The Catholic Leader - July 2

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The Catholic Leader, July 2, 2017
Family + religion
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THE CATHOLIC LEADER
are $30
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At this time of preparation for and celebration of the Sacraments,
all three of Selina’s Sacramental books
Invisible Mud (about Reconciliation)
Invisible Fire (about Confirmation)
Invisible Presence (about First Holy Communion)
Invisible Fire
WrittenbySelinaVenier IllustratedbyVeronikaPlant
Understanding thepower ofGod'sHoly Spirit,firstgivenat Pentecost,
and in the Sacraments of BaptismandConfirmation
Family Faith
LOOK, I have nothing against Batman, Spider-
man or any other like-minded superhero.
The thing is, having raised two daughters into
blessed teenagehood, the whole superhero
thing bypassed our household.
I can remember a slight fondness for Wonder
Woman in my childhood but it was as fleeting
as her modest attire.
And so, when Master Four marked his recent
birthday, in flew the superheroes.
They were gifts that kept on giving; what they
gave was the point.
Yes, there was Batman, all beefed up and
overpowering plus the formidable Joker, some-
what less threatening in stature but with quite
the nasty snarl and gun power to boot.
Arriving with certain “Cowabunga”, clueless as
I am about that, were the Ninja Turtles. I’m sure
they serve a purpose in another part of history,
somehow, but we were none the wiser.
Oh, and did I mention the seemingly innocent
motorcycle that bent and twisted into a Trans-
former?
Master Four’s innocence queried what the
arm-sized weapons actually were.
Still, he likely did the typical boy thing and “flew”
Batman around the lounge room, not saying any-
thing in particular as he’d not heard much of him
before, but “getting” the fact that yes, he did fly,
and, yes, he was powerful, well, sort of.
When Master Four asked about The Joker’s
character, My Dearly Beloved filled in the gaps
but our little lad was more intrigued by the plas-
tic gun protruding from the character’s back.
I was ready for a lie-down and that wasn’t be-
cause of all the party’s preparation “hoolahoops”.
Now, don’t shoot me down, I know Batman and
other like him fight for the common good but
my point is about their means to get there and
the portrayal of the opposing evil, to young and
impressionable minds.
Post-bedtime we surveyed the gifts and decid-
ed to put the ominous ones away, deciding if they
were sought after, we might find them again.
They weren’t and, to this day, they still aren’t.
Just when I thought we’d conquered that brief
interlude of superficial powers, then came an
invitation to “dress up” as fairies for girls and su-
perheroes for boys among a significantly sized
group of youngsters.
Master Four had Superman pyjamas that
came in handy, another gift and reasonably
harmless except that my heart was in my throat
upon opening and realising that it was very
similar to missing boy William Tyrell’s final outfit.
The “dress up” result was a whole lot of imagi-
native play that most would find innocent enough.
Holy heroes the ultimate role models
By Selina Venier
Selina Venier is an author and works in faith
education.
Question
of power:
“Traditional
superhe-
roes will
keep on
keeping
on and a
return to
the ’60s
version of
Batman
would be
my prefer-
ence but
there’s no
compari-
son to true
power and
good-
ness.”
Personally, it’s our preference that our son
isn’t involved in pretend fighting or gun-shooting
with another.
So what was the lesson here?
I remember when the girls were younger we
made a point of constantly saying that “no one
has power except for God”.
They accepted that the “magic” of fairies with
wands and the old “abracadabra” was nothing
to pay much attention to. They tended to “dress
up” as butterflies and the like.
Today I smile when I hear them say to Master
Four “no one has power except for God”.
He too seems to “get” it, no debate about it.
So which superhero did Master Four want to
dress up as?
He wasn’t fazed.
What we, his parents, were phased about was
the implications of harm, force, any amount of
pushing and pulling, fighting and killing that the
superhero notion portrays.
We were bothered by the potential for him to
mimic it and display characteristics that, quite
frankly, are far from his own.
If there was any superhero that we, ideally,
would have dressed Master Four as for this par-
ticular occasion or any other, it would have been
the person of Jesus, the ultimate superhero.
By Selina venier
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And would there have been anything wrong
with that?
To us, no, but to others it would’ve been
confusing, and it may have led to questioning
and ridicule.
There’s a time and a place, we’ve decided,
and essentially if we follow the path of holi-
ness, we constantly bear likeness to Christ.
In our home we have no sign of witches or
wands. The dress-up box is full of animal cos-
tumes and doctors’ kits.
At Halloween there’s no celebration of gob-
lins or ghosts but saints and martyrs, more
superheroes.
It’s a relief to not hear Master Four ask after
his newly-given Batman figurine, and to see
him delight in animal characters and books
about kindness.
Traditional superheroes will keep on keeping
on and a return to the ’60s version of Batman
would be my preference but there’s no com-
parison to true power and goodness.