Why New Ethos?

Why a ‘new ethos’ is Needed in Entertainment

“Embrace a New Ethos that Awakens Rather Than Violates the Soul”

In 1987, the late and dear Pope John Paul II, an artist, visited Los Angeles, California.  One of the evenings, at the Registry Hotel, he spoke to the entertainment community, saying “you represent one of the most important American influences on the world today…it is in fact that your smallest decisions can have global impact.”  He talked about the current state of entertainment ("current ethos") and buttressed his address to the entertainment world with a challenge, “The challenge of Moses to the people of Israel is applicable to all of us today, (and in particular to the entertainment culture):  ‘I set before you life and death… choose life.’” [Dt. 30:19].

The challenge of Moses was a call to something great.  The call for a “new ethos” in entertainment is a call made not only to the entertainment industry but also to the Catholic Church, in how it relates to artists and entertainment professionals, and to all who can gain greatly from their experience of entertainment.  The call is to let go of the current “ethos” in entertainment, where relationships of use, isolation and judgment are prevalent.  It is an ethos that feeds a creative spirit that violates the soul and sinks it into despair and death.  The call is to embrace a new ethos in entertainment, where relationships of healing, mercy, and forgiveness reign.  It is an ethos that will feed a creative spirit that awakens the soul to truth, beauty, goodness, hope, and life.  It s a call for the entertainment industry and the Church to work together rather than against each other to preserve and continually unveil a true “State of Beauty” in our culture.  The challenge is to answer the call to embrace a new ethos in entertainment (film, television, music, video gaming, fashion) that will awaken rather than violate the soul of humanity.