A few weeks ago I began reviewing current films for American Catholic.org
It is the online, continually updated version of St. Anthony Messenger.
I am also doing a weekly “Faith & Media: segment for American Catholic Radio on the Franciscan Media site
Stop by and visit!!
Here’s my review of the new Harry Potter film.
To subscribe to these weekly updates, visit http://www.Youtube.com/sisterroseACO
If you’ve ever been frustrated at how to engage in our media culture in meaningful ways, consider taking one of these terrific online courses offered by the University of Dayton’s Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation.
Click here for the course description for Introduction to Media Literacy
Click here for the course description for Church and Communication
I am the course facilitator for the intro to media literacy course; another fine catechist will facilitate Church and Communication.
If your diocese is a VLCFF Partner (click here to check) the cost for each five week course is only $40.00 (otherwise $75.00).
In terms of time, there are five week-long sessions for each course. On average you would want to reserve one hour a day to complete the work that requires some reading, interactive exchanges, and responses to the reading and each week’s material in semi-essay form. The fruit of your dedication will be renewed energy in your faith life and ministry. And it’s not only what you will learn; your contribution will enliven the interaction and your experience will enrich us all.
The deadline for registration is May 26th. Don’t miss this opportunity! Five weeks goes by so swiftly.
Feel free to contact me here if you have any questions or go directly to the VLCFF website.
Today a colleague asked me if I thought there was an anti-Catholic bias in Hollywood.
It got me thinking.
I looked through my file of published articles and found one I wrote in 2006 at the invitation of US Catholic, a national Catholic magazine published by the Claretians. I re-read it and I am still of the same opinion as I was then: Horray for Hollywood (US Catholic Octoebr, 2006)
Guide for Catholics on Media Bias
Back in 1999 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops published a helpful guide to Catholics who perceive a bias in the media, presumably the news. I think this leaflet can be very useful when we may perceive there to be a bias in the entertainment industry as well. This guide is available online at
Insights and Answers on Media Bias by the USCCB
A point that seems most significant to me in the leaflet says that concerned Catholics be wary of making accusations that are generalizations or are inaccurate: “Religious bias is a serious matter, and accusations should not be made lightly or with insufficient evidence….” To me, this means evidence that is based on research, analysis, and quantifying results.
(When I read through the leaflet today it called to mind Bill Maher’s 2008 lazy film Religulous – all the points describing what media bias looks like were in this film! But it also made me think that as believers it behooves us to be able to explain, to articulate, the faith that is within us to cynics. It may not convince, but at least there is an opportunity for conversation.)
Urban Legends
I have some wonderful Catholic friends who get excited whenever anything worrisome appears in their email boxes. Before checking out the “rumors” or information, they forward emails to all their friends. In the last six months I have received several emails telling me to sign a petition because Terrence McNally’s play “Corpus Christi”, about a gay Jesus and gay apostles, is going to be released soon as a movie. According to www.snopes.com, this rumor has been going around at least since 2000 and it is false. Indeed, there is no mention of it at the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and Google doesn’t turn up anything. I recommend checking out rumors that seek to incite moral panics before passing on misinformation.
Media Literacy Education & Media Mindfulness
Media literacy education can also serve believers and citizens well because media mindfulness is a set of life skills (critical thinking) for the 21st century. These skills include core concepts and key questions to educate all ages who engage with the media to do so deliberately and critically (not negatively.) See www.medialit.org, www.PaulineCMS.org, and National Association for a Media Literate America. Media literacy/media mindfulness provide a way for thoughtful media consumers to respond to media stories in all forms: respectful, dialogic, informed, and responsive rather than reactive.
I am looking forward to the new document coming soon from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications on the media (see my blog entry below).
A Vision of the Future from Carmelina Films on Vimeo.
Daniel Cubas has been blind since childhood, but this hasn’t stopped him from pursuing his passions and following his dreams. This documentary follows Daniel as he discusses his successes and roadblocks on his journey to achieving his goals. A touching and uplifting story that will surely inspire all who watch it.
2009, 13 minutes
(Nick Pernisco is a media literacy education colleague and friend who teaches at Santa Monica College and is an instructor for our Advanced Media Literacy Certificate Program here at the Pauline Center for Media Studies. Check out his media literacy and cinema and spirituality docs at http://carmelinafilms.com. Nick’s educational work, as you can see here, is all about access and empowerment. Kudos, Nick!)
If you are interested in this topic, please check out Clark Hoyt’s (the Public Editor for the New York Times) sage column in today’s New York Times. It deals with the many complaints the NY Times received for reviewing the revivial of the 1998 play “Corpus Christi”. Hoyt considers “how a newspaper like The Times, which devotes great space and energy to covering the arts, should deal with the frequent collisions between art and religion”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09pubed.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
or this link
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/09pubed.html?ref=todayspaper
Sister Rose's My Movies Weblog 
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