The Good Catholic

Three Catholic priests live in a rectory together. Young Father Daniel runs daily and lost his father in the past year. Father Ollie really likes food and is a big fan of Indiana University basketball. More elderly Father Victor is completely devoted to the church with little outside interests. He finds comfort in setting up the candles and the church for mass by himself in his own specific way. They eat together, set the weekly schedule for baptisms and church services and run the general work of the church. They also discuss scripture, their proposed homilies, and the meaning of God in their lives.

One Friday night young Father Dan meets Jane through the confessional box. She tells him she is a musician and is dying. She is new to the church thing but over the weeks they become friends to the point of playing "battleship" in the confessional. Jane explains how she wants to die but changes her mind at times. Dan gives her a gift of a Bible after a night of Bingo and she is offended. She invites Dan to hear her sing at her coffee house and he goes. One night they reverse roles and she wants him to unburden himself. He tells her that he is happy to be a man of God and help people but he does not see God. They become friends.

Throughout the movie each priest gives a sermon. Dan teaches that death gives meaning to life. Enjoy life now for we all die. Father Ollie teaches on compassion. We all need compassion that means to suffer with another. We need to comfort the sick and be there with the dying. Father Victor preaches that no one sees God but he lives inside each of us. God is love. You find God in the love of man. God, love, and man are one.

One night Father Dan invites Jane over for dinner at the rectory. Father Ollie is enjoying the food cooked by Dan. Serious Father Victor wants to know what Father Daniel's primary passion is. A Priest has a duty to Christ and cannot be fooled by young love. Jane, offended, leaves. Victor asks Daniel if he has lost his faith; Father Daniel says no, that he never had faith until he met Jane. He has helped her not be alone. By loving her and helping her as a friend he is loving God. He now sees God.

• Zachary Spicer as Father Daniel[2]
• Wrenn Schmidt as Jane[2]
• Danny Glover as Father Victor[2]
• John C. McGinley as Father Ollie[2]

Paul Shoulberg both wrote and directed The Good Catholic and dedicated it to his recently passed father, Donald Shoulberg. The film was Pigasus Pictures' first feature film and was produced by Zachary Spicer, John Armstrong, and Graham Sheldon.[2] The Good Catholic began filming on January 25, 2016, in Bloomington, Indiana.[3][4]

The film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 3, 2017.[1] The film was released on September 8, 2017, by Broad Green Pictures.[5] The film has been released on Netflix streaming.[6]

The Good Catholic was accepted at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and won the Panavision Spirit Award for Best Independent Feature Film.

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• The Good Catholic on IMDb
• The Good Catholic at Rotten Tomatoes