Always Advent

Catholic Exchange is running a good review of Ben Stein’s new documentary Expelled:

An excerpt:

I confess that when the producers of Ben Stein’s new documentary Expelled called, offering me a private screening, I was less than excited.

It is a reality of PC liberalism: There is only one credible side to an issue, and any dissent is not only rejected, it is scorned. Global warming. Gay “rights.” Abortion “rights.” On these and so many other issues there is enlightenment, and then there is the Idiotic Other Side. PC liberalism’s power centers are the news media, the entertainment industry and academia and all are in the clutches of an unmistakable hypocrisy: Theirs is an ideology that preaches the freedom of thought and expression at every opportunity, yet practices absolute intolerance toward dissension.

Evolution is another one of those one-sided debates. We know the concept of Intelligent Design is stifled in academic circles. An entire documentary to state the obvious? You can see my reluctance to view it.

I went into the screening bored. I came out of it stunned.

Full article here: Ben Stein vs. Sputtering Atheists

Am currently embarked on Bridget-Jones’s-Diary-induced Pride & Prejudice kick. Have watched BBC television version of P & P twice in the past two days. Have crush on Colin Firth and therefore cannot bring self to watch new theatrical version of P & P starring some other actor as Mr. Darcy. I beg you to forgive me, but am unable to speak normally due to excessive influence of Bridget Jones diary-speak and 19th century British diction. Are you not exceedingly diverted?

Related articles:
Bridget Jones’s Diary and the Theology of the Body

Juxtaposition Review: Bridget Jones’s Diary and Children of Men

I wrote recently about Helen Fielding’s novel Bridget Jones’s Diary (”Juxtaposition Review: Bridget Jones’s Diary and Children of Men“) and after reading the book I didn’t think I would enjoy the movie adaptation of Bridget Jones at all, so I put off watching it, with no real plans to do so.

However, I was at the library the other day and it was there, so I checked it out and watched it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Don’t get me wrong: the movie is definitely not for children or even for teens. Like the book, it’s very very funny (especially if you enjoy British humor) but it’s vulgar, loaded with profanity, contains somewhat explicit sexual references and images and, on its surface, presents a view of human sexuality that is opposed to the Catholic understanding of it. For these reasons I probably wouldn’t recommend it for most adults, frankly.

Except for the fact that it is a pretty good fictional explication of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

“Huh?” you say.

As I was watching it, I kept thinking of Christopher West’s image of the dumpster versus the banquet. JP II says in Theology of the Body that men and women long for communion–true communion with one another and especially and ultimately with God. We are wired to long for that communion–the hope of Heaven. We are starving for love and connectedness.

Christopher West says that the modern world presents to love-starved men and women a vision of human sexuality that is equivalent to leading a food-starved person to a dumpster and telling him that’s as good as it gets. Modern sex–hooking up, shacking up, and so on–is dumpster diving. It is rubbish fed to people so desperate for love that they’ll settle for anything.

The Catholic Church, on the other hand, presents love-starved men and women with a banquet of true love and connectedness in the practice of chaste married love and the understanding that all human love is a mere glimpse into the perfect communion of Heaven.

Bridget Jones is a stand-in for all men and women: she doesn’t want to be alone. She longs for connection. Daniel Cleaver is the dumpster. Mark Darcy is the banquet. Early in the movie, Bridget dives head first into the dumpster, gorges herself on garbage, and thinks she’s happy this way. The banquet is always there, in view. At first she can’t see it for what it truly is (the “sin makes you stupid” concept. Hat tip to Mark Shea.) but eventually she comes to see that the banquet is what she was really longing for.

To perceive this TOTB angle in a movie like Bridget Jones, you must be able to forgive quite a lot of vulgarity and crudity, but TOTB is there, and I’m glad for it–this was an extremely popular movie, so apparently a lot of people were exposed to the positive message that the dumpster does not satisfy and they should keep looking for “something extraordinary.”

The performances were excellent. I’ve seen the movie several times now and the principal actors are “something extraordinary,” especially Colin Firth, who plays Mark Darcy–the banquet. A subtle and fascinating performance.

