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This past week, Pope Benedict XVI held an audience with the directors and officers of Rome’s police headquarters—what in Philadelphia is called the “Roundhouse”—offering a reflection concerning the current challenge confronting law enforcement officials. Much of the challenge, as Benedict XVI described it, is due to the profound social and economic changes that have been transpiring and are transpiring right now in this particular era of history. These changes “generate a sense of insecurity,” the Pope said, which in turn “weakens the perception of ethical principles on which the law and personal moral attitudes are founded....” So, here’s the Pope’s idea as it can be described for us today: Insecurity—caused by social and economic change—weakens the ethical principles on which we base our personal moral attitudes. That got me thinking about our teenagers, many of whom are filled with insecurity which is largely the result of the social changes in which our teenagers find themselves. They are worried about themselves and their future, what their peers think about them, and how they want to live their lives as free and autonomous persons. In the midst of all of this insecurity, they are making decisions about their personal moral attitudes, many of them imitating what others say and do rather than what they know is the ethical and moral thing to do. I then thought about Jesus’ call to Simon, Andrew, James, and John. All that Jesus said was, “Come after me.” And, despite all of the change Jesus’ call would require of them, none of the four continued to focus upon his work or faltered in following Jesus after turning away from that work…even when it meant leaving good old Dad to find workers to replacement them. Matthew tells us: “[Jesus] called them, and immediately they…followed him.” Interestingly, all four were Galileans, a people who had suffered under occupation for generations as one conquering army followed upon another conquering army to rule the Galilean people. One positive outcome of all this social and political change was the “multicultural” society that had come to characterize the entire region of Galilee, where people were very comfortable testing out new ideas. The Roman historian, Josephus, wrote of the Galileans, “They were ever fond of innovations, and by nature disposed to changes….” One negative outcome of all this change, Josephus notes, was how the Galileans were always looking for someone to provide leadership. “They were ever ready to follow a leader and to begin an insurrection...,” Josephus wrote Doesn’t this sound very much like many of our teenagers? The social changes they are experiencing today “generate a sense of insecurity” which, in turn, weakens “the perception of ethical principles on which the law and personal attitudes are founded,” as the Holy Father noted? The result is that our teenagers are so desperate for leadership that they willingly allow tyrants and despots—who promise everything they believe will bring happiness—to shape our teenager’s personal ethical and moral attitudes? So, today, let’s consider one example of a social change—cable television—and how it increases insecurity in teenagers. Let’s also consider how this weakens the perception of ethical principles on which they base their personal moral attitudes so that our teenagers end up looking for a leader and, as Josephus noted about the Galileans, are “ever ready to follow [that] leader and to begin an insurrection.” There’s been a lot of talk this past week about a new MTV dramatic series for teenagers, “Skins.” If you haven’t heard all of the chatter, count yourself lucky. But, if you are a parent, I hope you have heard all of the chatter, if only because you need to know what’s currently on cable television and how all of this generates a sense of insecurity in teenagers which, in turn, weakens their perception of ethical principles on which they base their personal moral attitudes. Then, believing the promises that there will be “no consequences,” follow leaders who are instigated by MTV and begin an insurrection. MTV executives argue that the series portrays teen life, relationships, alcohol and drug use, and promiscuous sex in a frank and realistic manner, as teenagers apparently live these out today. Perhaps “Skins” achieves this outcome and, if so, that alone ought to generate a sense of insecurity in both parents and their teenagers because it weakens the perception of ethical principles on which personal moral attitudes are founded. The series’ premiered last Monday evening at 10:00 p.m. and some critics immediately began arguing that the producers had gone too far and, in particular, because the “Skins” cast members are teenagers, not adults posing as teenagers. As evidence, these critics cite how the premiere episode, titled “Tony,” featured a clot of teens who were engaged in a quest to get their virgin-friend Stanley’s “cherry popped.” The main character, Tony, said: “Stan’s gotta get laid before he turns 17 or he’s not my friend anymore.” So, how did this group of insurrectionists achieve their objective and open the door to charges that the show had dabbled in child pornography and pedophilia? The friends persuaded Katie, a former mental patient, to have sex with Stanley. Katie is willing, but under one condition: Stanley must purchase some “good narcotics” for her. So, Stanley visited a drug dealer’s home where, after purchasing four ounces of marijuana, the adult male drug dealer sexually assaulted Stanley [thus, the accusation of pedophilia]. This is followed by several scenes of the teens smoking weed, participating in casual sex, and watching pornography [thus, the charge of child pornography]. The episode then concluded with an erratic, law-breaking drive to the hospital in a stolen car, all in order to save Katie who had overdosed on some mysterious pills before Stanley could have sex with her. Sounds like a day-time soap opera, no? MTV’s executives boasted about the premiere’s ratings, and