MAN OF STEEL - THE DARK SUPERHER

O 

I used to collect Superman comics when I was a kid. My mom would take me to the comic book store every Saturday, and I would pick out my favorites. Two that I still have in mint condition are The Death and Return of Superman. In Superman #75, an epic battle takes place between Doomsday and the Last Son of Krypton. The comic is filled with blood, tears, and death as both Doomsday and Superman kill one another. Lois Lane cries over the stained and torn cape of her hero. It is a dark comic that captured a lot of attention during the 90s. It opened up the door to "death", you can say, for DC comics, as many other superheroes began journeying towards a death and resurrection storyline after Superman did. Audiences want to see a superhero's dark side. Whether that darkness is portrayed in their opposing villain or whether it comes from the painful depths of their own soul, we enjoy watching a hero struggle with pain.

The new Superman film, Man of Steel, explores the darker side of Superman, just as The Dark Knight explored the darker side of Batman. The story veers away from some of the traditional Superman plots, creating a new sense of intrigue. We get to spend a lot of time in a dying Krypton with Avatar-like creatures rescuing Jor-El (Superman's father) from war. We learn that Kal-El (Superman, AKA Clark Kent) is actually Krypton's first natural birth in years, making him unique in his own planet as well as on Earth. Lois Lane actually meets Superman and discovers his identity long before he dons his disguise as a reporter. We find out a new detail in the death of Jonathan Kent, Clark's foster father. Superman himself is not merely the light-hearted character we have seen in the past, but a troubled outcast trying to identify with humanity. All of these new subplots make Man of Steel worth watching without destroying the essence of the Superman franchise. 

While the movie has many problems, including its shaky, Chronicle-style cinematography, the script makes up for them. We are presented with a superhero who is forced to make a choice between good and evil despite Clark's powers. Superman in this film is the opposite of Dr. Manhattan in director Zack Snyder's Watchmen. Dr. Manhattan chose to abandon humanity because he no longer relates to them. Clark Kent chooses to protect humanity even though he does not need them. Knowing that Superman doesn't need humans, but protects them anyway, is comforting. It evokes a spiritual awakening when watching the film. Superman is often seen as a Christ figure. As the last son of Krypton, he is sent by his father to protect the people of Earth. He spends thirty-three years hiding his true self. In an instant, the whole world turns on him and hands him over to General Zod (another Kryptonian who killed Jor-El). Clark goes willingly to his doom like a sheep before the shearers. Superman's relation to Jesus is obvious. Man of Steel focuses on the essence of a hero, not just self-sacrifice, but also the willingness to bear the burden of the world for eternity. The film sheds light on the sacrifice of Jesus, showing us the darkness that one must swallow to bring back the light. We are reminded of the existence of evil and are challenged to confront it in our own lives.

Darkness

Without darkness, there seems to be no need for a hero. Is that true in reality? I've often asked myself as a Catholic, would we have needed a savior if there had never been Original Sin? Was sin necessary to bring us a savior? "O Happy Fault of Adam that won for us so great a redeemer" – St. Augustine. What would our lives look like if there were no pain, suffering, cruelty, or sin? How would that change the balance of everything we know, the parameters of good and evil? A hero is measured by the evil he vanquishes. Are there any heroes in a sinless world? While I enjoy giving myself a headache over such questions, the truth is that we will never truly know. The chasm between good and evil is infused in humanity, a piece of our genetic makeup. I believe that evil must have existed from the beginning because love existed from the beginning. With perfect love comes the freedom to choose evil. Therefore, evil is an issue of choice. 

Superman's enemy is not General Zod, but evil itself. Zod, in his clueless nature, was not a bad person. He thought his mission was for the greater good of his people. In this film, Superman does not battle Kryptonite, but the demons within himself. The entire movie is reminiscent of Jesus' 40-day temptation in the desert. Kal-El is promised glory, status, and power if he joins General Zod in recreating a new Krypton from Earth's foundation, just as Jesus is promised all the kingdoms of Earth if he chooses to serve Satan. Like Christ, Superman decides to fight for those who turned him over to his betrayer. 

"Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the Earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." - Mt 10:34

A true hero will create division, enflaming the inner conflict in every human being to choose good over evil. "Man of Steel" is a refreshing reminder that choosing goodness always contains an element of sacrifice.

