Catholic Spotlight

As a follow-up to Tuesday’s post, here are a few stats that show the extent of the pornography crisis in our culture, followed by some resources that address the situation.  This data is at least two years old, so we know it has grown, and probably exponentially more each successive year.  

- The pornography industry, according to conservative estimates, brings in $57 billion per year, of which the United States is responsible for $12 billion.

- In 2004, there were 4.2 million pornographic websites; 372 million pornographic pages.

- Sex is the number 1 topic searched on the Internet.

- There are 100 thousand websites offering illegal child pornography

- 70% of 18 to 24 year old men visited pornographic sites in a typical month. 66% of men in their 20s and 30s also reported being regular users of pornography.  (2005)

-  There are 40 million US adults who regularly visit internet pornography websites  

- 90% of 8-16 year olds using the Internet have viewed pornography on line (most while doing homework).   (2004) 

- Eleven years old is the average age of first Internet exposure to pornography.   (2004)

Here are some reliable resources that address the crisis:

Pornography Plague and the Path to Christian Purity (CD)

Porn - The Tragedy Exposed

Theology of the Body Made Simple

The Denver Catholic Register ran a piece in its March 21 issue about two bishops in the US who are doing some great work in the Catholic Church to combat the flood of pornography in this country. Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, MO, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, KS, have used two different approaches, but with the same objective: education. Pornography isn’t just confined to the tv channels with high numbers on the cable listings, viewed by “those people” in the dark of the night. No, it’s front and center in many forms on television, radio, the internet, and mobile devices. It’s been creeping up on us incrementally for years, such that many do not even recognize it when they see it. For more information about what these fine priests are doing, you can view Bishop Finn’s pastoral letter, and Archbishop Naumann’s anti-pornography program online.

In our interview, Dave Hartline talks about the evidence of people everywhere returning to their faith in the Catholic church.  He points to the increases in vocations, return of young people to mass, crowds at world youth day, positive films from Hollywood, and much more.  He also discusses the new media outlets on the internet like the work of Fr. Roderick at SQPN and Catholic Radio International.

Dave Hartline is a former Catholic school teacher, coach, principal and diocesan administrator. In addition, he has worked on Capitol Hill. He started CatholicReport.org to answer a call he felt he was getting to assist the Church in the “New Evangelization” which Pope John Paul II often discussed.  The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism is his first book and the next in the series is being written.

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Book Discussed in this podcast:

The Tide is Turning Toward Catholicism
Champions of Faith DVD
Spiritual Workout of a Former Saint by Danny Abramowicz

You can find more information on Dave Hartline’s website at www.catholicreport.com.

Read our call in page to find out how your family, church, or school group can be featured doing our intro.  You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-312-0069.  You might just be on our next show.

Thanks you to Faustina Cash for this weeks intro.

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Thank you to Sarah Bauer for providing the theme music Cause to Laugh off her album Lead Me Home.

I heard a report today that this is the 30th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars film.  So what does this have to do with the Catholic church?  In the news report, they mentioned that the film only opened in 32 theatres, because they didn’t think it was going to be that popular.  This reminded of the decisions we make to NOT do something because we believe it will not really make a difference, or that the other person involved won’t listen to us, or that our action will not be well-received, etc., etc.  This reminder I got was what some refer to as a ”signal grace” — little messages or signs from the Holy Spirit that help us to proceed in faith.  It was a message, received through the everyday means of mass communication, that we should persevere in active discipleship, and the Lord will use our small actions to do great things.  In other words, don’t presume about the outcome of our good actions.

On a recent trip to Portugal, I found a Catholic Church in the busy Lisbon neighborhood where my hotel was located.  Unlike what I’ve experienced on several trips to Italy, there are not an abundance of Catholic churches in Lisbon.  However, I was fortunate to find one close by, and so that’s where I went on the particular Sunday.  There was only one Mass scheduled for Sunday (10:30 a.m.), so I figured it would be a pretty full Mass.  Wrong.  The church was maybe at 15% capacity, and there were maybe 100 people there.  What a shame.  Although I was grateful to be able to fulfill my Sunday obligation (albeit in the Portuguese language) — an obligation I very much look forward to each week — I feel sad for the many Catholics (or former Catholics) in that city who do not participate in this Catholic celebration.  This is a terrible trend all over Europe that we pray will not happen in the U.S.

