Dominican Teaching Sisters - No TV.And from Fr. Poncelet, who wrote on the subject, and founded Our Lady's Apostolate of No TV:
"A priest's primary duty is to save souls; he is responsible for prevailing moral atttitudes in his parish and specifically for the salvation of his parishioners' souls. . . The priest, then must come to an honest recognition of the primary avenue to the destruction of souls in his Catholic homes, as that window to the world of immorality -- the television set. And he must continually point out to his parishioners that acceptance of TV entertainment is simply not compatible with the Christian life of spirituality."
"The disintegration of real Catholic culture has been a slow process begun two generations back. It happens to be co-incident with the degradation of TV fare, which began its downward slide with the inception of the medium, and accelerated that trend at a precipitous rate from the 1960s onward."
"Thanks to the constant depiction -- in an entertainment mode -- of immoral acts. . . presentations once considered scandalous, perverse, and unfit for consideration by self-respecting people, now pass for commonplace, acceptable fare even among those claiming religious convictions."
"Such programming is often criticized mildly as being crude, in bad taste, or even as awful -- but hardly ever is it called sinful."
"James Drummey, in a recent question/answer column in The Wanderer wrote "Even the best intentioned Catholics can become desensitized. . . if they watch these portrayed on televisions in a favorable light, night after night in their own homes."
"We cannot hide from basic Catholic moral laws forever. And the sins that are most easily committed, and which involve most "grievous matter" are also the sins most exploited on television -- those against chastity and purity."
Fr. Frank Poncelet