Mahony Has Praise for Hollywood

Nearly 2 1/2 years after declaring that the entertainment industry had a moral obligation to communicate “human values,” Cardinal Roger M. Mahony on Thursday offered an upbeat review of Hollywood, saying there is much that is “quite good.”

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles said that while motion picture and television productions have unquestionably lost the “innocence” of the 1950s--when even the word pregnant was avoided on the “I Love Lucy” show--there is still reason to be encouraged.

Family-oriented films, he said, are as big or a bigger draw at the box office than those with more morally controversial themes.

“Not all is bad in Hollywood. In fact, much of the entertainment industry’s output is really quite good,” Mahony declared.

Mahony’s remarks were contained in a speech he was scheduled to deliver Thursday night in Redington Beach, Fla., at the 12th annual Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Banquet to honor excellence in communications. A copy of the speech was made available by his office in Los Angeles late Thursday.

The positive review marked a further cementing of ties between the Los Angeles Archdiocese and industry leaders in the nation’s preeminent entertainment center.

Relations between the Catholic archdiocese and Hollywood hit a low in January, 1992, when a press release was issued in Mahony’s name calling for a tough new film rating code.

The proposal created a furor in Hollywood and Mahony quickly disavowed the statement and fired the chairman of his Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, who had issued the statement.

Mahony then launched a series of private meetings with entertainment executives, writers, directors, producers and others. Their views helped shape his pastoral letter, which stopped far short of proposing a strict new film rating code, and instead laid out criteria that he asked the industry to consider.

He listed nine areas of special concern--relationships, sexuality, women, family, religion, work, possessions, authority and violence--and asked that theatrical motion pictures and television productions recognize the spiritual as well as the carnal side of life, and explore the consequences of each.

Mahony also founded a Hollywood-based organization called Catholics in Media Associates to provide Catholic entertainment professionals with a way to support each other in issues of faith and to honor motion picture and television productions that reflect their values.

In his prepared remarks Thursday, Mahony restated his opposition to censorship.

“Encouraging the good of which Hollywood is capable and rewarding it with our financial support, as well as our honors, is lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness with condemnation or threats of censorship,” Mahony said.

“Let us not forget that show business is, after all, a business,” he added. He said the most persuasive argument for making movies and TV shows that reflect “our consensus in favor of human values” is box office success.

In his speech, he did not single out any specific productions for praise, but urged the group to identify “the positive contributions motion pictures and television are making, to encourage the industry to continue traveling along that route.”