far right, scare mongering, ultra-traditionalist Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. Oh how shocking! A priest who actually wrestled with the doubts and ambiguities of mature faith, and who did not dispense easy answers. Clearly a demonic blasphemy.I would rank this series with I'll Fly Away, Homefront, Slattery's People, the Defenders. Naked City, Route 66, Friday Night Lights, East Side West Side,Call To Glory and maybe one or two others among those rarities, intelligent dramas for intelligent people.

This show haunts me even now. I am not a Catholic but I am a person of deep religious faith and conviction and in my opinion, NS accurately portrays a faithful person living and balancing that life in a world that is full of contradictions and is more gray than black and white. I tell people about this show and no one has any idea what I'm referring to. Oh, how I wish this was on DVD! So many lives would be uplifted, challenged, changed. I don't remember whole episodes or what happened when. I do remember a white marble statue being spray painted black to be more reflective of a young man's appearance and hands being shown scrubbing that statue to restore its pristine image (because after all, Jesus was white and not a person of color; hah!), a woman standing on the steps of the church in a snow storm pronouncing a benediction and the congregation singing Angel's Wings.

I'm pleased to see that all the comments on this wonderful series (so far) are favorable. I suppose some things were exaggerated for dramatic purposes, but this series gave a realistic view of life as is really is in urban Catholic parishes. One of the comments above claimed that the series was "condemned by the Catholic Church," and I don't think that's true. It did receive vehement criticism from Catholic traditionalists, a very vocal minority who do not necessarily reflect the thinking of mainstream Catholic priests and religious and laity.The "National Catholic Reporter" newspaper gave strong support to this show. In almost every episode, you'll see a copy of the newspaper in some noticeable location - one of the most interesting "product placements" I've seen.I certainly hope this series comes out on DVD.

Boo and hiss to the cowards at ABC who still refuse to put this show back on the air, in spite of the lack of good shows to put on! "Sacred" featured totally believable performances by Kevin Anderson and Scott Campbell as the yin/yang of the Catholic Church, one questioning its actions, one only slowly looking at both sides. The Christmas episode with its parallels to Mary and Joseph is one of the most unforgettable shows I have ever seen. Especially in today's climate of protest and acknowledgement of the Catholic Church's cover-ups, this show should be brought back or at least shown so others can see what a shining light ABC had and how stupid they were to douse it!