So i always thought i was a good Catholic until not too long ago. Once i hit 8th grade it started to go downhill (in my mind). When i used to see girls as people and truly respect them, now i have lost some of that (AND I WANT TO GET IT BACK). I know i haven’t been myself at all. Will someone help me with this?
Second, ever since 9th grade (im just entering 10th) i have been watching horror movies. I like the bro bonding when you watch them with friends. When i saw paranormal activity i got very paranoid. I started to think stuff would happen to me like in the movie. Should i not watch these movies? What is the Catholic view on them?
Third, I cant stop having bad thoughts. Like i believe in Christ and go to Mass 95% of the time but i just cant seem to get these thoughts out of my head. Should i talk to a Priest?
Please help and God Bless all.
As for the horror movies, I would say that this is part of the growing up process for boys, too. Males are often required to face some terrifying things when they grow up. Many young men join the military (or in the past, have been drafted into the military), and you will see horrors in war settings. Also, men are generally expected to be the “brave one” in a couple, and not only kill the spiders in the house, but defend your wife and children when there is danger.
Maybe this role has been decreased in modern times, as women are now expected to do all of these things. But for the most part, it is the men who protect women, not the other way around. That’s the way God made us all.
I think that the horror movies were and probably still are one way that boys prepare themselves to deal with real-life horrors. While watching a horror movie, a boy learns that yes, he can deal with something scary and yes, he will survive. This experience gives you confidence and helps you not to be terrified of the future, when you might be expected to step up and do something very scary and very brave.
Be careful about the type of horror movie. The classic horror movie is one in which GOOD wins out in the end. I think that these kinds of horror movies are fine for Catholics and any Christians, as long as they don’t terrify you to the point where you withdraw from real life. (Some people are like that–my older daughter has always refused to watch horror movies because she can’t stop thinking about them afterwards and then she gets too scared to do anything.).
The horror movies to avoid are those in which there is no evidence that “Good” wins out in the end. E.g., when I was a teenager,
Rosemary’s Baby came out, and it’s still a popular classic horror movie among fans The problem with this movie is that there is no good that wins in the end–it’s all evil. Evil reigns.
I would say to avoid these types of movies. Most horror movies have a battle between good and evil, and good wins. Good may experience a lot of grisly deaths while winning, but inevitably, the last man (or girl) standing is the GOOD man (or good girl). Stick with those kind of horror movies.
I haven’t seen too many horror movies in recent years, although when I was a teenager, I went to many horror movies. The only one that I have seen recently is a grisly little piece of fluff called
Autopsy–I bought it because my favorite actor (Robert Patrick) stars in it. It’s a typical teen horror movie–a group of teenagers ends up at a deserted hospital, and all of them are killed off in various icky ways so that they can provide organs for the wife of the mad doctor who runs the hospital (that’s my actor’s character). It’s billed as “the grossest movie ever made.” I would disagree, since I work in a hospital and I see body parts when they are brought down from surgery to the lab. But it is basically pretty gross.
However, in the end, good wins out. I won’t say what happens just in case you decide to look up this movie and watch it. But good does win out and evil is stopped. So in spite of the grossness of the movie, I would say it’s OK for teens to watch. In fact, I predict that it wlil be seen at a lot of teenager summer camps on “movie nights.”
Now should you be watching “better” movies? Yes, definitely. I think that you should try really hard to get interested in the more intellectual movies and the more mainstream films that win Oscars and other awards. There are plenty of movies that the Catholic bishops rate as “good films” for Catholics to watch. Perhaps you can work on becoming a “film fan,” and work on developing an expertise on the really good movies, so that other people in your school, including the adults, will come to you for advice about which films are worth seeing, which will win the Oscars, etc. I know some teenagers who know as much about films as the producers and critics! And some of the teens I know have grown up to become film writers, filmmakers, producers, directors, etc.
E.g., look up Shawn Ryan. Years ago, he was a kid in my daughters’ school. He became involved in the local theater (stage) in our city, and became friends with one of the older actors, who mentored him through screen play writing. Now Shawn is known in Hollywood as one of the best writers around. He wrote the series, “The Shield,” and also the series, “The Unit.”
Good luck to you and have fun being a teen. It goes fast, honest.
