Every time you ask a question about your TV, even if it doesn't answer back, you're doing the right thing. You are becoming more media literate. It's perfectly fine to ask questions about the pervasive influence of commercials, the content of programming, and the seductive spell cast by the glow of the flat screen (or tube, if you've got an old-enough set that still works). The task becomes a critical one for parents as they grind their teeth in anxiety over making TV their children's electronic baby sitter. Or making the computer the sitter. Or the video game. A new online guide, produced jointly by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Alliance for Childhood in collaboration with an organization called TRUCE -- short for Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment -- helps clarify the issues for parents, and grandparents, too. Called "Facing the Screen Dilemma: Young Children, Technology and Early Education," the 27-page guide asks and addresses the questions about "screen time" that parents find difficult to frame, let alone resolve. "Based on mounting evidence, we are worried about the harm done to children's health, development and learning in today's media-saturated, commercially driven culture," says the foreword to "Facing the Screen Dilemma." The full guide can be found online.
The twelve apostles chosen by Jesus formed the bedrock of the early Church , and their Catholic identity is deeply rooted in their direct relationship with Christ and the mission He entrusted to them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights this foundational role, stating that Jesus "instituted the Twelve as 'the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy'" ( CCC 860 ). These men were not simply followers; they were handpicked by Jesus, lived intimately with Him, witnessed His miracles and teachings firsthand, and were specifically commissioned to preach the Gospel to all nations ( Matthew 28:19-20 ). Their unique position as eyewitnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and their reception of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, established them as the authoritative leaders of the nascent Church, a reality echoed in the writings of early Church Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch, who emphasized the apostles' authority as repre...