Her wonder and sense of awe come through loud and clear unlike what is often warmed over frozen dinners served to good souls in RCIAVille. Even more surprising is that K.S. is Catholic Before Conception leaving wonder and awe to M. Shea/Prof. Dr. Hahn/Padres Neuhaus & Rutler/etc. who got it The Hard Way. Only got in the last decade how absolutely cool it is to be RC and how utterly and completely countercultural unless you wanna pick and choose what you believe and leave the rest at the cafeteria counter. Will be interesting down the line to dig up some future scholarly study on How St. Blog's Hotwired American Catholicism as K.S. is a blogger in good standing. You go girl.
Gerard E. | 10.30.03 - 8:33 pm | #

Correction to above on how K.S. is NOT leaving Wonder and Awe to M. Shea/Prof. Dr. Hahn/Padre Rutler/other folks who got the smack past age of legal imbibing of adult beverages. Not often common above we who got sprinkled at age 5 weeks.....Didn't exactly know what we were doing at the time......
Gerard E. | 10.30.03 - 8:36 pm | #

What is a " Hawaiian sabbatical"?
Bob Alley | 10.31.03 - 4:16 am | #

The St Blog's elevator is Out of Order. Please take the stairs.
iClaudius | 10.31.03 - 9:32 am | #

Rats! Foiled again by Holoscan.

Stairs

or

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp...ovies/ exor1.htm
iClaudius | 10.31.03 - 9:33 am | #

I will confess to having the be-jeezus scared out of me watching that film--in full for the first time in 1998. [I am roughly about KS's age.] My husband is right that non-Cath's probably don't get the underlying theological and ritualistic aspects of the film. But you know, if you really believe that evil and the devil exist and if this story (at elast about the boy in STL) is true, then it is pretty disquieting--at least it was to me.
Peggy | Homepage | 10.31.03 - 10:01 am | #

I agree. The factor that sets "The Exorcist" apart from other horror movies is that the villain actually exists in the real world. Most people believe in and and fear a supernatural order of "evil", even if they don't consciously acknowledge it. It also gives us a glimpse into the evil that we know awaits us if we do not repent. Satan says he has "dragged" Reagan down to hell--and hell is where we do not want to go, even though we act like we do; a place of darkness and evil that we know exists and awaits our arrival.

I think people are just fascinated too with older forms of Catholic ritual. How many movies have we seen that center around the centuries old Vatican and spooky Catholic doctrines and cults. It's a natural desire for things supernatural and spiritual.

I think I heard that an Exorcist prequel is in the making.
Jason | 10.31.03 - 10:28 am | #

Truly one of the scariest -- and one of the most theologically powerful -- movies I have ever seen. Helter Skelter creeped me out for the same reason -- that the evil is real.
Kath | 10.31.03 - 10:50 am | #

ACtually, the scariest line in the whole film is when Ellen Burstyn declares in despair that "that thing up there is not my daughter."
Liam | 10.31.03 - 11:12 am | #

Great line in KS's review: "Ah, the good old days, when priests were both human and heroic. Father Karras and crew drink and swear, joke and box--and drive out demons on the side. Even rarer these days, each priest in the film can talk to pre-menopausal women without freezing into a stuttering rictus."

Unfortunately, I have an odd theory about the movie, and the Father Karras character. Frankly, he was a pretty sexy guy. How much ya wanna bet that Jason Miller's portrayal of the Father Karras character gave subtle encouragement, in the wild and wooly 70s, to a whole generation of what a friend of mine calls "chalice chippers" (chicks who dig priests).

Just a thought.
Kath | 10.31.03 - 11:31 am | #