What is the New Age Movement? (Asked by Raffy Ortega, SE-4)

What is the New Age Movement?


The New Age Movement (NAM) is not one movement. It is like a river with many tributaries and it is very difficult to know which tributary you are in, or even whether you are in the main river itself. The NAM has no founder, no headquarters, no holy books, no leaders, and no dogmas. It is associated with the development of consciousness, importance of spiritual experiences, mysticism and anti-consumerism, as well as gurus, holistic health spas, psychics, crystals, charms, and tarot cards; not to mention UFO’s and ET’s.

The term “New Age” seems to have been coined by one of the successors of Madame H. P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) who is considered the “godmother of the New Age Movement.” Supposedly inspired by telepathic messages coming from a Tibetan master, this successor proclaimed the return of Christ, who will inaugurate a new age.[1]

Can you at least give me a definition?

While NAM is eclectic (that is, it combine individual elements from many sources), Lode Wostyn came up with the following definition which is helpful in categorizing the various thoughts that could be considered “new age”:[2]

The NAM is new spirituality of people convinced that they have arrived at a turning point in history, triggered off by a new holistic understanding of the world and the universe. This is because of the awakening of a new consciousness among individuals who then link up into all kinds of groups, organization, and communities, and gradually developing into networks.

What does the Catholic Church say about NAM?

One way that the Vatican document on “A Christian Reflection on the ‘New Age’” describes NAM is as the return of Gnosticism, a philosophy that St. Paul had to counter during his preaching. Gnosticism refers to a religious creed in which salvation is ascribed to the possession of a superior, spiritual knowledge (the Greek word gnosis) which bring human beings into immediate contact with the divine.[3] It believes that human beings have a divine spark in themselves, but it is caught within the evil material world; through gnosis, however, people can re-establish contact with their divine origin, free themselves from the material world, and become one with the divine.[4]

The key problems of NAM and its conflicts with our Catholic religion are in the following areas:

1. Theology – Rejects the otherness of God. If everything is God and God is everything, it also means that God comes in many forms. Grants relative value to all religions, denying Jesus as the fullness of revelation.

2. Spirituality – One of the most common elements in New Age “spirituality” is a fascination with extraordinary manifestations, and in particular with paranormal entities. People recognised as “mediums” claim that their personality is taken over by another entity during trances in a New Age phenomenon known as “channeling”, during which the medium may lose control over his or her body and faculties.[5] accepts many cultic and occultic practices rejected by Scriptures and the Church like sorcery and fortune-telling.

3. Ethics – Human actions are the fruit of either illumination or ignorance. Hence we cannot condemn anyone, and nobody needs forgiveness. Believing in the existence of evil can create only negativity and fear. The answer to negativity is love.[6]

Is NAM all bad?

It is also important to understand that the NAM was a reaction to the modern Western culture of science, technology and rationalism which offered much in terms of consumption, yet so little in terms of meaning. The NAM can be described as a contemporary movement which attempts to answer the old questions of meaning in our personal and social life. This search for answers influences the spiritual aspects of our humanity such as yearning for ultimate meaning, our interconnectedness with the universe and with each other, mystical experiences, millenarianism (or the dawning of the “age of Aquarius”), and transcendence. Indeed, the Church admits that the “New Age is attractive mainly because so much of what it offers meets hungers often left unsatisfied by the established institutions.”[7]

Importantly, our Church considers the popularity of NAM as conveying a message, which challenges all Christians: People feel the Christian religion no longer offers them – or perhaps never gave them – something they really need. The search which often leads people to the New Age is a genuine yearning: for a deeper spirituality, for something which will touch their hearts, and for a way of making sense of a confusing and often alienating world.[8]

What can I do when I meet someone who believes in NAM?

The problems that the Church finds in NAM are NOT in the questions that it raises regarding how life should be lived, but in the answers that it provides, as enumerated above.

The challenge then, is for you and our Church to be able to provide the “better” answers that NAM believers find in NAM. To those who adhere to NAM, 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 neighbour, all the fruit of their faith nourished in authentic personal prayer.[9]

Practical tip for the Single: New Age groups refer to their meetings as “prayer groups”. Those people who are invited to such groups need to look for the marks of genuine Christian spirituality, and to be wary if there is any sort of initiation ceremony. Such groups take advantage of a person's lack of theological or spiritual formation to lure them gradually into what may in fact be a form of false worship. Christians must be taught about the true object and content of prayer – in the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, to the Father – in order to judge rightly the intention of a “prayer group”.


Sources:

1. The article “A Christian Reflection on the ‘New Age’” by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious dialogue, as published by the Vatican

2. A New Church for a New Age by Lode Wostyn (Manila: Claretian Publications, 1997), and

3. My personal notes during a Shepherds’ Deepening Course conducted in our Renewal Movement in September 2000.

[1] Wostyn, p. 14.
[2] Wostyn, p. 35.
[3] Wostyn, p. 15.
[4] Wostyn, p. 15.
[5] A Christian Reflection, 2.2.1.
[6] A Christian Reflection, 2.2.2.
[7] A Christian Reflection, 1.1.
[8] A Christian Reflection, 1.5.
[9] A Christian Reflection, 6.2.

How do we interpret events that happen to us? Is it God's will or our free will? (Asked by Sonny Santiago, SE-9)

Since we believe that events in our lives happen because it is God's will, how does this jive with our "free will?" Are we truly making "free will" decisions or is it all "God's will?" To simplify: "God's will" versus "free will" - which one is it really?

