Catholic Media- Is this really the best we can do?

This was originally posted on Catholic Phoenix on March 24, 2011, and thought I had posted here, but guess what, I didn't!

I saw a blog post regarding the movie "There Be Dragons" courtesy of OSV via New Advent today, and thought I would share this.

Please enjoy:

On March 15th I was surprised to learn (via Facebook) that it was “Catholic Media Day.” What I saw was a number of persons and groups promoting their own books, websites, publications, etc. Now I have no problem with this, but it caused me to ponder what I think of when I hear the term “Catholic Media.”


To be completely honest, the thought of most Catholic media makes me cringe. I frequently hear people comment how wonderful EWTN television is, and I stop to wonder if I am watching the same channel. The production quality of the programs leaves a lot to be desired, in my own opinion. The material for the most part is magisterially sound but poorly produced. I look at how the shows are put together and wonder if they are using the same sets that they made when the network was founded. I tried to get my daughter to watch one of the children’s programs one morning, and it was so saccharine sweet that I found her rolling her eyes and myself wishing the show would be over soon. With no commercial advertising, I guess there is not any other way to demand better quality.

On the other hand, I switch over to Trinity Broadcasting, a Protestant network, and find a completely different quality of show entirely. 21st century technology appears to be employed, and an effort appears to be made to meet their audience where they are. Are all the movies made about the Bible made by Protestants? You would never know a movie about the Bible was made by a Catholic, at least in my own experience (Mel Gibson doesn’t count!). Yet, on any given weekend, you can switch over to TBN, and catch a movie on Genesis, the Gospel of John, and the band plays on.

My next beef is with Catholic Radio, at least in my own experience, Immaculate Heart Radio in Phoenix, and various stations in the Western United States. Now I understand fully that these are listener supported stations, and they rely on donations, gifts, contributions in order to fund their operations. I was pleased to be “charter supporter” when IHR held their first pledge drive last spring. But I must admit that after our commitment came to the year’s end, my wife and I asked ourselves where we thought our gifting dollars were being best utilized. Regrettably, we found that our confidence in IHR was not what I had hoped it would be.

I find that many call-in type shows are usually aired before we get to hear them in Phoenix, with the exception of Catholic Answers Live, which does air live in the afternoon, but we get to hear the replay the next morning. This is fine if you only hear one version, or do not care to call in. However, if you hear Tuesday’s show live, you might find yourself hearing the exact same show the next morning as you drive into the office. In addition, the station seems to play music of some sort at the end of each hour, but in the time that I have been listening I have yet to hear a complete song. These sorts of things make me wonder about the “testimonies” of people that claim to have had their life transformed by Catholic Radio.

All this makes me ask the question, “Is this really the best we can do?” Or if it’s not, why is the product produced? I know there are wonderful, glowing examples of what Catholics are capable of. I see the young men who produced The Human Experience and know that it doesn’t require high finance, but high creativity to produce something meaningful, appropriate, and capable of delivering the Truth of Christ to the world. One need go no further than the movie Bella to see that the message of the Gospel of Life can be promoted in a way that draws anyone in who views it. I see the quality of the work done by the Catholics Come Home ad pieces and see that media designed for mainstream society is not only capable of being produced, but is being seen in communities across the country. Now, if we could just get that type of material out in other arenas…………..

What can we do? How do we break this cycle of truly bad media? How can we make it less cringe worthy? For my own part, I have chosen to vote with my dollars, and with direct contact with the management of IHR (which for the record went unanswered). I would ask that others consider ways that we can make a change. Most of us are partakers of the product, so if enough agree with me, then perhaps as a part of the whole we communicate our desire to be nourished in our faith in a way that reaches out to a broader cross-section of the community, and perhaps bring others closer to Christ.

This Isn’t Really About Contraception, is it Mr. President?

On January 20, 2012, the Health and Human Services agency, led by former-governor Kathleen Sebelius, presented a rule that would require most employers to provide contraceptive services and products to their employees at with no copay requirements. The exemptions to this rule are so slim that it is speculated that even Jesus Christ and His Apostles may not have qualified for the religious exemption, because He chose to serve those that may not have been members of his specific religion.

The ensuing uproar caught the President off guard it is said. Others say the President knew exactly what he was doing. Did he really expect that virtually every Roman Catholic Bishop in the United States would rise up against this evil regulation? Did he expect the Bishop of Phoenix to tell his flock “We cannot- will not- comply with this unjust law”?

