I have a 13 year old daughter that is currently reading the Lilydale series of books concerning Spirtualism. She is a very avid reader. I am not able to keep up with what she is reading from time to time but I did hear that this is one of her recent favorites to read. Is there a cause for concern here?
Unfortunately, yes. I just looked up that book series… it’s about spiritualism, which is gravely opposed to the Catholic faith. Talking to mediums, contacting the dead for information, seeking to speak to deceased relatives, etc, all that breaks the First Commandment. I’m posting the relevant Catechism quote on this. The danger perhaps is that through these books, your daughter might become interested in spiritualism, or at least believe in it. I remember when I was her age, I got into some new agey beliefs myself. Maybe it might help to simply discuss with her the Church’s teaching, and if she’s interested in books about the supernatural, - there are many interesting Catholic books about the miraculous
for example, “Saint Philomena the Wonder Worker” by Fr Paul O’Sullivan, by TAN publishers. (
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/397/keywords/saint+philomena/) I’m reading that book now and it’s incredible, and St Philomena was actually 13 years old too. Books about St Padre Pio, St John Vianney, St Therese, are also very interesting.
God bless!
CATECHISM:
Divination and magic
2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.
2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future.48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity.
scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c1a1.htm
(the danger in mediums and spiritualism is that it conceals a hidden desire for power, and importantly, it often opens doors to demons since the “spirits” thus contacted are not Angels or Saints or even deceased relatives, but can be demons in disguise).