Don Jon - Catholicism and Pornography

Growing up in northern Jersey, we had neighbors from different parts of the world. Our neighbors across the street were from Portugal. They had a crab apple tree  in their yard that flooded our main street with mini rotten apples during peak season. Our next door neighbors were from India and I used to play with the two girls who lived there that were my age, Farah and Fatima. They lived with their parents and their grandmother. I lived in a fervent Italian Catholic household with a lot of hand signals and curse words.

With so much culture clash there would be a lot of harsh words exchanged between neighbors. When I was five years old, I did something terrible. I wanted to get into Farah and Fatima's backyard to retrieve my tennis ball. Without asking permission, I began hopping their wooden gate. To my surprise, there sat my neighbor's 80-year-old grandmother who started yelling at me in a language I could not decipher. Rather than being respectful, I sucked in a wad of saliva and spit in her face. It is probably the worst thing I have ever done and was actually the first thing I confessed when I made my first communion. Thinking about it now still turns my stomach upside down in horror. How could I ever do something so horrific? I didn't know what I was doing to that woman and didn't really have someone in my life to explain it to me. That wasn't the last time I did something that horrible. My mistreatment of women continued to happen...through porn. I would spit in the face of women every time I watched it and I did it without sufficient understanding of what I was really doing.

In Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt portrays a devout Italian Catholic from Jersey who struggles with porn addiction (Any clue why I wanted to Blog about it?). The film explores the addiction from a realistic perspective, successfully revealing the secretive lifestyle of the casual porn addict. In Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, he attacks lust embedded in the hearts of men.

“Every man watches porn,” Jon states in his defense.

I used to believe the same statement. I found myself staring into a mirror for most of the film, relating to Jon’s pornography struggle as a Catholic young adult and Jersey native myself. I remembered the compulsive need to watch porn every day, even for a few seconds. I suffered deeply from its desensitizing effects and carried the emotional scars with me for years. While Don Jon succeeds at presenting the seriousness of pornography addiction, it fails in its attempt to accurately describe the recovery process of those addicted, especially those seeking guidance from the Church.

Where the Film Succeeds
Don Jon’s opening credits peruse through a series of film clips showcasing the plethora of sexual stimuli streamlined in the modern media. We see shots of legs, partly dressed models, celebrity wardrobe

malfunctions, and naked actresses in horror films…all in the first 10 seconds. With so much exposure to sexual content it is not difficult to understand how men become addicted to porn. Gordon-Levitt uses real media to make his point, like the scene where Jon and his father obsess over model Nina Agdal as she molests a hamburger on the beach in a real life Hardee’s commercial, which actually aired during the Super Bowl this year…no one gets that excited over a burger! Jon’s father, played brilliantly by Tony Danza, is the first clue to Jon’s addiction. He inherited his addictive personality from his father, who obsesses over football. His rough demeanor and constant verbal abuse towards Jon’s mother is telling in the way that Jon objectifies all women. While the film focuses mainly on pornography, Jon’s real problem is his addictive nature. Like his father, he obsesses over the things he cares about.

“There’s only a few things I really care about in life: my body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, my porn.”

Jon develops a routine, which is how the film is structured. He picks up a woman at a club, sleeps with her, watches porn, cleans his “pad”, expresses his road rage, goes to confession, has dinner with his parents, and hits the gym. That is the whole movie in constant repetition, with new scenes added throughout. It can be perceived as dull film making as nothing really happens to keep the story going. Yet, it is an intimate reflection of the life of a porn addict. Everything is on a routine that cannot be shifted. One’s life becomes more interesting in the fantasy world of porn rather than reality. So the viewer is forced to sit and watch Jon go through his weekly routine.

There are so many opportunities for Jon to walk away from his addiction, but he has convinced himself that relationships in pornography are real, thus destroying his chances of making it work with an actual girl. He falls in love with Barbara Sugarman (Scarlett Johansen) who is flawed in her own prideful ways, but tries to push Jon into doing something more with his life. He starts going to school, quits the club scene, and falls in love with her. His view on women is so obscured though, that he cannot be satisfied with an actual relationship. So he sticks to porn in secret, watching it on his phone before he goes to class just to get a quick fix. When Barbara discovers his porn addiction after the second time she breaks it off. Confused by her disgust of him watching porn, it sends Jon on a downward spiral of depression, causing him to punch through another driver’s window on his way to mass. The first half of the film is enjoyable as it unravels the internal chaos that pornography stirs up in a person’s heart.

