My experience of religious media covers over 40 years, and it has been a gradual learning curve, which has taken a steep swoop upward especially within the last two years. Adan titled this talk "The Vision For Catholic Communications 1978-1998", but my "pre-vision" began about twenty years before that.

The "Know The Truth" years

The very first year after my ordination in 1955 I was involved in the production of a 15 minute weekly live television program, "Know The Truth" over a local Wisconsin TV station.

Good time: right after late night news and before late night movie, Friday nights, paid for by Knights of Columbus. The Knights felt the need to answer an ecumenical panel of ministers on TV Saturday nights, which, they felt, was negative about our Catholic faith.

The style of our program was very oral and preachy: it was a one-man show, the professor of Dogmatic Theology from our seminary, who was an excellent speaker. But we made the same mistake most churches did: considered TV an extension of the pulpit, and used the media to speak to a larger audience than church could hold. (If you were Bishop Sheen, it worked) My job: design and build the set; help the speaker time his program; hold idiot cards; create graphics and pics to illustrate a few points here and there in the program so the camera could rack over to a different lens.

Gradually, because of my own visual sense, my association with an organization we formed, "The Franciscan Institute of Radio and TV" and my degree work at Marquette University, I realized that our style of presentation was essentially oral, wordy, verbal. We did not appreciate the potential of this new medium. Even when I wanted our program to be more visual, the speaker, well-trained in written and oral language, didn’t understand; when I suggested programs like a tour of a monastery or of a Catholic Church, he wanted to tell people what they would see. We compromised: he wrote the talk and delivered it; I filmed the visual tours and edited them in under his voice-overs.

Of course the tone of the program wasn’t very ecumenical. In time, we softened the title to "Know The Truth About The Catholic Faith," especially after a minister wrote in to say the speaker’s style was "Damn the Protestants, full speed ahead!"

After 150+ of these programs, we decided instead to go to 30 and 60 second spots, inspired by Franciscan Communications Telespots, after I spent a summer of "internship" there in Los Angeles. Our spots were more visual, but were still based on a verbal script and not a visual language. I learned to appreciate that new language when I joined the staff of Franciscan communications in 1970.

However, before I did, I began Film Appreciation classes ("Media Literacy" was not yet coined) in the seminary and in some nearby parishes and schools. I rented classic 16 mm. Films, like "High Noon," "Pawnbroker," "Hiroshima Mon Amour," ""Ikiru" etc., and learned that if I couldn’t make them, I could join them. It was wonderful to give seminarians and adults new insights into films, new appreciation of the medium, and help them discover faith messages, which could be powerful and creative and deeply insightful. What I learned there I still use, and continue to look for the best of film and video and Television and try and help others appreciate these icons of our culture.

Franciscan Communications (1970-1993)

When I joined the staff, FC had been producing a series of fifteen-minute radio dramas and half-hour color TV programs called "The Hour of St. Francis". These were dramatic stories, featuring Hollywood stars. At the same time, FC was producing Telespots for public service time, and audiospots for radio. The basic style was storytelling: and I discovered how the parable style of Jesus could be adapted so well to the TV screen or radio set. I learned some significant things about story telling, and the power of visual language.

I learned first, that visuals had a language and grammar of their own. Visuals could be subjects or objects, active or passive as nouns and verbs in a sentence. But I especially learned that it was a different language, more emotional and less precise than the verbal language and definitions of theology, but far more moving for the human soul. I think appreciating the emotional impact of the story, told well and graphically, visually, supported by good acting and music and direction and settings, was the greatest insight for me in the communication of religion on this new media.

I also learned that to reach the human heart, the stories could not begin with the intention to teach something, or to communicate some concept. The best films, we discovered, did not start with a goal or purpose, but with the story. We didn’t ask, "Can we find a story about Baptism" Instead, we looked over stories that we knew about, or had gathered, and started with the story itself; our question was: what does this story say, what does it communicate? Is it a parable of something else? Those were always the best and most effective stories, because they were real, were human, came from life itself. Starting the other way, the stories seemed textbookish.

I learned something else in the story telling process at Franciscan Communications: I learned that in order for the films to be effective, to teach, to reach people, to stir them deeply and to give insight, a whole process had to be designed in which the story-film or video was just one part. The most effective and important part was the discussion after the story. That’s where the audience really learned: not so much from the story, which may have been someone else’s life and story, but from the stories about their own lives which the participants shared. They usually had to be guided and helped, so discussion questions were designed to help open up people hearts to share. And the films had to be short enough (10-15 minutes) so that there was time to prepare the participants before the film, and especially give them time to share afterwards, and even if they wished, to see the film again.

