"Cory, Catholics, and Compasses"... Sounds like a Camping Trip!

Dr. Schaff at SD Politics offers a splendidly reasonable response to my morning diatribe against the silly ruckus over The Golden Compass. The good professor makes some good points about how the Catholic Church going out to feed the poor or engage in its other daily acts of charity doesn't make the news the way a little movie controversy does. Indeed, we all too often see the world through the filter the drama-loving corporate media imposes upon us (just ask one of my favorite Catholics, Dennis Kucinich, what a bummer that is!).

Says Schaff:

The Church is urging caution. Not a ban or a boycott (as the Catholic League has). Just caution. Makes sense when you are a church and there is a movie out based on a book written to attack your church. You want to inform and caution. That strikes me not as ridiculous, but as responsible leadership of a church. A like minded attitude is coming out of the Archdiocese of Minneapolis-St Paul.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is not calling for a boycott but is telling parents, teachers and pastors to "exercise caution," according to spokesman Dennis McGrath. The archdiocese is concerned parents will unwittingly buy the books for their children, thereby giving Pullman a "chance to reach these young minds with his anti-Christ propaganda," McGrath said.

Again, entirely reasonable. A movie is coming out that attacks the church. Given the genre of storytelling and the advertising campaign, many parishioners may not be aware of the anti-Catholic/anti-theist nature of the work. So the Church gives information and urges caution. And perhaps Cory is not aware that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has actually given a "thumbs up" to the movie [Jon Schaff, "Cory, Catholics, and Compasses," South Dakota Politics, 2007.12.07].

Eminently reasonable indeed. The Star Tribune article Schaff cites offers this perspective on the positive review from two Catholic News Service reviewers:

The Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Front Royal, Va.-based Human Life International, which describes its mission as "upholding the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church," used his website to call for the dismissal of movie critics Harry Forbes and John Mulderig of the Catholic News Service, the church's official news arm. Their review raved about the movie while dismissing concerns that Phillip Pullman, the author of the fantasy trilogy on which it's based, is a professed atheist who is on record as saying, "My books are about killing God."

In particular, the review noted the movie departed from Pullman's book in its explicit references to the church. "Most moviegoers with no foreknowledge of the books or Pullman's personal belief system will scarcely be aware of religious connotations, and can approach the movie as a pure fantasy-adventure," they said, adding: "... this film -- altered, as it is, from its source material -- rates as intelligent and well-crafted entertainment."

Forbes and Mulderig "have summarily put our hierarchy on record as giving glowing praise to the work of a militant atheist," Euteneuer told the Star Tribune. "This is utterly irresponsible" [Jeff Strickler, "Protest over Golden Compass Loses Its Point," Minneapolis Star Tribune, 2007.12.07].

I know there are fine keepers of the faith out there, good folks (more than some think) who have a good enough grip on their theology to know the difference between real and imaginary dangers to the well-being of their family, community, country, and church. (Remember, I go to bed every night with one such fine theologian.) But we still have to keep an eye out for Rev. Euteneuer and other fanatics who would expunge every shred of unorthodox and heterodox text from the culture and probably (yes, Dr. Schaff, my broad brush sneaks out again) strip every less-than-true believer of their Constitutional rights.