Twilight: The 'Eclipse of God'

Jamie, In my opinion, you have indeed stated clearly the issue as it is in the West. The eclipse of the power of the Catholic Church's hierarchy is what is happening. It began - or perhaps continued- with people like St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Francis of Assisi (who told the pope all the Vatican wealth should be sold and given to the poor). And now you are speaking out. Perhaps the hierarchy would consider 40 days in the desert to wrestle with the temptations, as Jesus did, make some decisions, as Jesus did, and emerge from the desert with a deeper sense of what their call and mission is about, as Jesus did.

Thank you, Jamie. Excellent. So much of what is written and spoken about pop culture by Catholic voices that broadcast themselves is so shallow and negative. (See, for example, Father Robert Barron's take on the Twilight movies at http://www.wordonfire.org/WOF-TV/Commentaries-New/Fr-Barron-comments-on-...) Your analysis is much better.

Ann, do you have a reference for St Catherine or St Francis telling the pope to sell the Vatican wealth? I have never heard of such a quote.
Thanks,
Ed

What I don't like is the continual changing of vampire lore. When I was a kid, I was a great fan of the horror movies. As a horror flick devotee, I recall a vampire could only survive on human blood.

Then along came Anne Rice with "Interview w/ the Vampire" & surviving on rat's blood (in an emergency) was introduced. Now with the Twilight series, you have good & bad vampires (no less - give me a break!) where the good ones don't even drink blood! I mean is nothing sacred!

Personally, I still prefer Bella Lugosi to these new fangled vampires! The newer ones may look better but they sure can't act better! "Allow me to introduce myself!" - Count Dracula

Jamie, I appreciate your comments, and I respect your fresh outlook that challenges the Church to be more innovative in its approach to evangelization. I think, however, that it's important to acknowledge the value of the "united front" of Catholic doctrine; if the Church as a whole begins to allow a more "democratic" process, we may find ourselves missing the moral standard that the Church provides.
I'm not saying that the Church shouldn't be pastoral in how it deals with individuals; I think that's a huge part of Church ministry that every Christian should practice. I'm simply suggesting that we need to be careful of how "anti-institutional" we become in regards to the Church. Jesus met people where they were (pastoral approach) and challenged them to grow in love from there (toward a moral standard); we all have a lot to learn from His example. We need to live in a love that challenges and promotes growth.

Thank you, Jamie, for setting the record straight. It is amazing how the Pope and hierarchy in general keep ignoring the reality that is staring them in the face. If only they would put aside the fancy robes and lording-it-over liturgical rites, and bring the simple Word of God to the masses.
I am reminded of what Francis of Assisi is reported to have urged: preach the Gospel always; if all else fails, use words.

Thanks David for your link to Word on Fire. I listened to Fr. Barron and I
agree that Jamie's analysis is much better.

"So, they asserted their truth that all are created equal and entitled to inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

You do know that one of the first things the founding fathers did was to re-introduce slavery, which was at that time outlawed by the British.

Keep writing, keep bringing us hope, keep reminding us of who we are as Baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Good article, Jamie.

You would think that the leadership of an organization would be thrilled that its membership is active and interested, educated and curious, engaged and feeling deep ownership. But the message from the top of the Church is just the opposite most of the time: be quiet, don't think, obey us, pretend it's another century, shut the brain off, don't explore, know your place. It's called being "of little faith," I guess.

I could not agree more with you, Jamie. There is no eclipse of Godde, just an eclipse of the Vatican. On the other hand, it is always difficult for any privileged class to let go of its privileged and importance. Godde is found somewhere else than in the Vatican, or should a say that very small group of old old men who want to continue business as usual.

Thank you for enlightening me about Twilight: Eclipse. Living outside of the States and far now from my teens, I might not know about it until much later :-)

Blessings.

Why do I keep reading this drivel?
Now I am the one banging my head against the wall - - returning to your website and expecting any substantive and meaningful Catholic content.

Jamie, please, if you want women's ordination and you are constantly bashing the church, why don't you just become some other denomination? Lutheran, Episcopalian, you have a lot of choices. Then you could even preach from a pulpit! You could wear clerical robes if you want! Please, stop tearing down the Church.