If we would theologize a moment, isn’t it true that this is how our Christian faith was nourished, communicated, and finally articulated more precisely? The stories and events of Jesus’ life were reflected on by the community of faith; their faith was born of the experience of Jesus, and of the experience of their living their faith, facing persecution, seeking the Risen Lord’s presence in their communities and ministries: life itself. Gradually, these reflections and communications/preaching were written down as Scripture by the communities. It took decades, sometimes centuries later, usually because of conflicts in interpreting faith, that the dogmas were more clearly and accurately articulated. That is what we were trying to do: begin with life experiences, with stories, and lead to faith discovery, to the continual way God is revealing Godself in human life.

One time a youth minister in Texas told me he showed a particularly powerful film of ours called "Penance." It was about a young man who had been drinking, and hit a little girl with his auto while he was swerving around a truck, and paralyzed her. The story was his gradual process from denying his guilt, to accepting responsibility to visit the child in the hospital. He crumbled when he saw her in splints and traction and asked, "Can you ever forgive me?" She answered, "I have already forgiven you." After showing the film, the youth minister asked the young people, "Well, what do you think?" They said, "What do you think?" So they agreed to see it again, and after that, they talked almost all night. Stories like that were not uncommon. Our series on the Sacraments, which were human dramas rather than expositions of sacramental theology, were best sellers nationally and internationally. I am told that another on the Eucharist, called "Grandma’s Bread" about an Italian grandmother who promised to bake a special "Pan" for her grandson’s First Communion, is still the most popular film Franciscan Communications has ever distributed…and this, after about 15 years.

But video soon replaced film, and the economics of selling videos for about 10% of what films sold for, yet producing them at the same or escalating costs, soon made Franciscan Communications turn to support from print media. And the Telespots and Audiospots were shut out when public service time was no longer a necessity for stations.

In the meanwhile, televangelists had come and gone, the Catholic Church had a continual series of efforts to find a national vision for church communications, individual Catholic broadcasting efforts, - from Fr. Keiser’s Insight series of 30 minute dramatic programs with Hollywood writers, directors and stars, to individual speakers gathering meager resources to keep themselves on the air, - had met little successes but not large audiences. The Roman Catholic Church had even initiated a Catholic Television Network to deliver religious programs via satellite to dioceses, which would then distribute them to local cable or broadcast stations, but that too died for lack of financial support and creative programming. It proved very difficult for a church of 200 independent and autonomous bishops to agree on any national vision for communications, except in very general terms and with little prophetic vision or commitment. That is still true today, despite a recent national plan and strategy by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, after intense national consultation. The only religious broadcasters who have been successful in gathering sizable audiences and sustained support have been independents, men or women who were their own church, so to speak, or Mother Angelica who is like a church unto herself as well.

During those years I realized how unrealistic it is to expect an effective national broadcasting effort from the bishops of the U.S. Catholic Church – or, for that matter, even from the Pontifical Commission for Social Communications in Rome, of which I was a member for several years. Bishops are not trained in communications, have little experience in media, have hardly a clue what resources it takes to produce media on a competitive level, and are usually overwhelmed by other problems. I believe only a handful of the 200 or so bishops in our country have any true media savvy.

That’s when I decided to move in a different direction.

Catholics In Media

I realized, about a dozen or so years ago, that despite all my efforts, I was not reaching large audiences. I realized that despite my tears and blood and sweat, despite the many responsibilities I had from at first shooting, editing and even developing black and white film for television, then moving through production responsibilities to President of Franciscan Communications, as well as the Presidency of the national organization of Catholic Broadcasters called "Unda" and becoming it’s international President for 7 years, with all the international contacts and meetings at the Vatican – I realized that as a church we did not have much of a television or media presence. I don’t think church people ever understood what it takes to have a television presence that can attract large audiences. I don’t think we ever understood TV as an entertainment medium first, and then as an educational medium, with perhaps a potential to enforce religious concepts and commitment. Our programs were not where the large audiences were watching, and we had nowhere the resources it takes to have an effective, significant, sustaining presence on TV or other media .