Where the Film Disappoints
The second half of the film disappoints as it attempts to explain how Jon recovers from his addiction….more sex. He begins sleeping with his much older colleague, Esther (Julianne Moore), who makes him aware of his porn addiction and teaches him how to make love instead. She shows him how unrealistic his views are on women and gives him some great words of wisdom about the need to truly see the other person…words of commitment, words of marriage. Magically, Jon is cured from his addiction after learning what it is like to make love to a woman and appreciate her alone. Sadly, this is not the reality of breaking this kind of addiction. Even within a marriage, a spouse can be used as an object for sexual pleasure. Jon goes to confession after this and tells the priest that his sins feel different. It would be a great opportunity for the priest to explain what has happened to Jon’s perspective on women, but all we get is silence.

This is one of the many problems with the film, the way that Gordon-Levitt presents the Catholic


Church. Jon goes to confession every week and confesses a lot of sexual sins, but the priest never discusses them with Jon. The priest never asks questions, provides spiritual direction, or gives any feedback to this young man who is confused by the real power of confession. He doesn’t understand that confession is not a magical wand used to wave over one’s sins and make them disappear. Confession begins in the heart. Jon is not sincerely remorseful of his sins until his final confession, but gets no practical advice. JGL presents the Church as silent on the issue of sexual addiction and I can tell you from my personal experience that the Church is anything but silent.

My addiction began when I was probably thirteen and lasted until I was about twenty four. I was like Jon, not understanding the damaging effects of porn. I, like many boys, collected Playboy magazine at the age of seventeen. They sent me a card in the mail for a 12 month subscription for only a penny an issue. What young boy wouldn’t take up that offer? Those twelve cents costs me years of emotional scarring, objectifying views of women, and an unhealthy addiction. When my girlfriend found my collection of magazines she was so devastated. I, like Jon, could not understand why. It was just porn, everyone looks at it right? That is the lie. My healing began after I started attending mass and through the sacrament of confession. Thankfully I had great priests who guided me along the path to recovery through resources like Theology of the Body. I started being attentive at mass, reading scripture, volunteering my time, caring for others rather than myself, and started taking classes to make my Confirmation. The Church helped me recover, not shut me out as in Jon’s case.

I think Don Jon is a great start for Joseph Gordon-Levitt as it presents serious themes that need to be addressed in our machismo/animalistic culture. I think he could have done away with the excessive amount of porn clips shown throughout the movie as it does not help those suffering from this addiction, but rather fuels it. Also, having a real porn site pay you for using their name in the movie doesn't help the overall message of the film. I would have loved to see more details of the emotional addictions presented in Johansen’s character. It would have made it a film about modern relationships and use rather than just porn addiction. Men and women use each other for different reasons, we don’t get to see the female side of the coin in Don Jon.

The person is the kind of good which does not admit of use and cannot be treated as an object of use and as such the means to an end.
The person is the kind of good towards which the only proper and adequate attitude is love (Karol Wojtyla, Love and Responsibility).

A person can never be used as a means to an end, in fact the only proper response towards another human being is to love them. Pornography is not just in direct opposition to Catholicism, it opposes humanity.

 

Here are a few resources I recommend for those struggling with porn addiction or having addictive personalities.

Love and Responsibility

Theology of the Body for Beginners

Good News about Sex and Marriage

CatholicHack

Sr. Helena Burns also wrote a great review on Don Jon
Another review from the Catholic standpoint: http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/joseph-gordon-levitts-don-jon-uses-the-catholic-church-as-comedic-fodder?page=1#blogPostHeaderPanel

I was reading through a few tweets the other day and came across a comment someone sent to Pope Francis.

@Pontifex If you do sincerely have a daily relationship with God, why does a showy hour on Sunday matter?

I would like to address this question as a Catholic if I may, comparing that “showy hour on Sunday” to the Divine Liturgy, a mass.

First of all, everyone is called to a personal relationship with God. Opening up daily communication with Him is necessary in strengthening the bond between Father and child. Any human relationship will suffer if no communication exists. Merely attending weekly mass or service is like doing the bare minimum to keep a relationship alive. How can we possibly imagine spending an eternity with God if we can’t communicate with him every day? So yes, a daily relationship with God is a must. However, let’s not think that we are the center of attention and dismiss our “showy hour on Sunday”. That hour is about family. We use that hour to gather as a community, sharing our weekly struggles, joys, successes, and failures. We are invited to a family dinner where we are united with our earthly and celestial family. God is both the banquet host and the meal to be consumed.

