Chick Publications

[RevDrNorth]

Someone on Theologyreview.com let me know about this forum. Glad to have found it. I am a big fan of EWTN (Fr. Pacwa. Fr. Benedict, etc) and have a lot of repsect for the Roman Catholic Church. I belong to a liturgical non RC tradition.

One of the curiosities for me on Theologyreview and personal encounters I had with people in the military was the fact that many of them take Chick Publications as if they were academic journals. Bizarre. The Army Chaplains Corps could not even pass these little comic books out due to them being considered hate literature. Yet, I have met people who have asserted that the Eucharist was invented by the devil, or that a Black Pope (Jesuit) really runs the Vatican based on Chick Publications. Then there is that terrible Alberto Comic book that is full of nonsense (Alberto has a poor personal history).

I realized that there was little reason to argue with them since they seem so stuck in unreality that they look at you as if you were duped by Satan.

I am glad this site provides apologetics material to combat this nonsense (Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon and so on). I remember on Theology review I was able to answer someone who asserted the text from the Gospel that you should call no man father as a proof text that you should not call Priests father. Mitch Pacwa pointed out that Protestants fail to read further and note that it also says call no man teacher. That this text should not be taken literally but intelligently for what it means to say to us (i.e. Paul poinst out he is the sipiritual father to those he has convereted/discipled and so on). This person had no answer because Protestants are often used to quoting that and nodding knowingly as if once again our RC brothers have been duped.

Have any of you encountered the Chick nonsense and how have you handled it.

North

 

[corvidae]

I encountered it as an eigth grader in a Catholic school. I had two classmates who eagerly sought to disprove the Catholic faith.

Needless to say, even with an eigth grade intellect, they were not hard to refute. Since then, I have looked more at, if Jack Chick says it is horrible, there must be something good about it.

I started looking into the Jesuits because of that attitude, but I chose not to be educated by them.

A lone Raven

 

[Atreyu]

I haven’t encountered them, but I thought I would point out this CA tract in case you haven’t seen it yet. Pax tecum!

 

[Victorious]

One of the curiosities for me on Theologyreview and personal encounters I had with people in the military was the fact that many of them take Chick Publications as if they were academic journals. Bizarre. The Army Chaplains Corps could not even pass these little comic books out due to them being considered hate literature. Yet, I have met people who have asserted that the Eucharist was invented by the devil, or that a Black Pope (Jesuit) really runs the Vatican based on Chick Publications. Then there is that terrible Alberto Comic book that is full of nonsense (Alberto has a poor personal history).

Yep, Chick is bunk, and Alberto’s “biography” is pure fraud. Yet I suspect Chick is the ultimate source for some of the goofball things some of my Protestant friends think we Catholics believe. They always say the same thing whenever I refute these nutty “doctrines”: “Well, YOU know better than to believe that, but A LOT OF CATHOLICS DO believe it!”

The reality is: no, they don’t. To find Catholics who do embrace the nutjob stuff, you have to go to people who never go to Mass, never crack a Bible and never study the Catechism. And even then, you will be hard pressed to find a Catholic who honestly believes that the Church teaches reincarnation, or ancestor worship, or Pope worship.

 

[Jeanette_L]

I have encountered them as a result of my conversion to the Catholic Church. My family has fallen prey to this ludicrous nonsense, and unfortunately, it’s not designed to be influential on people who are seriously studying the truth of Catholic history and/or teaching.

It is instead designed to fuel and cement hatred and fear that already exists. And it works. I cannot hold an intelligent or reasonable conversation with anyone who takes this stuff seriously. It has caused tremendous damage to my family relations.

The irony is, I don’t come from a family of idiots, which is what you think of when you picture someone who takes this literature seriously. Bigotry and fear do crazy things to otherwise intelligent people.

 

[pnewton]

This topic recirculates here every month or so. I guess it is a common problem. The underlying fallacy is that going to a groups enemies for information always yields a distorted view. One would not seek out neo-Nazis or anti-semites to learn the history of the Jewish people, but many Christians just as ignorantly turn to Jack Chick as an authority on all things Catholic. Go figure.

 

[RevDrNorth]

I haven’t encountered them, but I thought I would point out this CA tract in case you haven’t seen it yet. Pax tecum!

That is great! Thanks. Reading through it reminded me of some of the more bizarre, sensationalist stuff of his. It is like dime store, true crime magazine or something. But then I guess we are duped by the Satanic minions of the Vatican.