So I began trying to work with those people who were attracting the larger audiences: the writers and directors and studio executives here in Hollywood. With some of them, we established a group called "Catholics in Media." Our main goal was to help media personnel link their professions and their faith, and find others in the media industry to support that effort. We hoped to support better media efforts that way. Before long we took on another endeavor: that of hosting an annual Awards Mass and Breakfast to honor excellence in the industry, as judged by peers in media. That effort was not to honor Catholic or religious programming, but productions which showed truly human values and inspiration. The Awards event has been successful, drawing about 1,000 people to a prestigious hotel in Beverly Hills each year, and offering our Cardinal the opportunity to talk about faith and media in his homily at the Mass, which preceded the breakfast awards. It has also given the Catholic community the opportunity to meet with other Catholics in the media, and to support and encourage them in their faith. We are loosely organized, without structure except for the annual Awards event, but that seems to work well enough for us at this time.

We also have at least an annual day of retreat and recollection together, during which we use media to look at our faith values, and hear presentations by media professionals as well as from our chaplain. There are other groups which meet on monthly bases to consider faith and media, so we do not duplicate their efforts, but often link with them. The president of CIMA is with us, and will speak more about the experience and organization tomorrow.

In summary, we are doing what Aetatis Novae, the Vatican document on Communications, gave as an aim for a diocesan communications office: "To encourage creative artists and writers accurately to reflect Gospel values as they share their gifts through the written word, legitimate theater, radio, television and film for entertainment and education."

For the time being, my efforts are more pastoral and less in production than before. But I don’t know how long that will last.

I am now the Pastoral Telecommunications Specialist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and our media include two Archdiocesan newspapers, one in Spanish and another in English; six ITFS or educational channels which have been leased and digitized by Pac Bell and become part of the largest digital wireless Cable network in the world. We are planning productions that might serve our Chancery departments. I also help producers of religious programs in any way I can, such as Advisor for an A&E documentary on the Vatican and a documentary on Mother Katharine Drexel.

And I still work with one or two new efforts to do something more significant in Catholic and religious broadcasting, like a group of men who visited recently to discuss the possibility of a national Catholic TV presence that would be commercially sustained. I may still have a few last gasps to put into that, just to see if we might be able to come up with something. And I work with Odyssey, to help their efforts as well, including the possibility of a weekly Mass at one of our parishes which televises a Sunday liturgy. I also have a 24-hour schedule of programming I have resourced to get ready if our Pac Bell effort gets enough subscribers to make such a home channel feasible.

I would like to comment on this newest effort in Catholic Communications: the fact that some Catholics who are or were professional broadcasters or broadcast executives are trying to put together a national Catholic Television presence: a TV or cable channel of Catholic programming. I think this is a tremendously significant step. From our earlier failed efforts, like CTNA (Catholic Television Network of America, via satellite), the bishops realized they could not sustain a national Catholic TV presence of any real substance. So their 1997 Vision and Strategic Plan for Communications is very modest and cautious. On the other hand, some professional Catholic broadcasters know the bishops should not be running a network anyhow. So they are ready to supply the delivery system if bishops and other religious leaders can supply and/or produce the programming. This is a crucial link that has been missing in the past. At the present time, a few Catholic professionals with different solutions to national distribution are trying to connect and cooperate. I believe they will come up with something feasible.

Then the challenge will be to come up with the financial resources to produce the kind of programming necessary to attract and hold a national audience, presumably made mostly of Catholics. We know from experience that on air solicitations and other types of "fund raising" have not garnered the widespread Catholic support necessary for such an operation. The direction now, however, is to make these ventures commercial, and either offer public stocks for investment, or to get substantial funds from cable companies per subscribers to the channel. Such business plans are now being prepared. It will be a development worth watching. Our hope is that we can enlist the creative Catholic community, especially, to lend their talents to this effort. The word "lend" is ill advised in such a commercial venture, especially if the millions ($200-300 or more) can be raised. It will be worth watching.

The Future, Near and Far

But for me, the big challenge now is the Internet. That is what bent my learning curve North! At the last two annual meetings of the National Association of Broadcasters, it was evident how broadcasting is moving to the desktop computer, and how interactivity is the keyword. That is opening a whole other world in which we are the Internet Explorers, to "coin a phrase." How are we communicating the faith on this new amazing medium, which has grown faster in five years than radio did in twenty-five and TV in fifteen, at the rate of a million new Internet users a month!

There is a new keyword or catchphrase here, and it is "interactivity." This should not be a new name to religious communicators. We have always believed that faith has to be interactive. Our Faith is a Message to which there must be an interactive Response. Faith is not a spectator sport. That was why we needed to guide discussion groups after people watched a film or video. It was something we couldn’t control over television, where a beer commercial was as likely to follow us as an ad for Dove soap.