Do you think our Lord didn't attend formal liturgical services? Do you think He would approve of vampires as a sound substitute / explication of the Gospel? I think you are just pushing your own agenda - - not totally sure what that is.

Jamie, you offer here a well-noted observation of the spiritual longing and emptiness in our modern Western lives, all the while missing the deeper understanding of who the Church is and what is her role in the world. She is the Body of Christ, His Bride, governed by Christ the Head of the Body and guided by the Holy Spirit. She is therefore the most ordered and most diverse corporate being in the universe. It is all well and clever to accuse her of being an Absolute Monarchy, except that the heresy of Absolute Monarchy is a distinctly Protestant invention a la King Henry XVIII, from whom it spread throughout the West.

What you seem to advocate is a sort of High Church Congregationalism, which may please those members of the congregation who gather to themselves whatever power they can lay hands on; but they cannot exercise the power of laying on of hands, or any of the sacraments instituted by Christ and vested in His bishops, the successors to the Apostles. The longing for "presence" that you speak of is really the desire for the Presence of Christ, especially Christ present in the Eucharist, which of course can only be ministered by the Church.

One major root of the problem of the "eclipse of God" occurring in the West is that so many westerners, educated though they may be, are convinced that they each individually possess a more valid perspective regarding God and religion; that is, more valid than the "authoritarian, hierarchical" Catholic Church. Yet the Church, built upon the rock of Peter, receives her authority from Jesus Christ: she is authoritarian only insofar as she exercises the rightful authority that comes from God the Father through Christ (see Matthew 16:18-19 and Matthew 28:18-20).

Just a shot in the dark!

"As Donald Cozzens has aptly explained, the Catholic Church is the last feudal system in the West. Its authoritarian, hierarchical model of leadership is medieval in its founding and, even to this day, in its functioning. Absolute loyalty is required for such a system to work".

Is there any chance this most unclean system of hierarchy being the last remaining "model of leadership" of the past could be evidence that it actually maintains the truth in some way? Doing good is not it's priority I know, but has any good come from it? Or does the Catholic Church need to be rescued from all the evil men who run it. If it were all women would it run better? Will the liberal and conservative movements in the church just throw orthodoxy by the way and follow their conscience?

Help me!

What is the TRUTH!

Hi Jamie,

You write "Until the Church ceases to function like an absolute monarchy, its attempts at evangelizing the West are a set up for failure."

Not sure in what aspect the Church needs to change? Should we not have a Pope? Should the entire hierarchy step aside? Should the Pope just be a figure head like the Anglicans? Should all doctrine be up for debate and a vote by every "Catholic"?

And once your "American Catholic Revolution" from Rome takes hold and the "laity that takes an active interest in developing and exercising their consciences and spiritualities" is FINALLY in-charge (ha!) of their own destiny- what then?

How would that be any different from the panoply of Protestant options you have in modern day America? You are 500 years late to the revolution. Go ahead and pick a team that left the Monarchy years ago.

You also write- "And like those on the brink of starvation, they will go wherever necessary to be fed by something or someone life-giving, and run as far away from whatever and whoever is perceived as life-sucking."

How is it that I and millions of others of "Westerners" are able to find spiritual and Life-giving nourishment in the Church you deride as unjust and controlling? Do you think it has more to do with the TYPE of westerner I am and you are?

Maybe, just maybe, the west's stiff-necked pride on issues of sexuality and "self-control" is more like the child who refuses to listen to the kind and loving parent and screams "I hate you!"

The Parent (who predates your existence by 2000 years) will always be ready to welcome you home when you've bumped your knee.

I'd like to point out that Catherine of Siena also stands out in how she criticizes the failures of a Pope...by appealing to the holiness of their office, with fidelity and obedience. In fact, she stands out among her contemporaries who would belligerently lay into the the popes without a trace of humility.

Kind of like what's happening here.

