Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 4 Commentary Thursday, December 14, 2000
You can influence what hits the airwaves
and appears on the Internet
By Barbara D. King
R ecently a colleague here at the Catholic
Pastoral Center was watching a TV show at
home with her 12-year-old daughter when an ad
came on that so embarrassed her it ruined the
rest of the evening.
Several months ago, Bishop J. Kevin Boland
received a letter from a mother who was con
cerned about the unlimited access to Internet
sites that children have at the local public
library.
In neither case was the parent so upset that she
wanted to ban television viewing and use of the
Internet all together. Both recognized the many
hours of entertainment and education that the
media provide. Both mothers were interested in
the media reaching its full potential for bringing
us human beings who share the same planet
closer together.
Witness the coverage of the 150th anniversary
of the Diocese of Savannah over the Internet, on
television, radio and in print media around the
diocese over the past few weeks. And the reac
tion of history and government teachers around
the nation when the events in Florida threw the
media spotlight on such seldom-discussed topics
as the workings of the Electoral College.
This weekend we Catholics will have an
opportunity to collectively promote responsible,
moral and ethical media by taking part in a cam
paign sponsored by the U.S. Catholic Bishops.
As part of the Jubilee Day for Cinema, Theater
and Entertainment worldwide, the U.S. Bishops
have approved a grassroots campaign in connec
tion with their statement “Renewing the Mind of
the Media.”
The bishops are encouraging families to adopt
the “Renewing the Mind of the Media” pledge
that appears in Sunday bulletins this weekend
and to implement one or more of the suggestions
that are included with the pledge.
Those of us who were around in the 1950s
will remember the Legion of Decency pledge
that we took by standing during Mass and prom
ising to support only morally uplifting motion
pictures. Today, we have many more forms of
media that affect us besides movies, and we
don’t have to leave our homes to see or hear
them.
And for those who don’t believe that the
media affect our attitudes and actions, think
about the millions, probably billions, of dollars
that go into advertising campaigns to influence
our purchases each year.
The Legion of Decency campaign was effec
tive in influencing Hollywood to consider the
moral tone of movies that were produced. The
U.S. bishops are confident that the media today
are not beyond the reach of the influence of a
collective group of consumers. Bishop Boland
serves on the Bishops’ Communications
Committee that suggested the latest pledge, pub
lished in full in the December 7 issue of The
Southern Cross.
The bishops urge families to take the pledge
and to indicate their support of the effort of the
“Renewing the Mind of the Media” campaign by
logging on to www.renewingmedia.org. A com
plete copy of the pledge and background materi
als are available there. The site also has Spanish
language versions of the information.
Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore summed
up the Bishops’ decision to address media con
cerns this way: “We had a dream. The dream is
to help people everywhere realize the beauty of
God’s creation, every aspect of it, and the poten
tial and beauty and power of it as a creation that
is in harmony with the Lord and people in har
mony with each other.”
On this Third Sunday of Advent as we prepare
for the coming of Christ’s kingdom in fullness,
let’s join with our fellow Catholics to make the
media more aware of our concerns, and to stop
and say a prayer for all who work in the media
world.
Letters
601 E. Liberty St.
Savannah, GA 31401-5196
On children in church
Dear Editor,
Andrea Morin’s recent letter
concerning the education of chil
dren in the Catholic faith mentions
the importance of teaching chil
dren to “respect, love and nurture
others.” This form of relating to
other human beings is obviously
something Christ calls us to do.
However, as Catholics, we must
have a deeper understanding of
our faith. It is not enough to sim
ply say we are being Christ-like
and sidestep the doctrine of our
Catholic faith.
As Father Corapi notes in his
popular video series on the Cate
chism of the Catholic Church, you
can’t live in the faith if you don’t
know it. We need study and under
standing of Catholicism in order to
practice it.
Furthermore, for those of us who
are parents, it is of utmost impor
tance that we are the primary
source of information for our chil
dren on our Catholic faith. We
miss the mark if all discussion of
the faith is left to the religious
education teachers. The Catholic
faith can come alive for our chil
dren when we teach and discuss it
in our homes.
As parents, we have a responsi
bility—to our faith and to our chil
dren—to pass on the important
tenets of Catholicism. And Christ
will surely grant us the grace to do
so.
Rachel Balducci
Augusta
•kifk
On a court ruling
Dear Editor:
The recent ruling by the Bibb
County School Authorities pro
hibiting any religious expression
by anyone on school property is an
abuse of power by public officials
and a deprivation of liberty to
those who would dutifully render
honor and worship to our Creator.
When one considers the unspeak
able mercy which our Heavenly
Father showed to us in sending his
only Son into this world, that we
might be saved from the conse
quences of our own imperfect
natures and the suffering even to
death on a cross which he endured
that we might have life, how are
we able not to praise his name in
every time and place? What of the
martyrs who gave their lives in the
Roman arena and in every other
place in this world as civilization
spread. What of those today who
in places such as China and in the
Sudan practice Christianity at the
peril of their lives? Have all these
sacrifices made by courageous
Christians over a two-thousand-
year period been lost on us? Has
the advice and wisdom of our
Founding Fathers gone for naught?
What kind of a people have we
come to be when in the face of
such vigorous testimony we say to
our children, “you must not
express your love for the Son of
God in a public place, you must
not share the Good News of salva
tion with your young friends on
the school yard”?
Simply, it comes down to this:
either we are ashamed of Christ, or
we are ungrateful, or we have just
plain forgotten who he is and who
we are. Some explain their objec
tion to public expressions of wor
ship by saying that they don’t
want to offend those who are not
Christians by exposing them to a
form of worship which is contrary
to their belief and particular way
FAX: (912) 238-2339
E-maii: DCIark5735@aol.com
of life. I do not believe that Jesus
held these same sensibilities as he
ministered among the Jews in his
own homeland, nor did Saint Paul
and the other Apostles as they
preached this same Christianity
which we today wish to hide
behind the walls of our various
church buildings.
The undeniable truth of the mat
ter is that all of our nation’s and
even the world’s problems today
find their root in the rejection of
our duty and obligation to express
everywhere and in all places and
times the Good News of salvation.
W. M. Cochran
Lizella
***
Thanks
Dear Editor,
Thank you for advertising the
seventh annual Saint Peter the
Apostle Walk-a-thon. This is our
parish’s major fundraiser and it
was a huge success. We appreciate
your support.
I look forward to working with
you again next year.
Margaret Chapman
Savannah