North

 

[Jeanette_L]

Yep, Chick is bunk, and Alberto’s “biography” is pure fraud. Yet I suspect Chick is the ultimate source for some of the goofball things some of my Protestant friends think we Catholics believe. They always say the same thing whenever I refute these nutty “doctrines”: “Well, YOU know better than to believe that, but A LOT OF CATHOLICS DO believe it!”

The reality is: no, they don’t. To find Catholics who do embrace the nutjob stuff, you have to go to people who never go to Mass, never crack a Bible and never study the Catechism. And even then, you will be hard pressed to find a Catholic who honestly believes that the Church teaches reincarnation, or ancestor worship, or Pope worship.

I have found that some Catholics become convinced by Protestants (Fundamentalists mostly) that these things are true, never that they thought they were true prior to the influence of these Protestants/Fundamentalists!

And this has come about, unfortunately, because of poor Catholic catechesis and from not having proper Catholic teaching/lifestyle lived out in the home, sometimes for generations on end. I can’t tell you how many times I have come across this over the years.

 

[jmcrae]

Someone on Theologyreview.com let me know about this forum. Glad to have found it. I am a big fan of EWTN (Fr. Pacwa. Fr. Benedict, etc) and have a lot of repsect for the Roman Catholic Church. I belong to a liturgical non RC tradition.

Just curious; which one? (I have a similar background, is why I’m asking.)

Have any of you encountered the Chick nonsense and how have you handled it.

I’ve encountered a lot of anti-Catholicism since my conversion, and I’ve handled it both badly and well.

It’s really tempting to give these folks as good as they get, and there is actually an ephemeral high when you get them to start foaming at the mouth and looking totally schizophrenic - but it’s not especially productive.

What I’ve found works quite well is to treat them as if they are asking a serious question, and answer it as if they really wanted to know the answer - thoroughly, and using appropriate references, especially Scripture references, and quotations from the Early Church Fathers.

At worst, they show their true colours and start foaming at the mouth anyway. My response to that is, “Fine, whatever. When you’re ready for a civilized conversation, I’ll be waiting.”

Most often, they stop for a while and ponder on what you’ve said.

Sometimes they’ll pick through it and try to refute it. This can often lead to a very interesting discussion.

Most times, they’ll just change the subject. If I’ve really done my job right, they’ll say, “I’m not really qualified to discuss this with you; I need to stick with the teachings of my own church.” And that’s fine - it’s a laudable position to take - but it’s always interesting to me that they are suddenly so loyal to their teachings, when it was they who originally brought up the subject.

Much more rarely (this has happened to me twice, now), they send a private e-mail asking how to get instructions in the Catholic faith.

 

[Victorious]

This topic recirculates here every month or so. I guess it is a common problem. The underlying fallacy is that going to a groups enemies for information always yields a distorted view. One would not seek out neo-Nazis or anti-semites to learn the history of the Jewish people, but many Christians just as ignorantly turn to Jack Chick as an authority on all things Catholic. Go figure.

Well, let’s not forget the element of sensationalism. This stuff stimulates the same part of the brain that tends to give credence to UFOs, alien kidnapings, the Roswell “incident” and all sorts of kookburger conspiracy theories.

For example, a friend who thinks I am hell-bound because I’m Catholic believes that the moon landing in 1969 was fake.

 

[Atreyu]

That is great! Thanks. Reading through it reminded me of some of the more bizarre, sensationalist stuff of his. It is like dime store, true crime magazine or something. But then I guess we are duped by the Satanic minions of the Vatican.

North

It’s true what someone else here said, that Jack Chick comes up every so often in these forums. You might want to read through one of these previous threads here as one example of those. I can’t recommend this thread highly enough, it’s one of the funniest threads I’ve ever seen! In particular, take note of the posts of Severinus starting at number #21… Enjoy

 

[Jeanette_L]

It’s true what someone else here said, that Jack Chick comes up every so often in these forums. You might want to read through one of these previous threads here as one example of those. I can’t recommend this thread highly enough, it’s one of the funniest threads I’ve ever seen! In particular, take note of the posts of Severinus starting at number #21… Enjoy

That was great fun! Thanks for the link.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Well, let’s not forget the element of sensationalism. This stuff stimulates the same part of the brain that tends to give credence to UFOs, alien kidnapings, the Roswell “incident” and all sorts of kookburger conspiracy theories.

For example, a friend who thinks I am hell-bound because I’m Catholic believes that the moon landing in 1969 was fake.

