The Church and the Woman is a 1917 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford set against the background of sectarianism in Australia.

Shooting began in March 1917 with location filming at the Sacred Heart Church, Darlinghurst, Catholic Riverview College, Sydney, and Wentworth House, Vaucluse.

"[4] Later on the writer Edmund Finn succeeded in getting an injunction stopping the film being distributed on the grounds it was adapted from his novel, The Priest's Secret.

[5][6] Pugliese, who hadn't written the script, denied he had ever read the novel but Justice Street in the Equity Court of New South Wales found that there were many similarities to Longford's script and ordered that Finn was entitled to an injunction, an account of profits, and an order for the delivering up of negatives.

The court ruled in their favour, deciding that the other film had to make clear in advertising it was a different movie from The Church and the Woman.