Definitely not saying you should all go rent it and watch it. It might be offensive. The happy ending to the story is that instead of fornicating with the insufferable prat Daniel Cleaver, Bridget will now proceed to fornicate with the good man Mark Darcy. Oh well. That’s the way modern stories portray it. Perhaps the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, upon which Fielding based her novel, would be a better choice because it ends with the heroine marrying the right guy. (Firth plays Darcy in that one, too–LOL!)

Have you ever seen a baseball player make the sign of the cross as he steps up to the plate? Point to the sky acknowledging God after striking out a crucial batter? Ever wondered if those guys are serious about their faith or just superstitious?

This new DVD, produced by Catholic Exchange, answers the question: some of those guys are totally serious about their Catholic faith. They are hard-working professional athletes who put God first in their lives and give Him all the credit for their success. They are devoted to the Mass and to the Holy Eucharist. They are responsible family men who have their priorities in order.

Dozens of Major League baseball players make brief yet inspiring “sound bite” appearances in this lavish and well-produced sports documentary, but the testimonies of the featured Major Leaguers – 4 players, 1 manager, and 1 coach – are simply amazing. It built my faith to listen to these men tell their stories. These guys are at the top of their game—true champions like Mike Piazza and Jeff Suppan—yet they are humble and truly grateful for God’s providence in their lives. These men really are sports heroes. This DVD was moving, heartwarming, exciting, and inspirational—and I don’t even watch baseball.

Highly recommended for the whole family–and not just the baseball fans!

www.championsoffaith.com
www.catholicexchange.com

I finally found a free evening to sit down and watch this amazing film. Throughout the experience, a phrase kept coming to mind: “Only one thing is necessary.” (Luke 10:42) And the brothers have found it, in poverty, silence, and simplicity, at the Grand Chartreuse.

Can I find it in my crazy, mixed-up life?

The brothers live in their own little houses (called “cells”) which have a couple of rooms and a private garden. A brother comes around with a cart and gives them their meals through a little hatch. They eat all their meals alone in their hermitage (except for Sunday lunch). They say all their prayers in solitude (except for some of the prayers of the Divine Office), and they do not speak at all (except during the scheduled time of recreation with the other brothers). They can study, read, work in their gardnes, and they take turns at various jobs around the monastery. Feeding the chickens and so forth. I’m sure a lot of modern, noise-deafened, hectic people (like me) look at that life and think, “I want to be a Carthusian, too!”

No, you don’t. Do not mistake discontent with your current life situation as a call to something as radically different as cloistered monasticism.

A friend of mine wrote, after a profound experience of God on a retreat, that he felt God calling him into the desert and saying, “Will you love me here?” For most of us, the real sand and rock desert is far away and we can’t move there. Nor can we or should we move to the desert of a monastery. (Some of us should because God is calling us there.) The desert — the good kind of desert, where non-essentials are stripped away–is anywhere the thirsty soul finds itself. I live in a non-descript suburb of a standard, large metropolitan area that is devoid of inspiring vistas. My life and my household is busy with children, a job, grad school studies, a faith community, and a to-do list a mile long. But the spirituality of the desert, or the monastery in the Alps, is possible no matter where a person lives and no matter what the circumstances. In a modern, computerized, plugged-in culture you must exert considerable effort to create the desert around you and within you. Strip away the essentials and live with the one necessary thing.

Find the hermitage within your heart and go sit at the feet of Jesus.

Links:

Steven Greydanus:
http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/reviews/intogreatsilence .html

Arts and Faith:
http://artsandfaith.com/index.php?showtopic=13153

Barbara Nicolosi:
http://churchofthemasses.blogspot.com/2007/03/into-great-lon g-silence.html

Jeffrey Overstreet:
http://lookingcloser.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-yorker-on-into -great-silence.html

Where to buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Into-Great-Silence-Two-Disc-Set/dp/B00 0OYNVOY

Updated 12/17/07

The less said about these books and movies the better. My impression has been that the Catholic press, perhaps in a prudent effort to avoid giving Pullman’s stuff too much free publicity, has been less hysterical about The Golden Compass et al than it was about Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, The Last Temptation of Christ, and so on. These types of books and movies are wonderful opportunities for Christendom to either do something useful or make an ass of itself, so it doesn’t pay to be too shrill, since any controversy surrounding a piece of entertainment tends to fuel sales.