Tom Allen, executive producer and director of Champions of Faith: Baseball, is co-founder, editor-in-chief and president of Catholic Exchange, a leading Catholic media organization. He has founded and managed other media organizations including American Family Media, Catholic Outreach and Kolbe Communications LLC, which provided distribution expense financing for The Passion of The Christ. He also served in key produc­ing and editorial roles in the start-ups of Relevant Radio and MovieMaker Magazine. Tom has co-published and/or co-authored a number of bestselling books including A Guide to Narnia, The DaVinci Deception and the million-selling A Guide to the Passion: 100 Questions About The Passion of The Christ. He works closely with leading political, entertainment, sports, business and church figures to try to positively impact the culture through the advancement of purpose-driven causes, products and programs. He received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 and a certificate in Film Production from New York University in 1992.

In our interview, Tom talks about how Champions of Faith Baseball Edition was concieved and produced and how they were able to get such moving stories from so many big name catholic baseball players.  Tom also discusses his future projects and much more. 

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Book Discussed in this podcast:

Champions of Faith DVD - Baseball Edition

Thank you to Our Sunday Visitor for this week’s intro.

Read our call in page to find out how your family, church, or school group can be featured doing our intro.  You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-312-0069.  You might just be on our next show.

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Thank you to Sarah Bauer for providing the theme music Cause to Laugh off her album Lead Me Home.

The most dominant force in the lives of most Americans is the media—the Internet, TV, radio, blackberries, ipods. The list goes on and on. Although incredibly intoxicating, the media all too often distracts us from that which is most important, and in many instances, actually fights against our good and noble goals in life.   We’ve seen and heard many debates about this recently, especially with the controversies raised by cultural icons such as Don Imus, Rosie O’Donnell and the like.  As parents, educators, and consumers of the media, we have to get our media usage—and that of our families—under control. Otherwise, the media will control us, if it isn’t doing so already. In her new book, Noise, Teresa Tomeo, a veteran broadcast journalist in both the Catholic and secular markets, makes a compelling and irrefutable case about the dangers of our dominant media culture—and the adjoining liberalism and immorality that comes with it.

Earlier in this blog was a report that the tide is turning toward Catholicism (and an excellent book that reports on the subject), but that doesn’t mean we can relax.  Far from it.  This blurb was reported by Catholic New Service recently:

HARTFORD, Conn. (CNS) — Declaring that “Catholic institutions should have a right to be Catholic,” the Connecticut bishops stepped up a campaign urging lawmakers to amend or defeat a bill that would require all Catholic hospitals in the state to provide emergency contraception to rape victims. The legislation passed the state Senate 32-3 April 25 and now heads to the House. In an April 25 letter to House and Senate leaders, Archbishop Henry J. Mansell of Hartford and Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport said the bill’s requirement that objecting hospitals hire a third party to dispense the “morning-after pill” marketed as Plan B would still “involve the hospital in a way that would violate Catholic moral principles of cooperation. It is important to repeat that Connecticut’s Catholic hospitals do provide emergency contraception when that medication can act as a contraceptive by preventing ovulation,” the letter said. “The Catholic hospitals do not provide Plan B only when the medication would act as an abortifacient and therefore contrary to Catholic religious beliefs and moral values.”

The media can make it seem like times have never been worse for Catholicism, but nothing is further from the truth. Good news is everywhere, and we find it in the innumerable positive developments happening right now in the Catholic Church.

Teresa Tomeo is a veteran broadcast-journalist with more than 20 years of experience as a radio and TV news reporter and anchor woman mainly in the Detroit area. Despite her success and recognition, Teresa began to become disillusioned and disappointed by the trends in the media toward sensationalism, violence, and liberal bias. Six years ago Teresa decided to leave the secular media to help families and other concerned citizens engage the culture.

Teresa Tomeo is now a professional speaker, media consultant, syndicated Catholic talk show host, and author.

In our interview, Teresa talks about the effects of the media on us and our children and what we can do about it.  She also talks about the FCC report on television violence, the Don Imus contraversy, the Virginia Tech shootings, rap music, and more. 

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Book Discussed in this podcast:

Noise - How Our Media-Saturated Culture Dominates Lives and Families

You can find more information on Teresa’s website at www.teresatomeo.com.

Read our call in page to find out how your family, church, or school group can be featured doing our intro.  You are also welcome to call in questions and comments to our voice-mail at 206-312-0069.  You might just be on our next show.

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