Harry Potter

[Captain John Sheridan]

Hey all and God bless!

I was just wondering if anyone knew if and/or what is the Catholic position on the Harry Potter book and movie series? Or at least, are there any good Catholic reviews of the books? I heard, also, that the writer used actual occult sources in reaserching her novels - is there any truth to it?

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

In Christ,
Sheridan

 

[Michelina]

Hi, Sheridan.

There really is no "Catholic" position on Harry Potter. We apply principles of Catholic Moral Theology when reviewing a film. The Church rarely addresses individual flicks. We used to. We had an organization which analysed and rated films, called "The Legion of Decency". This provided guidance about which movies to see. But it was suddenly abandoned after the Second Vatican Council, much to the dismay of many.

Many Catholic reviewers find Harry Potter unobjectionable. But that's merely personal opinion, not a 'Catholic position'.

 

[bigsierra]

This is from Steve Woods Catholic Apostolate, for Catholic families. He's not speaking for the Catholic Church. http://www.familylifecenter.net/html/harry-potter-main.html The parent site address. http://www.familylifecenter.net.

Here is a link to the review of HP3 by USCCB.
http://www.usccb.org/movies/h/harrypotterandtheprisonerofazkaban.htm

Happily, Harry gradually matures through the narrative as he uncovers the truth, stays loyal to his friends and gleans lessons in living from his experiences. To its credit, this is accomplished in well-paced, polished fashion, and -- as in the two previous movies -- it remains very clearly a fantasy, in no way a textbook for teaching black magic, and thus is no threat to Catholic teaching.

 

[AMDG]

So Steve Wood thinks that Harry Potter is an entryway into witchcraft for our kids and the USCCB reviews it in glowing terms. What's a person to believe? Are we sure that the Bishops themselves reviewed the movie, or did their office staff do it for them sight unseen?

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

I heard Cardinal Ratzinger is a Harry Potter fan...

 

[bigsierra]

Opinions are certainly divided on it. Those who have participated in the occult usually stand against it. Others usually see it as fantasy, that is mostly harmless.

I'm trying to decide on how I'm going to handle it with the kids. I probably wouldn't have thought much about it, except Steve Wood has taken such a strong stand against it. We've seen the first two and own the DVDs. My kids don't have any misunderstandings from what I can tell from our discussions. We will probably see it. I'm sure we will have "the" discussion on the way to the theater.

 

[KennySe]

I heard Cardinal Ratzinger is a Harry Potter fan...

And last halloween his costume was a muggle, right?

 

[thereselittleflower]

Having been, as a child in the age group that these books and movies appea to, influenced by such "fantasy" works into eploring the occult futher, to the point of deciding to be a witch and join a coven before God got ahold of me, I can emphatically state that yes, they can very much be "entry" ways into the occult.

In fact, the leader of the witches in england announced last year (I think last year, perhaps the year before) that the Harry Potter books had done just that, and they have seen a tremendous increase in inerest in withcraft as a direct result of those books. The author has received many, many letters from children wanting to find out more about how to become witches . . .

Rome's Cheif Exorcist came out formally against the books.
http://www.familylifecenter.net/html/harrypotter-exorcist.html

Some reading:

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jan/02010202.html


http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/feb/03020703.html

http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24080

I don't think they are anything to play with. I am speaking from personal experience and what I have learned about the effect these books have had on people ..

I would take the Chief Exorcist's words very seriously.


Peace in Him!

 

[faerieevaH]

I think it much depends on the child, and that therefor parents should make individual decisions on what would be wholesome for their children to read and what not. I read a lot of fantasy books as a child, I pretended stirring a kettle, flying a broomstick and what not. Yet there was not a moment where it differed from my other fantasy games where I played schoolteacher, stewardess, or a member of the mission impossible team.

The books are well written and when they lure children away from the tv and much more dangerous influences, when they stimulate a healthy fantasy life, I can only applaud them.
I compare it with milk. Milk is good for you. Children should drink a lot of milk. But a large group of children is lactose intolerant. Parents should keep milk and milk related products away from these children. These are not 'lesser' children, 'weaker' children, but just children for whom one particular substance isn't good. That can be milk, the Harry Potter books or fashion magazines. To those children, these things are a serious, serious threat, and nothing to be played with. To others, they are harmless and sometimes even good. Parents should know their children well enough to be able to gauge what is/ may be a threat to them.

