Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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