Something (more) about Harry
I hesitate (though not enough to stop, of course) to post something about Harry Potter, as I’ve never read the series, and have seen just a couple of the movies. They seem fine, not the Apocalypse. Like much other great children’s fiction that I missed the first time around, I’ll probably get to them in a few years as my daughter gets older. My hesitation stems from the passion such threads provoke, a passion generally matched only by posts on the liturgy. Which is why this is so great: apropos (sort of) of an earlier post about an Osservatore Romano essay advocating kneeling and receiving comunion on the tongue, the Vatican’s official newspaper is back at it! Now they have dueling essays on the merits–or demerits–of Harry Potter.
Check out the CNS story. Again, the paper’s new management seems eager to prompt debate, or at least make the paper more interesting, and perhaps more widely read. And it is interesting that the current Pope was not at all a fan of HP’s influence on kids. On the other hand, would they allow a Point/Counterpoint on the proper attitude for receiving communion?
I’m not entirely convinced that there can ever be too much said about Harry Potter. I would be interested to learn where in the series Edoardo Rialti thinks “that the books teach that ‘evil is good’” since I would disagree. I would also claim that the books do not “advocate gnosticism, the idea that a select elite can develop special powers and gifts through specialized knowledge that is hidden from most mortals” because while studying can make you a better wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you are born with special gifts that allow you to be a witch or wizard and develop what you were given. Needless to say, I am a fan and I also think that the books show “moral values such as the choice of good, giving, sacrifice, friendship and love.”
Harry Potter is a wonderful, admirable character in so many ways. Having been ill-treated, abused, and practically starved (certainly of affection and almost of nutrition as well) for most of his life, one of Harry’s first acts upon discovering that his parents left him a small fortune in wizard gold is buy treats for his poorer friend. Throughout the series, he remains more concerned for the safety of others than himself and is ultimately quite willing to die for the sake of his friends if need be.
I’d be curious if Rialti is equally willing to denounce all the real times throughout history that the church used “violence, lying, trickery and manipulation” to “obtain something good,” at least as far as the church believed the outcome to be good (i.e., the Inquisition, the conquest of the New World, the concordat with Mussolini, the acceptance of Franco in Spain, the assistance in helping Catholic Nazis escape Germany after the war, the cover-up in the priest sex scandals, etc..
I thought that one of the strengths of the last book was Harry’s self-distancing from violence, lying, trickery and manipulation. Under Dumbledore’s tutelage (and arguably as a regular kid) these had become normal parts of his existence. It was very interesting in Book VI, for example, to watch Harry’s admiration of Tom Riddle’s manipulation of Slughorn. Dumbledore also encouraged Harry to use whatever manipulation of Slughorn was necessary to get information.
But Harry became his own man in the 7th book (especially because of Aberforth’s pov) and put the love of warfare behind him.
I’m not touching this with a 10-foot pole except to say that letting kids read Butler’s Lies, er, Lives of the Saints and NOTHING ELSE would be the safest course for Catholic parents concerned about ensuring the purity of their children’s reading material.
Btw, is the point-counterpoint format new to L’Osservatore Romano?
Could it be that the liberal arts are making a comeback? An end to partisanship, the triumph of reason?
Re: Robert Reid
I don’t know the first thing about Professor Rialti, and assuming you don’t either, why would you phrase your argument against his opinion on Potter in such a way so as to imply that he is supportive of church-sponsored violence and other crimes? I think this rhetorically very unfair (and unchristian).
Anthony,
I worded it that way because even if the Potter stories did what Rialti said they did–which they did not, proving he must have read them with a very large chip on his shoulder–they are fictional after all. There is no Harry Potter or Hogwarts or even actual magic for that matter. But the church’s actions that I described are all tragically real and thus ought to be of far greater concern to him and far worthier of condemning than the fantasy creation of JK Rowling. Besides, I merely asked IF Rialti had been equally concerned about the church’s lies, violence, manipulation, etc., as he was about these supposed problems with Potter. I would be pleased to know that he did condemn those as well (though my experience with Potter-haters is that they tend to walk on the rather dim side of the street …)
A pox on both their houses. The books are not a series of moralizing fables. They’re stories in which a gradually maturing kid navigates through dangerous and morally ambiguous situations.
To their author’s credit, the books are not explicitly, and in a number of ways not very implicitly, Christian. They’re well-told tales. They extol certain virtues, such as courage and kindness, that are valued by Christians and also by non-Christians. Can’t we leave it at that?
Jim
Amen, Jim Pauwels.
PS: The interesting, and post-worthy element of this issue, to me, was the Osservatore having such a debate in the first place. That’s qite something.
David,
No offense, but are you sure your Amen is justified? I mean, as you haven’t read the books, are you aware of their moral content?
No offense at all, Kathy–you’re right, I haven’t read them. I’ve seen three of the movies, I think, and read more than I want of commentary. My sense is that the canonizers and the critics cancel each other out–eras each other off the map, actually. Which is why my sensibilities lie with Jim’s earlier comment.
David,
Frankly I have a lot of faith in books–that fiction can be really educative and elevating.
But your comments don’t reach the books. You are talking only about the spins.
Kathy, my comments weren’t trying to reach the books. I can’t do deep exegesis of them. I don’t even have an interest. I think my opinion is valid based on what I know and read, to agree with Jim P. Even if I had read them all thoroughly, I would still have an opinion tha would be no more than, as you say, spin.
It is also true, I think, that people can read them and take very different views from the books, as the Osservatore Romano essays show. So it will always depend on what one brings to it. If I read Jim correctly, he brings to it what I would–sit beack and enjoy the books on their merits.
In any case, my main interest was in the OR’s dueling essays, which I thought interesting. Also amusing was that Catholic World News’ report said that the newspaper only condemned the Potter books. It’s a funny read.
Kathy, David thinks I’m right, I suggest we all just leave it at that :-)
When the time is right the hierarchy will incorporate Harry Potter into its sphere as it did with secular society throughout history. The church has imitated so many Pagan, secular, Roman ceremonies. The terms prefect, rector, pontifex maximus, procurator, etc are all Roman. The vestments are fashioned after noblemen and battle garb. Many ceremonies are similar.
But one ceremony, which was intended to guard against hubris, the pope and bishops should imitate. When Caesar was being honored as a demi-god, a slave continually whispered in his ear: “Remember you are human. ” Secondly, the soldiers sang satirical songs about him to help him keep his feet on the ground. Third, he wore the bulla an amulet to protect him.
The church did imitate the amulet bit. Scapulars, crosses and the like.
Jim, David, I bow in your general direction.
;-)
Bill–
I’m smiling as I write this–please keep that in mind–but I’m afraid I was bowled over that you were able to weave Harry Potter into your campaign against the hierarchy.
I’m off to my local bishop’s Quidditch fundraiser….
Dumbledore as Pope–you are a wizard, Bill Mazzella.