Bishops turn to video message

A year ago, the American bishops issued "Renewing the Mind of the Media: A Statement on Overcoming the Exploitation of Sex and Violence in Communications." In several thousand words, they dealt with how the positive values in the media are too often swamped by the negatives, and how the deleterious effects of those negatives are too often ignored by communities, families and individuals.

Shortly after the document was released, I did a three-part series of columns in which I condensed the bishops' ideas, in the hope that this bite-size presentation would encourage parish groups, schools and families to think about their relationship to the media.

Now the bishops themselves have consolidated their thoughts even more by issuing a 12-minute videotape that summarizes their points, invites viewers to do something about their own media habits, and urges them to work to change the way the media deal with sex and violence.

This reducing plan should encourage even more Catholics to examine their relationship to television, movies, radio, computer games and the internet. Once individual Catholics have reflected on what they themselves are seeing and hearing, they can turn their attention to their communities.

Discussion guide

For example, the discussion guide asks, "What steps do you need to take in your family to use media intelligently and limit their harm?" It then recommends this action step: "Monitor your own listening and viewing habits to note when TV and radio are used merely to avoid silence."

The necessity of any campaign against the media being an interfaith effort is made clear in the video, which includes comments not only from Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore but also from a spokeswoman for the National Council of Churches (NCC) and from the chairman of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (NCPCF).

Dream of bishops

In the video, Dr. Jerry Kirk from the NCPCF warns that the internet "is filled with hardcore pornography. Every eight-, ten- and twelve-year-old boy in America who is computer literate and on-line can access the worst pornography ever produced. It's the death of the innocence of our children."

Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner from the NCC worries about the desensitization of society. "We get inundated with violence, and it no longer has the shocking effect it ought to have," she explains. "We get accustomed to vile language, angry talk, the demeaning terms, and they no longer have their capacity to shock us."

If such aspects of the media concern you, your family or your parish, get a copy of "Renewing the Mind of the Media." It's a first step toward changing things for the better -- in your home and in your town.

(To order "Renewing the Mind of the Media," which costs $14.95, call 800-235-8722.)

(06-03-99) [[In-content Ad]]