COUNTYWIDE : Mahony, Schuller Decry Film Violence

More than 7,000 churchgoers overflowed the Crystal Cathedral on Sunday as Cardinal Roger M. Mahony joined the Rev. Robert H. Schuller at the two morning services for a dialogue that included a discussion of the negative social effects of increasingly violent and promiscuous images from Hollywood.

The morning services attracted about 3,500 for Mahony’s widely advertised first visit as cardinal to the spectacular, naturally lighted Protestant cathedral. Mahony, dressed in a black robe and wearing the red skullcap of a Roman Catholic prelate, spoke with Schuller in a 20-minute dialogue format before each of the Sunday morning gatherings.

The message Mahony delivered focused on the “level of values and degradation in motion pictures and television programs.”

“Everything the Bible stands for is being mocked,” he said. The makers of movies and television programs “should show the best and not the worst of human nature.”

On several occasions, the congregation applauded approvingly. The two religious leaders urged their followers to confront Hollywood and agreed that one of the best ways is for people to simply not “go to the bad movies and help support the good movies.”

Early last month, Mahony sounded a similar message to those in the entertainment industry by asking them to consider a restrictive code that would eliminate from the screen such images as nudity, suggestive dancing and police officers dying at the hands of criminals.

Frank Goff and his wife Grace, both 76 and residents of Mission Viejo, said they came specifically to see Mahony.

“We thought his message was great,” Grace Goff said. “Many people feel that way about violence in movies and think about it every day.”

It was Mahony’s second official visit to the Crystal Cathedral. Six years ago, as archbishop of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, he spoke to the cathedral’s congregation after the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

During the first service, the crowd filled the main floor and balconies and overflowed into additional rows of chairs. The service was shown on a large TV monitor facing a parking lot where hundreds of additional worshipers sat in parked cars.

The service will be broadcast next Sunday morning on KCAL Channel 9.