Harry Potter is Dangerous for Both You and Your Children

Mary Immaculate Queen ^ | 12-16-01 | Fr. Casimir Puskorius, CMRI,

[mlizzy]

Adapted from a Sermon of Fr. Casimir Puskorius, CMRI, 3rd Sunday of Advent, December 16, 2001

On the First Sunday of Lent every year, we read in the Gospel of the devil tempting Our Lord. First he tries to tempt Him to gluttony, and Our Lord resists. Of course, Our Lord, because He is God, cannot be inclined to sin. But the devil, not knowing that, first tries to tempt Him to gluttony, and then to pride and power and materialism. He says to Our Lord, “Why don’t you throw yourself off this high elevation? God will save you.” Our Lord refuses. Then the devil pulls out his trump card. He shows Our Lord all the glory of the world and says, “I will give all this to you, if you will just bow down and worship me.” Of course, Our Lord refuses again. What the devil was saying here, in a sense, was “I’ll give you magic to do something that is not morally right, but it’s something you would enjoy.”

It should be evident to us, my dear parishioners, that the devil is after each one of us, tempting us in similar manner to sin and to pride. These temptations take different forms, so we must be on our guard. The devil is trying to tempt us away from serving God, from obeying God’s commandments. He is so crafty, so subtle, that often you don’t even know, unless you are very careful, how he is insinuating himself.

I believe it my duty to talk to you today about a series of books and its accompanying movie because I believe that they contain an insinuation of pride and ungodliness. I think you know what I am talking about: the Harry Potter series. I will speak both about the books and the movie, because if one reads the books, he will want to see the movie, and vice versa. I believe there are some real problems here, real spiritual danger — possibly grave spiritual danger. I will explain why. Believe me, I have refrained from saying anything about this for a long time. When the books first came out, I began to gather information on them. I wanted to analyze them to see whether or not they were good for children to be reading, and to write an article for The Reign of Mary. I haven’t said anything up to this time because I wanted to study the matter, rather than say yes or no before I knew what I was talking about.

Let me also preface this explanation by saying that I speak now from the consciousness that one day I will have to answer to God for how I accomplished my duty to instruct you in matters of faith and morals. I certainly believe that there are matters of faith and morals involved in this particular matter.

The first problem I would like to point out are the words that are so casually used in the books and in the movie, words that are so casually used that children may start using them — yet these words are matter of mortal sin. Specifically, I am referring to such words as: sorcery, witchcraft, casting spells, communicating with the dead (necromancy). The Catholic Church very clearly tells us that these are mortal sins, and they must not be presented as though they are something permissible to try. I believe it is the devil trying to insinuate himself through the medium of human beings, trying to draw us away from Christ. These are not your usual Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Remember that children do not have the same critical ability that adults have. They read fantasy much differently than we do: they read it in a believing way.

Continue reading here.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Just close your eyes and pretend it’s Filch with his probity probe.

[RJS1950]

If you don’t like the content of the book/movie then don’t read it or see it.

If you think it might corrupt your children then take parental responsibility and keep it away from them.

If you haven’t read the books or seen the movies then you have no standing to criticize, comment on it or lecture the rest of us on it.

If you don’t have enough faith in your commitment to your faith or your children’s committment then stay away from all of it and insulate yourself from the world; the rest of us don’t care or believe the same way as you.

What a lot of us do care about are those who would lecture us or want to limit what we see, read or think based on YOUR or your denomination’s dogma and view of the Bible as opposed to our faith and beliefs. The attitude of advising, warning or desiring to impose your belief system on the rest of us is no different than what the muslims do and not in keeping with the freedom to believe as each of us wishes that is given to us in the Constitution so stop it.

[netmilsmom]

>>Just close your eyes and pretend it’s Filch with his probity probe.<<

BWAHAHAHA!
You pegged it!

[xsmommy]

You will love it. we went this past summer for my youngest’s 16th bday. it was hot and crowded but well worth it.

[netmilsmom]

>>think based on YOUR or your denomination’s dogma and view of the Bible as opposed to our faith and beliefs.<<

Please, please, please, don’t bring her denomination’s dogma into this. (it’s the same as mine)

This was written about a sermon in 2001. Her denomination approved the HP books and movies since then.

This is someone’s personal opinion and nothing more.

[mlizzy]

Michael O’Brien has an agenda; he is selling books that say Harry Potter is evil.

I believe Michael D. O'Brien read the full series multiple times. He did not want to tackle writing this book, which he explains in the preface I linked to. And the book would not be considered a high volume seller. In fact, his usual publisher, Ignatius Press, did not publish the book. It was published through a small outfit in Poland. It took a long time for us to receive it, and we had to sign for it when it came. (It is now, however, sold through Amazon.)

Michael D. O'Brien has never come out and said that Harry Potter is evil. Again, you might like to read his words. And maybe you do not know of Michael D. O'Brien, but he is a well-known Roman Catholic author, artist, and frequent essayist and lecturer on faith and culture, living in Combermere, Ontario, Canada. StudiO'Brien

[mlizzy]

Her denomination approved the HP books and movies since then.

This is not true nemilsmom, and is covered in O'Brien's book ...

[netmilsmom]

>>You will love it. we went this past summer for my youngest’s 16th bday. it was hot and crowded but well worth it.<<

Ooooooo! You went for the opening!
I chose December because Suessville becomes Whoville too!

We are really excited.

[Constitution Day]

It would not be FR unless some good old fashioned whackjobbery was posted - like this.

+1

[Retired Greyhound]

Yes, Umbridge was great. The main problem I had with #5 is how short it was. Order of the Phoenix was the longest book. They cut out soooo much. And it really felt rushed.