Note that the box office numbers (so far) and critical reviews of the movie are not what Hollywood was hoping for.

That said, here’s a stack o’ links for y’all. Have fun!

Box office performance of The Golden Compass motion picture

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071209/ap_en_ot/box_office;_ylt =AnUxKqOt.J.NGAQMfXoVLGys0NUE
“Compass opesn to modest $26.1 million” 12/9/07

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071208/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_yl t=Asm9zYnu_gsNHd42xUSXtXJxFb8C
“Golden Compass disappoints at box office”

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/08/box-office-golden-compas s-disaster-juno-a-record-breaker/
“Box Office: Golden Compass disaster! Juno a record-breaker!”
(One of the comments—the 4th or 5th one down, so you don’t have to scroll too far—made me laugh. The commenter said “don’t mess with Catholics.” LOL!)

http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2007/12/golden-compass-sinki ng-like-stone.html
Fr. Martin Fox provides some info comparing box office returns: The Golden Compass versus Harry Potter versus Lord of the Rings, and so on.

From The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

http://www.catholicleague.org/images/upload/image_2007100533 49.pdf
e-Booklet: The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked, 2007

http://catholicleague.org/videos/
Catholic League president Bill Donahue warns Catholics about Phillip Pullman’s books and the movie based on the first of the books. Oct. 2007

http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1342
Article: “The Golden Compass Sparks Protest” 10/9/07

http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1365
Article: “Golden Compass Fans Want Red Meat” 12/5/07

Reviews of the His Dark Materials books

http://www.ignatius.com/atheismforchildren/index.asp
Pied Piper of Atheism: Phillip Pullman and Children’s Fantasy
by Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel, Ignatius Press, 2007

http://lookingcloser.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/the-golden-com pass-questions-ive-been-asked-answers-ive-given/
Jeffrey Overstreet on The Golden Compass and His Dark Materials, 11/20/07

http://www.zenit.org/article-21008?l=english
“What Every Parent Should Know About The Golden Compass”. A ZENIT interview with Peter Vere and Sandra Miesel. 11/14/07

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=913
“The Devil’s Party” by Alan Jacobs 12/3/07 First Things

http://www.amywelborn.com/reviews/pullman.html
Article: Amy Welbon’s analysis of the His Dark Materials series originally appeared in OSV, date unknown, but the author indicates it was “a few years ago.” After I read this article, I “disappeared” a copy of The Golden Compass that someone had given my daughter but which, thankfully, she hadn’t read yet.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/26/051226fa_fact
“Far From Narnia: Phillip Pullman’s Secular Fantasy for Children”, The New Yorker, 12/26/05

Reviews of The Golden Compass motion picture (released 12/7/07)

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/archbishop-char .html
Archbishop Chaput’s take on the movie

http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/reviews/goldencompass.ht ml
Steven Greydanus’s review. He provides some other good links to commentary on TGC and Pullman.

http://www.catholic.org/ae/movies/review.php?id=26062
Catholic News Service review

http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/12/movie-review-golden-com pass.html
“Zzzzzzzzzzzz”. D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic reviews The Golden Compass, 12/9/07

http://www.usccb.org/movies/g/thegoldencompass.shtml
USCCB review
Update: As of 12/10/07, this link is no longer active. A reader pointed out to me that the USCCB pulled their review. Go to this link for more: http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/breaking-usccb. html

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/dec/07120304.html
“US Bishops asked to Fire Chief Film Critic over Glowing Reviews for “Brokeback” and “Compass”, 12/3/07, LifeSiteNews.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20 071206/REVIEWS/712060302
Roger Ebert’s review

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_golden_compas s_weitz
review by Bruce Diones of The New Yorker

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12062007/entertainment/movies/br oken_compass_280816.htm
“Broken Compass“, review by Kyle Smith of the New York Post

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67472
Article: “Pullman vs. the Magisterium” by Terry Mattingly 11/23/07. Mattingly already did the snopes.com research and reports that, according to Snopes, Phillip Pullman really does say that his books are about killing God.

