The New Age challenge

IN THE WORLD of religion today, an emerging phenomenon is making waves while creating grave concern on the part of Catholic Church authorities.

It goes by the name of New Age. The Vatican has issued a comprehensive, albeit provisional, document about it, asking one and all to be very careful with it.

"Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: A Christian reflection on the New Age" is worth the read, especially among priests who must feel the big challenge this phenomenon is posing.

The thing is that New Age has seeped into mainstream society, and even figures in some Catholic Church groups and seminaries. There are many who may not even know that what they have in their hands is New Age.

It's a strange creature, this New Age. One can't easily figure out whether it is an ideology or a movement or a fad or a cult. Much less easily can one figure out what is right and wrong with it.

It offers many good and legitimate elements, and people who claim to have benefited from it are many and are growing. Yet there definitely are dangerous and even clearly erroneous things in it. That's what the Vatican document says.

It defies conventional ways and norms, and this explains part of its attraction. That's why its elements are invading the fields of music, films, seminars, workshops, retreats, therapies, social events, etc. Perhaps the music you are enjoying now is New Age!

It's kind of dynamically formed, a rapidly evolving object, a moving cluster constantly gathering and discarding things. Some have described it as an umbrella of beliefs, doctrines, practices that just spontaneously get together by some strange logic.

What makes it generate some kind of life and dynamism of its own, when it has no official founder or one group orchestrating all its activities, is a question provoking deep curiosity on the part of Catholic Church authorities and other observers.

I myself believe that it simply cannot be explained in socio-economic and political terms. Much less could it be plain coincidence. There must be something deeper to all this, a proof that indeed in any given period there is an ethos or spirit, good or bad, that moves and shapes things in society.

I hope that with this phenomenon, people become more aware of what may be called as the "spirit of the times." We have to learn how to contend with it, and how to discern whether it is from God or from something else. This, of course, can be a very tough job! But it's worth all the effort.

The charm and attraction of the New Age is in its blend of things that are popular with the people. It looks like it has something for everyone, irrespective of how one is. It can be the collective projection of people's desires and longings.

There is something ancient and new in it, something oriental and Christian, something mystical and even magical. It appears to be quite promiscuous, not beholden to any set of doctrine. It can collect and discard anything, just so it can be practical and popular.

It seems to embody the world spirit that has all the wisdom and prudence of the world. It offers things that are at once very reasonable, comfortable, practical, popular and mystical. It can give the sensation of satisfying inner human yearnings.

But what is dangerous about it is that it turns more to psychology than to faith and theology, to man and oneself than to God, to success and feeling good than to sacrifice and the cross.

Its God is not a transcendent being, but all of us together in some perfect form. Therapies, healing sessions and communication with the spiritual world often replace prayer, the sacraments and spiritual direction.

Some forms of it even play with witchcraft and Satanism. Others are nothing other than attempts to legitimize pure and simple superstitions.

It relies more on the stars and some world energy or force emitted from some source rather than on grace, divine revelation and scripture and Church magisterium. It believes in the reincarnation rather than in the resurrection of the dead on the last day.

It takes pride in producing men with attitude, men who want to experiment and build their own subcultures or ghettos. It scorns those who are meek, simple, mild and docile.

One gets the impression that part of its "success" is its ability to capture many people's curiosity that had been nourished and nurtured through these years by popular things like the horoscope, feng shui, pranic healing, enneagram, palm reading, tarot cards, crystal balls, etc.

It's a tougher world, now that we are in the third millennium. Religious leaders are especially challenged to be more consistent to their faith and more able to answer the questions and satisfy the longings of the man of today.

Yes, they have to learn to be very open to everyone and everything. But they too have to be quick to discern what is right and wrong, what is safe and dangerous. What a challenge!