Building a culture of life.

In the November issue of Catholic Insight, the author pointed out that the laity must answer Pope John Paul II's call to "apply the teachings of Vatican II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church." This final article of the series offers some suggestions as to how to do this.

A critical examination of the decline of our popular culture reveals a common thread, which ties together a disdain for God's creation in general and for the human person in particular. However, our situation is hardly unique. In fact, that same contempt for creation has roots in the early Church. In the third century, Catholicism met the challenge of Manes, the father of Manicheism, only to come face to face with Catharism in the eleventh century, Albigensianism in the twelfth, and Puritanism in the sixteenth.

Manes taught that the world was governed by two principles: God, the source of all good; and matter, the source of all evil. According to the Manicheans, the human spirit is created by God, the Supreme Good Principle. But the human body is created by the Supreme Bad Principle; viz., matter. They thus concluded that marriage was wrong and the begetting and bearing of children an evil. Catharism, Albigensianism, and Puritanism are all variants on this same theme, in that each in its own way denies the dignity of the human person and the grandeur of God's creation. Modernism, labeled as the synthesis of all heresies by Pope Pius X, is a chameleon-like movement that maintains the assault on human dignity in our time.

We cannot reflect God's image and simultaneously subscribe to the dour dictates of a Manes or a Calvin. Likewise, we cannot accept the modernist doctrines embodied in current culture, which is really an anti-culture that gathers under its roof everything from animal rights activism to pornography. The common theme, as in all heresies, comprises the degradation of the human person, the rejection of creation, or both.

The Big Lie

Modernism and the anti-culture exist because of the Big Lie, the notso-grand illusion that permits the anti-cultural elite to regard Christians as Puritans. Some Christians, they agree, are a bit less austere than others, but they argue that such a slight correction doesn't change the essence of Christianity, which they believe has thus far prevented the human race from reaching its potential.

In fact, the anticultural elite, and not the Christians, not we, are the true descendants of Manes and Calvin. They, not Catholics, are the enemies of human dignity and enslavers of the human spirit. They, not Catholics, declare Man to be a product of chance, no better or worse than a worm or a rock.

The first step in building a culture of life, then, is to constantly remind everyone, especially ourselves, that Catholicism has nothing to do with Puritanism. Our mission is not to hunker down in some musty cave to await the stroke of a deus ex machina to save us. We are the leaven of the world, and Vatican II has called us to embrace that responsibility with eagerness and firm purpose.

The secular is part of God's plan

Catholicism no longer influences the North American social structure as it once did. In fact, we now live in a secular atmosphere that is actively anti-Christian. Our popular culture, which not long ago provided inspiration and nourishment, contaminates and poisons instead. For this reason, the laity must heed the Vatican Council's call to become a leaven once again. But how should we proceed?

We must not try to turn secular life into a pseudo-religious order, or even to promote Christian beliefs in any overt way. Instead, we must respect the secular world's value as a necessary part of God's plan, the part that can share the rich intellectual heritage of Catholicism without necessarily apprehending its spiritual dimension. Even with its inherent limitations, secular life has been, and can again be, a help rather than a hindrance to us in our earthly journey. In order to achieve this kind of an environment, however, we must exert more than a passive influence on popular culture. We must work actively to replace it.

The Christian message

Some will ask how Catholics can live and work in the current anti-Christian atmosphere, much less replace it. The answer is to lay claim to the engines that move popular culture, and the ways to do that are to work together whenever possible and to assume positions of control as opportunity permits. What we need most at the moment is a coterie of financiers able and willing to provide capital to Catholic entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry.

We already have Catholic magazines and publishing houses, and, of course, EWTN. Most of these organizations (Catholic Insight is a prime example) do a fine job. Even the religious fiction genre is booming now as we near the end of the century. But the void left when popular culture abandoned propriety and good taste remains mostly unfilled.

A host of Catholic novelists, screenwriters, actors, musicians, and entertainers of all kinds have been left without an outlet for their talents. Few publishers, large or small, are interested in wholesome fiction for other genres: mystery, mainstream/contemporary, adventure, science fiction, and so on. In fact, all the major publishers and most of the small presses cater to the basest of public tastes, even though the demand for quality entertainment remains strong.

According to the well-known film critic Michael Medved, it is not greed that motivates those who produce trashy entertainment. In his excellent book Hollywood vs. America, Mr. Medved asks, "How could an industry that radically changed its focus and thereby permanently sacrificed nearly two-thirds of its audience be described, in any serious sense, as 'following the money'?" Mr. Medved goes on to say that popular culture is not responding to market demand but "is, rather, following its own warped conceptions of artistic integrity, driven by some dark compulsion beyond simple greed."

Opportunity knocks

The gap in the entertainment market presents a golden opportunity for Catholic businessmen. There exists a huge, if dormant, demand for high-quality general-audience novels, television shows, and motion pictures. And I refer not to children's books, animated features, "Lassie" films, or religious stories. I am talking about works that embrace all of human experience, featuring real or fictional characters whose motives reflect the existence of genuine values.

The popular music industry presents yet another potential market for good products. Some of America's most talented musicians now run music camps for youngsters interested in learning to play ragtime and Dixieland jazz. After attending a concert given by a group of these high-school-age musicians, I spoke to one of the players. I told him, truthfully, that the group had played very well. His eyes lit up, as he forgot for a moment to affect the dead look characteristic of his age group. The generosity of the musicians who give their time to these kids is already paying off in a concrete way, as their young charges begin to see the value in healthy artistic expression.

Good adult entertainment--it is rare at the moment--always has had a great appeal to audiences, just as it did in the golden ages of radio, motion pictures, and television. The current use of the term "adult" in reference to film rankings is nonsense. Most of the movies rated "not suitable for children" are, in reality, not suitable for anyone. If genuine adult films were available, the destroyers of human dignity would have to abandon their "art" if they wanted to survive financially.

The duty of parents

In the long run, building and maintaining a culture of life will depend on the children coming out of Catholic homes over the next few decades. Our children must be taught to appreciate and carry on the work we begin.

The atmosphere in any truly Catholic home is joyous, reflecting the vision given in Hillaire Belloc's observation: "Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, there's dance and song and good red wine." Catholic homes should not be like monasteries, existing apart from the world, with religious artifacts and symbols filling every space. Parents have a special duty to create a home environment that is friendly not only to the many intellectual, spiritual, and religious gifts of our faith, but also to all the good in the present world, including the valid output of artists from both high and popular culture. I recently heard a Catholic priest say that jazz music was diabolical. It is precisely this kind of statement that subscribers to The Big Lie seize upon to "prove" how thoroughly stupid and puritanical Catholics are.

The traditional Puritan's house has its dim lights and ticking clocks to measure out the earthly existence of its inhabitants. The modern Puritan exists in an even more depressing atmosphere of spiritual and moral squalor. A Catholic home, on the other hand, is filled with music, love, and salubrious life. In fact, even looking upon this parental duty "as a duty" is self-defeating for the simple reason that joy and celebration are the natural responses to God's wonderful gift of creation.

Let us embrace our job to renew secular life with joy, enthusiasm, and hope for future generations.

Casey Ahern is a free-lance writer from Lethbridge, AB.