The Power of the Picture

Just the other day I had an individual send her first picture of her first grandchild to me. It was an ultrasound scan, which nobody thinks unusual anymore. How many times have I spoken to colleges, universities, and high schools and have had to change my approach completely from 20, 30, or 40 years ago now? One of the very first things I ask them is, “Who has their first picture?” and when I explain that I mean an ultrasound picture, all the hands go up. Then my question is, “Was that you or is that somebody else?” In effect, if we take into account the reality that it is that person’s first picture then we have to ask ourselves, what is the worth of that person? We’ve all seen the ultrasound ads on the subways, whether for quitting smoking or quitting alcohol use while pregnant, and nobody gives them a second look. They become so standard, but we know what they say.

As part of the pro-life movement, we need to be very clear that we’re into a different phase in our own time. As Marshall McLuhan said, “we are in the post-alphabetic society”. That is a society where the visual or the power of the image is everything.

Isn’t this true? Look at the influence of platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, etc. It isn’t so much what they’re saying, but what we’re seeing. What we’re seeing may not be exactly what we think it is, but it is still effective and powerful.

We see this with the discussion about whether to have screens at Mass or whether we should have people attend Mass by Zoom. In my talks, I often say that nothing is real until we at least have a picture of it.

I would suggest that we need to rethink how we are to evangelize in our current Church world. Many people have said that I often speak about preaching in our newsletter, but I also think about using the occasions such as First Communions and Confirmations to subtly, but powerfully, get across the reality of the preborn.

In many of your churches, you have the names of young people who are receiving their various sacraments, but what if you put up a picture of them before they were born along with their names with an inscription such as, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” or “I have loved you since eternity” or any other phrases that would fit this is the kind of powerful, subtle, but effective visual imagery.

I would suggest we need to use imagery on a regular basis. Can you include it in your website? Can you enclose them in emails that would be sent out to your people? Pictures of the preborn child have always been some of the most powerful messages that we’ve had. Whether picketing at hospitals, doing witness on the streets or within our schools and presentations, let’s think together and critically about how we can use those same pictures in the various media platforms that we have within our own parishes and in our communication with our people on a daily basis.

Fr. Tom Lynch (PFLC National President)