Scally said parents object to the music “because of the language, or it’s too loud or they believe it isolates you. They’re thinking, ‘I can’t understand the words but I know there’s something dirty in there.’ I think those same things myself sometimes, but I don’t agree that music is causing young people’s problems. What causes problems are bad decisions. The goal is to help you listen more carefully.”
About 15 per cent of pop music portrays a negative value, said Scally, but about 25 per cent or more of what young people listen to conveys a positive attitude.
“There are songs that contain blatantly negative concepts,” she said. “As people of faith, it’s inappropriate to dance to a negative song and there are way too many positive songs to have to do that.”
Cornerstone’s most popular product is an annual CD called The Dirty Dozen and Psalm 151 based on the opinions of thousands of young people who send in their choices for the most negative and positive songs of the year. A radio-style “countdown show” is created for the CD with clips from the best-value and worst-value songs of the year interspersed with comments on the values contained within the songs. According to its web site, Cornerstone uses the music that young people listen to every day “as a tool to spark dialogue about values and relationships.”
Scally believes that too often a parent’s reaction to negative music is to ban it, but she urges adults to listen carefully and critically to the negative messages and have discussions with their children about the messages in the music and how to keep negative values from damaging parent-child relationships.
Scally also spoke to the students about being people of faith.
“People of faith know they are created by God and put on this planet for a reason, to make a real difference, at this school and in the world,” she said. “Being a person of faith doesn’t mean things are going to be easy. It takes a lot of courage to be a person of faith.”
Scally put forth what she called a “life-changing challenge” to her listeners to stand in front of a mirror “and for one minute see yourself the way God sees you, with your beauty, weaknesses, gifts and for one minute behold yourself. And from that moment on, anyone you encounter, see them the way God sees them and you will see them differently. Stand by the people who need it the most.”
(Prairie Messenger)
Bad decisions, not bad music, cause teens problems
By James Buchok, Canadian Catholic NewsWINNIPEG - Parents who fear that pop music is having a negative impact on their children should listen carefully to those tunes perceived as pernicious and talk to their children about values and making the right decisions, says a California-based author and speaker.
Anna Scally, president of Cornerstone Media, was in Winnipeg recently for the annual Retrally (a combination of retreat and rally) at St. Mary’s Academy. She told a theatre full of students that parents have legitimate concerns about what young people are listening to, but added “there’s a way your music can help you grow spiritually, whatever style you listen to.”
Please support The Catholic Register
Unlike many media companies, The Catholic Register has never charged readers for access to the news and information on our website. We want to keep our award-winning journalism as widely available as possible. But we need your help.
For more than 125 years, The Register has been a trusted source of faith-based journalism. By making even a small donation you help ensure our future as an important voice in the Catholic Church. If you support the mission of Catholic journalism, please donate today. Thank you.
DONATE