The Church and pop culture

Nov 15, 2024

Making Sense - Emmanuel Joseph
This All Saints’ Day, the trend of kids dressing up as their favourite saint seemed to have picked up even more. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that this is in part, at least, a response to the uptick in Halloween celebrations that we see in malls, restaurants, clubs and even some places of learning.

One can even say Halloween has come full circle - from essentially a celebration of the eve of All-Saints, to the Irish American settler’s celebration of it spreading to popular culture, to the New Age attempt to associate it with the occult and shamanistic, to what we have today - a celebration of saints - a big part of the Catholic identity and culture.

The talking points created by these welcome innovations by our churches, rare opportunities hampered by our busy work schedules to have meaningful conversations within our families, BECs and the parish, with the nuggets of information shared by the parish priest during his sermon, perhaps about his favourite saint, or by an unfamiliar name sung during the litany of saints - emphasise the unique role they play in our faith life.

Too often, we find it hard to broach with colleagues and friends of different faiths our form of liturgy and worship( like the Blessed Virgin Mary ) but who can relate to the idea of Halloween or other Catholic beliefs and practises that have seeped into popular culture, sometimes generating entire genres of their own. Exorcism anyone? Crying Madonna statues? Latin or Byzantine prayers to inundate heavy metal songs?

All over the world, where Catholic churches were planted, we mingled, contributed to and were influenced by, local cultures and traditions. In Mexico, Día De Los Muertos or Day of the Dead is intertwined in the Catholic celebrations of Hallowtide. This has taken a whole cultural life of its own, with even cartoons made about it!

There are Catholics who try to express their faith in a secular way, or rather, bring in elements of the secular world into the Church perhaps as a means to better relate to God.

For example, in 2017, students from a Jesuit university in Puebla, Mexico, with the help of a priest organised a Mass featuring Coldplay songs. While it was largely rebuked by the local church authorities, fans of Coldplay (like this writer) would understand songs like Viva La Vida, Higher Power or more recently, We Pray, are moving and uplifting, making you want to close your eyes and lift your hand, much like worship songs.

The lines between religious and contemporary music too are being blurred - with church songs no longer being merely solemn hymns and chants and with several genres like rap and metal now embracing traditional forms like folk and religious music.

Indeed, the Church constantly reaches out - especially to the youth. Luce and Friends seems to be its latest attempt - by introducing a Japanese-inspired anime character, hoping to make its presence felt in the secular world.

Again, the Church has left its impression even in the anime world already. Manga like Trigun (featuring a gun-slinging Catholic priest), Chrono Crusade (a Vaticanrun secret order of exorcists), Black Lagoon (a band of mercenary nuns) already feature Christian motifs and ideas as a central theme.

Others, like Haibanei Renmei, allude to it, in this case, of angels, even with an underlying eschatological theme.

Particularly interesting is the embrace of Christian and Catholic themes and philosophical discussions from the cultural powerhouse, Japan, where Catholics account for only 20 per cent of the 1.5 per cent Christian population, making them a super minority.

Compare this, to say, the US, where nearly 25 per cent of the population are Catholic, which rarely features faith, less so Christian or Catholic themes, perhaps other than Daredevil and Huntress.

While Luce and Friends seems more innocent and has a far less serious, “in-yourface” type of discussion on religion, it seems targeted at a younger and more universal audience.

It is inevitable that as the Church influences pop culture, that it be influenced by it, too. Instead of a hawkish monitoring of what is acceptable and what is anathema, these should be viewed positively, as an attempt by people, Christians or otherwise, to relate to Christianity and Catholicism.

Granted, a few just want to sell conspiracy theories or use the Church as a plot, but discovering the Church or Jesus in an online game, or in an inspiring song, or in an anime character you can relate to perhaps is a much more immediately relatable invitation than, “Have you heard of RCIA?”

Perhaps it is not only about “going out” into the world with our brand of what is acceptable and what isn’t, but seeing what is already in the world, and negotiating it as we do with Biblical discussions.

Perhaps it is as much as putting ourselves out there in the world, as it is censoring what we feel is acceptable into a Churchcentred life, open for examination, scrutiny, discussion and who knows, conversion?

Perhaps, someday, kids dressed as saints could even make it to a ‘secular’ Halloween party, even be a fashionable, mainstream ‘norm’. Wouldn’t it be interesting if a Lucifer met a St Michael while trick or treating?

(Emmanuel Joseph oversees IT as his 9-5 job and from 5-9, he serves a few NGOs, think tanks and volunteer groups. He serves as an advisor for Projek Dialog and is a Fellow with the Institute of Research and Development of Policy.)