Television and the Catholic Home

Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange or its authors (regarding articles published at CE) become the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.

Dear Catholic Exchange:

Television and the Catholic Home: Part I, by Jeff Culbreath was a brave article to write in today's TV/Movie saturated society. Yet, how true it is! It's scary to realize how few movies are really suitable for Christians who want to maintain purity of mind and heart.

I'm in my twenties, and I was raised without TV and movies. As entertainment we played games, read, traveled, and talked a lot as a family. And all through my childhood, my Mother read aloud to us children…first children's books, then Classics, and finally we find ourselves preferring mostly Spiritual reading.

Choosing to remain removed from the subtly harmful influences of modern society is a challenging, yet rewarding decision. It is not a decision that can simply be made once…but rather, one that is made again and again in the face of societal pressures.

Thank you for exposing the dangers of modern TV and movies. May the Lord bless you and your readers.

God bless,

A Friend in Christ

******

Dear Catholic Exchange:

Mr. Culbreath quotes Richard Weaver, applying his remarks about radio to TV:

[W]e are made to grow accustomed to the weirdest of juxtapositions: the serious and the trivial, the comic and the tragic, follow one another in mechanical sequence without real transition. During the recent war what person of feeling was not struck by the insanity of hearing advertisements for laxatives between announcements of the destruction of famous cities by aerial bombardment? Is it not a travesty of all sense to hear reports fraught with disaster followed by the comedy-variety with its cheap wit and arranged applause. . . . Here, it would seem, is the apothesis; here is the final collapsing of values, a fantasia of effects, suggesting in its wild disorder the debris left by a storm. Here is the daily mechanical wrecking of hierarchy.

I disagree with Weaver and, hence, with Culbreath. In my opinion, life itself just happens to be like that. Anyone who has been through the death of a loved one knows this. To go to the wake, you have to remember to put gas in the car and let the dog out before you leave. The mundane is constant, even in the midst of great tragedy, and the 5 year-old cousins will have giggle jag at the funeral.

Mr. Culbreath goes on to comment:

It should be noted that all men have been given an hierarchical order of charity. As a priest once explained to me, we owe the greatest charity to God and to those nearest to us. The constant news of tragedies and calamities around the world tends to disorder our priorities. When we let the evening news set our agenda, we give more thought and energy to problems 3,000 miles away than we do to our own families and neighborhoods.

Regarding the hierarchy of charity, note the contradiction with the latest Statement on Iraq from United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 13, 2002, in which this little tidbit occurs: “In assessing whether 'collateral damage' is proportionate, the lives of Iraqi men, women and children should be valued as we would the lives of members of our own family and citizens of our own country.” Apparently they don't think there is any hierarchy of charity; we are not giving enough “thought and energy to problems 3,000 miles away.”

Blessings,

Mary

Leftist Philosophy in Our Schools

Dear Friends at Catholic Exchange:

I enjoyed Mr. Fitzpatrick’s excellent piece, Bloody Hands, which appeared on your site. I’ve noticed that the leftist inconsistency is also rampant in our schools. When it comes to sex education, the schools throw up their hands and say, “They'll do it anyway. We want them educated, prepared, and safe.” And yet, when it comes to their approach to cigarettes/alcohol/drugs, they throw themselves in front of the train, insisting, the “Just say no!” rhetoric and teachings will have an effect. What really is going on in their minds?

Yours,

Genevieve Kineke

Dear Ms. Kineke:

Sincerely,

James Fitzpatrick

Voting “Pro-Choice”

Dear Mary Kochan,

Your response to a viewer’s questions about Republican endorsements was excellent! Thank God for people who see the truth clearly! I myself came up against this when a parishioner on my e-mail list — a vehement Democrat — became insulted because I sent out an email describing Partial Birth Abortion and how then candidate for NJ Governor, McGreevey, was “Pro-Choice.” My response was the same as yours, though I added one scalding truth: those who support any candidate — Republican, Democrat or Libertarian — who is “pro-choice,” are culpable for the continuation of the pro-abortion movement and the deaths of millions of innocents.

Thanks and keep up the great work!

G. Miguel Perez-Santalla

CE Subscriber