What a great opportunity to witness to Christ! The Da Vinci Code is now showing in movie theatres worldwide. The book has held its place on the New York Times Best Seller more than 162 weeks while Dan Brown, the author, has received worldwide acclaim – positive and negative.

Many Catholics and other Christians are outraged by the deceptions and distortions that Dan Brown fabricated for the purpose of creating a thrilling story. He has succeeded in captivating the attention of millions of people – readers and non-readers who are Christians, non-Christians, atheists, agnostics, Gnostics, and so on.

That being said what are we as Catholics going to do? We can use this as an opportunity to bear witness to the Lord Jesus or to battle and oppose the premise for this best-selling work. The following is excerpted from an article by Amy Welborn. Ms. Welborn is the author of 13 books, including "De-Coding DaVinci: The Facts Behind the Fiction of the DaVinci Code," "De-Coding Mary Magdalene: Truth, Legend and Lies" and "The DaVinci Code Mysteries: What the Movie Doesn't Tell You" all from Our Sunday Visitor Publications.

If we had to find any good that’s come out of The DaVinci Code phenomenon, it’s that it has stimulated a great deal of interest in important matters: who Jesus is, what early Christianity was all about, the power of art, and issues of gender and spirituality.

At the center of these issues stands, not just an issue, but a person: Jesus of Nazareth. I’m convinced that the reason so many of us have embraced the claims of The DaVinci Code is because we’ve never seriously tried to get to know Jesus. Whether we are church-goers or not, we’ve stood at a distance from him, letting others tell us what to think about him, never bothering to read even a single gospel from beginning to end ourselves--and, in the end, absorbing the notion, so common in our culture, that it’s all just a matter of opinion anyway, with no sure truth at the heart of it.

Well, as the witness of the earliest apostles makes brilliantly clear, this is not about opinions or myths or metaphors. Peter, Paul, and yes, Mary Magdalene, did not give their lives to a metaphor. They experienced Jesus as a human being--and, mysteriously and gloriously, as something more. They gave their lives--literally--to him and the grace-filled, abundant life with which they were filled.

Any negative effect of The Da Vinci Code lies in the fact that in all the talk about Jesus and his wife and the sacred feminine, and in all the speculation about the "real story," the Real Story is lost.

Jesus, crucified, died and risen, the One whose very real death and resurrection frees you from the power of your own very real sin and death, through whom creation and God are reconciled.

But then again, this story isn’t really lost. It’s not secret, either, and there’s not a thing stopping any of us from discovering it.

Be prepared to witness to the person of Jesus Christ to your DaVinci Code believing friends! Pray for the people in your life who need to hear the message of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Listen to God as he speaks His words of truth to you. Read the scriptures, especially the Gospels, and root yourself in the "real story." Equip yourself with necessary information about the novel. Most importantly, look for opportunities to share the real story of Christ as you witness to His presence in your own life. For a $1 a piece, consider purchasing Nicky Gumbel's booklet, The DaVinci Code: A Response for your small group or parish. For more information on how to respond to this movie as a disciple of Jesus Christ, please visit our DaVinci Webpage.

Join Fr. Erik Arnold (Archdiocesan Festival Liaison), ChristLife, and Catholics who have joined the evangelization team for an evening of prayer, song, praise, witness and celebration as we get closer to the Festival.  This night will give us a spiritual kick to remember why we're involved in the Festival: to share the person of Jesus with other Catholics who are searching for something more in their life and welcome them into the life and love of the Church. 

The night will also focus on the practicalities of the crucial follow-up to the Festival and provide opportunities to sign up for volunteer positions and the training associated with these positions. Volunteer outreach positions for follow-up, include contacting people who give their lives to Christ at the Festival, supporting or leading a small group discipleship bible study, planning an Archdiocesan Catholic prayer event, and more!