 

[thereselittleflower]

For a very good explanation about differences between Harry Potter and CS Lewis or Tolkien, this is a must read.

Basically, the hedges of protection that Tolkien and Lewis errect in thier works are entirely missing in Rowlings. . . .

http://www.decentfilms.com/commentary/magic.html


This is very good.


Peace in Him!

 

[Markh]

Anyone who is anti Harry Potter needs to lighten up a bit.

I liked power rangers when I was younger and I don't go beating people up. I liked a lot of magic and sorcery stuff too, it is pretty cool. Here we have a fantasy world. Lots of teens turn to witchcraft out of a desire to have a social clique to hang out with (the same reason some teens turn to death metal music).

Witchcraft, like music is a clique which requires no physical or mental superiority to entire (unllike being in a sports clique or being geek require) and so provides an easy social club to join.

The main way to counter such things in Catholic youths is to re-open Catholic youth clubs so teens can find friends who actually have real things in common rather than just a "fake belief" which they can use as a label to get friends.

I know loads of boys in my school, who at about 14 showed an interest in wicca (I think I was one of them) but it was never serious, it was just, as I said a group molding factor for friends. Not one of those boys has any affiliation to any kind of witchcraft now. It certainly wasn't due to reading Harry Potter either.

teenagers require social groups to give them a place and a group of friends. These friends at the time are based on artifical things which they don't naturally desire (death metal music, witchcraft) and are a means to create a social group with a common founbdation. As you grow up, leave high school, get a job or go to uni- there is a wider, wider selection of people and you are much more able to find people actually like your natural base of your personality to be friends with.

teenagers will always find something to base their groups on, whether it be sex, football, music, computers etc. However, if you bring them together in youth clubs which have different activities every week- long term friendships are based on personalities rather than artificial group molders and these personalities, if made at single sex Catholic youth clubs (which actually also teach religion too and have benediction at the end each week) will have a moral base to them too.

 

[Credo]

I think the Harry Potter craze in this country and throughout the world has the potential of being extremely dangerous. There are a number of reasons which cause me to think this way, but the first and foremost that comes to mind is the fact that the subject concerns the study and use of magic.

Harnessing supernatural abilities to control nature, situations, and other persons, in my opinion, doesn't make for good entertainment...especially when its brought down to a child's level and perceived in a way that makes it appear natural. Those who don't participate in such activities, within the stories, are viewed with suspicion, ridicule, and considered unenlightened "stupid" individuals. I have a real problem with this. What type of lesson does this teach our children?

This brings up another point that many adults quickly jump to: the books are teaching valuable lessons about right and wrong, good and evil. At least the children are reading...but reading what? As we should all know, the ends don't justify the means. Numerous times the novels will teach lessons that I would never want my children to think were acceptable. Breaking rules leads to rewards, lying is perfectly acceptable if you get what you want, authority figrues that punish for rule breaking are not to be trusted, not to mention that the stories will "lower our defenses" to the true nature of the occult in this world. Packaging the occult with frills and thrills is not only deception, it's also dangerous to the young minds that absorb such things.

Last year I began preparing 2 boys for their first communion. I found it dreadful that one of the boys couldn't even answer the simple question, "Why did God make you?", but could rattle off - in detail - all the latest happenings in the Harry Potter world. To make matters worse, one of his older sisters expressed the belief that there is a difference in witches and witchcraft...there were good witches here that help fight for good against the devil!

Having fallen into the world of the occult at one point in my life, it is my humble opinion that such things as the Harry Potter series is setting our children up for danger. This is exactly how I was drawn into the world of "New Age," by seemingly harmless games and entertainment that lowered my guard and allowed me to pursue further out of curiosity. Whether children are properly instructed in the difference between fact and fiction, what we entertain ourselves with greatly affects how we think and how we react to things. If Harry Potter was a junior Larry Flint learning to be a pornographer, would it be acceptable? How about if he was a gifted student learning to be an abortion doctor? Hopefully this would be a resounding "NO". So, what makes witchcraft so different when it is equally condemned by not only Holy Scripture but Holy Mother Church as well?

I know all too well from my personal past how our thoughts, actions, and spiritual lives can be influenced by what we entertain ourselves with. We are, afterall, fallen and fallible creatures that are subject to evil influences, especially when those influences are subtle. Satan loves subtlety. Makes me think of the frog and boiling water.

Just my opinion.