What is a meal?

Let’s face it, we love to eat. Food has become more than nutrition to us, it is about the shared experience with others. A good meal can brighten our mood, boost our energy, and overall provide us with tasteful pleasure. Food is what sustains our natural bodies. It is essential in every culture and acts as a focal point of gathering. The Japanese have a poem about the importance of rice in their community.

Rice is the symbol of our life. We eat rice daily. There are different kinds of rice, but we are one as the rice eating community. Rice is the symbol of celebration. We express our joy of harvest with it. There are many sufferings in Asia, but we anticipate the time of cosmic celebration.

The Japanese depend on rice for it is a symbol of who they are as a community of people. This is what is offered to us at mass and why it is more than just an appearance. We are showing up for a meal, but a particular meal that sustains our spiritual life. We consume the very body and blood of Jesus, the bread of life. This is not a mere symbol, but the real thing. So often we become indifferent to the true value of food, especially our spiritual food.

Indifference

 While food provides us with great satisfaction, we often forget its ultimate purpose, nourishment. How often do we stuff our mouths full of turkey, hand mixed mashed potatoes and Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving? We eat like we've never seen food before. Too often are we like Emile from Ratatouille, shoving the food in and becoming indifferent to its real taste. We need to be more like Remy who chews slowly, appreciating every morsel and opening himself up to the rich flavors within.

We can also be in different to the Eucharist, snatching the bread from the hands of the Eucharistic minister, leaving mass directly after, and never saying a prayer of thanksgiving. We shove the Eucharist in to fill ourselves with a sense of duty rather than fill ourselves with the source and summit of our existence. You could consume the Eucharist every day for forty years, but never once taste its divine flavor.

We look to the Israelites in the Book of Exodus who after only a month of departing from Egypt complained of their hunger. They reminisced of the good o’le days of slavery where they could have their fill of meat and bread, even though shackled to Egypt.
“The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of famine!” (Exodus 16:3).

God heard their cries and rained down Manna, bread from heaven, and quail to feed his people. Yet, the Israelites were still unsatisfied. They ate the Manna to nourish their bodies, not their souls. It wasn't long after this that they all abandoned God and started worshiping a golden calf. They became indifferent.

Now flash forward to Jesus in the Gospel of John. After Jesus fed the group of 5,000 people he crossed the sea in the middle of the night. The people woke up the next day freaking out that Jesus was gone. They sought him out and crossed to Capernaum looking for him.

“And when they found him across the sea they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’ Jesus answered them and said, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not
because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled” (Jn 6:25-26).

And a little later he explains…

“I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living
bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:48-51).  

Jesus addressed them about their first meal, the Manna. Now he gives them the main course, his own body. The Manna was meant to nourish the physical bodies of the Israelites in preparation for the Promised Land,a land flowing with milk and honey, and the Eucharist is now meant to nourish our souls in preparation for eternal life, a wedding banquet.

True Hunger

It all comes down to whether we are truly hungry. Having a daily relationship with God is a great thing, but we cannot think that that alone is enough. God wants to feed us with his own body not just every Sunday, but every day. There is always a mass going on around the world. The sacrifice of Jesus is constantly being commemorated and his body continues to be broken for us so that we can journey through the desert of our life circumstances. Jesus is offering to satisfy the hungriest parts of our soul, the despair, doubt, and hurt, but what are we truly hungry for? Are we going to Christ to be fed or do we look for alternatives? Jesus offers us a grand feast at a wedding banquet and many times we turn to the dumpster.

Mass as the “showy hour on Sunday”

“When we eat natural food we change the food into us, when we eat the Eucharist its Jesus changing us into him.” – St. Augustine

Jesus wants to feed us as a family. When we consume the Eucharist we are uniting ourselves not only to Him, but to each other. Think about it, the Eucharist was established at the Last Supper, but as the first Thanksgiving. Eucharist means "thanksgiving". It was prepared for the Apostles on Passover. Jesus consecrated the bread and the wine for them and they all ate together. Later he would give up his body on the cross and act as the sacrificial lamb that was to be slaughtered and consumed at every Passover. The consecration of the bread and the wine would forever be the Sacrament that would feed all his children with his very flesh and blood, sustaining one’s spiritual life.

