International Series: The Churchmen - Ainsi Soient-ils

MHz Choice has been having major problems during it's launch.  I talked about MHz Choice in an earlier post Here.

The idea was to move their International Mystery and other international programs from cable and broadcast to all streaming. Well, lets just say they launched before they were ready and now they have taken down the streaming site and will re-launch in the fall.  

Part of the problem was they couldn't make their "episode catch-up" feature work. If you didn't catch the episode when it aired live, you were out of luck.  Because the series were no longer on cable TV, I couldn't DVR. So I managed to only follow two series and I gave up on the rest.

One of the series I did manage to follow for the three episodes that aired was The Churchmen (Ainsi Soient-ils). 

The series follows five young men who have decided to join the priesthood. We meet them on their first day at the Capuchin Seminary in Paris as they start their journey to God.  

 In the first three episodes we get glimpses of why each of them has chosen this path, and also their doubts, and the doubts of their loved ones, that they've chosen the right path. 

In addition to their education at the Seminary, they also are attending university. They find the challenge of dealing with and confronting the modern, very secular, world that doesn't always accept them. 

We also get to meet and know their teachers and mentors, the older men (and some women) of the church. We see their personal triumphs, their faith, and their very human failings.  

 

The series also follows the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church, and the struggle for power, from the head of the Seminary, all the way to the Vatican.  We also see the all too human challenges and disappointments of of the mid-life priest in the field. 

But I like that we also see the joy of the faith in our young seminarians, and in the most senior of their teachers. 

The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful...all of this in just three episodes!

I look forward to the return of The Churchmen on MHz Choice this fall and recommend looking for this French TV series on local PBS stations, or other international series sites, or by subscribing to MHz Choice when it returns.  (Hopefully MHz Networks will be successful this time.) 

 Main Cast:

Jean-Luc Bideau

Thierry Gimenez

Michel Duchaussoy

Julien Bouanich

David Baiot

Clément Manuel                            

Clément Roussier

Samuel Jouy

Guy Denize