The Vatican's recent efforts to counteract the increasing
popularity of New Age spirituality may not yet constitute a
full-scale crusade, but it could be headed in that direction.
Recently, Pope John Paul II fervently warned a crowd of young
Catholics in Vatican City, “My dear young people, do not
yield to false illusions and passing fads which so frequently
leave behind a tragic spiritual vacuum!”
The Church's combative measures against what they call the
“esoteric cultural matrix” of the New Age began in
2003 with the release of a sixty-page report entitled,
“Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life: A
Christian Reflection on the 'New Age.'” The
product of six years of research by both the Pontifical Council
for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious
Dialogue, this document is a critically acute and comprehensive
study of the medley of movements and philosophies that have
informed the alternative spirituality movement, complete with an
appendix, a glossary, a section entitled “Key New Age
Places,” and an impressive ten pages of references. With
chapters like “Spiritual Narcissism?” and
“Wholeness: A Magical Mystery Tour,” the report is
fascinating reading for anyone interested in postmodern forms of
spirituality. But it is the last few sections, which include
point-by-point rebuttals of New Age principles, that are
especially revelatory.
For instance, the authors write, “New Age
truth is about good vibrations, cosmic correspondences,
harmony and ecstasy, in general pleasant experiences. It is a
matter of finding one's own truth in accordance with the
feel-good factor. Evaluating religion and ethical questions is
obviously relative to one's own feelings and experiences.”
The report then contrasts this highly subjective relationship to
spiritual truth with Christianity's nearly opposite perspective:
“Jesus Christ is presented in Christian teachings as 'The
Way, the Truth and the Life.' (John14:6) His followers are asked
to open their whole lives to him and to his values, in other
words, to an objective set of requirements which are part of an
objective reality ultimately knowable by all.”
While a lack of objectivity may indeed be a failing of New
Age philosophy, predictably the authors' only solution wears a
crown of thorns on his head. All the same, their critique
carries undeniable weight, not least because they are also
willing to turn a critical eye on themselves. For instance, they
admit that the “New Age is attractive mainly
because so much of what it offers meets hungers often left
unsatisfied by the established institutions.” And
they acknowledge that in the future, if the Church is going to
quench people's thirst for spiritual transcendence, its
representatives will have to become more authentic messengers of
God. “To those shopping around in the world's fair of
religious proposals,” they write, “the appeal of
Christianity will be felt first of all in the witness of the
members of the Church, in their trust, calm, patience and
cheerfulness, and in their concrete love of neighbor, all the
fruit of their faith nourished in authentic prayer.”
Despite such progressive sentiments, “Jesus Christ, the
Bearer of the Water of Life” is certainly no peace
offering to those who don't live by the Good Book, and the
authors' bottom line still reflects the exclusivism often
associated with the dominant voices in today's Vatican.
“People who wonder if it is possible to believe in both
Christ and Aquarius,” they write, “can only benefit
from knowing that this is very much an 'either-or'
situation.” Indeed, in the year since the report was
released, summits have been held for Catholics around the world
in order to come up with more concrete strategies in the battle
against alternative spirituality. Only time will tell if the
planets are aligned in their favor.