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The Gothic Catholic Church: The Darkness that Makes the Light Brighter |
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| There are, sadly, still people in the world who imagine that the Roman Catholic Church is, at heart, some sort of dark, wicked, web of conspiracies to lead the "true" Christians astray. Of course, we know that is not true and such wild stories do not even merit serious response. The Catholic Church, being the original Church founded by Christ and His apostles is the one, genuine, beacon of light in a dark work; the "single ark of salvation" as Pope Boniface VIII called it. |
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However, the Roman Catholic Church is, as the name implies, universal as well as Roman and as I like to tell converts (or potential converts) there is something in the Church of Rome for everyone, for every taste and every particular character. That includes, in a very Christian way, the rather dark, dreadful and horrifying aspects of the human condition and of divine Truth.
The story of God and humanity is a story with a great many aspects to raise the hair on the back of the neck. There are great heroes and great villains, bright, shining angels and horribly wicked demons. To date, not even the most gifted craftsman of fiction has been able to invent a better villain than Satan, the very embodiment of evil itself. Contrary to what many seem to believe today, the story of salvation cannot be told without the story of damnation and the very real presence and threat of |
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the Devil should not be forgotten. However, the Church has also recognized that through Christ we have conquered death, Hell and the grave and see these things as nothing to fear. In fact, some mock mortality which can be seen in the many so-called "bone chapels" that dot the old Roman Catholic world.
There is also the very real truth that wicked powers do exist and should not be ignored. It might surprise some to know just how much of popular horror has Catholic roots. Perhaps not many are aware who have seen the movies or read the books of William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist", Anothy Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" or Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" are all Roman Catholics (of varying degrees of devotion). Even going back to Dante it is easy to see that Catholics have never been ones to ignore the dark, dreadful and unpleasant aspects of the supernatural world. Those who think that Christianity is totally sweetness and light, sunshine and lollipops would be shocked to come to my own south Texas for instance and see local Hispanic Catholics celebrating La Dia de los Muertos or "The Day of the Dead" with skulls and skeletons everywhere. |
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In traditional Catholic art pictures abound of various saints with symbols of death, showing that they have no fear of the grave as it has been conquered by Christ. Some have been even more creatively blatant as anyone who has seen some of the works of Hieronymus Bosch (a member of the Brotherhood of Our Lady) can atest to. There is also something to be said for the tactic of scaring someone onto the path of righteousness. That does not mean that people should obey God simply out of terror but there have been many people who have come to believe in God by being confronted with terrifying proof of absolute evil. Some have been confronted with such horrific proof of the reality of demons and the Devil that they had to believe there was a power of absolute good, God, to counter that evil.
There is also alot in the Catholic Church that many mistake for something wicked because it seems dark. This goes back to the |
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earliest days of the Catholic Church when Roman spies would secretly listen to mass being said and were horrified because he heard them say they were eating the flesh and drinking the blood of this man Jesus. Catholics, of course, truly believe that and Jesus Himself said it would be a hard thing for people to accept that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life. However, it fits in with the reverence shown the Cross and that recognition that it was the gruesome ugliness of the suffering and death of Christ, that ultimate blood sacrifice, which brought salvation to all the world. |
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People might also see masses being said in the dark by candle-light, hear the strange words in Latin, see icons of saints holding skulls or even see some of the bone chapels of old Europe and mistake these things for wickedness rather than understanding and appreciating these things as all part of the rich tapestry of Catholic Christianity. The Catholic Church is the Universal Church and it has something in it for everyone to fit every style and every taste. That means there is something for the personalities who like light, bright colors and merriment but there is also something for those who like the dark, the solemn and maybe even a good scare every now & then. It is no more wrong to claim symbols of death and the dark to take away their power than it is to avoid any thought of darkness, evil or the end of life. Christ embraced his suffering and death for our sake but also said that death had been conquered. We are not to be afraid of it or run from it because He is our light in the darkness. |
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