I remember Pope Benedict stating, at some point in his papal reign, that the Harry Potter series of books by J K Rowling, were unsuitable for children as they had an unhealthy undertone linked to the occult.
Of course, the left wingers were rather upset over this remark and did their normal stamping of feet whilst spitting on the floor (standard procedure for an angry two year old I seem to remember).
I am not a Harry Potter fan and, if you think that I am about to undertake a learned and erudite comparison between Tolkien and Rowling, sorry, you're barking up the wrong ent.
'Learned and erudite' as some of my commentators will tell you, have no place on this blog.
But, from what little I have seen of HP (film clips only), the main thrust is wizards and odd looking creatures doing rather devilish tricks with wands and the like. And, yes, I do know that LOTR is also full of wizards and odd looking creatures but.......there is a difference, (I'm sure you know what that is).
A friend (GM) has forwarded to me extracts of a talk by a Fr Chad Ripperger (fine name that) of the FSSP who held a conference on exorcism in Tulsa.
The key points concerning JK Rowling and her Harry Potter books are as follows, I do not have any evidence to support these points but have no reason to disbelieve them.
It would be interesting to see, perhaps, a fuller rationale of what we can only take as suppositions, as yet:-
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| Do you really feel that this is the sort of image you want your child to see? |
Of course, the left wingers were rather upset over this remark and did their normal stamping of feet whilst spitting on the floor (standard procedure for an angry two year old I seem to remember).
I am not a Harry Potter fan and, if you think that I am about to undertake a learned and erudite comparison between Tolkien and Rowling, sorry, you're barking up the wrong ent.
'Learned and erudite' as some of my commentators will tell you, have no place on this blog.
But, from what little I have seen of HP (film clips only), the main thrust is wizards and odd looking creatures doing rather devilish tricks with wands and the like. And, yes, I do know that LOTR is also full of wizards and odd looking creatures but.......there is a difference, (I'm sure you know what that is).
A friend (GM) has forwarded to me extracts of a talk by a Fr Chad Ripperger (fine name that) of the FSSP who held a conference on exorcism in Tulsa.
The key points concerning JK Rowling and her Harry Potter books are as follows, I do not have any evidence to support these points but have no reason to disbelieve them.
It would be interesting to see, perhaps, a fuller rationale of what we can only take as suppositions, as yet:-
- J K Rowling went to witch school before she wrote the books but denies being a witch.
- The spells in the Harry Potter books are actual spells - witches confirm that & one woman in Spain decided to try the spell for fire and burnt her house to the ground.
- One exorcist claims to have done the footwork and claims that 60% of the names in Harry Potter are actual names of demons that exorcists have booted out of people.
- One exorcist - a friend of the exorcist - has had to exorcise 3 children just for reading the Harry Potter books.
- The exorcist was involved in a case where the 5 demons expelled from that possessed person claimed that they were the demons who inspired J K Rowling to write Harry Potter.
- The exorcist's advice: avoid it! Experienced exorcists are very clear: stay away from it!
- Demons are always looking to get glory. They get glory in this life by their name being pronounced and said. Every time you read those books or pronounce those words you are actually giving glory to them.
- There is a lot of glorification of certain disorders which are very subtle in the books. For example it's OK to lie in order to get a good thing to come as a result of it.
- When you tell people that you shouldn't let your kids read Harry Potter, the purely visceral response you get as a result tells the exorcist that there is something diabolic about the whole thing.
The full proceedings (which I have not viewed) may be seen HERE
My reading preferences from my own childhood were a strange sort of mixture of 'Swallows and Amazons' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front'....that may account for a lot!
This talk can be found on the Sensus Traditionis website: http://www.sensustraditionis.org/webaudio/Tulsa/Newman.mp3.
ReplyDeleteThis talk is 1hr 22 min. The bit on Harry Potter starts at around 58:00. Remember to say a decade of the Rosary for Fr Ripperger!
Thanks Sarochka.
