The Da Vinci Warning

For any Catholic going to see The Da Vinci Code film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, make sure you understand three things:

1) A picture may say a thousand words, but one painting does not re-write history.
2) It is fiction, not fact.
3) It is potentially blasphemous and heretical and should not be take lightly.

I find it ludicrous, really, that just because a talented painter painted his own interpretation of the Last Supper that such an act somehow validates any re-rewriting of apostolic and church teachings. So John in his picture looks like a woman. His woman, in the Mona Lisa, looks like a man. Isn't it more likely that Da Vinci was just wrong or nuts or inaccurate or just confused instead of the greatest Clue Giver of the Ultimate Deception Ever? I mean, lets use a little common sense here.

Second, The Da Vinci Code is a work of fiction that has numerous errors and assumptions in it that unsuspecting and/or uninformed Catholics may misunderstand as fact. Remember, just because it is on the screen starring Tom Hanks does not make it true. It only makes it entertainment.

I think our last few years from Hollywood should prepare you all for the fact that Hollywood never promotes Christianity. Take Cinderalla Man, for example, another Ron Howard film. In it, James Braddock, played by Russell Crowe, is a Roman Catholic from New Jersey living in hard times with his wife, played by Renee Zellweger, and their three children.

At one point in the film, they are saying grace before a meal (Bless us O Lord, for these our gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ, Our Lord, Amen). Except Crowe interrupts before "through Christ, Our Lord, Amen." Later, they go to church, but we never hear about Christ. People pray for Braddock at the church during his boxing matches, yet we never hear about Christ.

The only time we hear God or Christ is when His name is taken in vain, which is NUMEROUS times. So, they removed the times it was a positive and added many times where Christ was used in a negative.

So don't expect these filmmakers to portray Christ in a positive light in The Da Vinci Code.

Thirdly, stating the Christ was married, had kids and that the Apostles lied to cover it up, is against all Catholic teachings, heretical at least and blasphemous at most. Such things should NOT be taken lightly. It is through such "discussions" where Satan is able to creep in, lay a little doubt in our souls and undermine the foundation of our beliefs.

Don't fall for it. The price of your soul is not worth it.

And exactly why did the Apostles cover this up again? So that they could be ostracized, hunted down and killed? Remember, the Catholic church was not a grand institution, it was a group of guys who witnessed Jesus' ressurrection together . Also remember that Romans did not tolerate "superstitions", which is what Christianity would have been considered since it was neither Roman paganism or Judaism. The entire assumption that the Apostles had ANYthing to gain from such a deception is outright stupidity.

I will leave the decision as to whether or not to see The Da Vinci Code up to you, of course... I never tell people to stay away from a movie that I have not seen myself. However, the book is clearly in opposition to the Catholic church and all Catholics, informed or uninformed, should be more protective of Mother Church than of Hollywood's version of it.