New age deception

Catholics who know their faith well are not likely to be misled by New Age paganism . . .

Moira Noonan

Moira Noonan had been immersed in the New Age movement and its practices for 25 years before a remnant of truth from her Catholic school days made her take a second look at her life.

“I said, ‘Thank you, Sacred Heart nuns from second grade,’” recalled Noonan, author of Ransomed from Darkness: The New Age, Christian Faith and the Battle for Souls. “I had some shred of faith left after being completely brainwashed by the New Age mindset.”

Spiritual fraud

Noonan’s foray into the New Age began in earnest when she sought treatment at a hypnosis clinic after an auto accident. It ended when she was told that the Blessed Virgin Mary was the “heaven goddess” who had come down to meet the “mother earth goddess.”

“My reaction was: There’s no way,” Noonan said, adding that she knew Mary was not a goddess. If this was a lie, she thought, “What else have I been taught that’s a lie?”

She started questioning everything she had embraced — religious science, hypnotherapy, clairvoyance, spiritual channeling, Reiki, crystals and more — and soon rejected it all before returning to the Catholic faith.

Since then, Noonan has been on a mission to warn Catholics about the dangers of dabbling in the New Age. Even a little New Age practice mixed with Catholicism can affect one’s attitude toward the faith, she said, leading to a superstitious rather than a sacramental life.

Others similarly concerned about the impact of the New Age agree that Catholics need to be wary, especially in today’s culture.

“The New Age permeates so much of what’s out there right now in just the popular literature,” said Fr. Leo Walsh, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Whether it’s television documentaries on the Gnostic gospels, Oprah Winfrey promoting A Course in Miracles, yoga classes at fitness centers or Reiki treatments at retreat houses, Catholics are likely to encounter the New Age wherever they go.

Father Walsh, a business graduate who worked closely with personnel directors in his former career, said New Age thinking also has crept into organizational behavior through the use of motivational videos that promote self-actualization and releasing the “power of the inner self.” Businesses trying to help employees reach their full potential, thus improving company performance, may buy into such programs without realizing that the ideas they contain are not compatible with Christianity.

“Augustine said the joy of God is the human being fully alive,” Fr. Walsh said. “But for us, how you do that is very different.” The New Age approach is based on the idea that each of us is God and we need to release “the God within.” But, he added, “There is a distinction between releasing and becoming a human being fully alive and naming yourself as God.”

Countering paganism

Fr. Mitch Pacwa

Father Mitch Pacwa, EWTN host and author of Catholics and the New Age, said business people may also encounter New Age influences through personality testing devices like the Enneagram, which identifies nine character types. The Enneagram has been used by some Catholic spiritual and retreat directors, but a 2003 Vatican document on the New Age, Jesus Christ: The Bearer of the Water of Life, cautions that it “introduces an ambiguity in the doctrine and the life of the Christian faith.”

To discern whether a practice fosters New Age thinking counter to their faith, Catholics need to be aware of the kinds of beliefs implicit in the movement.

For example, Fr.Walsh said, “The New Age sees everything as a cosmic whole, the idea that all is one.” It proclaims that there is no personal God, but rather an energy that binds everything together — an energy which humans should be in harmony with. “Everything is God, therefore you are God, God is in you, and enlightenment is unleashing the God within you. When you hear this, you’re crossing into hard-core New Age.”

Another thing to look for, Fr. Walsh said, is the suggestion that all religions are true, or that Jesus is just one of many “Christs.” Similarly, much of New Age thought plays down the notion of sin, he said, viewing it as the result of disharmony within.

“When I can depersonalize God as just an energetic life force,” he said, “you can see that I don’t have to respond to the love of that God. I can just turn within. And if sin and evil are simply a result of disharmony, there is no compulsion to act for justice and speak for those who cannot speak.”

Both Noonan and Fr.Walsh recommend reading Jesus Christ: The Bearer of the Water of Life, which describes the characteristics of New Age spirituality and contrasts it with the Christian faith. In addition, the U.S. bishops recently issued a document explaining why the New Age practice of Reiki, a therapy that seeks to improve “life energy flow,” is incompatible with Christian teaching.

Mark Shea, a Catholic author and apologist, said Catholics who don’t know and understand what the Church teaches, especially about sacramentality, are vulnerable to the New Age.

“The primary thing I notice about the New Age is that it begins as an attempt at sacramentality without God,” he said. “What happens is the ancient mistake of paganism, which is to worship the creature instead of the Creator because we’re creatures who can’t help but worship something.”

To counter New Age influences, Fr.Walsh said, “Know the teachings of the Church. Where people get into trouble is they’re not well-formed in the faith, so they’re subject to anything exotic or that seems to have some sort of plausibility to it. That can sometimes be hazardous and lead one away from revealed truths.”

“Study the real thing,” Fr. Pacwa advised. “We must know our Catholic faith extremely well and accept it on the terms by which God has given it to us, not try to reduce it to our terms.”

Judy Roberts is a Legatus Magazine staff writer.

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Resources

familyland.tv will air six television shows on the New Age in 2010 featuring former New Ager Moira Noonan and Fathers Bernard Geiger and Kevin Barrett.

spiritbattleforsouls.org offers a link to the Vatican document on the New Age as well as other resources. Also see moiranoonan.com.

ignatiusproductions.org has books and CDs on New Age topics.