especially its success among the 12-34 demographic, despite the series’ rating (TV-MA). The premiere drew the “network’s largest P12-34 audience for a series launch…and drew the most P12-34 viewers for a show launch in the network’s history. MTV’s newest scripted series drew 3.26 million total viewers and 2.7 million viewers in its core demo,” the press release stated. In short: It’s a hit! Since the series premiered this past week, Newsweek magazine quoted the President of the Parents Television Council, Jessica Bennett, as saying, “‘Skins’ isn’t dangerous. It’s just one of most realistic shows on television. Face it: Real teenagers can be a little nuts. They do have sex; they do experiment with drugs. But the show isn’t just about those risqué subjects. At the core of ‘Skins’ is the close relationship between the characters.” Some others have argued that “Skins” is no worse than Miley Cyrus’ Vanity Fair photos or “Gossip Girl.” “‘Racy’, yes,” the series’ defenders assert, “but not beyond the boundary defined by child pornography laws.” So, that’s what the teenage years today are all about, “relationships,” irrespective of the kind of relationships they are and whether they promote and support the development of ethical and moral personal character? As long as behavior only ventures up to but not beyond the boundary defined by child pornography laws, parents and teenagers should be tolerant? Is this, as MTV executives argue, the reality of our young people today during their teenage years at Methacton, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Carroll, and Norristown Area high schools or at “The Mount,” Villa Maria, and Gwenyd Mercy or at Malvern, LaSalle, Devon, or St. Joseph’s prep schools, or even at Episcopal Academy? The thought that “Skins” might mirror the reality should cause both teenagers and parents to feel that insecurity about with Pope Benedict XVI spoke, the type of insecurity that evidences itself in the fear of what all of this inevitably will lead to. MTV advertises itself as “the world’s premier youth entertainment brand,” and “a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people.” That’s undoubtedly true, if innovation— meaning social “change,” the type about which Pope Benedict XVI spoke this week—is to lead young people into becoming peeping toms, using pornography and vulgar language, as well as engaging in promiscuous sex, drug use, grand theft, and sexual assault. In contrast to that message which breeds insecurity and weakens personal moral principles, Pope Benedict XVI’s observation reminds our teenagers that this type of social change—and, in this case, cable television shows like “Skins”—causes deep and profound insecurity which, in turn, breeds insurrection against the ethical principles upon which teenagers make personal moral decisions. That insurrection, in turn, breeds death in the form of mental illness, addictions, pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, overdoses, and deadly car accidents. If what “Skins” portrays is the reality of our teenagers, all of this reveals nothing other than an “anti-life” attitude because engaging in these behaviors will always limit and then devour life, in general, and the teenage years and family life, in particular. No teenager needs to be told that drugs and narcotics destroy lives and families. No teenager needs to be told that lewd, illegal, and dangerous behavior—precisely like that portrayed in “Skins”—is the fecund breeding ground of disease, illegitimate pregnancy, jail time, and even death. This is all about insurrection against ethical principles. It is about what leads to death, not life. Jesus says, “Come after me.” However, if our teenagers are to do so, then they must possess courage—like the courage exhibited by Simon, Andrew, James, and John—because this will require adopting a “pro-life” attitude that recognizes how insurrection reveals weakened ethical principles which, in turn, enables personal immorality that is revealed in tremendous personal insecurity. All of that, in turn, reveals the underlying fear in teenagers that no one will ever love them and they will never be happy. So teenagers then yearn for a leader who will promise to erase that insecurity through slavery to behavior that promotes the culture of death. God did not create us to live in insecurity and fear but sent His only begotten Son to free us from insecurity and fear so that we will abide in the happiness that can only be found by responding positively to Jesus’ call by leaving behind what society says will bring happiness yet ends up promoting death. Today, this means our teenagers must muster up the courage to leave behind all of what “Skins” promotes and to discover in Jesus’ call “the way, the truth, and the life.” In today’s gospel, Matthew tells us: “[Jesus] called them, and immediately they…followed him.” Parents and grandparents especially should pray today that our young people have the ears to hear Jesus calling them as well as the courage to respond as generously as did Simon, Andrew, James, and John. To our young people: What a wonderful vocation Jesus is calling you to live! “Come, follow me...” isn’t to the land of Zebulun or Napthali. No, it’s to your neighborhoods and to your peers so that, as the Prophet Isaiah once said of God’s Chosen People, can be said of you:
Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is
darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon
those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shown. You have
brought the abundant joy and great rejoicing....For the yoke that
burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their
taskmaster you have smashed....” This is how you will be this generation’s the “light to the nations” as you minister to your peers who otherwise would exist in the darkness of insecurity and fear, celebrating the culture of death rather than experiencing the true happiness that can be theirs in the culture of life.
A brief
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HOMILY
