Use AI combined with traditional Catholic teachings to make wise media selections for yourself and your family.
Test your discernment! Guess the Shepherd Rating for these IMDB Top 100 films:
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Choose the rating that best reflects Catholic moral guidance.
From Roman times to Shepherd Ratings — the Church’s enduring mission of moral guidance in storytelling
From the earliest days, religion has understood that stories shape souls and societies. Narratives — whether told around fires, performed on stages, or projected on screens — form imaginations, teach virtues or vices, and orient people toward what is true, good, and beautiful… or toward what degrades. The Christian Church has long taken this responsibility seriously, discerning and guiding the stories that influence culture for the salvation of souls.
In the Roman Empire, Christians encountered a culture saturated with pagan theater and spectacles. Church Fathers such as Tertullian (De Spectaculis), Clement of Alexandria, and St. Augustine warned against performances that glorified immorality, idolatry, adultery, and violence, viewing them as occasions of sin that corrupted minds and drew hearts from God. Augustine, in his Confessions, reflected on how theater inflamed passions and distracted from eternal truth.
Yet the Church did not merely reject; it transformed storytelling. Early Christians emphasized sacred narratives — the Gospels, lives of the saints (hagiography), and parables — as powerful tools for catechesis and evangelization. Over time, this led to the positive use of drama within a Christian framework.
In the Middle Ages, the Church harnessed drama to teach the faith to largely illiterate populations. Liturgical drama grew out of the liturgy itself (e.g., the Quem Quaeritis trope for Easter). This evolved into mystery plays (dramatizations of biblical stories and salvation history) and morality plays (allegorical dramas like Everyman, personifying virtues and vices in the soul’s struggle toward God).
These were acts of the Church’s teaching office — vivid, communal ways to proclaim Scripture, illustrate moral truths, and foster conversion. The Church sponsored, regulated, or tolerated them as instruments of grace.
As printing spread and secular literature grew, the Church exercised vigilance through the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books) to protect the faithful from works that undermined faith or morals. Theater faced similar scrutiny when it promoted vice or ridiculed the sacred. The principle remained consistent: stories that shape culture must be measured against divine truth and human dignity.
The invention of motion pictures brought new urgency. In 1930, Hollywood adopted the Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code), heavily shaped by Catholic advisors including Jesuit Fr. Daniel A. Lord and publisher Martin Quigley. It required films to uphold moral standards and avoid glorifying evil.
In 1934, the U.S. bishops launched the National Legion of Decency, a Catholic-led movement that mobilized millions to pledge against immoral films. Pope Pius XI strongly endorsed it in his 1936 encyclical Vigilanti Cura. The Legion’s A/B/C ratings exerted enormous cultural influence during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
By the 1960s, cultural shifts and legal rulings led to the decline of strict self-censorship. In 1968, the MPAA replaced the Hays Code with the voluntary age-based ratings system (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) still in use today — a move from prescriptive moral guidance toward parental information.
Shepherd Ratings continues this centuries-old Christian mission in the digital age. Rooted in Scripture (“The eye is the lamp of the body…” — Matthew 6:22), Catholic teaching on human dignity, and the Church’s long practice of discerning stories, we offer families clear, charitable guidance for film and media.
We build on the strengths of the Hays Code and Legion of Decency while learning from their limitations, adding explicit attention to equality, global cultures, and the full dignity of the person. Our goal remains the same as the early Church’s, the medieval dramatists’, and the Legion’s: to help stories elevate souls, foster virtue, and point toward the True, the Good, and the Beautiful — so that what we watch draws us closer to Christ and builds up the Kingdom.
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
This is the text of the Shepherd Rating Code used above. Just copy the text > paste it into your favorite AI > ask the AI to rate any movie/show/album.
Motion Picture Guidance Inspired by Catholic Teaching
Media producers and creators recognize the profound influence of film, music, and other media on the human person, society, and culture. Films and music are gifts from God that can serve truth, beauty, and the common good. They have the potential to elevate the soul, foster virtue, and reflect the dignity of every human being made in the image and likeness of God.
While films and music are primarily works of art and entertainment, creators bear a moral responsibility to respect the dignity of the person, uphold the natural law, promote justice and charity, and avoid leading audiences into moral confusion or sin.
In the spirit of the Gospel, films and music should strive to illuminate the struggle between good and evil, offer paths to redemption, and celebrate the true, the good, and the beautiful.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23)
“Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)
Crime and violence shall not be presented so as to inspire imitation or glorify evil. Evil must be shown in its true ugliness, with attention to justice and the possibility of repentance.
The sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman, the gift of human sexuality ordered toward love and life, and the dignity of every person shall be upheld. Films must not objectify the human body or reduce persons to objects of lust.
Low, crude, or vulgar language and behavior should be subject to good taste. Gratuitous profanity or blasphemy (especially misuse of the holy name of God) is to be avoided, as it offends the dignity of the Creator and the sensibilities of the audience.
Dress and presentation of the human body shall respect modesty and the dignity of the person. Indecent exposure or costumes designed solely to provoke lust are forbidden.
Dances or movements that are explicitly sexual or designed to incite lust are to be avoided. Artistic dance that expresses beauty or emotion is permitted when it respects the dignity of the dancer and viewer.
Religious faith, beliefs, and persons shall be treated with respect and never denigrated as foolish or unimportant. Ridicule of any religion — or the subtle undermining of Christian tradition/sacraments through tone or false framing — is condemnable. Clergy and sacred rites may be portrayed realistically but never in a way that mocks the sacred.
Films shall uphold the equal dignity of men and women as created in the image of God. Women should be portrayed as full persons with inherent dignity, agency, and moral worth—not merely as objects of desire or supporting figures in male narratives. Stories should avoid reducing women to stereotypes or objects of male gaze. Where possible, films are encouraged to include meaningful interactions among women characters that explore their own aspirations, relationships, struggles, or vocations beyond their connection to male characters.
All peoples, races, ethnicities, and cultures shall be represented fairly and with respect. Racism, ethnic stereotyping, or any denigration of human dignity based on origin is forbidden. Films should promote solidarity and the universal dignity of every human person.
Bedrooms and private settings must be treated with delicacy and respect for modesty and chastity.
Subjects such as suicide, euthanasia, abortion, excessive cruelty, or the degradation of human life must be handled with extreme care. When included, they must clearly illustrate the moral evil involved and never be presented sympathetically or without consequences.
Ratings will be broken into 4 categories:
No significant moral concerns. Good for the whole family. (Similar to G rated)
Similar to PG/PG-13 rated
Similar to R Rated
Likely to cause moral confusion, sinful thoughts, and pollute the soul. Best avoided
We have undoubtably made mistakes in this code and application of this code will be debated. We ask for yours and God's forgiveness for mistakes we have and will continue to make. We pray God will grace us with the sight to see our errors and for the courage and wisdom to correct those mistakes quickly.
We pray this code will help everyone fill their eyes and ears with media and stories that bring them into closer union with God and build up the Kingdom of Heaven in every family, community, and country around the world.
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
God's is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
This code is offered in humility. We welcome charitable feedback as we seek to serve truth, beauty, and the common good through media discernment.
A few examples from our growing collection
Matthew 28:19-20
Help restore beauty and moral clarity to media.