But how can we design interactivity into our WebPages so that while we respond to the one-on-one process, to the individual, which is key to the Internet, we still try and draw him or her into some kind of local community, which is integral and essential to living and sustaining the Faith?

It means a different style of writing: to write interactively. It means using e-mail response effectively, since at least 50% of the interactivity of the Internet is e-mail. Can we respond personally to people who might want to preserve their impersonality or anonymity…at least at first?

Can chat rooms develop into faith sharing small communities? How make the journey from the monitor to the altar, from the fingers on the keyboard to the handshake in the pews? From the God-and-me to the faith community? Is this breakthrough in technology any kind of break through in evangelization? Or will we use this new medium the same way we church leaders have used the old: with the same old message and style and language? If they ever find our WebPages among the millions available, will they hit and run, or link arms with us? We don’t have the experience yet to tell, or to learn from our mistakes, unless our mistakes with the older media can tech us something about the new.

We certainly can’t approach them with the archaic idea of "controlling" these media, - a concern our Cardinal expressed to the Pontifical Commission on Social Communications in an address titled "Cyberspace and the Catholic Church" - i.e. who can determine what is authentically "Catholic" of all the Catholic information on line? Nor should we want to limit access, or even say maybe we don’t belong there. It’s the old, "If Jesus were here today…or St. Paul…." Would he be talking to Bill Gates or what?

So what have I learned?

I am not very sanguine about the potential of television to communicate religious values. There has been a breakthrough with "Touched By An Angel" a program that is not often very challenging. But the aborted program "Nothing Sacred" which came much closer to real life issues of parochial living, had its greatest opposition within the fold, from the Catholic League. And despite efforts in our Archdiocesan Newspaper to run a series of reflections during Lent, - a sort of Mini-retreat - linking the Saturday evening episodes with the Sunday morning readings, the show was cancelled in mid-Lent. "Nothing Sacred" may have hit too many sensitive issues, and made Father Ray too much of a maverick, but it still had some of the most beautiful religious moments on TV, and showed the Catholic Sacraments in ways that the medium has never portrayed before, with beauty and sensitivity and a depth of meaning. But obviously audiences aren’t ready for that in great enough numbers to sell the advertising. The old secular and sacred antithesis.

However, either show is proof that the ancient way of communicating faith and values is as modern as ever: the story. In fact, I was surprised to hear, at the 98 Convention of NAB, that someone said that even on the Internet, success will be measured by how well one can tell a story.

When we can’t be good storytellers, maybe what we have to do is be ready to take advantage of certain moments, certain events that TV makes prime time and attracts large audiences. Like the pilgrimages of Pope John Paul, at least in the earlier days. Or the funeral of Princess Diana, which was interesting to compare with the third-world technology funereal of Mother Teresa. Certain moments of tragedy may give religion the air time and attention it doesn’t get otherwise; which may speak well about the very meaning and contribution of religion, if we are ready.

But we live in a very secular culture, and I am not very sanguine about using the very same medium which makes us see and want and participate in this earthy, materialistic, violent world….to lift up our hearts to turn away from its inhuman moments and seek a deeper understanding of our humanity, and our relationship with God and one another. There will be moments, but only moments, I believe, in its 24-hour schedule.

But that doesn’t deter me. I still get excited about going to work. I think this is a wonderful, amazing time to live. I don’t want to be doing anything else right now. I want to keep splicing into the media (that’s an old figure of speech): "double clicking in" is better! I want to keep surfing, keep fishing (a more evangelical image.) I don’t think we can measure our success by ratings or hits, but, like one investment firm says, "One customer at a time." The new media may be just what we need for that. 

But we can’t do it alone. Every new medium creates new professionals, and they seem to get younger (and richer) every time. We need their guidance. Computers have replaced briefcases. Evangelists can’t carry only a staff and purse and perhaps sandals any longer. We need an e-mail address. 

We need "to identify new strategies for evangelization and catechesis through the application of communications technology and mass communications." (Aetatis Novae). We need to rewrite the gospel, in a sense, for this electronic, digital age. Somehow we have to make the digit of God in Michaelangelo’s old medium touch the digit of Adam in ours. We’re working at it.

A Capuchin Franciscan with over 40 years in communications, Anthony Scannell is a Pastoral Telecommunications Specialist with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He has been president of Franciscan Communications, Unda-USA and Unda-World, provincial minister of the Capuchin Province of St. Joseph (Detroit), and co-founder of Catholics In Media (Los Angeles).