Why We Need More "Minor Revisions"!

Here I am writing about the miniseries from NET-NY TV and I didn't even see it yet... I was at a meeting for the Archdiocese last night precisely when "Minor Revisions" premiered. Thankfully, they will be running the show again on Saturday afternoon, so I have another chance. (I hate being out of the loop!)

But even without having seen the show (I did read Jennifer's post after she got a sneak peak at it last week), I can say that this is the direction Catholic TV needs to move in.

Why?

Because, as Father Barron commented when introducing "The Catholicism Project," we have been letting everyone else tell our Catholic story to the point that much of what goes without saying about Catholicism in our culture comes from so far afield that it doesn't even relate to anything that is actually Catholic! As an example [confession: I saw this on a FB meme, so hopefully it was imaginary...but I don't think so] the person who thought he spotted an inconsistency in the Pope using an iPad to send his first Twitter message: how can someone who doesn't believe in evolution use so highly evolved a technological tool? Right there you have it as a given that Catholics reject the theory of evolution. Why would anyone presume such a thing? Because other people have been telling our story for us.

With programs like "Minor Revisions" (as with the earlier sitcom pilot from Catholic TV, "Mass Confusion") not only are we telling the one Catholic story of the Fulwiler family: the show is also telling the Catholic story of the "Vitae Clinic" where women find health and fertility care that is completely consistent with Catholic moral values, and where women in crisis pregnancy find all the help they need. You find the further Catholic story of the former drug dealer who is now a leader of Adult Faith Formation in a Catholic parish. And yet another Catholic story in meeting with Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood manager who left her job (after winning accolades from Planned Parenthood) and was recently received into the Catholic Church. That's an abundance of Catholic stories, all told from a Catholic perspective.

Programs like this are not easy (or cheap) to produce. It would be more cost-effective to create another conversation-based show with a genial host and a series of guests. But what is more effective in telling our story?  I'm thinking we need to show our support for NET-NY for going out on a limb and breaking important new ground for Catholic television.

In case you missed it, here is my write-up about Jennifer Fulwiler from "Support a Catholic Speaker Month," as well as the audio recording of our conversation.