Religion: The TV Front

Television has opened up a huge new mission front—millions of unchurched U.S. families with TV sets. News from the front last week:

¶Lutherans of the Missouri Synod launched the first of a 26-week, half-hour television series titled This Is The Life. The program revolves around the Fishers, an Andy Hardy type of family, whose ups & downs will be used to make unobtrusive Christian and ethical points rather than purely Lutheran and sectarian ones. Filmed in Hollywood at a cost of $500,000, the series is carried as a public service feature by 35 stations. ¶ Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who made his TV debut last season (TIME, Feb. 25), will resume his Life Is Worth Living program in November over some 35 stations. The Roman Catholic bishop announced last week that he will drop his part in the well-known Sunday radio program, the Catholic Hour, after 23 years, because of other duties, including his TV program.