What are your thoughts on Joan of Arcadia?

[Mia]

My N.O school are allowing students to watch Joan of Arcadia. Some say it’s a Good show and Some Say it is not. I am very worried about this because I am going to be questioned about it and I want to refuse because I have seen few of it’s videos and it seems so heretical. What should I do?

[tinytherese]

Are you a student or do you work at the school?

[monica_margaret]

I've never watched it, but I've heard lots of bad stuff about it, particularly in Catholic circles. I hear it's heretical, anti-Church, and just generally has bad plot/lots of pointless drama. Obviously take this with a grain of salt since I haven't seen it, but that's what I've heard. Why is your school showing this?

[Catherine Therese]

Not great for a school audience.

Having said that, I think the "heretical anti-church" charge is a bit much. The series is an exploration of ideas and thoughts and struggles many of which we all face at some stage. 

In their grappling with real life, which is almost always messy, the characters undeniably act in ways that aren't always consistent with Church teaching. 

 

Don't we all? 

I think for a YOUNG ADULT audience, as distinct from a more impressionable high school one, it is probably a useful discussion starter about stuff that can come up in real life. We shouldn't be expecting to get Angelicum-quality homilies from pop culture, but if it helps us to explore and discuss difficult things - even by showing us what NOT to do, then it isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Also not everyone's cup of tea, granted.

As an aside - from what I understand, the writer is a Catholic, but in my humble opinion not a super well-formed one, although it seems to me she is also quite sincere in her own life searching and struggling. I remember when I first encountered this TV series I was curious to understand more about where she was coming from and I went and looked around on YouTube and watched some interviews with her.