Everett Herald columnist Julie Muhlstein today writes that the fuss over the new movie "The DaVinci Code" - which includes a rebuttal Web site recently promoted by the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and developed for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - is a convenient foil for the church, which has allowed sexual exploitation of children and other parishoners by priests to fester for years.
Muhlstein writes:
The real Catholic Church, my church, is using lots of energy defending itself against fictional secrets, as if a page-turning novel could actually shatter heartfelt beliefs of the faithful. Please, don't insult us. I'm mystified by all the controversy about a fictional plot, when there are real secrets - horrible nonfiction - that have deeply wounded the Catholic Church, damaged its people, and caused financial catastrophe across the country.
Read on.
Muhlstein continues:
Secrets? From Boston to Everett, Catholics have heard denials and later learned terrible truths in scandals in which priests have sexually abused children. Friday's Herald contained a review of the "The Da Vinci Code," saying the movie's more lackluster than blockbuster. The same newspaper also contained an Associated Press article about a federal judge rejecting a $45.7 million settlement for 75 people who've filed sex-abuse claims against the Catholic Diocese of Spokane, which is bankrupt. The judge decided the settlement didn't make accommodations for all possible victims.Nan Waldie, a former Catholic chaplain with the Archdiocese of Seattle, has seen the human toll of the scandals. Now in divinity training to become an Episcopal priest, Waldie, of Mercer Island, worked as a counselor through her involvement with Voice of the Faithful, a Catholic lay group, and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "I worked for a short time as a liaison between the Seattle Archdiocese, where I was a chaplain, and SNAP. I was invited to some of their meetings, and those personal stories were horrific," Waldie said.
..."I was working with a man in his 90s who was dying slowly at a nursing home run by the Sisters of Providence, a good nursing home, in Issaquah. This poor man was so angry, and the root of that anger was that his church had betrayed him," Waldie said. Disillusioned by revelations of abuse, and having financially supported the church and attended Mass all his life, "he didn't know if he could even believe in God," Waldie said. "It was heart-breaking....Always, the church does a tremendous amount of good. Its job is to be a light to the world."
Any thoughts?
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 21, 2006 11:20 AM | Email ThisBut because the Church's sex controversy actually has almost nothing in common with Dan Brown's fantasy, the best thing that can be said about the article is that it's a sloppy and contrived effort to use a pop-culture phenomenon as a platform to criticize the Church (again) for trying to protect its dirty priests from going to jail.
But the article (unwittingly, I'm sure) raises one interesting point: There's a very real and very interesting story to tell about the Church's decades-long cover-up of pedophile priests. Given that, why is Hollywood spending its time making dumb movies about the bride of Jesus, the Holy Grail, and murderous monks--instead of telling real stories of real conspiracies? I mean, it seems that the studios are more interested in selling fictional tales that paint a far-worse picture of the Church than simply telling the truth. Right?
Posted by: DJ on May 21, 2006 12:46 PM In ONE year, reports of sexual abuse were nearly doubled for than by public school personnel than those reported for the Catholic Church over 20 years.
Few know that even other religions have many more reports than the Church. What we have here is 2 things working, blatent anti-Cathoicism and "deep pocket" lawyers.
Sure, ANY abuse is a terrible sin. I am a school psychologist and was Chief Psychologist in a major city of over 10 years. I KNOW the pain and damage it can cause. My staff was outraged when a teacher having sex in a cloak room with a retarded child was simply made to sign a paper he would never teach in Ohio again. Six monthes later, the Northern Kentucky papers reported his arrest on child molestation charges while working as a teacher over there. Don't talk to me about 'hypocrasy'. The media and lawyers are FULL of it.
If they were serious we would be looking at public schools.
Of course, as others elsewhere have pointed out, what the Da Vinci Code postulates as happening with Catholicism is somewhat similar to what is really happening with Islam. In the real world, it is Islamists who are killing people who disagree with their worldview, whereas Christians are simply making a lot of noise and withholding their entertainment dollars. Can you imagine if a movie version of The Satanic Verses were to be produced? FWIW, I don't recall any Christian leaders declaring a fatwa upon Dan Brown for writing The Da Vinci Code, whereas Salman Rushdie is still marked for death by the Iranians. (Khamanei reaffirmed Khomeini's edict last year.)
