FACES AND PLACES: Catholicism and Hollywood's "anointed" (09/03/00)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Catholicism and Hollywood's "anointed"

Anti-Catholicism is as American as apple pie. As Prof. Arthur Schlesinger of Harvard once observed, prejudice against the Catholic Church is "the deepest bias in the history of the American people."

Catholics were discriminated against by the dominant Protestant culture from the day they set foot on American soil. Perceived as "papists," loyal only to Rome, Catholics were often afraid to mention their faith outside of their homes. Hatred of Catholics eventually focused on specific ethnic groups.

Among the first to feel the brunt were Irish Catholics. The height of anti-Catholic rage was reached just prior to the Civil War, when anti-Catholic tracts and newspapers were published in great numbers, mobs burned a convent to the ground as well as most of Boston's Irish quarter, and vicious anti-Catholic cartoons by Thomas Nast appeared in respectable newspapers throughout the United States. By 1854 the nativist, anti-Catholic Know-Nothing (American) Party could count 120 Congressmen among its membership. Catholics were regularly portrayed as enemies of decency, sobriety, democracy and religious freedom. The infamous terrorist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, founded after the Civil War, was anti-Catholic as well as racist and anti-Semitic.

Today, few Americans dare to openly denigrate Jews and African Americans. Can anyone imagine art critics cheering a scatological painting of a Star of David or Martin Luther King with elephant dung plastered all over it? A black Madonna similarly treated, however, was recently feted as a "progressive" work of art by America's self-anointed elite. Catholics, it seems, are still fair game for derision.

The most egregious contemporary example of anti- Catholic bias can be found among Hollywood producers who release such films as Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" in which Jesus is portrayed as an over-sexed nut case, Judas Iscariot is celebrated as a morally superior hero who tries to save Christ from himself, and Mary Magdalene is a tattooed lady-in-waiting. Despite protests by thousands of Christians throughout the United States, Universal Studios published an "open letter" in newspapers throughout the United States pompously stating that: "In the United States no one sect or coalition has the power to set boundaries around each person's freedom to explore religious and philosophical questions ..."

The film industry quickly circled the wagons around Universal Studios. "The key issue, the only issue," argued Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), "is whether or not self-appointed groups can prevent a film from being exhibited to the public ... The major companies of MPAA support MCA/Universal in its absolute right to offer to the people whatever movie it chooses." Fortunately, the film was a box-office flop.

The hypocrisy of filmmakers was pointed out by Michael Medved in his book "Hollywood vs. American Popular Culture and the War on Traditional Values." In 1990, he points out, Disney Studios eliminated "an anti-wolf" statement from the film "White Fang" in response to a request from the Humane Society. Screenwriters changed the story-line for a film titled "Red Sneakers" because of pre-release protests from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination (GLAAD). When leaders in one Hopi Indian village were upset with the script for "Dark Wind," because it was partly "sacrilegious," changes were made immediately.

"Leaders of the motion picture business showed more concern with possible sacrilege against the religious traditions of a single Hopi village," writes Mr. Medved, "than with the certain offense to the faith of tens of millions of believing Christians; the prospect of being labeled 'anti-wolf' produced greater worry than the prospect of being labeled 'anti-Christ.' "

Three themes dominate most of Hollywood's anti-Catholic films: a corrupt clergy, turmoil over vows of chastity, and the silliness of all things Catholic. Other examples of blatant anti-Catholic bias include such recent films as "Monsignor," the story of a priest who seduces a nun and engages in shady financial dealings with the Mafia; "Agnes of God," in which a nun murders her baby, the Mother Superior attempts to cover up the crime, and an intrepid psychiatrist, played by Jane Fonda, works to get at the truth; and "Last Rites," featuring the son of a Mafia leader who becomes a priest and falls hopelessly in love with a beautiful Mexican girl. "The Three Musketeers" portrays Cardinal Richelieu as a man lusting after young women. In "Godfather III," the pope receives money from the Mafia. "Priest" portrays two priests, one who sleeps with his housekeeper and another who visits gay bars. Other such abominations include "Heaven Help Us," which features supposedly innocent students being beaten by Catholic teachers; "Nasty Habits," a story about oversexed nuns; "The Devils," which mocks sacred relics; as well as "Devil's Playground," "Cape Fear," "Shawshank Redemption" and "The Pope Must Die." Once again, almost all of these films lost money for the producers.

It wasn't always like this in Tinseltown. Films like "Samson and Delilah," "Quo Vadis?," "The Robe," "The Ten Commandments," "Ben Hur," "Going My Way," "Bells of St. Mary's," "The Fighting 69th," "Boys Town," "Son of Bernadette" and "The Miracle of the Bells" respected major religious traditions. "If a character appeared on screen wearing a clerical collar it served as a sure sign that the audience was supposed to like him," writes Mr. Medved. Each of these films was a box office hit and is considered a classic today.

Hollywood is different today because the entertainment industry is dominated by a select group of cynical, nihilistic "anointed" who despise the Catholic Church because it remains one of America's most visible bulwarks against moral decay and decadent pollution. They are trapped in a 1960s time warp that celebrates irreverence and fosters attitudes that denigrate all that the Catholic Church supports: strong families, marital fidelity, the rights of the unborn, and a clear differentiation between good and evil.

"Catholics manage to remain serenely innocent of this anger," writes the Rev. Andrew Greeley; "they deceive themselves into believing that it all went away after John F. Kennedy was elected." But anti-Catholicism, he said, is "out there, all right, and it's deep and potentially dangerous ... Anti-Catholicism, it has been said, is the anti-Semitism of the American liberal," which is why its continuing presence is so menacing.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: mbkuropas@compuserve.com

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