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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (July 16, 1987)
PAGE 5 — The Georgia Bulletin, July 16,1987 Father Peter A. Dora Catholic Images Electronics Can Serve The Church Communications developments have produced many odd ities, not the least of which is the so-called electronic church. A convergence of television, satellite, cable and com puter technologies has made it possible to reach large numbers of viewers across the country in a real-time presen tation of preaching and singing. Because it could be done it was done, and overdone. The distinguishing character of this would-be church is that it circumvents both the local worshiping community and the universal brotherhood of believers, substituting passive television viewing for personal involvement. Following the pattern established by the Mickey Mouse Club of the 1950s, all that's required for membership is to tune in whenever you feel like it — no need for community or commitment. Like any other television show the electronic church must work to keep its audience. Since the viewer plays a totally passive role (except for financial contribution) boredom is an ever-present danger, and the only recourse is to emulate the show biz antics of commercial television. The end result is so far removed from the concept of church as to constitute a scandal to followers of Jesus Christ. There is no Catholic version of the electronic church simp ly because it does not fit within Catholic tradition. We live and worship within three fundamental structures: the parish, the diocese and the universal Church; and fortunately none of these could possibly accommodate the electronic church model. This is not to say that the Church has no use for com munications technologies, only that the medium should be chosen so as to build upon existing ecclesial structures. The parish, the diocese and the universal Church all invite and ultimately require personal, individual participation in a com munity of believers — a way of life rather than a form of enter tainment. Electronic communications technologies can serve the Church in two ways: evangelization and instruction. The first of these, evangelization, is directed toward a mass audience to seek out the unchurched and the alienated Catholic, most of whom are beyond the reach of internal Church publications such as diocesan newspapers or religious magazines. Radio and television are the means of choice here. Once the initial contact has been made, instruc tion can follow. Instruction can be addressed both to those with a newly discovered interest in the faith- as well as to practicing Catholics striving to grow in understanding, holiness and commitment. Ideally, such instruction in the faith should oc cur in a setting of one-to-one personal dialogue, or of group teaching; but what about those not yet ready for even this level of involvement? The video cassette may be a perfect way to begin the instruction process, especially since more than half of'American homes have video players with the other half expected to follow suit by 1991. The Church throughout her history has employed every available technique to propagate the good news of Jesus Christ. The technologies of today and tomorrow, far from leaving us behind, will assist us in fulfilling the command to teach all nations. (Father Dora is director of communications for the archdiocese of Atlanta.) Ivan J. Kauffman Is This A "Catholic Moment?" Making Peace "What has it meant to be Catholic and American? What does it mean today and what might it mean in the third millen nium of Christianity and the third century of America?" - Archbishop J. Francis Stafford of Denver "This Home of Freedom ” The Fourth of July is an annual opportunity to think about what it means to say "I am an American" — and this year, when we also mark the 200th anniversary of the writing of the Constitution, it has added significance. 1987 is also the 100th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Denver and their archbishop used the occasion to write a pastoral letter about what it means to be Catholic in America — a letter which is being widely discussed because it predicts a new level of Catholic involvement in American society. "I believe," says Archbishop J. Francis Stafford, "the American Catholic community is in a distinctive position to offer leadership in the building of a community of virtue, capable of sustaining and developing the American democratic experiment today." Borrowing the phrase of a Lutheran scholar who has predicted that in the United States we have today reached "a Catholic moment," Archbishop Stafford gives three reasons why he believes “the possibilities of leadership" in American society "are now open to Catholics in a historically distinc tive way." — Catholics in the United States have learned how to com bine liberty and order. A hundred years ago, when many people thought it was im possible to be both a good American and a good Catholic, our bishops rejected the idea "emphatically", stating instead that, "we believe that our country’s heroes were the in struments of the God of nations in establishing this home of freedom.”