The mass is an anticipation of the heavenly banquet that awaits us. We are called to attend, participate, and consume “Thanksgiving” itself. That “showy hour on Sunday” is so much more than what it is given credit for.

“We all eat the one bread, and this means that we ourselves become one. In this way, adoration, as we said earlier, becomes union. God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him. His dynamic enters into us and then seeks to spread outwards to others until it fills the world, so that his love can truly become the dominant measure of the world.” (Benedict XVI, Homily at Marienfeld, Twentieth World Youth Day [August 21, 2005])

Our Community

What would our poem look like if we took the Eucharist seriously as Christians?

The Eucharist is the symbol of our life. We eat the Eucharist daily. There are different rites of Mass, but we are one as the Eucharist eating community. The Eucharist is the symbol of celebration. We express our joy of harvest with it. There are many sufferings in the Church, but we anticipate the time of cosmic celebration...the wedding banquet!

That “showy hour on Sunday” is our true Thanksgiving Day. We gather our families and eat a meal prepared for us by our heavenly Father. We do not need to over eat because God knows exactly what we need to be filled.

                 Not buying the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? 

                                      Click here for better answers

So AMC’s “The Walking Dead” had its Season 4 premiere this month. The show’s success is not that surprising seeing as zombie flicks have captivated audiences for generations. I have been fascinated by this show since the pilot. The art design is incredible, providing cinematic visuals to chaos and destruction. There are character stories hidden in the set designs fueling the interest of the observer. The horror is displayed on two levels; human and zombie. Creator Frank Darabont is a master at revealing the inner revulsion of a human being consumed by fear. The surviving characters become intertwined in a struggle for power, leading to brutality, corruption, and injustice among a civilization ruled by the dead. In many ways, each character is challenged to face their own morality, some choosing good and many choosing evil.

The second element of horror comes from the zombies. These revolting mindless drones driven only by the desire to feed provide for effective nightmares…I've had several. There is something purely horrific about human bodies becoming reanimated after death. As a culture we are fascinated by it. Why? I believe it’s because a zombie represents a person’s greatest fear. Not bodily death, but eternal death.

In the show, several characters go through a denial process when a loved one “turns”, becomes a zombie. Morgan fights against his inability to kill his zombified wife, Andrea struggles to cope after she is forced to kill her “undead” sister, and the Governor keeps his daughter chained up in his closet after she has “turned”. Zombie grief is much different from regular grief. Regular grief consists usually of denial, anger, depression and acceptance. You may attend a funeral, visit a grave-site pray often, and continue to talk with the departed after their gone. There is usually no time limit.

The process of zombie grief consists of all those, but within a matter of minutes with the possibility of having to shoot a temporally resurrected body in the head. Recognizing that the spiritual element of a person no longer exists in their body is horrific in itself. Many of the kids in this current season begin naming the zombies because they can’t understand what they are.

"The Walking Dead" reveals some interesting Christian themes. The scariest part of  a zombie is the lack of a soul.  A zombie is a visual representation of eternal death, as presented in the Book of Genesis.

“The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.” Gen 2:16-17

Adam was commanded not to sin or else he would suffer death. How was Adam to understand death, when death did not exist yet? Furthermore, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree, they didn't physically die? Why not? It seems God was speaking of a spiritual death, not physical death. A zombie is the perfect visual for what spiritual death can look like. Without dying physically, one can die spiritually due to sin.

"Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness." - Rom 6:12-14

Christianity presents Jesus as the second Adam who absorbed this kind of death and redeemed mankind for those who freely accept it. Jesus's resurrection is the proof of eternal life and is offered to all. Death, in this case, does not have to be scary anymore; however, I believe there is a commonality in humans of a deep understanding of this spiritual death, having been passed down from our first ancestors. It is from this wellspring of fear that causes our fascination with zombies. Seeing a reanimated body subconsciously reminds us of what we have lost. It's kind of like that person who constantly brings up your shortcomings in front of others. You are filled with shame and fear. Yet, there is hope.

“The Walking Dead” presents us with a great opportunity to put together our own escape plan. Not to escape a real life zombie Apocalypse (Although it could happen…read here), but to escape a life of spiritual death.