Some of Chick’s material is a sort of Christian porn - it panders to the base appetites we have, such as fear, suspicion, thrill-seeking, the desire to find an excuse for hating those we don’t understand, things like that.​

Unfortunately Christian caricatures of other Christians go back a very long way, perhaps as far back as the Bible. ##

 

[LilyM]

It’s true what someone else here said, that Jack Chick comes up every so often in these forums. You might want to read through one of these previous threads here as one example of those. I can’t recommend this thread highly enough, it’s one of the funniest threads I’ve ever seen! In particular, take note of the posts of Severinus starting at number #21… Enjoy

brilliant!

 

[teajay]

The Army Chaplains Corps could not even pass these little comic books out due to them being considered hate literature.

Reverend North do you know if the Army Chaplains Corps made any statement in this regard? I’d love to add that to the Jack Chick article on Wikipedia.

 

[RCCDefender]

I didn’t know there was anyone still out there who didn’t know about Jack Chick, but there are. Maybe I’m strange or maybe I’m a “doubting Thomas” or something, but when I read “stuff” like his it makes me actually want to look into it more rather than just take his word for Gospel yikes: I just used the words Chick and Gospel in the same sentence !)

I used to work at a Catholic preschool. Every so often I’d find Chick tracts or others off that nature in the restroom (it was open to the public, I don’t really think one of the teachers was doing it!). I think they are so funny. Actually I have a little collection going. When I worked at a bank people would leave tracts on the counters as well (not Catholic ones, but the general “pray the sinner’s prayer so you’ll be sure to go to Heaven” type ones). I can’t help but take them when someone offers me one. They make me laugh!

 

[Saint_Sinner]

There was also a Catholic spoof of Chick tracts that was pretty funny. I have been looking of and on for a couple of weeks and havent’ found it. Has anyone seen it?

 

[Atreyu]

There was also a Catholic spoof of Chick tracts that was pretty funny. I have been looking of and on for a couple of weeks and havent’ found it. Has anyone seen it?

Only if you’re talking about a thread here at CAF. I linked to it above… If you’re talking about an actual comic though, I don’t know anything about that.

 

[RevDrNorth]

Reverend North do you know if the Army Chaplains Corps made any statement in this regard? I’d love to add that to the Jack Chick article on Wikipedia.

I apologize but I do not have anything in terms of an
official memo. I first encountered it when I joined the army in the late 80’s as a Chaplain Assistant. The Chaplain I worked for was a Southern Baptist and had these comic books in his file cabinet. He liked some of them in terms of evangelism (like the Holy Joe comic) and he even had the infamous Alberto book (which he did not show around). I asked why he did not order some (Holy Joe tract) and put them out. He told me that the Chief of Chaplains office had said they were not to be disseminated since they were hate literature. After looking at some of them I could see why (anti Jewish, anti Catholic and so on). Of course such items do go against the whole idea of the ecumencial atmposphere of the military chaplaincy where you can have a Catholic Priest for Post Chaplain, his deputy may be Mormon and the Fund Manager is an Assmeblies of God Chaplain.

What I suggest you do is to contact the Chief’s Office and ask. Then you would have something you could actually reference rather than hearsay.

Incidentally, I never saw the Chick publications in any chaplains literature rack.

Chick would not like me since I am liturgical, am often called “Father”, my ecclesiastical superior is a “Bishop” and so on. Mind you, I think I prefer the company I am in to his. Remember the passage from scripture (paraphrase) “on that day many will say Lord, Lord and he will say depart from me I never knew you”. I think many mean spirited, narrow minded, and bigoted people will be in for a surprise on the judgement day. Give me Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Pacwa, Mother Angelica, Fr. Mary Francis, ArchBishop Sheen and so on any day over Jack Chick. I see the grace and love of Christ manifested in each of their lives. While we cannot judge we cerrtainly can observe the fruit borne.

North

 

[Jeanette_L]

I
Remember the passage from scripture (paraphrase) “on that day many will say Lord, Lord and he will say depart from me I never knew you”. I think many mean spirited, narrow minded, and bigoted people will be in for a surprise on the judgement day. Give me Fr. Benedict Groeschel, Fr. Pacwa, Mother Angelica, Fr. Mary Francis, ArchBishop Sheen and so on any day over Jack Chick. I see the grace and love of Christ manifested in each of their lives. While we cannot judge we cerrtainly can observe the fruit borne.

North