In Volume 1, The Golden Compass, we are introduced to the trilogy's first concept: a daemon. The daemon presents to the reader a distorted image of human being, soul, and conscience.

Lyra, a young girl, has conversations with her daemon (pronounced demon), Pantalaimon, from whom she cannot be physically separated, or both will die; indeed Lyra weakens if the daemon moves too far from her. The daemon's feelings, thoughts and fears are reflective of hers, and are visibly evident as the daemon changes into various animal forms, depending on Lyra's mood, feelings, thoughts, and situations. The reader is easily drawn into the emotional turmoil that ensues as child and daemon struggle at times to stay safe and close together. The daemon also directs Lyra and gives her warning, although she does not always listen. Lyra tells the daemon that it should know about conscience.

This distorted concept of a human (Lyra) with an exterior soul/conscience (the daemon), as well as the thought that the human will die when cut apart from the soul-conscience (the daemon) is problematic, particularly where children are concerned, as they are still in formation when it comes to matters of Theology and Church Doctrine.

Presenting this distorted understanding of the human being, the conscience, and the soul to children will impede their understanding of the Word of God, received through the Bible, and through the tradition and history of the Church.

According to The Golden Compass, the human being is complete as human and daemon, and there is no mention of God as participating in any part of this human person.

This thought pattern causes a serious problem for catechesis, as the book puts in place a groundwork, a foundation, that is a distortion of Church doctrine. Not a denial of Church doctrine, but something more insideous: a distortion of Church doctrine.

And this is where the problem lies in being exposed to these books: There will be difficulty experienced - a mental and a psychological block - to receiving correct Church Doctrine, because the seed of a distorted doctrine will have been planted in the reader's mind.

"BODY AND SOUL BUT TRULY ONE"

Catechism of The Catholic Church
"A sure norm for teaching the Faith." - Pope John Paul II (includes Search, Index, Concordances)
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #362-368

362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7) Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

363 In Sacred Scipture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. (Matthew 16:25-26; John 15:13; Acts 2:41) But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, (Matthew 10:28; 26:38; John 12:27; 2Maccabees 6:30) that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the "spiritual principle" in man.

364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit. (1Corinthians 6:19-20; 15:44-45)

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.

365 The unity of the soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not"produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.

367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly," with "spirit and soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming. (1Thessalonians 5:23) The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. "Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.

368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God. (Jeremiah 31:33; Deuteronomy 6:5; 29:3; Isaiah 29:13; Ezekiel 36:26; Matthew 6:21; Luke 8:15; Romans 5:5)

MORAL CONSCIENCE
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1776-1779

1776 "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment...For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God...His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths."

THE JUDGMENT OF CONSCIENCE

1777 Moral conscience, (Romans 2:14-16) present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil. (Romans 1:32) It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.

1778 Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law:

Conscience is a law of the mind; yet [Christians] would not grant that it is nothing more; I mean that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of responsibility, or duty, of a threat and a promise...[Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.
John Henry Cardinal Newman.

1779 It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience. This requirement of interiority is all the more necessary as life often distracts us from any reflection, self-examination or introspection:

Return to your conscience, question it...Turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do, see God as your witness.
St. Augustine.

THE FORMATION OF CONSCIENCE
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1784-1785

1784 The education of the conscience is a lifelong task. From the earliest years, it awakens the child to the knowledge and practice of the interiour law recognized by conscience. Prudent education teaches virtue; it prevents or cures fear, selfishness and pride, resentment arising from guilt, and feelings of complacency, born of human weakness and faults. The education fo the conscience guarantees freedom and engenders peace of heart.

1785 In the formation of conscience the Word of God is the light for our path (Psalm 119:105); we must assimilate it in faith and prayer and put it into practice. We must also examine our conscience before the Lord's Cross. We are assisted by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, aided by the witness or advice of others and guided by the authoritative teaching of the Church.

In Volume 1, The Golden Compass, we are introduced to the trilogy's second concept: the alethiometer. The alethiometer presents a distortion of the doctrine on Christian prayer.

The alethiometer is a device (in the form of a navigational compass) which measures the truth. The word comes from the Greek "alètheia" for "truth", and meter for measure; according to the book "alethiometer" means "truth measurer."

