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Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives
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| An
Interview by Anita C. Crane (Crisis) Let us pick up on the word media, a force so prevalent in our society today. In 1971, Ugo Modotti, a Camaldolese abbot, was sent to America by Pope Paul VI to summon a group of ten, both clergy and laity, including myself, to establish a Catholic media organization. We all met with the abbot three times in the next year. We spent two or three days in meetings. And the Holy Father's mission was very clear: American Catholics must get some control of the media of social communication; otherwise, the pope feared for the survival of the Church in our country. |
| Notes
from the Decree on the Means of Social Communication It is the Church's birthright to use and own any of these media which are necessary to useful for the formation of Christians and for pastoral activity. #3 It is essential that all those involved should form a correct conscience on the use of the media, especially with regard to certain issues, which are particularly controversial today. #5 …the content of the communication be true and—within the limits set by justice and charity—complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. #5 |
| The
Urgent Call to Evangelization This article will focus on both aspects of the modern media of communication. Our first stress is on the use of these media to exploit the philosophy of secularism to the incalculable damage of whole nations that had once been faithfully Christian. Our second and main focus is to begin to explore the breathtaking potential of the modern media to teach the whole world what Christ told His Father, "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent." (John 17:3). |
| The Second Commandment and Religious Communication Our present meditation is still on the Second Commandment of the Decalogue on religious communication. You might ask yourselves what does this mean? It means that God wants us first of all to articulate our thoughts and desires to Him in prayer. And not only as we’ve seen, though of course also, but not only, by the internal movements of our mind and will directed towards God. God wants us to also communicate with Him with our bodily, sensibly perceptible, what we call vocal prayer. But the focus of our reflections is the third stage. God wants us also to communicate with others about Him. In other words He wants us to communicate not only to Him in prayer but about Him in our religious communication with others. Our purpose then will be to look at the following aspects of this immense and I should add, widely neglected aspect, to put it very mildly, of the Second Commandment of the Decalogue. |
| Christianity and the Communications Revolution I would therefore like to rephrase the topic and expand it into a sentence, which might more accurately be called a thesis: "The Future of Christianity, Notably Its Evangelization, Gravely Depends on a Balanced Understanding of the Modern Communications Revolution." My plan is to briefly analyze the following elements of the topic: the two principal forms of communication; revolutionary changes in each of these two forms; [and] significance of these changes for evangelization. |
| How Should Catholics Be Retrieved? Our present conference is on how, how should Catholics be retrieved who have lost either their faith or they have at least lapsed from the practice of their Catholic religion. Our first conference, you remember, was on why, why has there has been such widespread abandonment of the Catholic faith in one formally Christian country after another, including our own United States. We concluded that the faith was not so much lost as given up. And in many cases, not even given up, but never really grasped or understood in the first place. |
| What Makes Catholic Materials Really Catholic? Nowadays there are so many people who call themselves Catholic, but really are not. There are books and periodicals published; there are conferences given, and symposia sponsored; there are religious programs and celebrations sponsored - and all professedly Catholic. But so many of these are Catholic only in name, and not in reality. In plain English, a revolution has taken place. The revolution is a revolution in doctrine and morality.…Errors in doctrine undermine Christian morality, and unchristian moral conduct inspires doctrinal error. |
| Why "The Catholic Faith" Magazine? "The Catholic Faith" magazine is the response to a request by His Eminence José T. Cardinal Sánchez, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. The purpose of this magazine is to provide the faithful in English-speaking countries with an ongoing guide for the "Catechism of the Catholic Church." Our Holy Father sees the Catechism as a special gift from the Holy Spirit for preserving and understanding the revealed Word of God in the modern world. |
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