Deletehttp://www.pacinst.com/witch.htm
ReplyDeleteHad a look at this site - a few minutes of my life I'll never get back...it's laughable as is the homepage! LOVED all the Harry Potter books and films which I thought were very moral. Far more sites by religious in their favour than against, doubt Cardinal Ratzinger ever read them. Sadly my children were too old for the Potter books, more Chronicles of Narnia, Roald Dahl, Winnie the Pooh. I read Famous Five, Secret Seven, Dr Doolittle, Chalet School.
DeleteSue
Sue, you do not have to have contracted typhoid to have an understanding of it. The fact that the Pope made the statement should be enough for you.
DeleteThank you Andy, God bless.
DeleteWell, neither would I base my opinion solely on the rant of a random member of the public.
DeleteThe statement was aired in 2003 when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, a couple of years before he was elected pope.
Sue.
I doubt that Pope Benedict actually read Harry Potter. He appears to have made sympathetic noises to some lady having a rant about them who then claimed that he agreed with her.
ReplyDeleteI read the books with my daughter and found them ripping yarns. I gather that Cardinal Pell enjoyed them too. Some of us think that Cardinal Pell is wizard!
Patricius, what can I say? One man's meat etc. God bless.
DeleteDear Richard
ReplyDeleteYou of all people should know not to publish spurerious claims without evidence..... just becasue Fr X talked to Exorcist Y (who conveniantly isn't named) who claims that demons have claimed to be voldermort ....... I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
JAMC, not spurious claims but points for discussion....sorry, but I can't see where you're going. God bless.
DeleteFr Ripperger's word is good enough for me. I've also seen bad fruits from people getting attached to those books and films.
DeleteMy Point Richard is that neither you or Fr Ripperger have provided sources for the points you posted, consider:
DeleteTo claim that Mrs Rowling practised witchcraft but has since denied being a Witch is a very serious accusation to make without any evidence being given to back it up.
To claim that 60% of the names in Harry Potter are names of demons is again very serious without evidence, especially since to my eyemany of the names are either (a) Old fashioned English names (which may have an origin in another culture) which are not currently popular e.g. Hermiorne paired with surnames which can be found up and down the land e.g Wood, Smith, Granger, Black etc etc or a play on words e.g. Albert Waffling. s
Furthermore to claim that demons are being given glory when the books are read is serious charge, now demons arn't exactly known for being the most truthful souls so when an exorcist (who remains unamed) says so and furthermore claims that a demon told him that he and four others inspired Rowling's books or that he had to exorcise children just for reading them I want names, dates and places so I can evaluate said claim.
Now if people don't want their children reading HP, I'm fine with it, I genuinely am. I guess that allot of Catholics would rather roll starkers over beds of glass covered in Lemon Juice than read the Horus Heresy Sci-fi series, I'm fine with that. But absent an Papal prounouncement that Dan Abnet and Graham McNeil are to be put on the condemmed list I'm going to stick with them.
That's not to say I'm fine with anyone reading the books, If I was a Father I would sit down with my child and discuss the books in an appropriate manner and tell them why certain actions the Charicters take are wrong, I wouldn't let a 13 yr old pick up the HH books either as they are really written for minds which are able to process the complexity of the series and contain lots of themes which are too complex for a young mind to process.
"Azkaban", "Circe", "Draco", "Erised", "Hermes", and "Slytherin" are meant to be names of real demons according to the ex-witch who wrote the piece at http://www.pacinst.com/witch.htm.
DeleteDemons have to be 100% truthful when they are commanded to do so by the exorcist in the holy name of Jesus - this is a known fact of exorcism. And please note that Fr Ripperger has been involved in over 7,000 exorcisms.
Circe was the name of the enchantress in Oddesy, perhaps we should add Homer
DeleteAzkaban is merely the name of the Russian Town Akaban whithc has been used as a prison colony in the past with a Z added to make it sound a little more esoteric
Draco is merely the spannish for Dragon (the nickname they gave to Francis Drake
Erised is desire backwoods
Hermes is the name of an ancient greek diety, but then again so are many names which were subsequently christianized by the saints.
Fr Ripperger has been involved in over 7000 exorcisms? well assuming one a day, that means he's been peforming one exorcism day for the past 19 years, if thats the case how DOES he get the time to do all of those conferences and speaking engagements, nevermind peform the work of a Parish Priest.
The link you gave is dead, please provide mroe evidence if you want me to take you seriously.