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67850
Article: “The Golden Compass Brings Nietzsche to Narnia: The Philosophical Underpinnings of His Dark Materials” by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D., 12/04/07

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67309
Article: “The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman, and The God-Killing Books for Kids” by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D., 11/16/07

Blog posts

http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/11/philip-p ullman.html
“Philip Pullman is a Liar” by Jimmy Akin, 11/29/07. LOTS of reader comments here!

http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/12/your-one-stop-catholic- shop-for-all.html
“Your One-Stop Catholic Shop for All Things “The Golden Compass”, 12/3/07
D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic has a bunch of links, too…

http://aeternus.stblogs.com/2007/12/05/golden-compass-points -our-children-towards-aetheism-and-hate/#comments
“Golden Compass-points our children towards atheism and hate” by Aeternus, 12/5/07. Aeternus goes head to head with some aggressive commenters. Bravo, Aeternus!

http://romancatholicbychoice.stblogs.com/2007/12/03/golden-c ompass-bishops-like-it-catholic-league-doesnt/
from Roman Catholic by Choice, 12/03/07

http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/philip-pullman-exte nded-e-mail.html
Interview: Peter Chattaway interviews Phillip Pullman 11/28/07

http://www.thirdway.org.uk/past/showpage.asp?page=3949
Interview: Huw Spanner of Third Way interviews Phillip Pullman

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/pullman-fans-ta .html
Article: “Pullman fans talk trash and pull back the curtain”
By Carl Olson at Insight Scoop (The Ignatius Press blog) 12/7/07

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/la-times-christ .html
Article: “L.A. Times: Christians, not filmmakers, ruined “The Golden Compass”
By Carl Olson at Insight Scoop (The Ignatius Press blog) 12/9/07

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=8 2739EBC-3048-887F-8F94C2C651AF3ADF
Fr. James Martin, S.J. at America: The National Catholic Weekly
“The Golden Compass and Catholic ‘nitwits’” (note: “nitwits” is Phillip Pullman’s word, not Fr. Martin’s.)

http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/we-interrupt-this -immersion/
from Amy Welborn’s “Charlotte Was Both” blog, 11/30/07

http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/happy/
another one from Amy Welborn’s “Charlotte Was Both” blog, 12/4/07 with LOTS of reader comments.

Website

www.AtheismForChildren.com
This website does not promote atheism. It serves as a companion to Vere and Miesel’s book, Pied Piper of Atheism.

Podcasts

http://catholicipod.stblogs.com/2007/12/10/golden-compass-pi ed-piper-of-atheism-podcast/
Golden Compass and Pied Piper of Atheism podcast on Catholic iPod.

www.missionmoment.org
Bill Donaghy interview with Sandra Miesel. According to Donaghy the podcast was available at iTunes on 11/30/07, but when I followed the link it wasn’t among the available podcasts there. Check back if you don’t find it.

Just a couple links from over the weekend regarding the box office numbers of The Golden Compass:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071208/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_yl t=Asm9zYnu_gsNHd42xUSXtXJxFb8C
“Golden Compass disappoints at box office”

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/08/box-office-golden-compas s-disaster-juno-a-record-breaker/
“Box Office: Golden Compass disaster! Juno a record-breaker!”
(One of the comments—the 4th or 5th one down, so you don’t have to scroll too far—made me laugh. The commenter said “don’t mess with Catholics.” LOL!

by Clare Siobhan

“Men went to the Holy Land just to kill,” says Orlando Bloom, the star of Kingdom of Heaven, a 2005 summer movie about the Crusades.

Orlando is only an actor, so perhaps we can forgive him for this blatantly inaccurate statement. But the fact is, what most people think they know about the Crusades of the Middle Ages is also not quite right:

The Crusades were nothing but a European grab for wealth and land in the Middle East, all under the guise of religion and backed by the Church.

Not exactly. At the time of Christ, all the cities and regions of the Holy Land—including Jerusalem—were in the hands of the Romans. The early Church endured much hardship and persecution at the hands of the Romans, but eventually Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, which included the Middle East. The Holy Land had come under legitimate Christian control.

Then the Holy Land and its cities came under attack by the armies of a rapidly growing local religion called Islam, and by 638 Jerusalem was under Muslim control. At the time, this was not a huge problem, as the Muslims allowed Christians in the area to practice their faith and Christians from Europe to come unhindered on pilgrimages to the holy places.