When we look at the contemporary Church, we also need to be careful of what lens we're looking at it with. If we are sensitive to the abuses of bureaucracies and naturally pit church hierarchies to spirituality, if we set obedience up against democracy, if we truly believe that the Church is stuck in the Middle Ages and that the current Church leaves no room for following Jesus and His teachings, then we shouldn't be surprise if our final analysis coheres with those prejudices.

What we're going to be left with is a Church without an identity, a personal philosophy rather than a religion, a social model rather than a social structure, a vaporous spirituality rather than sacramental realities. In reality, authentic Catholicism has both sides of the "either/or". Christianity is following Christ, even to the Cross. The Good News is a saving message that transforms my life...and I never would have heard it without the Church. Not just Francis, but also Leo the Great, not just Catherine of Siena but John Paul II.

Like Catherine of Siena, we do right by faithfully reproving members of the Church if we offer obedience with our outrage. Nobody thinks that everything is being run perfectly, but it is absolutely useless to take a wrecking ball to the hierarchy as though they alone are the problem, to stand triumphant over the rubble while part our living faith was still living inside.

Jamie. I think you have captured the feelings of many American Catholics. We thrive on a strong sense of spirituality. We do not thrive on authoritarianism or elitism. We look to the Gospel for our guidelines. At those times when leaders of the Church themselves reflect the directness and compassion of the Teacher, they are very effective in their leadership. When they do not, most of us look inward to our own consciences which we have formed according to the Gospel, and act accordingly. Then the leaders, for all their posturing, pleading, and what sounds more and more like threatening, are left talking to themselves.

I could not disagree more. An interest in spiritualism does not by any means equal an interest in Christianity. In fact, the "I'm spiritual but not religious" mantra in some ways flies in the face of essential truths of Catholicism, such as the God-ordained choice of institutionalism. Maybe you should check with the novel's own author there, since Mormons as well give homage to a hierarchy, and don't usually lecture Salt Lake City with sanctimonious columns like this one. Besides, TWILIGHT is hardly scrupulously chaste as a commodity, if for no other reason than its obvious objectification of shirtless guys for prepubescent girls. Yes, the way to encourage chastity is to train the ladies to evaluate guys on their pecs. And equating vampires with Christ-figures, well... good luck with that. This piece smacks of bending over backwards to chase after pop culture in an effort at relevance. And the slap in the face of Vacticanistas at the end is really unfair. The NCR continues to disapppoint in its choice of material. Too bad.

This began interestingly, and then turned into a predictable polemic. You want presence. The church is very present. Christ is present. They're just not saying yes to everything you want.

Shoddy historical research here:
Jungian scholar Robert A. Johnson explains, “the medieval Church used folk beliefs about vampires to explain the Eucharist in a straightforward way. The Church explained that just as the vampire drinks the sinner’s blood and possesses and devours his spirit, so the righteous Christian could drink Christ’s blood, be filled with his holiness, and be incorporated into his mystical body.”
http://jungian.info/library.cfm?idsLibrary=9
A more plausible explanation, based on Catholic ANTI-SEMITISM is suggested here:
http://www.nthposition.com/bloodculture.php

Jamie, you speak well of the hungers of the heart for the sacred. That is exactly what this new commission needs to address. I would like to gently challenge you, however, on your presumption that what our pope is doing is solely about exerting church power. Do you see no measure of faith in what the church is doing? Is all to be considered negatively, as if the church leadership is totally lacking in faith? Can you not see that the Spirit which enlivens the laity can be active in the clergy as well? Neither laity nor clergy has sole claim on the Spirit of God. "The wind blows where it will!"

