St. Joan's Discusses THE DA VINCI CODE
Thursday September 25th, 2003

First I must endeavor to describe the book, and why a group may assemble at a Catholic Church to discuss it. Foremost the book is a reasonably-well written murder mystery which starts out at the Louvre Museum in Paris. A curator is found dead and a cryptologist is brought in to assist in the case. As it turns out he is also a suspect. The story involves an homage to Leonardo di Vinci who is known to be a prankster who left messages in some of his most famous paintings. An analysis of The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and Madonna on the Rocks illustrates that Leonardo was suspected to be a member of the Priory of Sion, a secret society which descended from the bloodline of the marriage union of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. A Bishop in Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic organization actually arranged the events leading to the murder of the museum curator following an ultimatum from the Vatican. The motivation for the murders was to gain information about the possessors of the Holy Grail which by legend involved the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. Additionally the Grail is believed to contain information regarding the descendants of offspring of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Moreover, the book asserts that the early Church, dating back to Constantine was involved in a conspiracy to suppress notions of feminine goddess-worship. It also implies that today's Church maintains efforts to prevent any revelation about this manipulation of knowledge.

Perhaps you can see a hint of notions which could challenge traditional Catholic teaching! That Jesus was married with children, and that the Church conspired to suppress the truth and offers instead an imaginary view of Jesus and faith could be troubling to some! Even the publication The Catholic Spirit felt compelled to post reviews of the book, although often avoiding controversy by merely commenting on its' literary shortcomings.

The discussion, after an introduction by Tom, proceeded with Margaret posing a question for small-group discussion. Let's suppose that the conjecture in the book was entirely true, not true at all or even half-true...SO WHAT?!? What are the implications of these notions? How would it change your lives, it at all? I heard discussions which examined the possible matrimony of Jesus. It was pointed out that in first-century Palestine a preacher of any stature would not have been respected were he not married...it would have been highly unusual for a 30+ year-old man not to have taken a spouse. Other ideas approached the challenge of a more maternal church. Which is more troublesome, a human Jesus? The greater regard for women in the Church? Was the Bible intentionally cleansed of the influences of women?

There was obviously much to discuss. Margaret and Tom continued by offering other resources to study issues involving Secret Societies, the Priory of Sion (still thought by many to exist), Opus Dei (an actual, certified, and influential group supported by the Vatican), and Mary Magdalene herself. Handouts included a nice bibliography of related reading, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene which was discovered among several Gnostic/Essene writings uncovered in Egypt in 1945 (just prior to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls). We got a quick overview of the legend of the Holy Grail (which seem to date back to the 6th Century) and talked briefly of The Da Vinci Codes' look at Leonardo's painting of the Last Supper suggesting that Mary Magdalene herself appears at the right hand of Jesus. Fortunately the evenings participants did not come expecting Yes/No answers.

Margaret offered a view that it is vital to understand that we are looking at the events of the life of Jesus through lenses/filters of 2000 years. We need to understand the worldview of that time. We don't have lots of facts and must take information provided as pieces of a puzzle. How, for example, does our modern society deal with a culture based on a tradition of "might makes right" and reckon it with our lives today? Most of the claims in The Da Vinci Code are not really new; Secret Societies, the Knights Templar, the Holy Grail and such are legends that have been around for some time.

When Tom put forth the question of whether the Church was responsible for knowingly and purposefully suppressing the Divine Feminine, he offered a somewhat surprising "No" answer. He suggested instead that, in the suppression of the feminine, the Church was reflective of business, culture and society at the time and that the Church was following that trend. He added that perhaps the modern Church is even more guilty than the 3rd Century Church Fathers. Margaret added that this is more complex than a yes or a no answer. Church leaders were reflections of the times -- a very patriarchal society trying to bring control to a might makes right world. They weren't conspiring to do something different than everyone else in a society that was suppressing the feminine. Riane Eisler calls this an example of the dominator society. Jesus was trying to model something different.

A few days after the session, Margaret commented that this is one area she wished they had had more time to explore since you really need to look at the whole history. The book makes it seem like, Peter was just jealous of Magdalene and so the early church manipulated everything. That is pretty simplistic. Much of the doctrine about Jesus as divine and women's role was developed 100 years or more after Peter's death. If you look at the powerful role the church accepted for Mary the mother, the adoration of her in all the cathedrals and the current movement to name her Co-Redemptrix, the Catholic Church has done much honor to a type of feminine in some respects. The Inquisition, however, killed thousands of women as well as men. Today's church is still a male dominated hierarchy but is slowly being influenced by the larger culture.

I queried several in the audience why they were there, and what their reaction was to the book and the evenings' discussion. One woman told of her teenage son who was reluctant to go through the sacrament of Confirmation, yet after reading the book found a more believable, understandable, even human Jesus. That actually inspired him to continue the path. Another person said that such material added to the mystery, and in doing so served to strengthen her faith. For one it called into question the credibility of the teaching of the Church, yet felt that faith needs to be challenged to be pursued. Others voiced the idea that this book reinforced a disenchantment with the Church.

Margaret acknowledged that along with the constraints of time, and the size of the crowd that some great resources in the audience were lost...people who could have provided great insight from their own experiences and knowledge. This type of interest has helped keep the book on top of the best-seller lists, and will certainly inspire further discussion among the faithful, the skeptical, lovers of literature, lovers of art, and lovers of conspiracy theories alike!

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David Rotert is a communications technician. He, his wife Sue and two boys used to walk to SJA each Sunday. They since moved to St Louis Park, but are now happy to make the drive. David and his family have been attending SJA for over 10 years. You may see him serving host or wine on Sundays, and doing the readings whenever he can help. He is also always game for a good philosophical discussion. David can be reached at dsrotert@worldnet.att.net.