Posted by: timekeeper on May 21, 2006 02:06 PMBottom line, anyone who's dumb enough to view this as anything other than Hollywood is probably not going to have the intellect to hold any real values, religious or otherwise. The Catholic Church should focus on real problems and just ignore Hollywood.
I could care less either way.
Posted by: Jeff B. on May 21, 2006 02:25 PMThere are plenty of things to criticize about the Catholic Church. Trying to make sure the public knows what the facts are is not one of them. And, it has nothing to do with some isolated cases of sex abuse. That's a different topic, only the numb of mind (e.g., well over half of Seattle) would fall for that sort of emotional bait.
Posted by: BananaLand on May 21, 2006 03:08 PM1 The difficulty w/ The DaVinci Code is that it is presented as truth versus fiction.
2 Thirty (30) years ago when The Omen w/ Gregory Peck and Lee Remick came out most people thought it was based on Biblical teaching and true Bible verses
2 Wrong. The NY Times had a follow up review which basically said the "scripture quotes" were essentially made up and had limited, if no, relationship to the Book of Revelation
3 As JD Pesz said above the difficulty is most people in the NW are not current on The Bible and will use the movie as an execuse for Catholic Bashing
4 I agree w/ the statements that The DaVinci Code has limited if any relationship to the Catholic sex abuse scandal, and that Julie Muhlstein is just using the release of the movie as an excuse for Catholic Bashing
But then they bend over and drop trou for Islamofasict outrage over "CARTOONS."
If your faith can't withstand hollywoods inane attacks, how is it going to survive a real test?
Posted by: JCM on May 21, 2006 05:16 PMAnyway, it was not good. Overblown music, terrible dialog (think Star Wars), poor casting (it's funny to watch Tom Hanks be serious for 2+ hours)and Ron Howard is using a lot of technology he used in A Beautiful Mind and it got annoying.
Posted by: westello on May 22, 2006 08:45 AMI think a bigger blockbuster might be an historically true story of how women were viewed in the Middle Ages by the church, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the treatment by the church of great men like Galileo.
Factual and far more appalling, Hollywood wouldn't tackle these examples for the world--rather they blockbuster the Passion of Christ (totally bloody and unappealing and fine to attend) or a whitewashed version of Moses, etc.
Religion is for the uneducated masses.
Posted by: jkm on May 22, 2006 01:38 PMI think a bigger blockbuster might be an historically true story of how women were viewed in the Middle Ages by the church, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the treatment by the church of great men like Galileo.
Factual and far more appalling, Hollywood wouldn't tackle these examples for the world--rather they blockbuster the Passion of Christ (totally bloody and unappealing and fine to attend) or a whitewashed version of Moses, etc.
Religion is for the uneducated masses.
Posted by: jkm on May 22, 2006 01:39 PMI'm tired of hearing the "oh, if it wasn't for religion we would all get along dandy"
The truth is, in the modern age, more torture, death and misery has been caused at the hands of unreligious people over political power then at the hands of over zealous religious folk.
It seems to bother you when a religious group asks people not to support a book or a movie. Does it bother you when China, Cuba, and other "progressive" socialist states, suppress the press, the internet, locking up reporters and it's citizens as spy for speaking their minds and the truth? In those countries they don’t have to burn the books, they just don’t print the ones they don’t want you to read.
"In the real world, it is Islamists who are killing people who disagree with their worldview, whereas Christians are simply making a lot of noise and withholding their entertainment dollars. Can you imagine if a movie version of The Satanic Verses were to be produced? FWIW, I don't recall any Christian leaders declaring a fatwa upon Dan Brown for writing The Da Vinci Code, whereas Salman Rushdie is still marked for death by the Iranians. (Khamanei reaffirmed Khomeini's edict last year.)"
Important point Timekeeper!
"ACLU, we don't hate religion, just Christianity"
Posted by: akosted on May 22, 2006 05:20 PM