Rev. Michael Becker, St. Michael, PA

Ms. Manson,

From reading your numerous articles, one thing is clear: You do not profess the faith of the Roman Catholic Church. As proud as you must be of your MDiv from Yale, it counts for nothing if you use it to destroy the Catholic faith. Your rantings display, for a supposedly highly educated person such as yourself, either a profound ignorance of Catholic theological and moral teaching or a wanton disregard for them. Perhaps if "progressives" such as yourself have not spent all or most of their time trying to extract the sacred from the liturgy, destroying churches, smashing statues, hiding tabernacles, thumbing your nose at the Magisterium, mocking traditional forms of piety, championing doctrinal and moral relativism, and teaching heresy, then maybe the West wouldn't need to be "re-evangelized." The Catholic Church will NEVER become what you and others like you demand it to become. If you want a church that aims to fulfill every one of your liberal desires (priestesses, gay sex, abortion, contraception,doctrinal relativism, etc.)and has neither Pope nor Magisterium, well I've got the church for you: It's called the Episcopal Church USA. I'm sure you've heard of it. Here is a link for your convenience:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/index.htm
Ms. Manson, before you and others like you continue to market yourselves as "faithful Catholics" I suggest you actually READ the Catechism of the Catholic Church instead of taking your distorted view of Church teaching from the New York Times or popular culture.

It deeply disturbs me when I receive a local catholic news in my mailbox. It is sugar/syrup and usually has several pages glorifying priests. Not much about the controversy with the Vatican. No conflict in the stories, party line only. We must be considered pretty stupid in our diocese.

Even cheerleaders rooting for their team are less obvious.

If no one will put some meat on news stories, I guess leaving can be the only way of showing resistance. The priests do face excommunication if they speak out on agendas that are different than the Vatican, so leaving is all that is left for priests and laity.

More drivel from this "young voice". Ms. Manson, do us a favor and leave this Church which you say does not feed you and that you find outdated. Please do not speak for all of us: most Catholics find real food in the Catholic Church, what you see as "absolute monarchy" is really the gentle guidance of the Church in the path of truth. You are free to declare your own independence and go find your spiritual sustenance elsewhere; the Church will not change to suit your agenda. The Church has gone through many crisis in history but has remained true to herself and the teachings of Christ and that is the reason that she is still triumphantly standing. I see from your credentials that you are a member of the national board of the Women's Ordination Conference. You are barking up the wrong tree, my dear, it's not going to happen. Not now, not ever--mercifully.

Jamie, I do think young people are searching for a sense of spirituality, for community, for something more than the corporate-controlled society which, based on profit and greed, has devastated our economy, moved many good American jobs to India and China, and is presently turning our Gulf of Mexico and oceans "red as blood" with oil and chemical dispersants.

Did Jesus come to build a hierarchical, structured, institutional corporation here on earth?

Better yet, are young boys for the sexual pleasure of those who claim to represent Christ? Are females merely for bleedin' and breedin'? Are women merely for rent for the implanting of male seed and subsequent reproduction? Why are the church's roles for them so very limited? What about their brains, hearts, souls, educations and talents? Are their spirits not as connected to God?

Is the Church only about money, power and sex?

Where will our young people find meaning in a Republican Catholic Church and a Republican Corporate America?

Thank you Jamie. Change has happened. It happened nearly fifty years ago. It never went away, except in the intentions of the deniers who continue to cover, conceal, and evade it. This truth shines forth from every minute crack. Everyone can see it. The Holy Spirit cannot hidden by men. Conduct your life as led by the Spirit. One day these deniers will be dead as dust. Keep faith in the Holy Spirit. God bless you.

Some very erudite and charitable comments posted.
Some concerns as well. I beg apologies to anyone who is offended by the below, as that isn't my intention. Again, this post doesn't apply to every preceding comment.

As a person who sits somewhere ambiguously betwixt "conservative" and "progressive" Catholics for a while now, I encourage us all to look at some of the dialogue that's emerged on this entry alone---

"Conservatives"... can we really reduce other Catholics to "relative"... "wrong"... "sugar/syrup"?

"Progressives"... can we really reduce other Catholics to "Republican Corporate America"?

Why should folks who tend to be theological progressives in the Church be asked become Episcopalians? How do we know the state of their soul or if they're faithful or not? How do we know that they aren't formulating their conscience thoughtfully and with divine guidance? How do we know that their criticism isn't worth exploring and that they're catching some valid inconsistencies in a Church that God has entrusted to human hands?

Why should folks who tend to be theological conservatives be told to go back to another time period? Why should those who value the certain traditions, practices, etc. of the church have to throw out the baby with the bath water? Why should their voiced concerns about trying to keep pace with Protestant denominations be labeled uncharitable or mindlessly obedient?
Is it possible it's good that those beliefs challenge our contemporary culture... maybe even us personally?