But about 400 years later, a violent faction of Muslims called Seljuk Turks took over Jerusalem and other areas of the Holy Land and made it dangerous for the Eastern Christians to live their faith and for the European Christians to visit. The Eastern Christians sent an urgent plea for help to their brothers in Europe. The Crusades were the European response to this plea.

Some of the knights who went to the Holy Land certainly must have had visions of the Taj Majal** dancing in their heads, but most of the Crusaders had truly noble intentions motivated by authentic religious devotion: to wrest the Christian holy places from the hands of the Muslims and provide a safe environment for Christians living in the holy land and for Christians visiting from Europe. The Crusaders considered their journey to the Holy Land a religious pilgrimage and they regarded the sufferings they endured as penance for their sins. The Popes of the Crusades even granted indulgences to those who “took the Cross”, as going on Crusade was called. (The word “crusade” comes from crux, the Latin word for cross. Texts of papal pronouncements regarding indulgences for Crusades are here and here.)

The Crusades were an attempt to force peaceful Muslims, at sword point, to convert to the Catholic faith.

This statement, also, is a misconception. The Muslims of the 11th century—the Seljuk Turks – were not peaceful. They were militarily aggressive and expansionist to the point of even threatening Europe. Many people are shocked when they learn that in the Middle Ages Muslim armies invaded and took over a large portion of Spain. In Kingdom of Heaven, one of the shooting locations is a Spanish castle built in the 1200s as a frontier fortification between Muslim-controlled Spain and Catholic Spain. Conversion of the Muslims to Catholicism was not one of the goals of the Crusades. The goals of the Crusades were to regain control of the original Christian holy places in the Middle East, protect Christians on pilgrimage from Europe, and eventually to prevent Muslim expansion into Europe.

The Crusades certainly are marred by a few infamous episodes, such as the brutal and merciless sacks of Jerusalem in 1099 and of Constantinople in 1204, and nefarious characters such as the vicious warmonger Reynald de Chatillon, portrayed with devilish gusto by Brendan Gleeson in the movie. It is worth noting that the Christians responsible for the sack of Constantinople acted without approval of the Church and were in fact excommunicated for what they did: the killing of innocent non-combatants has always been condemned by the Church.

Would the Crusades meet the Church’s modern definition of a “just war”, that is, a war that meets the criteria of justice and morality? The Church requires the following conditions to be met:

First, the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or nations coming under attack must be lasting, grave and certain.

Second, all other means of putting an end to the attacks must have already failed or been proven not practical.

Third, there must be a serious chance of success.

Fourth, the use of force and the waging of war must not produce greater evils than those the war seeks to eliminate.

(see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2307—2309 — scroll down.)

Reflect on these four conditions again after you’ve delved into the history of the Crusades. Be aware that most of the historians are not sympathetic to the Catholic Church and will paint the Crusaders as bloodthirsty, intolerant barbarians who used their religious faith to excuse all kinds of brutality. The following sources are written from the Catholic point of view and will provide balance to the secular sources:

• What Were the Crusades? by Jonathan Riley-Smith
• The Crusaders by Regine Pernoud
• Those Terrible Middle Ages! by Regine Pernoud
• The History of the Church—A Complete Course (The Didache Series)
• The Church in the Dark Ages by Henri Daniel-Rops
• A Catechism of Church History by Father Robert J. Fox
• Christ the King, Lord of History by Anne W. Carroll
• Church History by Fr. John Laux
• A History of Christendom by Warren H. Carroll

Crisis Magazine has a good article called “The Real History of the Crusades” by Prof. Thomas F. Madden, chair of St. Louis University’s history department. and author of The New Concise History of the Crusades.

Also, see Catholic movie-reviewer Steven Greydanus’s take on Kingdom of Heaven. (Note: this film is not suitable for children and probably not even for teenagers.)

** Note: I am aware of the fact that the Taj Mahal was constructed in the mid-1600s, several hundred years after the Crusades. Hopefully my deliberate anachronism in the interests of a whimsical turn-of-phrase can be forgiven.

Copyright 2007 by Clare Siobhan
Originally published in Family Centered Faith Formation News.