What’s your escape plan?

 When I was ten years old I had a direct encounter with a ghost. My brother and I were playing in the attic of our three-story house on 2096 Wall St., Rahway NJ Google Earth it). The attic was our bedroom (Yup...this is already a horror story). Anyway, there were steep stairs leading up to the bedroom from the third floor walk way. My brother and I were playing Power Rangers as usual and I ended up pushing him down the stairs. He tumbled all the way to the bottom hitting his head against the door.

He began to cry and I, like any good brother, ran and hid from the impending doom that awaited me by my parents. My mother heard his cries and ran upstairs.

She opened the door and saw my brother crying, but with a pale white face. I felt the grip of her eye contact lock around my neck, but quickly release itself. For my brother spoke, "Mommy, a lady kissed me."

It was known that our old Jersey house had a ghost lady who walked the third story in a white night gown. She had been seen by my uncle, my grandmother, my mother, my cousin, my cousin’s friend, and now my brother. I prayed that I would never see her because I was too frightened, but my brother’s words were enough to send shivers through my body for years and instill the fear of sleeping in my room ever again. 

Was it a ghost? I've always ask myself that, if so how can I as a Catholic understand it? Does the Catholic Church even recognize the existence of ghosts?

I decided to do a little research using some great references.

What do you mean by Ghost?

First of all, when we talk about ghosts what do we really mean?  "Ghost" is simply the German-derived equivalent of the Latin-derived word "Spirit." 

That's why the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost. Originally in English "ghost" and "spirit" referred to the same thing. So if by "Ghost" we are referring to "disembodied spirits" the YES, the Catholic Church believes in ghosts.

One of the members of the Holy Trinity is called a Ghost!

Where do we go when we die?

The Church has always taught that there is a place that God has prepared for us after this life when entering death. Heaven was opened for all disembodied spirit

s who died prior to Jesus’ death when Jesus descended into hell and brought the awaiting spirits to his heavenly Father. After death, the body stays behind and awaits it’s resurrection at the end of the age, but the spirit, which is eternal, is accepted into heaven with the communion of Saints and the Angels.

 “For we know that if our earthly house this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1

Does the Sixth Sense make sense?

 Okay, if that is so, then what is the deal with all of these Ghost’s that are seen back here on earth? Are they spirits that are stuck between worlds, ghosts with unfinished business as seen in Casper, or energy fields left behind from deceased person? In the film “The Sixth Sense” we are introduced to a little boy who can “see dead people”, that is the invisible part of human being after death. The ghosts usually don’t know they are dead and seek him out for a kind of resolution to their after-life. Is this possible? Can a spirit still roam the earth after death as in the “Sixth Sense”? Well I picked this out of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

(CCC 1021) Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ. The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul—a destiny which can be different for some and for others.

(CCC 1022) Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a purification or immediately, or immediate and everlasting damnation.

So according to the Catholic Church’s teachings, there cannot be ghosts who linger around the earth lost, confused, with no place to go, or with a form of “unfinished business”. At the time of death, a spirit will know exactly where it should be based on their merits in the life they led. So how does that explain what my brother saw or what millions of others have seen throughout the centuries?

There are 3 Explanations the Church Offers

"Spirit is of three kinds: the human spirit which combined with body make up a human being; the defined spirit that has no body, such as angels; and the infinite Spirit, or God, of Whom the Third Person is the Holy Ghost" - Fr. John Hardon

#1 Angels and the Communion of Saints

The appearance of a Ghost could be a vision of an angel or a saint. Angels have the ability to appear to human beings with God’s permission delivering divine messages. Think of the Archangel Gabriel’s message to Mary in Luke 1 or the two angel’s appearance to Mary Magdalene in John 20.

(CCC 329)  St. Augustine says: "'Angel' is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is 'spirit'; if you seek the name of their office, it is 'angel': from what they are, 'spirit', from what they do, 'angel.'“

With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God.

So Angels are spirits and can also be called Ghosts. As defined by the Eastern

Church, a Saint is any person in heaven. If a Saint is in heaven and there body is still here on earth, they too can be called ghosts.

(CCC 956) The intercession of the saints.  “Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us.

Saints and Angels can communicate with human beings. These would be the friendly ghosts who are seeking to help rather than to harm.