The thing I loved about Deathly Hallows was that is was slow and deliberate. They should have done that with Order and Half-Blood Prince as well.

But there were certainly things that I liked about both. Can’t wait for Pt. 2.

We may go to Orlando in the spring as well. It will be worth a grope.

[netmilsmom]

Did you read what I wrote in post 62?

In 2001, Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, wrote on the Harry Potter series in his regular column in The Sunday Telegraph. In his columns, he praised the books for displaying values that are “deeply compatible with Christianity”. In his book Be Not Afraid, Pell praised the books as having a “good dose of moral truth” and for being “a good yarn.”
Along with that, In 2003, Father Peter Fleetwood, a priest incardinated in the Archdiocese of Liverpool at the time serving as an official of the Pontifical Council for Culture, made comments supportive of the novels during a press conference announcing the release of Jesus Christ the Bearer of the Water of Life—A Christian reflection on the “New Age”. In response to a question asking if the magic presented in the Harry Potter series should be considered in the same light as some New Age practices warned against in the document, Fleetwood stated, “If I have understood well the intentions of Harry Potter’s author, they help children to see the difference between good and evil. And she is very clear on this”. He added that Rowling is “Christian by conviction, is Christian in her mode of living, even in her way of writing” (THAT is the Vatican’s ruling on this)

For the Catholics the film adaptations, the Office for Film and Broadcasting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has rated each film “A-II”, meaning the content is suitable for adults and adolescents and was not found to be morally offensive.

Where is the Vatican condemnation of this? Your author is uninformed and should NOT be more Catholic than the Vatican.

[The_Reader_David]

It think you've forgotten a few rounds in that war--the Serbian Tsar-Martyr Lazar and Romanian Vlad Tepec should be thanked as much as Charles Martel and Jan Sobieski for the preservation of the Gospel in Europe.

Not a protestant among them. Of course, maybe you protestants can make up for your Latin forebearers having stabbed the Orthodox in the back during the Fourth Crusade, irreparably weakening the Roman Empire* that had been the bulwark against Islam for four centuries, by shouldering a bit of the load now.

Do you think there are not Latin or Orthodox Christians fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? The Romanians fighting in Afghanistan have built the only church in the entire country. I've got a godson who found Orthodoxy at that church while serving as a USAF EOD-tech in Afghanistan. And I seem to recall a lot of Hispanic names among those winning medals for valor in our recent campaigns. I really suspect they aren't all Spanish-English bilingual Baptists and Pentecostals.

Oh, by the way, great job defending us traditional Christians over in Iraq. Or are you trying to "help" us by giving us more martyrs to include in our calendars of saints?

*The name "Byzantine Empire" is a lie made up by "Enlightenment" scholars to dispossess Orthodox Christians of our Roman heritage. Constantine moved the capital. The Empire that eventually dwindled to a city-state and fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 was organically the same state as the Roman Empire whose last Western co-Emperor was retired to a villa near Naples in 476.

[netmilsmom]

I’m so with you!

The last three books should have been two movies each.

[RJS1950]

Obviously from the rest of the postings this is not exclusively her personal opinion and the postings address the current movie as well as the series of books in general. This has to do with how individuals interpret their particular denominational dogma as well as other denominations that as a whole come out against these types of movies. Based on the postings there are also a number who have pushed it into Catholic bashing as well. That mindset is what is dangerous; dangerous to the freedom of religious beliefs the Constitution gives all of us.

[xsmommy]

well her bday was at the beginning of July so it was really only a few weeks past the opening, i would have preferred that the crowds would have died down some, but you just deal. One thing i would suggest to you, unless you hear differently from someone who went more recently, i would do the rest of the park first and go to the Potter section towards the afternoon. Everyone rushes to Potterland first thing and so the waits were incredibly long, and from what others there at the park told us, that it lightened up some later in the day. So i would reverse what we did, which was to go back there first [it’s at the very back of the park]. This way you can almost walk on the rides in the front of the park and then save Potterworld for when it’s not quite so jammed. Again, it may be different now that it’s been open awhile.

[allmendream]

“If you could see the size and quality of the fruits I grow in my garden by my own hand, you would speak to me no more of Empires” Diocletian from his retirement villa

[netmilsmom]

>>Based on the postings there are also a number who have pushed it into Catholic bashing as well.<<

Oh, hey. That just is the norm on FR.
If you don’t see Catholic bashing on a thread, it’s been marked caucus. Otherwise it’s just allowed.

I’m Catholic, I ignore it.

As for the dogma, HP is my expertise and I gave the actual Vatican rulings on it. A Catholic can have an opinion, but when the big guys say something, Catholics should listen.

[netmilsmom]

We are staying at the Royal Pacific so we get in 1hr ahead.
We are shooting of Olivander’s the second day (in our 1 hr.) because we have Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks the other day.

If it’s too crowded, we’ll do the rest of the park first. Thanks!

[paulycy]

I guarantee that every kid that dabbled in “witchcraft” because of Harry Potter soon found out what every other kid in history finds out: it doesn’t work.

[ModelBreaker]

“One huge saving grace to the HP books is the leitmotif of self-sacrifice, including the sacrifice of one’s very life, to save others. (As others have pointed out, this is a very good and even Christian-by-accident motif by Rowling.) It is hard for me to accept the argument that a book teaching such concepts is evil.”

By itself, teaching self-sacrifice isn’t evil (unless you’re an objectivist :)

But HP combines that with the message that “Really cool kids practice magic and summon demons.” My kids don’t get to read that message.

Das Kapital taught about making poor people more prosperous. Does that make a children’s adaptation called “Cool Kids are Communists!” good reading material for your kids?

One, two, or a hundred good ideas don’t make up for marketing evil in kids books.