Media do Holy Week

They wouldn’t do this during the holiest observance of any other religion. But let’s get past that old cliche and look at what they’re up to this time.

Take just two examples.

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred period in the Catholic Church. It’s also the premiere of a six-part series on Showtime of one of the darkest periods in the Catholic Church, the reign of the Borgias, the family which produced Rodgrigo Borgia who became the notorious Pope Alexander VI. Their corrupt excesses make for dramatic screenplays with lavish costumes and top-notch actors and savvy marketing campaigns that offend the sensibilities of Catholic Christians across the nation. It should provoke reaction beyond shaking heads and feeling persecuted yet again.

It did, and some Catholics who happen to hold charge accounts with Macy’s called on that department store chain to remove their window displays playing up the Borgia series. They were happy to see at least some of the stores do that, whatever the reason.

Barb Nicolosi, Hollywood insider and founder of Act One, suggests this is an opportunity for Catholics to do a couple of other things. One, learn their history. The Borgias happen to have been part of it, but out of that terrible period came the Counter Reformation, which produced great saints and tremendous energy for renewal in the Church. Know your history and be ready to engage anyone in conversation about it.

She also suggests Christians contact the folks who produce big film projects, compliment them on whatever they did well (great production values, fine actors) and then enthusiastically suggest a particular story that would make a compelling film. There are so many…

Now, to print media.

Take this Time magazine cover story (scroll down past the giant ad at top).

‘What if there is no hell?’ First thought….then there’s no need for a Savior. Which has been the idea all along that motivated those who would deconstruct or dismantle the Judeo-Christian tradition and ethics.

Which brings up a thought tying all this together…

Why doesn’t someone in Hollywood think about doing a series on The Screwtape Letters?

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