I could never have been a film critic because I despise Hollywood and always have. Countless Catholic youth of my generation lost their innocence through TV, movies, and foul magazines. (We simply did not know what good movies and good music were.) And what did the Church in the USA do about it? It dissolved the Legion of Decency, an organization of which my father was a member and worker. Media, usually the camera, corrupted morals; but, for the most part, it was Catholic secondary schools and colleges that destroyed the Faith of my generation. I am sixty years old.
Ebert made no bones about being a Catholic, as far as I can tell by the news items, and Steven Greydanus’ tribute, which can be found here in the National Catholic Register. It’s worth a read. Here’s a clip from Ebert expressing his gratitude for the sisters who first educated him:
“None of these nuns were ‘strict’ in the sense usually meant. They simply assumed we would behave, and for the most part we did. No sister ever laid a hand on any student, as far as I know. Nor did they raise their voices. It was an orderly school. We regarded the nuns with a species of awe, because they were the brides of Christ and had the entire Roman, Catholic and Apostolic Church backing them up.”