JMJ

 

[Dark_Lite]

........There is nothing wrong with Harry Potter. Really, there isn't.

 

[Markh]

You are taking it too far. Television and books are damaging- but their are worse things in society that showing some children doing magic.

Those kids who fall victim to the lures of witch craft are probably in the context of an ever more average single parent family situation and with little Catholic teachings in the home place.

Pre marital sex is encouraged a lot more, in every single teen movie!- spend more time attacking that. Harry Potter is not dangerous.

Bad parents who don't explain the realities around the books are dangerous.

 

[Aronbengilad]

i personally love the Harry Potter books and films. They are a great read and I think some people go totally overboard. I find most of the negative people have never even read the books. If one goes looking for the negative they will find it. Enid Blyton are considered bad books for children by some.

 

[Michelina]

Rome's Chief Exorcist came out formally against the books.

I know Fr. Gabriele. He is a holy man but a bit oversensitive about some things. I'm sure if I had experienced what he has, I would be "oversensitive" too. In any case, he is not a spokeman for the Holy See.

Let me make an observation: Children come away from HP with a sense of the "supernatural", an awareness that there are powerful, invisible entities at work among us. Is this a bad thing? To my mind it is a very good thing.

But, you may respond, they are being introduced to witchcraft and magic! Do you think that they won't be introduced to those things in other ways? Of course, they will. Isn't it better that they become cognizant of the invivsible Evil ones around us in a way that clearly shows the treachery, human-hating duplicity and malificence they really have for us?

Sure, some children will have negative reactions but most won't. This is why parents must decide if their individual child should see HP. I think that for many children it is positive thing to expose them to these realities. Sooner or later, they will learn about them.

 

[Servant of the Kingdom]

Great post Markh. I don't know if it could be that americans are reacting to wicca which I only know of through the net.

 

[Lady_Firehawk]

Many people I know wouldn't say that Harry Potter is milk-- more like arsenic. With that analogy, the "at least the kid is reading something" argument doesn't hold up-- it would be like saying, "oh, sure, at least the kid is drinking something. So what if it's arsenic?"

Just playing the devil's advocate here. For the record, I'm not totally against Harry Potter myself, but I think he's been aimed at waaaaaayyy too young of an audience. With the darker turn the books are taken, I'd say maybe 12 and over, and a mature 12 at that!

One thing that those trying to get into the occult through Harry Potter would do well to keep in mind... in the Harry Potter world, you're either born a wizard or you're born a Muggle. There is no changing that. We, here in the year 2004, happen to live in a world that's all Muggles. Deal with it! (I know that's flawed logic, given the existence of Wicca and the paranormal, etc, but no one is ever going to have power with the exhibitionist aspects of HP wizardry.)

--A proud Muggle!

 

[faerieevaH]

Many people I know wouldn't say that Harry Potter is milk-- more like arsenic. With that analogy, the "at least the kid is reading something" argument doesn't hold up-- it would be like saying, "oh, sure, at least the kid is drinking something. So what if it's arsenic?"

Ah, but the argument that Harry Potter is like arsenic is flawed in itself, since it's effect is not the same on everyone. I doubt few people would ever drink arsenic without any bad effect. And yet thousands of children read Harry Potter (or me in my youth comparable books) without ever being led astray. Therefor it is, in my opinion, only harmful for some children, and not for all.

Just playing the devil's advocate here. For the record, I'm not totally against Harry Potter myself, but I think he's been aimed at waaaaaayyy too young of an audience. With the darker turn the books are taken, I'd say maybe 12 and over, and a mature 12 at that!

I do agree with you on that. See, in essence the books of Harry Potter were aimed at those of the same age as Harry. Harry started out as an eleven year old boy, and the first book certainly was totally apropriete for that age. The thing is that while Harry grows, so grows his mind, the way he perceives situations, and the situations in which he finds himself. It would be great. This is not a problem for the original target audience, since... as Harry, they've grown since the first book,and could follow the series the way they came out, waiting for the next installment. Problem now however is that eleven year olds, who start with book one (and are quick readers), which is 'in their league', like the book and -logically- want to read book two and three and four... immediately after, instead of waiting till they have Harry's age and grow with him. (I wouldn't have been able to wait either, I fear, lil bookwurm that I was.).
Here, I DO agree with people that the books are too far ahead for children of a certain age.

 

[raptor13]

Didn't Opus Dei give a good review of the Harry Potter books?

Sounds like a conspiracy to me.