Did he expect that other Bishops and priests would start praying the St. Michael the Archangel prayer at the end of Mass?

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, oh Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into Hell, Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the earth, seeking the ruin of souls, Amen.

I seriously doubt that the President expected he would lose the support of his toadies who proclaim themselves Catholic, yet openly discount the teachings of the Church as wrong, or not applicable to them. At least for the moment, anyway.

Never fear! Compromise is here! On February 10th, the President held a brief press conference, where he told the country that he would accommodate religious freedom while making sure that women have access to preventative health care, including contraception, at no additional cost, no matter where they work. Instead the insurance company will be required to directly offer the woman contraceptive care at no additional charge. He goes on to say that even if a woman’s employer is a charity or hospital that has not a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company, not the hospital or charity, will be required to reach out and offer the contraceptive care free of charge without copays and without hassles.

Let me break here for a moment- at no point do I think that contraceptive or abortive or sterilization services should be provided. I do not think it is a personal choice, I think it is inherently and intrinsically evil. The end does not justify the means.

As a businessman and insurance professional, I can tell you, nothing is free. Every item of coverage is calculated at some point. On the non-insurance side, let’s look at mobile telephones. At some point most carriers offer one or more of their handsets for free (subject to signing a two-year contract. How free is that?) This does not mean I can walk into the local Sprint store and ask for two or three of their free phones, unless of course I am prepared to commit to and pay for their service. Likewise, in the case of where the President is mandating that insurance companies pay for services that they do not “charge” for, at some point, you can sure believe a cost is calculated. Someone pays for that. You guessed it. The employer, the employee at some level (most employers do not provide free healthcare to their employees, even hospitals), and guess what? You the consumer end up paying for those services as well when you buy the employers products.

Well, after the President’s statement on 10 February, most of the Presidents toadies fell right back into the fold, saying that this compromise was great, and awesome and wonderful, and oh, never mind, it just made me sick. Later in the day, the USCCB issued a statement condemning the “compromise” calling it no compromise at all.

The President calls the rule “cost neutral” since it saves money by keeping women healthy. Pregnancy is not a disease! Has it been forgotten that chemical contraception causes cancer? Has it been forgotten that chemical contraceptives are abortifacient? What happens when the chemicals cause a miscarriage and results in excessive hemorrhaging, frequently resulting in hospitalization?



As I say at the beginning, this is not about contraception, is it? Fundamentally, what we must realize is this an attack upon the religious liberties granted us by the First Amendment of the Constitution. It is an attack upon our freedom of speech as well. These are core tenets of the fabric of our nation, and with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen, we are seeing them taken from us not by legislation, but by regulation. The fact that this rule is has been given until August of next year to be implemented further suppresses our right to free speech and religious liberty by attempting to not make it a “political” issue.

I never thought I would find myself in agreement with Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles, who is well-known for his liberal stance on a number of issues. To say I was thunderstruck when I read his February 11, 2012 blog post entitled "Just a Minute, Mr. President!" would be an understatement. His statement says exactly what the problem is, and what is the greatest outrage:

As a Catholic American, I am outraged not only by your incredulous contortions to justify your untenable position, I am insulted that you would think that Americans who value and treasure our Constitutional freedoms would even question your overreaching infringement on individual freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.Your "accommodation" actually makes the entire matter far worse. Every effort must be undertaken to reverse your ill-conceived revocation of our Constitutional rights

So Mr. President, while I appreciate that you would like for us to believe that you are looking out for the women of our nation, I believe you have shown us your true colors, and that what you most ardently desire is a nation formed in your image, and for your newly minted ruling class to be the arbiters of what amounts to conscience and morals. I realize that you are not the morally relativistic man I thought you once to be, but find your moral compass pointed in a direction I cannot accept. Your path to morality threatens the existence of our nation and of our people. You perpetuate a Culture of Death, and whether you wish to acknowledge it or not, formally cooperate with evil when you support the notion that a child in the womb has no rights, making it perfectly okay, by your standard, to end that life with no sense of remorse that a human life has been lost. How many future Presidents have died because of this? How many chances for the cure to cancer have been lost for the sake of convenience?

No Mr. President, this is not about contraception, it is about LIFE! It is about freedom, seeking to do the will of God because it is good, not doing what you want because it feels good. And you cannot tell me that you support good morals in private, yet assert the right to make poor decisions in public. One day, you will be called accountable for your actions, and I pray that mercy is had upon you on that day.