Somebody thought this was a good idea, but they should have checked it out more.
D'you ever hear of this? There's some movement of people, starting in Japan, that wants to promote world peace, so they go around to promote putting up little posts in public places with a multi-lingual peace message.
In this case, a parish a couple of towns over erected a "peace pole" on its property, at the suggestion of a teenager who needed a place to carry out his Eagle Scout project.
The event took place a few years back, in '09; I just happened to stumble on an Internet video of the installation today:
Whether the kid knew it or not, it's sort of a "new-age" movement. At least it appears that way because the movement promoting these well-intentioned monuments has talk like this on its website:
The Power of Thought
Thought forms create an energetic field strong enough to empower the course of planetary destiny.The Power of Words
Words carry vibrations strong enough to inspire, heal and transform the human heart as well as the Kingdom of plants, animals and all creation.
Uh... no.
We Catholics don't believe in talk like that: about imaginary energy fields and immaterial vibrations. In fact, we would classify that as "superstition". A belief about such things may be part of some Eastern religion, or it may show up in "new-thought" religions in America, but we Catholics don't do that stuff.
Well, I will have to visit that parish and see if their little peace pole is still there reminding people to send out the vibrations or transmit the energy field. I'll bring my wi-fi detector and see if it picks up any signal.
You want peace? Don't just wish for it. Don't just formulate wishes directed to no one in particular. Instead, pray for peace. Prayers, unlike wishes, are directed to someone other than yourself. For one, God is there; He's happy to hear us turning to Him and asking for what the world needs. And the Blessed Virgin Mary is happy to join in with our prayers when we ask her, especially since her message at Fatima calls on us to pray the Rosary for peace.
What would be a good replacement for these not-Catholic peace poles installed in Catholic churchyards -- and, by the way, this isn't the first case I've seen.
