1983: This year, breaking celibacy was quite understandable.
TV’s popular romantic lead was Richard Chamberlain in The Thorn Birds, portraying a fictional Australian priest who had an affair with a married woman. Catholics protested because ABC aired the miniseries during Holy Week, and progressive opinion pish-tushed us.
2004: This year, breaking celibacy is an actionable tort.
Archdiocese pays hefty settlement to adult children whom priest fathered in illicit relationship. Any chance we could file a counterclaim against ABC and Colleen McCullough? A responsible novelist would have made the priest an obvious villain who gets sued in the end.
[Thanks, Dom.]