Tired of offensive media? Here is John XXIII’s weapon in the culture war

In general, today’s mass media, whether its movies, television, YouTube or comic books, is often directly opposed to Christian values. You don’t have to look far to find evidence of the sad state of entertainment in modern society.

It’s tempting to boycott everything.

The reasoning goes, “If Hollywood isn’t going to produce, good, Christian films, then let them all go to Hell.”

However, this response doesn’t solve the problem. We are fallen human beings and without any alternatives, we will go to the garbage heap. If we don’t know there is a feast in the banquet hall, we will go into the alley for at least a few scraps that will keep our stomach full.

St. John XXIII knew this all too well, and he lived in the 1950s and ’60s!

He spoke directly to this problem in his first encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram.

And in this day of ours, as you well know, Venerable Brethren and beloved sons, we also have radio broadcasts, motion pictures, and television (which can enter easily into the home). All of these can provide inspiration and incentive for morality and goodness, even Christian virtue. Unfortunately, however, they can also entice men, especially the young, to loose morality and ignoble behavior, to treacherous error and perilous vice.

Instead of encouraging Christians to boycott every film or TV show, John XXIII gave an alternative.

We must fight immoral and false literature with literature that is wholesome and sincere. Radio broadcasts, motion pictures, and television shows which make error and vice attractive must be opposed by shows which defend truth and strive to preserve the integrity and safety of morals. Thus these new arts, which can work much evil, will be turned to the well-being and benefit of men, and at the same time will supply worthwhile recreation. Health will come from a source which has often produced only devastating sickness.

This is one of the primary reasons why I started Voyage Comics.

I firmly believe that the correct antidote to offensive media is positive media.

However, this does not refer to media that is only worried about preaching the Gospel, but media that is as entertaining as it is inspiring. The world will not listen to a message that is delivered in an unattractive manner. No matter how much truth or goodness it holds, if it does not have beauty, then it will fall on deaf ears.

For this reason I enlist talented artists and writers, those people who have experience delivering quality to a secular audience.

Unfortunately it has taken Christians a long time to fully understand the weight of John XXIII’s words and only recently has a handful of companies started to create quality entertainment.

Let’s not wait any longer and quit putting so much emphasis on boycotting the “next big thing.”

Instead of destroying things, let’s create something beautiful.

Are you with me?

Photo: Pope’s Easter Blessing (1962)