“Christianity believes that God may, and sometimes does, permit a departed soul to appear in some visible form to people on earth. Allowing for legend and illusion, there is enough authentic evidence, for example in the lives of the saints, to indicate that such apparitions occur. Their purpose may be to teach or warn, or request some favor of the living” (Fr. John A. Hardon,

SJ,)

Ghosts and the Scriptures

The Bible has its very own Ghost story found in 1 Samuel 28:1-25. A brief overview: King Saul turned to the Witch of Endor to call upon the dead soul of the prophet Samuel. “Whom do you want me to conjure up?” the woman asked him. “Conjure up Samuel for me,” he replied... Samuel appears and tells Saul that God said he will lose the war against the Philistines and hand Israel over to David, the new King. Samuel appears to Saul as a ghost, but with permission from God to deliver a divine message to Saul.

“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."  Luke 24:38-40

Jesus even speaks about ghosts with his disciples. “When they saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:25-27

The disciples thought Jesus was a ghost and they were afraid. Why were they afraid? Because they believed in Ghosts. Jesus did not rebuke them for thinking he was a Ghost, instead he just calmed them down and let them know it was Him. If the concept of a disembodied spirit is so unbiblical why did Jesus let his disciples believe such things exist without correction? In scripture, Heavenly messengers always say “Be not afraid. Interesting.

#2 Purgatory

Purgatory is simple to understand, but I get why some Christian denominations dispute it. In order to purify flesh you must heat it. When you cook a steak, the fire kills the bacteria that is on it. Humans are not steaks to be consumed, but we are flesh to be communed. In order for us to get back into the full presence of God and the communion of Saints, we must first be purified with God’s love if we die with the stain of sin. Think of the Seraphim, the burning ones, who are noted to serve God in the Old

Testament. They are Angels that are so close to God that they are on fire.

Souls in purgatory have been reported to appear to those on earth in the state of purgation. Eyewitnesses, such as St. Faustina, attest to encounters of purgative souls ablaze in flame who come seeking prayers. Purgatory is a very hard concept for many non-Catholics and many Catholics, but it is one of the oldest teachings of the Church. The Magisterium and Tradition of the Church confirm the existence of purgatory. 

Church Fathers such as, Tertullian (Rome, 160 - 220?), Origen

(Alexandria, 185 - 254?), Cyprian (Carthage, 200 - 258), Ambrose (Tier,

340 - 397), Augustine (Numidia, 354 - 430), Basil (Caesarea, 329 - 379),

Gregory of Nazianzus (in Cappadocia, 329 - 389), John Chrysostom

(Antioch, 349 - 407), Gregory the Great (Rome, 540 - 604) all confirmed the existence of purgatory.

Council of Lyons II (1274) stated “We believe ... that the souls, by the purifying compensation are purged after death.”

Council of Florence - Repeated the Council of Lyons II.

Council of Trent (1545-1563) “We constantly hold that purgatory exists, and that the souls of the faithful there detained are helped by the prayers of the faithful.”

(CCC 1031) The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned. The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of cleansing fire.  As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.

(CCC 1072) To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the "eternal punishment" of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the "temporal punishment" of sin.

Yes, even the Bible speaks of purgatory: “Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble – each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1 Cor 3:12-15

Could Purgatory explain the ghosts that appear in the Sixth Sense for example?

Visions of Ghosts in Purgatory

Many saints have attested to having visions of ghosts in purgatory. In the words of St. Faustina:

"One night, a sister who had died two months previously came to me. She was a sister of the first choir. I saw her in a terrible condition, all in flames with her face painfully distorted. This lasted only a short time, and then she disappeared. A shudder went through my soul because I did not know whether she was suffering in purgatory or in hell. Nevertheless, I redoubled my prayers for her.

"After some time she came back again to me during the night, but already her appearance had changed. There were no longer any flames, as there had been before, and her face was radiant, her eyes beaming with joy. She told me that I had a true love for my neighbor and that many other souls had profited from my prayers. She urged me not to cease praying for the souls in purgatory, and she added that she herself would not remain there much longer. How astounding are the decrees of God!"

Purgatory Museum

Okay, one of the creepiest things I have ever discovered is the Museo Del Purgatorio, or "Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory. It further explains the crossing over of Purgative souls into our realm, but still with the permission of God to deliver a message. The Museum is located in the back of the Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio on the banks of the Tiber. What’s inside you ask? The museum showcases items that have been singed by human souls in purgatory. Bibles, clothing, and prayer books are some of the items on display.

