Father Dowling Mysteries is an American television mystery series that aired from January 20, 1989 to May 2, 1991. Prior to the series, a TV movie aired on November 30, 1987. For its first season, the show was on NBC; it moved to ABC for its last two seasons. It is based on the adventures of the title character created by Ralph McInerny, in a series of mystery novels.Father Frank Dowling, a fine Catholic parish priest in Chicago, drives housekeeper Marie to despair by his habit of being late for dinner as he and his assistant (streetwise nun Stephanie 'Steve' Oskowski) solve numerous neighborhood crimes, usually involving at least one murder. They generally outsmart the police as well as the criminals. The live-in priest Father Philip Prestwick, whose priority is his own ecclesiastical career prospects, takes a very dim view of their crime fighting and on Sister Steve even being there.