Florida Catholic | Screenwriter Addresses Una Fides

Screenwriter: ‘Please pray for Hollywood’

DEBRA TOMASELLI | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 11.02.07

Hollywood Screenwriter, Barbara Nicolosi

“The message of evangelization hasn’t changed, but the method has.”
- Barbara Nicolosi

ORLANDO | Hollywood screenwriter and Catholic Barbara Nicolosi believes in using modern means to evangelize. “The message of evangelization hasn’t changed, but the method has,” she said. “It’s time for a new evangelization. Pope John Paul II said that Catholics should not be afraid to open the doors to the message of Christ. We need to use modern media.”

Nicolosi spoke to nearly 200 women gathered at St. James Cathedral in Orlando for an Una Fides luncheon on Oct. 17. Una Fides, which means “one faith” is a women’s initiative within the Catholic Study Group, which encourages central Florida men and women to enrich their faith through prayer, study ad fellowship. Attendees gathered first to pray the rosary and celebrate Mass before meeting for lunch and Nicolosi’s talk.

The founder of Act 1, a nonprofit incubator for screenwriters, Nicolosi urged Catholics to “live as disciples in a media age and carry their faith into secular communications.”

She challenged the “cave-dwelling Catholic,” or someone who doesn’t go to the movies or watch television because they believe it is “garbage,” to consider the missionary impulse of the church.

“We’re supposed to care about what’s going on next door,” Nicolosi said. “If kids are seduced by prime-time television, they probably don’t know the culture of life.”

She also described the “Teflon person,” or someone who has given up. “It’s just a movie, they say,” Nicolosi said. “So they think that if your 17-year-old son is playing Doom, it isn’t destructive.”

Doom is a series of popular and violent video games.

Nicolosi shook her head. “Believe me, it is destructive to them.”

She believes a solution could be found in return to the arts, an appreciation for beauty. “Give your children, your grandchildren, nieces and nephews piano lessons,” she said. “Maybe the next generation can have a Mozart and one Mozart can inspire the masses.

“Movies are a storytelling medium,” Nicolosi added. “If we nurture heroism, or surviving your own iniquity, we can achieve great things.”

Diana Coffman, a member of Una Fides and St. James Cathedral Parish, was pleased with the event. She said it carried out the organization’s mission. “Una Fides’ mission is to bring Catholic women together for fellowship, education and spiritual growth,” Coffman said.

Friendships among members were established and renewed over lunch. Books, Christmas ornaments and religious articles were available for purchase. Attendees also viewed video promotion materials for the recently released pro-life movie Bella.

“Please pray for Hollywood,” Nicolosi said in conclusion. “Don’t get mad — say a prayer that God will send a new director. Pray that the media won’t be an enemy, but instead the church’s right arm to proclaim from the housetops.”

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Screenwriter: ‘Please pray for Hollywood’

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