Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

Media

An Interview

by Anita C. Crane

Crisis
Col.15 - #11, December 1997, pp. 39-42

The following from an interview dealing with the media:

So the Church is growing more than we know?

Yes.

But you wouldn’t know it from the media. A person would not know that from the way that the media cover things.

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.

About a year later, Abbot Modotti and I were having dinner at the residence of the Little Sisters of the Poor in Palatine, Illinois. Toward the end of the meal he said, “Father, I have a strange request to make of you. Would you take over my mission from the Holy Father?” I said “Thanks for the compliment,” (for I knew that the pope trusted the abbot), “but I am no Modotti, the pope doesn’t know me.” He said, “Too late, I already told the Holy Father to appoint you to the Holy See, and if anything should happen to me, then you should take over my mission.” Two weeks later he was found dead in bed. Since his death I have done everything I possibly can to encourage Catholics to evangelize and catechize through the use of the media in teaching the one, true faith.

Tell us more about your commission from the Holy See. You want more good Catholics in media. You want media reform as the Holy Father, as the Vatican, has said. That’s a very difficult thing to achieve.

Most zealous Catholics are not as well organized or cooperative as those in the world. One of the hardest things is to get orthodox Catholics to cooperate. For their own projects, God will bless them, but they are no match for the organized efforts of those on the other side. This is a weakness. Catholics must enter the media on all levels, they must provide sound doctrine, and authentic Catholics must cooperate with each other. Catholics must evangelize through print, film, radio, television, and now the Internet. The first medium is print. It is not necessarily the most influential, but it is the most lasting, and so it has the most lasting influence.

Crisis. The word "crisis" is Greek for choice, decision. It is a good name for your magazine, because we are called to choose truth, we are called to decide for Christ. I read Crisis because it is authentic. These can be days of great grace. These are days when. the media have great control of our culture. Let me tell you something that I will never forget. For six winters I taught at the University of Ottawa in Canada. My confessor there was an Oblate priest named John Mole. I was with him there in 1972 on the happy anniversary of his ordination. On that day, he had received a letter from Marshall McLuhan, whom Father Mole had received into the Church. Does that name ring a bell?

Absolutely. He wrote the famous phrase, "The medium is the message.”

Well, on that day when my confessor and I were in conversation, Father Mole showed me the letter which he had just received from McLuhan, and in the postscript of that letter McLuhan wrote this statement, "The modem media are engaged in a Luciferian conspiracy against the truth." Certain statements you never forget. And that was prophetic. Since I've been with the Holy See, from Pope Paul VI to the present pope, John Paul II, the popes have wanted Catholics to change that. Imagine the alternative: "The modern media are engaged in a Christlike, shall I use the word, conspiracy, for the truth."

As you well know, dissident movements are getting bolder and bolder. In addition to reforming the media, so that the public has a truer knowledge of the Church, what is the best thing that Catholics can do to combat heresy and dissidence?

The Catholic method has three parts. Everything in imitation of the Holy Trinity! And this is what I've been told by the Holy See for twenty-eight years. Part one: find the believing Catholics. Part two: train them. Part three: organize them. There are all kinds of training, but this is my own sacred responsibility. After finding the believers, I have trained them, again in three parts. They are the Marian Catechists, who have been required first to make the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius for thirty days. That discipline prepares them to consult God in making decisions, to learn the Catechism, and to teach it. Then they are trained in doctrine by taking a home study course based on the Catechism. Years ago, the Marian Catechesis was based on the forthcoming Catechism, before it was published, because I was on the commission and I knew what was going to be in it. The third part of the catechists' training is a certain structured life, including prayer and worship. Most people do not live an organized life. The only structure in their lives is what they have to do to show up on time for work. Or, if they have a family, they might say what the family duties require. Finally, the organization of these catechists must involve the Church hierarchy; which means that they should be organized under the authority of their bishops united with the Vicar of Christ., the Bishop of Rome.

A rough calculation indicates that your own personal prayer regimen takes three hours a day. To most people that would seem insurmountable. What do you recommend for the beginner?

Four hours a day. What I recommend for the beginner is based, in part, on what I require of the Marian Catechists. Daily Mass and Holy Communion, daily rosary, daily spiritual reading, and daily examination of conscience. The daily examination has, of course, three parts. First, thanksgiving for everything which has happened throughout the day, including examination of conscience for failure in doing his will, and telling him, "Lord, I’m sorry for my laziness, or my pride, or for controlling not my sinful thoughts." Thirdly, and this is the most important part, is anticipation of the next day; ask the Lord what to do next, and how to do it. Don't ask him if he wants you to do something, of course he does, ask him what. Our natural tendency is to do that which is pleasant first, that which is useful second, and that which is necessary last. Remember that in Latin, agenda means "things that must be done." And so we should ask for the light to do what he wants us to do, and do it generously.

Now this is where Mother Teresa's sisters come in. Fourteen years ago Pope John Paul II called MotherTeresa to the Vatican and said what she was shocked to hear. He said "Mother," (he called her Mother), "I want your nuns to become catechists." She said that her sisters were not trained for that. The pope said "I knew you'd say that. I'm telling you to train them." Then Mother asked, "Where do we start?" And the pope answered, "l told Cardinal Ratzinger to expect you after our meeting here." She met with the cardinal, and I got a call. Cardinal Ratzinger said, "We've got a job for you," And so the Marian Catechists were commissioned to train Mother Teresa's nuns, which are now 4000 Missionaries of Charity. Today there are 265 Marian Catechists in this country, arid more in 100 countries throughout the world. We could not have done it unless the Marian Catechists lived the structured life.

So it came back to you. It makes me think of your saying “there’s no rest until eternal rest.”

No, and there shouldn't be. Otherwise we should confess it as laziness!

Copyright © 1997 by Crisis magazine