^ Catholics have always believed freedom and order go together. At a time when American society threatens to degenerate into a chaos of individualism this capacity to combine liberty with order is essential to the survival of democracy. — Catholics have developed a language for talking about morality in political terms. “Public moral argument in America today is often intellec tually flabby," says Archbishop Stafford, and when the con nection between reason and morality breaks down, then society has no basis for the great decisions on which its sur vival depends. We must have a common language to talk to each other if we re going to make decisions in a democratic way, and Archbishop Stafford believes only the tradition of natural law, on which the recent Catholic pastoral letters on peace and economics were based, can provide that language. Without it “public moral argument degenerates into petty name calling" he says. — Catholics are now the largest single religious group in the United States. “Catholics comprise one-quarter of the national population and are an increasingly affluent, highly educated sector of our population,” he points out. “We can no longer plead the exigencies of recent immigration as an excuse for abstaining from leadership.” Furthermore he points out that the mainline Protestant churches “whose profound influence on American self understanding begins with the Puritans and continued down to the mid-20th century, seem less and less inclined to assume the lead in forming American culture." If American Catholics have proven anything over the past 200 years it’s that democracy and the Catholic tradition are not only compatible, but that they mix very well. And now, if Archbishop Stafford's view of things is ac curate, we’re at the beginning of a new era in American Catholic history, a time when the American experiment in democracy will fail unless some of the insights of the Catholic tradition — above all its understanding of the con nection between the common good and individual liberty — are incorporated into the American tradition. Antoinette Bosco Sharing The Precious Years The Bottom Line A reader recently wrote urging me to encourage mothers to stay home with their young children. She spoke of having undergone a "culture shock" after she moved from a “family- oriented city, Cincinnati," to a city in northern Virginia. She said that in her new subdivision there are two day-care centers where babies are left all day to be cared for by someone other than their parents. She told of a party at her husband's office where a secretary, moving from part-time to full-time work, remarked that her children now would have to spend more time in day care. They hated it, she said, but they “would adjust." She also spoke of hearing a new term for the first time when someone referred to all the "DINKS" at their parish. "I was surprised to hear it means, Double income, no kids, " she said. Not having researched the family situation throughout the country, I cannot speak with authority on whether or not more young couples are choosing to remain childless and whether more parents are relegating their young children to day care so that both parents can work, even if finances don’t mandate this. But what I have observed is that many young mothers in the area where I live are not running back to work. They are staying home to care for their babies and loving it. Talking to several mothers in their 30s recently made me realize that these women, who all had careers, saw this as an incredibly blessed period in their lives. “When you're in your 20s, you’re more selfish. You want a career, travel and fun. But when you get to your 30s, you ask, What’s ahead?' And the answer is ' 40!’ That gives you a very different perspective," said a mother, explaining why she had a baby and why she stays home. Another mother, a dress designer who had a notable career in fashion in New York City, said she is finding a new joy she never experienced before in being home with her 8-month-old child. Another mother said, “Once you have a baby, you really learn what’s important in life — seeing the continuation of your life on this planet, knowing you’ve been a partner with God." Nothing else that one has accomplished comes close to this and most of the mothers I know are not embarrassed to admit it. They want to be with their babies to share this early, precious time. “If we can’t take two or three years out of our lives to be with our babies, that’s very sad,” said one. The consensus was that the choice is a question of time — between having precious time to spend with a baby and being rushed all the time. Anyone who chooses to combine career and parenting is "running like a crazy person, shuffling the baby and paying a lot of money for sitters and transportation,” said a mother. My correspondent commented in her letter that she was lucky to have lived in Virginia at a time (in the early 1970s) when other young mothers also stayed home. “We formed friendships, swapped kids and shared our talents and day-to- day problems raising children,” she said. That kind of camaraderie seems to be coming back in some areas. Where it is missing, young mothers who chose to stay home should find ways that work for them to get the compa nionship they need. A woman always can resume a career but babies are only babies once — and for a short time. (Copyright (c) 1987 by NC News Service)
