A ‘Disastrous’ Message From Notre Dame, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Dec 14, 2020

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.

Since I have never seen a single episode of “The West Wing,” I was unaware of the damage that TV show has done to the cause of American Catholicism. This astute analysis by Elizabeth Lev explains how the series “played a role in evangelizing Catholics to the ‘personally opposed, but it’s a woman’s body’ position.”

The show was influential, Lev tells readers, especially because it was well written, well directed, well crafted: a sophisticated product in the wasteland of television broadcasting. And it appealed to Catholics in particular because the star, Martin Sheen, was—and was well known to be—a practicing Catholic. In 2008, not known after “The West Wing” concluded its successful 7-season run, Sheen was honored by the University of Notre Dame with the Laetare Medal, given each year to someone “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.”  …

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