Why is everyone slamming each other as revisionist? Is it possible that either "side" has had its noble moments and failings, that precisely this "push-pull" has been an enduring/frustrating/humbling quality of the whole Catholic thing for a long time now?

As for theology we are all capable of starting from a genuine place of love of God; we are also capable of starting from a personal agenda and then expressing accordingly. Who are we to really know where the other is coming from? That's God's business, and since there's a lot of Catholics from both perspectives (both in the microcosm of this website and the macrocosm of the worldwide Church) it doesn't seem he's declared a "winning team" yet. Or maybe he has...

What's clear is that everyone here dearly loves the Catholic Church, and that's the real "win".

A little humility goes a long way... we are all a very human part of a very mystical body of Christ. It takes both clergy and laity exercising God's Will to make this thing run. I challenge anyone who is "sure of everything" and "exactly how it all happened in Church history" to read a book which contradicts their own perspective.

I'm not saying that disagreement ---even heated--- isn't valid. But I caution some of you... there are some serious smacks of pride floating around in the Church today. This isn't a two-party system. It's the Catholic Church. It's "Universal." There gotta be something that runs deeper here than "sides".

Thomas Rausch's "Being Catholic in a Culture of Choice" and Robert Barron's "The Priority of Christ: Toward a Postmodern Catholicism" are worth checking out if you, like me, have a heaping of Catholic cognitive dissonance and have read too much of everything.

Jamie - Nice try, but the subject of your analysis has deceived you. I suggest you take a deeper look at the implications of the Bella/Edward relationship. Looks an awful lot like a scenario for an abusive and co-dependent relationship to me. Wouldn't want my young daughters (or sons, for that matter) watching/reading it. For all it teaches about chastity, the main message of the movies/books seems to be "Stay with a man who could and desires to kill you because you love him." Imagine what Benedict XVI would say about that.

Thank you so much for another insightful article. I look forward to your articles and have never been disappointed in my anticipation. There are, however, two errors in your article on "Twilight." They are not your errors, but Robert A. Johnson's errors for which you are not responsible. When Johnson says "The medieval church used folk beliefs about vampires to explain the Eucharist in straightforward way," he is mistaken. I have read hundreds of theological treatises, sermons, miracle stories and saint's lives on the Eucharist from the Middle Ages. There is no mention of vampires at all. Nor have I read any scholar of medieval theology who ever found a vampire story. Secondly, do I not know what Johnson means when he says "the medieval church." He seems to assume that there was a centralized authority during the Middle Ages to which believers listened. Since the Middle Ages covers roughly a thousand years, as one can imagine, there were several different models of authority, often in conflict. Does Johnson mean theologians here (are they the Church?) Does he mean official teaching? (no council or pope ever talked of the Eucharist this way) Does he mean a preacher (Would that preacher be "the church"?). You see the problem, which again is really not yours but his. One should be very careful in attributing to the past the centralized papacy of the early modern period. I only write to help dispel these two myths Johnson seems to be perpetuating. As for your own writing, keep up the good work.

Dear Jamie Manson
You have failed your faith and in your degree to fail to see the light cast by this eclipse of the heart or where God resides. The Pope is the head of the Church where of Christ Himself ordered it to be as such. And you in your arrogance and vanity proclaim that this is not the case but that it should be viewed from what you have ordered. I live and practice my Catholic faith in the USA and do not appreciate you including me in this vain attempt for false justice and hierarchical invention that YOU claim to be so. Submit to God or not. There are only two sides in these end days, sheep or goat and nothing more. It will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for many humans to pass through it. It is about FAITH, go back and strat your degree again.

Hollywood and the media are taking theater, a beautiful art form, and turning it into idol worship by selecting a few random people as "stars" while delegating all other actors to some netherworld of obscurity. Just say no to the toxic Hollywood "star system."

I am an actress who will NEVER accept obscurity. If Kristen Stewart is the star, I am the eclipse!