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High Concept

A story of love, sexual crimes, and revenge in a Catholic seminary during the 1960s.

Log Line

A coming-of-age comedic drama that interlinks storylines of spiritual idealism, illicit love affairs, pederastic rapes, and revenge conspiracies set in a Catholic seminary during the 1960s.

Summary

One Paragraph

Daniel Joseph Yeats (D.J.), the protagonist of Visiting Sunday, enters Saint Mark Seminary in fall 1962 after eighth grade, aspiring to become a priest.  His early years there are idyllic and inspirational, even fun.  The highlight of every month is Visiting Sunday, when the boys’ families come to visit and the seminarians get back in touch with the real world.  D.J. and three close friends learn that behind the holy façade of St. Mark’s boils a roiling cauldron of repressed sexuality, sexual perversion, and conspiracies of silence.  One of the four pals is sodomized by a monk, and the rector runs off with a classmate’s widowed mother.  Against this sordid backdrop and amongst these deeply flawed people, there are moral characters looking for each other.  D.J. meets Sister Mary Faith, a novice from Saint Monica Convent, triggering for both of them questions about celibacy and their vocations because of their forbidden love.  After a priest professor rapes another classmate, D.J. and his best friend vow revenge.  Good conquers evil but evil has scored some points.  In the end, D.J. and Faith’s love prevails.

Two Paragraphs

In fall 1962 Daniel Joseph Yeats (D.J.), the protagonist of Visiting Sunday, enters Saint Mark Seminary after eighth grade, aspiring to become a priest.  His early years there are idyllic and inspirational, even fun.  The highlight of every month is Visiting Sunday, when the boys’ families come to visit and the seminarians get back in touch with the real world.  But life in the seminary is full of ridiculous rules and odd practices.  Most of the teachers, Barnabian monks, seem confused and outdated: they wear dress-like habits, live together, and have a lot of bad habits.  The prefects use the confessional to dig up secrets and exploit them as instruments of control and punishment.  At Saint Monica’s, a nearby convent, women attempt to pursue lives of holiness and self-service to others, but similar problems exist there.  A dominatrix novice mistress controls the young nuns through physical, psychological, and spiritual terror.

D.J. and three close friends come to learn that behind the façade of Saint Mark’s sacred idealism boils a roiling cauldron of repressed sexuality, sexual perversion, and conspiracies of silence.  One friend quits because he has been sodomized by a monk; the rector runs off with a classmate’s widowed mother; and a young priest catches his pastor fornicating with his secretary on the rectory dining room table.  Against this backdrop of moral turpitude and religious hypocrisy, D.J. meets Sister Mary Faith, a novice from Saint Monica’s, triggering for both of them questions about celibacy and their vocations because of their forbidden love.  After a priest professor rapes another classmate, D.J. and his best friend vow revenge.  Justice sees the light of day, but the field is littered with ruined lives and disillusionment.  In the end, D.J. and Faith’s love prevails.

Synopsis

Visiting Sunday opens late evening at Saint Mark Seminary on a Visiting Sunday in May 1968.

Daniel J. Yeats (D.J., lean, six-footer, scholar), the protagonist, and classmates complete their class play the night before graduating from Saint Mark’s.  While seminarians, families, and guests head for the after-party, D.J. sneaks away for a tryst with Sister Faith (19, sensuously pretty, dreamer) in the bell tower of the abbey church.

At the same time, D.J.’s friend FRANK kneels in his cassock on the church portico while inside the Barnabian monks intone the Divine Office of Compline.  Frank clutches a large sharpened-metal crucifix, fingers rosary beads, and mumbles prayers of desperation.  When the monks conclude chanting, Frank begins desperately to saw away at his wrists with the crucifix.

The timeline jumps to a present day mountain cabin, where D.J. writes about his experiences at Saint Mark’s.  From his reflections, the story flashes back to fall 1962, when D.J. and his friends enter Saint Mark’s right after eighth grade, aspiring to become a priests.

Their early years there are idyllic and inspirational, even fun.  The highlight of every month is Visiting Sunday, when families and guests come to visit and seminarians get back in touch with the real world.  The boys enjoy the seminary woods, play sports, and fish together.  They pour out their souls in the confessional.

But life at Saint Mark’s is full of ridiculous rules and odd practices.  Most of the monk teachers seem confused and outdated: they wear brick red dress-like habits, live together, and smoke too much.  The prefects use the confessional to dig up secrets and exploit them as instruments of control and punishment.  And seduction.

The boys find a trustworthy guide and friend in Father Fabian (Fab, thirties, handsome), the seminary infirmarian, who is true to his vows and mission in life.  Father Fab is also the chaplain at Saint Monica’s and serves as Faith’s confessor.

D.J., Frank, and two other friends, JOHN and BILLY, learn that behind the façade of Saint Mark’s sacred idealism boils a roiling cauldron of repressed sexuality, sexual perversion, and conspiracies of silence.  Billy quits because he is sodomized by a monk, and the rector of Saint Mark’s runs off with Billy’s widowed mother, a chesty seductress with a divine bottom.

Against this backdrop of moral turpitude and religious hypocrisy, D.J. meets Faith, triggering for both of them questions about celibacy and their vocations because of their forbidden love.  At Saint Monica’s, a nearby convent, Faith and other young nuns attempt to pursue lives of holiness and self-service, but similar problems exist there.  A dominatrix novice mistress controls the young nuns through physical, psychological, and spiritual terror.

After a monk rapes Frank, D.J. and John vow revenge.  Knowing that the predator has his sights next set on D.J., the two set a trap and photograph the pedophilic priest as he tries to seduce D.J.

The closing scenes return to Visiting Sunday, May 1968.  The action follows both D.J. and Faith through that last Sunday at Saint Mark’s.  The story concludes where the opening scenes left off, just after D.J. and Faith have made love in the bell tower, at the same time that Frank has slit his wrists with the metal crucifix on the portico of the abbey church.  Frank dies in Faith’s arms.

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