Harry Potter and exorcists

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Don_Ruggero said:
The issue of Harry Potter novels is an issue competently – more competently – addressed by the theological community, above all those who specialise in mystical and ascetical theology.
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Has this issue been addressed in a way that is accessible to those who are trying to look beyond the hype in discerning this matter for themselves? Something scholarly and balanced, addressing the concerns of both sides of the issue.
 
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MtnDwellar said:
Your suggestion to find lower profile exorcists is not practical. As a lay person, I don’t have access to them.
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Well, if you are in the United States, you have a lot more access as a lay person to the exorcists there than you do to Don Fortea, in Spain or to any in Europe…unless you travel here regularly. Or to Father Amorth, who is inaccessible on account of being dead.
 
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babochka said:
Has this issue been addressed in a way that is accessible to those who are trying to look beyond the hype in discerning this matter for themselves?
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@babochka To be perfectly honest, Harry Potter is not something I have followed with any interest, either in itself or in reactions from people within the Church with whom I have worked or in the expansive world outside the Church – beyond the things one hears confreres in the academy saying when we are together for some something and one is talking to another in a conversation you happen to join and listen…and that is what is being talked about.

It is a collection of fantasy novels that are made into movies. From my perspective, the matter is honestly like theological considerations of American movies, like Star Wars or Superman. I know some who will write articles for popular consumption on these sorts of themes – but I have had enough in my life with serious research and serious writing…I have no interest about religious imagery and themes in Hollywood movies that I have no interest about.

Having said that, the one I am most familiar with, and would have the most ease in recommending as far as ease of reading and confidence in his thought, would be Cardinal Pell. I know he has addressed it at the popular level and I assume that is accessible.

Harry Potter was a topic that an English speaking priest over at the Pontifical Council for Culture has addressed more than one time. I don’t remember his name now but I think he was from Liverpool, if I remember.

The person whose position is closest to my own was, I would have to say, the Pope Emeritus. He wrote, in German, years ago, a letter about these novels that was made public. I won’t do justice to it given my German and then my English but he was certainly not speaking in terms of demonic presence or activity or a specific vulnerability caused by reading or having the books. But, on the other hand, he said that there could be an issue if the reader immersed themself into this fantasy world and – how do I express this – allowed these books of fantasy to influence one’s thought beyond what works of fiction are. That applies to a lot more than a series of novels written by an Englishwoman.
 
Cruciferi said:
I don’t claim to know his health issues. That’s his physicians business. Unless revealed, any allusion to his mental competency is nothing short of gossip
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I have to say that my opinion about this forum has plummeted, given the changes in these last months.

People say they want to know something. If someone answers with an answer they do not like, the answer is, “you are wrong.” My response is, “Did you know this priest, who became one of the exorcists in Rome in 1985…30 years before he died?” The answer is “No but if you did, then you must be gossiping.”

My opinion from my experience here is rapidly becoming, relative to this forum, that Americans who live on another continent, and who are in ignorance should be left in ignorance and that there is no point in offering enlightenment…because they give evidence, in various posts, that they don’t really want it at all.

I have a conference for a monastery of Religious women that I can devote more time to embellishing and polishing – they are certainly more pleasant in every way to interact with and that work would be more beneficial and more appreciated than what one encounters on the Catholic Answers Forum of 2018, from various people here. And I invite people to read this thread to see the veracity of that statement.
 
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Cruciferi said:
Don’t be condescending.
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I see.

Well @babochka, @TWF, @(name removed by moderator), @Gertabelle since you will find me not on this thread, you may know it is because of this post. I enjoyed interacting with you.

Goodbye to this thread.
 
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Tolkien’s “On Faerie Stories” was required reading in the first year English class I took in university.
 
Don_Ruggero said:
a lot more one could add about what Father Amorth was saying at the end of his life – but I am not going to. It does not serve any purpose at this point, some 18 months after his death.
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I really don’t like dragging someone who I venerate as a Saints name through the mud, but in this case I think it’s germane to bring up another very questionable thing which Father Amorth did toward the end of his life.

There’s a huge charlatan Protestant pastor named Bob Larson who claims to do exorcisms by holding Bibles to peoples heads - he’s been exposed as a fraud multiple times and he’s so hokey it’s just embarrassing.

Fr Amorth was somehow conned into meeting with this Larson fellow and lending an heir of credibility to his charade. A very embarrassing situation, indeed.

I am not saying Fr Amorth was wrong about everything or a heretic or something, just that things he said in the last 15 years or so of his life should be taken with a large grain of salt.

