Word on Fire: Is ‘Pluribus’ the Modern World’s Cry for Help?

Why do bad things happen to good people? How can life still have meaning even in the midst of great suffering? What is human life for, anyway?

This kind of question defies easy answers. There is a certain beauty in the clear, durable answers of the Catechism (“to know him and to love him and to serve him”), but deeper understanding is really the work of a lifetime. Catholics can use tradition to make sense of life experiences, and experience to help to understand that tradition more deeply. Not everyone today is grounded in that kind of tradition, and those who are not often approach expansive questions in a more à la carte fashion, seeking wisdom where they can find it and experimenting with possible answers. The television series Pluribus, Vince Gilligan’s latest creation, shows us a typically modern protagonist wrestling with life’s defining questions, using the limited spiritual resources available to her. Most fascinating of all, it contrasts that character’s efforts with those of a devout Catholic. It’s a gripping story that may also contain some clues as to what modern people want from Catholics.