Specials show TV's faith

Two recent TV specials about Catholicism prove how well the networks can handle religion when they put their minds to it.

In "It Takes A Miracle," which aired last week, ABC News traced the process by which the Catholic Church declares a medical cure to be an actual miracle rather than simply something extraordinary.

PBS, in "Michelangelo, Restored," explored not only the Sistine ceiling but also the artist's life and relationship to Catholicism.

Case in point

Those who wanted Blessed Edith to become St. Edith submitted the case to the Vatican as a miracle to attribute to her intercession and lead to her canonization. After ten years of investigation, the Vatican released its finding: The cure of Benedicta (named after Edith Stein, who took the name Sister Benedicta when she entered the convent) was indeed a miracle, and Edith Stein will become a saint.

During those ten years, the Vatican office charged with investigating miracles looked at the case thoroughly, even flying the girl's physician, who is Jewish, to Rome for five hours of questioning to be sure of his diagnosis and opinion.

Time enough

Vargas avoided the traps into which TV news often falls when it tries to deal with religion, such as adding mysterious music, presenting faith as something weird or dangerous, or patronizing believers. Hers was a thorough, informative and detailed report on an aspect of religion that is rarely looked at by TV.

On the ceiling

BY providing a fuller context, Wolff fleshed out the ceiling's images, which were beautifully photographed to show the "before" and "after" work done by the restoration team.

One of the stranger decisions the team had to make concerned the fig leaves and drapery added to Michelangelo's nudes by later censors. Should they be left on because of their own historical significance or removed to show the original work? In the end, the restorers split the difference, removing some of the prudish additions and leaving others.

Both specials demonstrated that network television can deal with religion in a very creative way. Let's hope they lead to more of the same in the future.

("Michelangelo, Restored" will be shown on WMHQ, channel 45, on June 28 at 2 p.m.) (06-25-98)

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