To use the alethiometer, Lyra directs three needles to lie over certain symbols on the face of the device, and forms a question in her mind. The fourth needle responds to her question, swinging over different symbols to form answers; any given symbol may have numerous meanings. When she has the three needles set and her question in mind, the fourth arrow will begin to move, going through a sequence of movements over each symbol related to the answer, sometimes quivering to indicate the meaning (Lyra says that each symbol has various "rungs" of meaning), each quiver being one rung. The fourth arrow will continue to spin around and repeat the sequence until Lyra breaks her focus and uses the symbols to determine her answer. Lyra enters a trance when she consults the alethiometer.

Lyra explains that it is "almost like talking to someone, only you can't quite see them," and that you feel kind of stupid because they're more clever than you...and they know a lot..."as if they knew everything. But this is a different kind of knowing...It's like understanding." .

The author uses the concept of the alethiometer in an attempt to distort the reader's doctrinal understanding of the act of Christian prayer; Lyra directs her requests from her mind to the device in her hand, and receives answers and direction from the device in her hand. There is no mention of God in this exchange.

Here again, a seed of distorted doctrine is planted in the reader's mind.

Note: A "toy" in the form of an alethiometer will be marketed to children; shades of the once popular ouija board. These items, though not evil in themselves as manufactured goods of cardboard and plastic, do, however, have demonic implications. Buyer beware.

"PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE"

Catechism of The Catholic Church
"A sure norm for teaching the Faith." - Pope John Paul II (includes Search, Index, Concordances)
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2558-#2565

2558 "Great is the mystery of the faith!: The Church professes this mystery in the Apostles' Creed (Part One) and celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy (Part Two), so that the life of the faithful may be conformed to Christ in the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Part Three). This mystery, then, requires that the faithful believe in it, that they celebrate it, and that they live from it in a vital and personal relationship with the living and true God. This relationship is prayer.

What Is Prayer?
For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.
St. Thérèse de Lisieux, Manuscrits autobiographiques.

Prayer as God's gift

2559 "Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." (St. John Damascene) But when we pray, do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or "out of the depths" of a humble and contrite heart? (Psalm 130:1) He who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14); humility is the foundation of prayer. Only when we humbly acknowledge that "we do not know how to pray as we ought," (Romans 8:26) are we ready to receive freely the gift of prayer. "Man is a beggar before God." (St. Augustine)

2560 "If you knew the gift of God!" (John 4:10) The wonder of prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him. (St. Augustine)

2561 "You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." (John 4:10) Paradoxically our prayer of petition is a response to the plea of the living God: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cistern that can hold no water!" (Jeremiah 2:13) Prayer is the response of faith to the free promise of salvation and also a response of love to the thirst of the only Son of God. (John 7:37-39; 19:28; Isaiah 12:3; 51:1; Zechariah 12:10; 13:1)

Prayer as covenant

2562 Where does prayer come from? Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain.

2563 The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant.

2564 Christian prayer is a covenant relationship between God and man in Christ. It is the action of God and of man, springing forth from both the Holy Spirit and ourselves, wholly directed to the Father, in union with the human will of the Son of God made man.

Prayer as communion

2565 In the New Covenant, prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Kingdom is "the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity...with the whole human spirit." (St. Gregory of Nazianzus) Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ (Romans 6:5). Prayer is Christian insofar as it is communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church, which is his Body. Its dimensins are those of Christ's love (Ephesians 3:18-21).

THE LIFE OF PRAYER

2699 The Lord leads all persons by paths and in ways pleasing to him, and each believer responds according to his heart's resolve and the personal expressions of his prayer. However, Christian Tradition has retained three major expressions of prayer: vocal, meditative, and contemplative. They have one basic trait in common: composure of heart. This vigilance in keeping the Word and dwelling in the presence of God makes these three expressions intense times in the life of prayer.

LIFE IN CHRIST

1696 The way of Christ "leads to life"; a contrary way "leads to destruction." (Matthew 7:13; Deuteronomy 30:15-20) The Gospel parable of the two ways remains ever present in the catechesis of the Church; it shows the importance of moral decisions for our salvation: "There are two ways, the one of life, the other of death; but between the two, there is a great difference."

THE DIVINE WORKS AND THE TRINITARIAN MISSIONS

260 The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity (John 17:21-23). But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me," says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will comme to him, and make our home with him." (John 14:23)

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.
Prayer of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

More commentary to come (Dust; city in the sky; etc.)

Concerning children, Jesus said,

Dire warning indeed.

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