St. Gabriel Amorth, pray for us

And since today is MLK day:

St. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., pray for us
 
I really didn’t mean any disrespect either. Don_Ruggero claims to have inside knowledge. I can only comment on what’s been made known. I believe what Fr. Amorth said. That’s my opinion.

Anyways, I harbor no resentment towards anyone. We’re just hashing out our ideas and opinions.
 
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Don_Ruggero said:
opinion is rapidly becoming, relative to this forum, that Americans living on another continent who are in ignorance should be left in ignorance and that there is no point in offering enlightenment…because they give evidence in various posts that they don’t really want it. I have a conference for a
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NO @Don_Ruggero, do NOT leave us!!

Some of us here, like myself, cherish every word you write. You are a wellspring of wisdom and knowledge, and I have learned much from your contributions.

Please don’t let the fundamentalist types and ideologues discourage you to the point of departure - they do NOT speak for all of us Americans.

Some of us ARE open to correction and growth. Many of us do believe in growing in understanding and charity through constant repentance and reformation of our hearts to better conform to the Mind of the Church. This community desperately needs your contributions.
 
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But only Harry Potter implicitly denies the relevance of Jesus Christ in our present world.

In the Narnia Chronicles, the lion Aslan is basically Jesus Christ, as he appears in another dimension. When the children ask him about their own world, he answers:
I am [in your world].’ said Aslan. ‘But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.
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The one time magic is used in our world, in the book “The Magicians Nephew”, it’s depicted as evil. When used in Narnia, it’s either evil or directly commanded by God.

In LOTR, Christ is not mentioned because middle-earth is a mythological depiction of our earth in pre-biblical times. Christ isn’t mentioned because he isn’t revealed yet.
Tolkien made pretty clear in the Silmarillion that middle-earth is governed by the monotheistic God. Furthermore, in the work “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth” there is even a mention of a prophecy, that the Creator will someday incarnate in middle earth…which makes it a pretty acceptable depiction of the pre-Christian world.
 
MtnDwellar said:
Your suggestion to find lower profile exorcists is not practical. As a lay person, I don’t have access to them.
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I’m confused. Do you actually need an exorcism, or is this just for informational purposes?

I think Fr. Amorth did a good thing by writing the books he did. Maybe there is stuff in them that priests would argue among themselves over or think was a bit much, but at least he brought to the world’s attention the fact that there is a real devil and that priests really do battle with him.

I always thought the “70,000” claim smacked of something dreamed up by a publisher or publicist. From my reading, it seemed like Father Amorth was counting every little thing he did as being an exorcism. Given that the exorcisms I have read about from other sources seemed both fairly rare and fairly involved, I didn’ t put much credence in the jacket blurb number, though I was confident Father Amorth was a generally holy and well-intentioned guy (otherwise the Vatican would not have let him continue writing the books and holding his job, I figured).

When people, including respected experts, get old, sometimes they say stuff. You see it with professors. You see it with judges. And you see it with elderly priests. I kind of filed all this Harry Potter hysteria somewhere between that and possible publicity seeking.

I have prayed for a priest or two who is achieving a higher profile through his books or other activities that said priest who is enjoying “success” and the limelight be protected from any sort of pride or injudicious statements. Perhaps I should do this more often. Priests have a lot to deal with.
 
Fr. Amorth never said anything about Harry Potter in his books. I’m 95% sure on that. I’ve read them both. I think his comment(s) about Harry Potter were not until he was well into his 80s, so I agree with Fr. Ruggero and Bear, on how serious they ought to be taken.
 
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dallas_r said:
Sorry (not really) to be a buzzkill to all of the CAF members who like Harry Potter but it’s time to stop reading the novels. It opens a path to possession. You may of heard Fr. Ripperger give a sermon about it and dismissed it, but you need to take this stuff seriously. Here is a video from another exorcist that is talking about harry potter.


15:32 is where he gets into harry. I literally will be burning the three harry potter books I have.
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You do realize that this is the umpteenth thread on this topic. Burn what you want, but Father is not the Magesterium.
 
Fr Ripperger is one priest. He has a big internet following, but, he is one man.
 
Yep. If all wizards in this fictional world deny Christ, as this poster suggests, why are there Scripture quotations on their tombstones? Why are there wizards buried outside of a church? Why is their magical hospital called SAINT Mungos? Why is at least one ancient wizard, who lingers on as a ghost, a friar who still wears his habit?
 
Le_Bonvivant said:
Ok whats next, banning My Little Pony because magical pink talking ponies enter gateways to the demonic? Get real people
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LOL. That reminds me of when Pat Robertson said the Teletubbies were gay, and therefore a bad influence on kids.
 
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