IRONIC FACT: In 2007 the purgatory museum caught fire damaging a major painting and also “resulted in scorched fingerprints on prayer books, as well as singed clothes and burnt wood.”

For a good read and a further study on purgatory, check out Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory. After a week of hearing ghostly noises, a man is visited in his home by the spirit of his mother, dead for three decades. She reproaches him for his dissolute life and begs him to have Masses said in her name. Then she lays her hand on his sleeve, leaving an indelible burn mark, and departs... Gerard J M Van Den Aardweg

#3 Demons

“There are no good spirits other than angels; there are no evil spirits other than demons.” Fr. Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist for the Vatican

The final explanation of ghosts is what Hollywood loves to make movies about, demonic activity. Demons are fallen angels. When a third of the angels fell from the great battle in heaven, the demons did not lose their angelic powers given to them by God. Therefore, they are defined spirits, the same as angels. Demons will use human loss to enter in and even take the image of a passes loved one. What one may think is the spirit of their father, mother, or spouse could actually be a form of demonic trickery.

The popular idea that ghosts are the spirits of human souls who have died and are trapped here for some reason is not possible. They are much more likely to be demons disguising themselves as the “ghost” or spirit of a human being for the purpose of leading people away from the true faith.

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” - 2 Corinthians 11:14

Fr. Gabriele mentions in his book “An Exorcist Tells His Story” that demons are fallen angels cast down to earth awaiting appointed judgment. So they maintain the power that God has given them if even for only a brief time. Demons could mask their appearance and take the form of a loss loved one urging you to communicate with them. I used to have really crazy dreams and weird things happen to me when I was sleeping. One night the covers would be thrown off of me and I would be freezing, another I would feel as if someone were standing over me and be unable to move, another night I would have dreams of Satan ripping a rosary from my hands and throwing it to the floor. I promise I’m not crazy. When I told this to a priest friend of mine, he told me to do two things.

1)    Sleep with a St. Benedict cross

2)    Never communicate with the spirit (NEVER EVER)

3)    Pray “Hail Mary’s” while it happens to me

After following these suggestions, I have yet to encounter anything like that again. What stuck out to me was the fact that he told me never to communicate with any spirit that I thought was there. It is a way of letting something in that should not be. This goes for playing with Ouija boards, attempting sorcery or black magic.

(CCC 2117) We are never to never conjure up the dead, leaving room for demon trickery.

Haunted Houses

What about Haunted houses? In American Horror Story Season One, the entire house is haunted by the souls of those who died in there. This is what Fr. Gabriele Amorth calls Diabolic Infestation. In this case, the malefic activity is directed toward places (houses, offices, stores, fields), objects (cars, pillows, mattresses, dolls) and animals, therefore it only indirectly affects man. Therefore Haunted Houses can exist that are filled with demonic presences, not a trapped human soul wandering earth. If you ever seen American Horror Story, you will know that right off of the bat, those presences are completely demonic.  

If you believe your house may be haunted, don’t take it lightly. Get a priest or Deacon to clean your house!

Conclusion

Ephesians 6:11Put you on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.

You have probably read this passage dozens of times, but have you paid attention to what St. Paul lists as who we wrestle with? He says Principalities and Powers, two hierarchies of Angels. Remember that the fallen angels (demons) retain their power given to them from God. So we are indeed in a spiritual battle against them.

So, yes the Catholic Church absolutely does believe in a spiritual realm. This realm is inhabited by human spirits, defined spirits (Angels and Demons) and the infinite Spirit, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Does it explain it all? No, the spiritual realm is certainly a mystery and there may be more things at play that we do not yet understand. The Church’s teaching is based on Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium. If we knew it all then what would we need God for?

Final Notes:

Judgment after death is immediate. God can allow, for various reasons, a deceased human soul to interact with living beings.

There cannot be souls who roam the earth with “unfinished business”.

We are not to seek out deceased souls.

Reflect upon: How would you interpret “The Sixth Sense” with the Catholic understanding of Ghosts?

   

References:

 Cathechism of the Catholic Church

The Holy Bible

"An Exorcist Tells His Story" - Fr. Gabriele Amorth

The Diary of St. Faustina