Posted on 01/04/2006 11:10:37 AM PST by NYer
Madrid, Jan. 04, 2006 (CNA) - Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain, has issued a letter denouncing a new film on St. Teresa of Avila that portrays her as a sex symbol and is the subject of an “orchestrated media campaign” to depict the saint solely “through the prism of sex.”
Teresa, Muerte y Vida (Teresa, Death and Life) is currently being shot in Spain by director Ray Loriga and stars Paz Vega as St. Teresa.
In his letter entitled, “Poor St. Teresa,” Bishop Fernandez noted the human and spiritual transcendence of the Spanish mystic who “made history before the arrival of the feminist movement,” and he lamented the media attention being given to “the filming of a movie that presents the saint as ‘morbidly sexy’.”
“The curious thing is that the people behind these absurd ideas tend to accuse the Church of being obsessed with sex, and it turns out they are the ones who see sex everywhere, they see sex even where there is none,” Bishop Fernandez maintained.
Such individuals “are unable to grasp kindness and goodness, and instead project their own filth onto persons, realities and subjects which have nothing to do with what they are putting forward,” he continued. “They remain stuck in a sort of Freudianism—Freud himself has surpassed even his greatest followers.”
Bishop Fernandez noted that “mystical experiences are not neurotic experiences and they have nothing to do with sexual repression.” Only through faith can one truly understand such experiences, he noted. “A person who doesn’t have faith shouldn’t get involved with this subject matter because he or she will ruin it, and on top of everything else the person thinks he or she is creating a work of art,” the bishop added.
Spanish newspapers reported the film to be a portrayal of St. Teresa as a feminist sexual revolutionary who described her mystical experiences as “carnal orgasms.” Bishop Fernandez responded by calling for respect for the saint.
“Respect for the truth as she explained it her life. Respect to not damage under any pretext what are sublime experiences of God and the sacred. Poor St. Teresa, or better yet, poor men and women who don’t know how to see anything but sex in these mystical experiences,” Bishop Fernandez stated.
He hoped that those involved in making a film about the saint would be “led to understand deeper realities that have nothing to do with sex.”
St. Theresa of Jesus was born on March 28th 1515 in Avila. After her parents she was called Ceped. When she was 14 years of age her mother died and her father placed her with the Augustine Sisters for education. She entered the Carmelite convent in 1536, but at first suffered a bout of sicknesses and interior struggles. In 1557 she decided to rule out anything from her life, that would withdraw her from the Lord in any way. She started a life of deep interior prayer. At that time she was longing for the return to the original rules with severe seclusion. After establishing the first reformed Carmelite Convent in 1562, she formed further such convents. When she met St. John of the Cross, she suggested to start reforming the monasteries.
Her writings became a school of deep prayer. She died in Alb de Tormes on October 1582. Because of current Gregorian reforms of the calendar, it fell on October 15th. In 1622 she was beatified and in 1970 together with St. Catherine of Siena declared a Doctor of the Chuch.
The Theresian Mystic is noted mainly for its sense of reality in the spiritual life and a personal friendship with Christ. St. Theresa greatly influenced the spiritual development of her time. Through her writings she inspired many later spiritual writers, and not only those. Her heritage is alive today also.
Paz Vega is the woman from the movie "Spanglish". She is making a colossal mistake. This sounds demonic.
I've read her autobiography. Amazing how that book touched me.
Funny thing. I didn't see any "sexual repression" in the book. But then again, I'm not a filmmaker....:/
You are not a Freudian.
Saint Teresa of Avila is my daughter's patron saint. I will pray that St. Teresa is not reviled and slandered. I will also pray for the lost ones who would make such a film.
(Nice prayer card image).
that's a very sick filmmaker.
Odd choice. Why make a film that has a built in audience (Catholics) but then make it in a way that will make the target audience not want to see it???
Evil can't stand to see holiness and therefore tries to destroy it.
It's audience is not Catholics, but ex-Catholics. Their infidelity needs reinforcement.
The filmmaker mistakes ecstasy for orgasms... Hmmm... maybe we CAN get Hollywood to pray regularly...
"Why make a film..."
If one has a battle agenda to demoralize and scandalize in a war on deconstructing western civilization, then this would be a nice Gramscian attack. A few years back there was a great FR thread titled " Deconstructing the Western Mind: Gramscian-Marxist Subversion of Faith and Education" and here is the old link. If it doesn't work try to google the title.
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a3b555c262d74.htm
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