www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News DA VINCI CODE NOVEL IS FOUGHT BY CHURCH

The History Channel and the Discovery Channel can lean towards protestant interpretation of church history ie Peter and the Bishops of Rome not authoratative like the modern papacy. And James not Peter was the leader of the early church and Mary had other children etc I hear this stuff constantly howerver neither have gone off the deep end an endorsed the holy grail and the Davanic Code as fact they have come up with the opposite conclusion it a fairytale. The one channel that strongly hints that such things could be true is National Geographic of all channels. The other channels are protestant biases but not foolish.

I read it maybe over the summer to see what all the hype was about. One of my friends, who RC, was entranced that such an order as Opus Dei could exist and be so ascetic -- of course, Opus Dei doesn't actually have monastics or mendicants or anything like that which are regular Opus Dei -- you're a priest who belongs to the group maybe, but your under you diocessan bishop, as I understand.

That aside, I was more saddened by the state of literature in the English speaking world than anything else. I knew it was a lot of baloney, but so many people are reading this because it's 1) interested (if not true) and 2) it's EASY to read. I've read children's books more complicated. My biggest judgement of the book it that it's written for 4th graders (no offense to 4th graders) -- it contains nothing at all complex in it's style, grammar, or vocabulary. A good novel should compel you to grab a dictionary now and then!

As for the content matter, it's a shame that people find this "mystery" more intriguing than the Paschal Mystery -- but it is nothing new. The Medieval Romance which inspired the modern novel was much of the same (see La Morte D'Arthur among many others -- there's a whole Grail "saga" out there, including Parcival, Lancelot, Gawain and the Green Knight).

sorry for such a poorly written post there, I hit "add reply" when I meant "preview post" -- I'm only half-way through my first cup of coffee.

The supernatural and mysterious have always interested the faithful. I would argue that the faithful find these stories more intriguing than the non-faithful because they already have a basis for believing in the supernatural, unnatural, good/evil, demons, angels, etc. Which might be a bit off topic. Refer to the coffee caveat above.

Dear Domilsean:

Actually, I think you make a great point.


Dear All:

IMHO, we must always be willing to look at our Faith from differing perspectives. Sometimes this will mean looking at the Faith from the perspective of those who do not share our beliefs.

I think it was in the book/movie "Hunt for Red October" where Jack Ryan said that he learned Russian during the Cold War because one must know the thoughts of one's opponent.

Teaching our youth the Faith must, IMHO, include teaching them that there are people in this world who would destroy our Church.

If the future of the Church does not know from where the enemies of the Church are coming, how can they possibly stand ready to defend themselves and the Church?

Yours,

hal

I think you have said something of great importance. Our people, young and old, need to operate on the principle of "know your enemies." Yes, the Church has enemies and we need to know exactly what they are saying. At the same time, our young people need better instruction in the faith so they will recognize falsehood when they see it. I am not afraid of the Da Vinci Code. I won't read it because I already know the story line, how it ends, etc. What would be the point in reading it? It's like the Harry Potter books, fantasy - not to be taken seriously. In my school library, one of the adult teachers wanted the Harry Potter books banned last year because they contain witchcraft. My response was, "you are a little old to be believing in witches, aren't you?" Yes, those books contain witchcraft, and nearly everything else, including medieval Christian symbolism. The kids had no problems with them and as one 3rd grader informed me, "it's not real." Interestingly, it was the kids who knew the difference between fantasy and reality, not always the adults.

Christ is risen!

During the Vesper Divine Liturgy of Holy and Great Thursday, I had the priviledge of delivering the homily for this celebration.

As I prepared, a number of themes became apparent that we can use to confront the error of The Da Vinci Code. The services leading up to Holy Thursday are the Bridegroom Matins. Jesus is of course the Bridegroom. The Eucharist is a banquet of salvation- a manifestation of God's saving plan. The Eucharist at the Mystical or Last Supper is a forestate of the Messianic Banquet- the Wedding Banquet to be sure, not of Christ and Mary Magdalene, but of Christ and His Bride, the Church. We need not stick our heads in the sand, the catechesis contained in the liturgical services of the Church are the sure means at our disposal to dispel the errors of this age.

Christ is Risen!

I just caught a glimpse of a CNN special/documentary on Mary and Mary Magdalen which deteriorated very quickly into a feminist, DaVinci Codesque agenda.

They refer to the Gnostic scrolls found recently in Egypt (?) and refer to their heretic documentation as inspiration for Christ being married, for Mary Magdalen being an Apostle at odds with Peter, etc, etc., etc...... :rolleyes:

Ofcourse the art and ecclesiastical imagery starts out so beautifully on these specials, that it sucks you into watching it, thinking it to be religious, but then the agenda, replete with liberal female professors, sets in.

Will we ever be able to convince such misguided people that the Ecumenical Councils (that weren't even mentioned as long as I was watching-which wasn't very long) were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that the compelation of what texts were okay and were not okay, were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and NOT of male chauvinists as they alluded to?????

Ofcourse, they took every chance to refute the Catholic Church and the Papacy even going so far as to speculate that Mary Magdalen was the first 'Pope' and not Peter!!!!!

Unfortunately, there will always be people who will watch such documentaries and be impressed with the 'new findings' and the professors, and believe all this garbage.

Are there any television channels around (other than EWTN) that show anything orthodox in doctrine anymore?

(For the record, that is why I supported Mel Gibson--not because the 'Passion of the Christ' was my cup of tea, but because atleast its message was sound and orthodox in doctrine as our churches believe, and not some kind of nutty modernist take or twist on the gospels.)

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Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all, and forgive those who distort thy message according to the ways of this sinful world and thy life according to the ways of this sinful world.

Lord, let not thy people be fooled by them, and we implore that thy Holy Spirit will expose their heresies against thy Church! Let their messages to the vulnerable be anathema! For YOU and YOUR TRUTH are victorious on this day!

CHRISTOS ANESTI!