“What you see in secular media, they try to create an unoffensive Jesus, a Jesus who’s just a teacher of love, not the Jesus who says, ‘I’m the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.’ They don’t like that Jesus,” Green said.
The secular media, she added, “are very comfortable with people who are ‘spiritually searching’ … as if to say you can’t find the truth out there … [but] very uncomfortable with people who say, ‘I have found that truth, and it’s Jesus.’”
The three panelists also discussed the importance of a strong faith while working in the news media.
Tomeo related how her Catholic values put her at odds with her news editors at the Detroit television station where she worked, who espoused the view that “if it bleeds it leads.” Ultimately, she lost her job, she said, but she wound up with a much better one, and a much larger platform.
“There will be sacrifices,” she said, but “God does reward you for being faithful.”
Her advice to journalists: “You need to cover yourself in prayer, and have others cover you in prayer, as well” because a newsroom can be a very “toxic” and stressful place, and often hostile to people with deeply held religious convictions.
Poff, a 2019 Franciscan University graduate, agreed, saying he makes a point of saying a daily rosary and attending Mass regularly.
“I cover a lot of spiritually taxing issues. I cover gender identity issues in schools and I’ve gotten plenty of nasty emails and tweets because of the things I write about, and I don’t think I’d be able to endure it to the extent that I do if it weren’t for my faith,” he said.
‘We press on’
In his keynote address, Warsaw said while recent trends in journalism and the wider society can be discouraging, “we also know … that God created the human heart to seek after beauty, truth, and goodness. And that is what the Church has to offer in this moment, even when the Church herself has challenges.”
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What such times demand, especially of Catholic journalists, are courage and fortitude, Warsaw said, as well as a commitment to the highest standards of ethical journalism.
As Catholics, we must remember “that we have science and reason on our side,” he said.
“As with both abortion and the transgender movement, biology, medicine, and common sense are some of our greatest tools to educate, inform, and open the eyes of an increasingly bewildered and confused culture,” Warsaw said. The EWTN CEO also encouraged his audience to find common ground and build alliances with “unlikely allies.”
“So, what do we do in the face of these adversities? We press on,” Warsaw said.
“In these challenging times, amid our post-truth society, we should not allow ourselves to despair or to be discouraged. And as Catholics we know that it is the Good News which will prevail,” he emphasized.
“In the end, amidst all the challenges of social media platforms and information chains, there is the human heart, ever in need of conversion, conversion to live out the Truth,” Warsaw concluded. “As Catholics, we will always have on our side the natural authenticity and attractiveness of the Truth — the Truth who is Our Lord, Jesus Christ.”
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