My daughter loved the books and so I read them - pretty dull stuff, with the same plot repeated each book, he-who-must-not-be-named, blah, blah, blah, children going all emo and then pledging eternal friendship, blah, blah, blah.
ReplyDelete/
But here is a very serious point - Tolkien and Lewis were devout Christians with a keen sense of right and wrong, and who honored their duty to children. Ms. (no doubt) Rowling's book are pretty much devoid of that.
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And, in the end, one listens to a Cardinal carefully. At least that.
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Topic Shift
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I read ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT when I was a child, and re-read it when I returned home from Viet-Nam. Himmelstoss is not an isolated case by any means. Somehow I missed SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS, and I must find it. I CAPTURE THE CASTLE was loopy fun, though!
Cheers,
Mack in Texas
This is a good traditional sermon on this
ReplyDeletehttp://www.romans10seventeen.org/audio-files/20130617-The-Occult-Harry-Potter-and-Combating-the-Demonic.mp3
Richard: 'The fact that the Pope made the statement should be enough for you.'
ReplyDeleteNot just that, but it is common among exorcists of the condemnation of Harry, including Fr. Amorth.
I always ask people who are devout Catholics and who take their Faith seriously but ignore the warnings of exorcists about these books whether they would ignore the advise of a brain surgeon if he was talking about brain surgery. The fact is is that exorcists are experts in this field, and we should take what they say very, very seriously indeed
ReplyDeleteI read the books up to book five when it became too boring but I find the fans reaction to any criticism of the series to be disturbing. They get vicious and personal. Is it the fault of the books or are the fans just pathetic people? And the worst of the lot are the folks who try to make Harry an Aslan figure.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Harry Potter books per se are bad, and the spells are not real. I do think, however, that they might awaken an interest in occultism in a way that the Tolkien or Lewis books would not. And once that fire is burning, it is very hard to put out. It pretty much must run its course and end in disillusionment, if the person is lucky. We used to care about what our kids read; now they are marketed directly to kids and they decide.
ReplyDeleteSurely, a prudent parent would know by the matter and the treatment of the matter in the books and films that they are at the least not good for children? In my experience, most of the readers seemed to start reading them at seven or eight. People have lost the normal judgment and discernment that was common up to 40 years ago among at least those who practised their Faith. Now, shockingly, many accept whatever the Media, the state, etc. tells them.
ReplyDeleteRe Andy's link; ooooer, My eldest daughter works for Warner Bro's and used to write the cheques to the actors in the Harry Potter movie. When the H.H.Studio was opened, she had tickets to go, pre public, she took me and her sister along as I was longing to see Mrs Weasley's kitchen. (To be able to point a wand around in the kitchen and dinner being made just by doing that, appeals greatly.)
ReplyDeleteThe spells are Latin, the names are constellations and greek mythology. The books are harmless.
ReplyDeleteAt a news conference Feb. 3 2003 on a Vatican document on New Age, he was asked about the fictional adolescent wizard. Monsignor Fleetwood, who helped draft the New Age document when he was a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture, responded: "Harry Potter does not represent a problem."
If you are afraid of them, don't read them, but to assign demonic power to this, alerts the Devil to a way into your soul. It shows your fear. Our Lord said, be not afraid. Get a St. Benedict Medal, say the Prayer to St. Michael and avoid them.
Netmilsmom, thanks but I would rather listen to Pope Benedict than Mgr Fleetwood. He has more knowledge and intellectual capacity than a thousand Monsignors.
Delete''I haven't read it, but this other thing I also haven't read says it's bad.'
ReplyDeleteAren't the occult associations and the fact that Rowling herself endorses deviant behavior and even counts one of her main characters as a sodomite, albeit after the fact, enough?
ReplyDeleteAgree. They are in fact lousy with devil names - often the names of the characters - and curses and some rather nasty Latin, which, who could doubt, Benedict would note at a glance. If exorcists are burdened with the fruits of this I wouldn't risk second guessing them.
Deletep.s. Rowling's work has much in common with a c.s. Lewis and very little in common with Tolkien. Both Lewis and Rowlings' works are given substance from the actual occult.
ReplyDelete