Help Rescue Catholic Kids Media
It's One of Amelia's Favorite Channels
YouTube has a lot of junk on it, but there’s one channel I always recommend to parents of little children: Catholic Kids Media. They feature prayers and devotions, and most relevant to this post today, they animate Sunday’s scripture readings each week.
Amelia and I watch these videos every week. They’re very helpful, because they explain the Gospel and other readings at a level she can understand, with colorful pictures and fun animation.
However, today the channel posted a video telling us that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has demanded they take down every video, because the translations are under copyright.
While I’m not a lawyer, I do know a lot about copyright law, and this is takedown order is simply invalid.
I’ve had to deal with facetious copyright claims on my own YouTube channel, but it’s really maddening to see Holy Mother Church use the same free speech-suppressing tactics as Hollywood studios. Worse still, it plays into anti-Catholic rhetoric about the Church supposedly restricting access to the Bible (which isn’t true).
So, we’re asking your help to save Amelia’s favorite YouTube channel. All it takes is a quick email—
Catholic Kids Need Your Help!
The channel creators1 have posted a form letter on their Patreon, to reach out to the Bible permissions office at nabperm@usccb.org to petition them to let the readings stay.
Dear New American Bible representative,
I was upset to hear that Catholic Kids Media has been asked to take the readings out of their catechism YouTube videos. Catholic Kids Media’s videos have been so useful for [my family/my students]. The videos have enabled them to grow in their Faith and be more engaged at Mass. Seeing the Bible readings animated has been especially useful for them.
To the best of my knowledge, the videos have conveyed Catholic teaching accurately and taking them down without any review would be a waste. Furthermore, these videos clearly fall under the fair use exception to copyright, due to commentary and education purposes. (Please see the Stanford Libraries for more information.)
I hope you will reconsider and continue to allow Catholic Kids Media to use the readings in its videos.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best,
[Your Name]
I actually added the bit about fair use. If you’re interested…
Can the Bible be Copywritten?
The Bible itself is too old to be under copyright, but translations, such as the New American Bible, can be copywritten.
Copyright, although written into the US Constitution, is not absolute. There are exceptions, called “fair use”:
The purpose and character of your use.
The nature of the copyrighted work.
The amount and substantiality of the portion taken.
The effect of the use upon the potential market.
The Purpose and Character of Your Use
This is a question of whether your use “transforms” the original work. This includes citing the original work for education or commentary purposes. A quick glance at any of these videos clearly shows additional commentary for each reading.
The Nature of the Copyrighted Work
Is the original work factual or fiction? In other words, you’re allowed to cite a scientific study, but not copy a movie. The thing that’s copyrighted isn’t the Bible itself, but the translation, which is a factual claim, i.e. “this Greek words means that in English.”
Also, you’re going to have a real hard time convincing a judge that someone shouldn’t be allowed to copy small portions of the Bible. Which brings us to…
The Amount and Substantiality of the Portion Taken
This is an easy one. The Bible is well over 700,000 words long. No one could argue that a couple of verses a week is a “substantial” portion.
The Effect of the Use Upon the Potential Market
A children’s cartoon is no substitute for the Bible.
Honestly, on this argument, the USCCB would have a better case against my Substack, Amateur Theologian. You could read that and skip the lectionary every day, if you wanted.
Still, I think it’s pretty clear I meet the other criteria, so I’m not worried.
So, please contact the USCCB and let them know they shouldn’t try to take down Catholic Kids Media. You’ll be indirectly helping me; I don’t want the USCCB to come after me, if my page ever becomes popular enough, either.
I’m actually not sure if it’s one or more people. If it’s just Isabella, the whole project is even more impressive.