One of the greatest birthday gifts that God gave us is our free will, or our freedom. Freedom does not mean the freedom to do whatever we want, but the power to choose what is good. Because of our freedom, we are not just subject to our human instincts which are often based on "me first." As Catholics, we believe that we receive this power in a very special way during baptism and we are able to counter "original sin," the tendency of humanity to be selfish.

At the same time, God who is love, also gave us the freedom to choose NOT to love God back. This is true love, isn't it? If God simply programmed us to love God back, then what kind of love would that be?

Therefore, God’s gift to us is not just God’s love, but the freedom to accept or reject that love.

Regarding God's will, don't look at it in terms of the predictability of the specific events that happens in one's life. We are not living life which has been predetermined in God’s heavenly videotape. For example, you applied for a job and were not accepted. We often attribute that to God's will, but it could simply be because you really do not qualify for that job.

Rather, look at God's will as God's ultimate intent to bring YOU and all of humanity back to God. God does not often work in a straight sequence, that is from A to B to C and so on until you reach Z. Life is not like that. Instead, we often go from A to B to C and then back to B and even to A. But God's intent is always for you to reach Z. It is not beyond God to take you from A straight to K then to W, only for you to take yourself back to C. God does not give up; it is God's will to eventually take you to Z.

Look at the A, B, C and so on as the different people and events in our lives. God communicates to us through the people and events that happen in our life. (Come to think of it, how else can God communicate to us?) Our sensitivity to God's presence, and the strength of our personal relationship with him, help us reflect and interpret God's will in these people and events. When we conform our free will with God's will, then we make progress. If we don't, then we backtrack. Hopefully, by being in the Singles Apostolate, you can continue to grow in this relationship with God.

While God's will is for you to be with God, you can always say NO. You can always say "No, thanks, but I don't want God's love." The irony is that God loves us so much that God allows you to reject that love.

Finally, we believe that we find true happiness when we conform our free will (or freedom) with God's will. That is why we discern God's purpose for our lives. While we know that it is God's ultimate intent for all of us to be with God, we discern daily how to be with God. Discerning God's will presupposes that you have a relationship with God, since it is quite difficult to know someone's will for you if you don't know that person.

So, back to your question: "when things happen to us, is it free will or God's will?" The answer is: both. God is communicating to us all the time through people and events, and is leading us closer to God. If you take God’s cue, then you can conform your free will to God's will.

- Written by Manny Blas

Can non-Catholics go to heaven? (Asked by Paul Meim, SE-1 and Lourdes Mapa, SE-1)

Could my non-Catholic friends (Born again/Protestant/Muslim) still go to heaven even if they have not accepted our Catholic faith? (Asked by Paul Meim, SE-1)

It says in the bible the 10 commandments can be summed up into two. Love the Lord your God with all your mind, heart, and soul. Second love your neighbor as yourself. If this is so, is it then possible for non-Catholics who live their lives practicing these two commandments to also go to heaven also? (Asked by Lourdes Mapa, SE-1)

Our Catholic Church used to say that “outside our church there is no salvation.” There is no longer any mention of this position in any document during and after Second Vatican Council (or Vatican II, held in 1963-65). The Catechism for Filipino Catholics (or CFC), the Catechism of the Catholic Church (or CCC), the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (or PCP II), and other Church documents all state a more accepting and respectful position of other religions. (All underscoring are mine)

- While our Catholic Church is the ordinary means of salvation (meaning, the Church has the means in how we can reach God), “this salvation through Jesus Christ is offered to all peoples, and this makes possible our openness in understanding the religious convictions of others.” (CFC, 75) Underscore mine.

- "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day." (CCC, No. 841, quoting Lumen Gentium).

- "Even for those who do not explicitly profess faith in him as the Savior, salvation comes as a grace from Jesus Christ through the communication of the Holy Spirit." (Ecclesia in Asia by JPII, No. 14).

- "The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions [referring to Hinduism, Buddhism in the earlier paragraph]. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men." (Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, No. 2, or the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non Christian Religions.).

- "The Synod Fathers drew attention to the multiple and diversified action of the Holy Sprit who continually sows the seeds of truth among all peoples, their religions, their cultures and philosophies. This means that these religions, cultures and philosophies are capable of helping people, individually and collectively, to work against evil and to serve life and everything that is good." (Ecclesia in Asia by JPII, No. 15)


In over simplistic terms, it is difficult to condemn the people of other faiths, considering that there are 6 billion people in the world, with only 1 billion Catholics. Can you imagine our God, who is Father of all and is a God of love, would condemn the 5 billion?

Nevertheless, it should also be emphasized that the above does not mean that we should stop our evangelizing efforts, for indeed it is also stated that "the Church's faith in Jesus is a gift received and a gift to be shared; it is the greatest gift which the Church can offer to Asia" (Ecclesia in Asia by JPII, No. 10).

It also states that our acceptance of other religions does not exempt us from our "duty to proclaim without fail, Christ who is the way, the truth and the life." (Nostra Aetate, No. 2)

However, we cannot convert other religions if we adopt a "holier than thou" attitude. Instead, we should adopt a position of mutual respect and charity: "We cannot truly pray to God the Father of all if we treat any people in other than brotherly fashion, for all men are created in God's image." (Nostra Aetate, No. 5)