Religion: Video Debut

Du Mont Television put the question to Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen two months ago. How would the bishop like to have a television program? Bishop Sheen said he would like it fine. Details were ironed out (e.g., the bishop preferred to broadcast from a church, but Du Mont convinced him that a studio-set library would be better) and last week the new series, Life Is Worth Living (Tuesdays 8 p.m., E.S.T.), was aired over Manhattan, Chicago and Washington stations. Half an hour later, at program's end, Du Mont was swamped with 250 congratulatory calls; in a week, the program drew more than 3,000 fan letters.

Bishop Sheen's message in his TV debut: man yearns for life, truth and love. The human forms of these things are imperfect, ephemeral. But in God, man finds pure life, pure truth, pure love—"that is the definition of God." After a 20-minute talk in which he stressed Christian fundamentals rather than specific Catholic dogmas, the bishop answered questions from the studio audience. Sample: "Why does God permit evil in the world?" Answer: in giving man freedom, God gave him the freedom to choose between good & evil. Without the devil, there could be no saint; without the traitor, no patriot.

This week, as the mail continued to pile in, Du Mont and Bishop Sheen were planning to continue the series indefinitely, as one of Du Mont's "public service" shows.