Must a Catholic Spiritual Book have an “imprimatur” or “nihil obstat” before publication?

A brother in Nigeria

I am amazed that someone so far away from the snowy shores of Lake Michigan has stumbled on the Rev-Know-It-All web site. It’s a little intimidating to know that my rantings have reached Africa. I hope that the Holy Spirit will help me not to say anything that would grieve Him. 

Now, on to your question!

First what is an “imprimatur” and what is a “nihil obstat?” These are Latin words. “Imprimatur,” meaning “let it be printed,” and “nihil obstat " meaning “nothing stands in the way.”

They are a form of censorship.

Yes, I use the dread word “censorship.” We here in America find the word abhorrent. Little children can go into some public libraries and find pornography on the computers and some librarians will defend their right to do so. In some bizarre turn of events it has become noble in certain quarters to provide pornography to children!?!

I must note that the librarians I have known are much more sane than this. 

Still, censorship causes indignation in the revolutionary republic in which I live.

Censorship, however, has a long and honored history in the Church. St. Paul practiced censorship. We read in the book of Acts (19:19) that he burned witchcraft texts in Ephesus. I can hear rumblings even as I write. “Well St. Paul! I am not surprised that chauvinist anti feminist was also a book burner!” 

Hold on now! St. Paul was not anti-woman. Modern feminism is anti-woman, but that is not the theme of today’s harangue. 

There are times when a good book burning is a fine thing. Did you know that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler’s Mein Kampf are current best sellers in radical Islamic circles?  How many people have been killed because of those texts, and how many more will die? 

Ideas are powerful, and ideas can be poisonous. 

We label food in this country. Junk food is now clearly labeled as having nothing healthy in it. Poison is very clearly labeled, and under certain circumstance it is destroyed so that children don’t eat it. Well censorship is a kind of labeling of ideas. It is not a bad thing, no matter what Hollywood says.

Well, you may say, “Food can kill you. Books and ideas can’t” weren't you paying attention? I just mentioned Mein Kampf. Well, what about the Bible? There’s a lot of killing in that! Shouldn't it be burned?  Read the whole thing. Jesus clearly says that killing is not kosher. When some, who claim to be Christian, go on a rampage it isn't because they are reading the texts about turning the other cheek.

Certain things are required by Catholics to have imprimaturs, (Code of Canon Law, 822-832) such as translations of the Bible, liturgical texts, and books used for instruction in Catholic schools, as well as prayer books published for private or public use.   It is recommended by canon law that any book that touches on religious and moral themes have an imprimatur. This law has no teeth in current society, except that Catholics (you and I) can enforce it. For example, “I won’t buy that copy of the Bible, Mr. Book-Seller-Person. I want one with an imprimatur.”

The normal process of the imprimatur is as follows. Someone  requests an imprimatur, that is permission  to publish, from his local bishop. The bishop, who is a busy man, appoints a censor deputatus, and he reviews the book carefully, and then the censor says “nothing stands in the way, nihil obstat.” The bishop then says “let it be printed, imprimatur.” The process is pretty arduous. I have a friend who has acted as a censor. The was quite a bit of communication with the author with the author, reworking this idea, explaining that passage and so on. When the imprimatur goes on one of the first few pages of a book, that book has been pretty thoroughly reviewed by a competent person..

A FEW WORDS ON WHAT AN IMPRIMATUR IS NOT!!! 

An imprimatur means that, to the best of a bishop’s awareness, the book or movie or publication in question has nothing in it that is opposed to Catholic faith. That’s it, nothing more. It does not mean that everything in the book is absolute truth. It does not mean that book is infallible. Bishops are not individually infallible. That a book has an imprimatur does not mean that it is Catholic doctrine and part of the deposit of faith received from the apostles. Here are excerpts from a letter about a current unpleasantness that make the point that bishops unfortunately have to trust people who are not always trustworthy.

     “WASHINGTON, DC, December 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Bishops of the United States are being asked to fire the chief movie reviewer for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Harry Forbes, the Director of the USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting, has reignited scandal by praising the film "The Golden Compass" which is based on an anti-Catholic novel.

    Forbes caused similar controversy two years ago when he issued a glowing review in the name of the USCCB for the film "Brokeback Mountain".

    Pete Vere, who has written a book on the author of The Golden Compass, spoke with LifeSiteNews.com about the USCCB review. "Several bishops have spoken to me about this review and they are horrified at what has been done in their name," Vere told LifeSiteNews.com. "Certainly the USCCB has to revisit its rules for issuing movie reviews." Vere's book co-authored by Sandra Miesel, “Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy,” is to be released by Ignatius Press before Christmas.

    Fr. Tom Euteneuer, the President of Human Life International, has called on the US Bishops to fire Forbes and his subordinate John Mulderig who co-authored the review of The Golden Compass.

    "The fact that these gentlemen could recommend this movie to children is just abhorrent to me. I really do believe these guys should be fired," Fr. Eueneuer told LifeSiteNews.com. "Whatever happened to rejecting Satan and all his empty work and empty promises." .....The devil comes dressed as an angel of light. And this is very clearly what is happening. They have taken an atheistic work and dressed it up as something good for kids."

    Noting Forbes' former scandalous positive review of Brokeback Mountain, Fr. Euteneuer said, "The fact (the USCCB) didn't fire him at that time is what leads to this kind of thing.

    In a rare move, the US Catholic League last week publicly slammed the USCCB Golden Compass review in exclusive comments to LifeSiteNews.com 
(see: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/nov/07113001.html )”

There are many fine spiritual books written without imprimaturs, but an imprimatur means a book is not dangerous to the believer. It may be “junk food” but at least it is not poison. It is no longer necessary to have an imprimatur on every religious book, but an imprimatur means that the book in question has probably been carefully reviewed and that the author has wants to submit to competent authority and is not an angry rebel. “Rebellion is a sin like witchcraft” (First Samuel, chapter 15) 

So, dear Brother, take everything with a grain of salt, especially anything that the Rev. Know-It-All says, and remember the proverb that, “It is a fine thing to have an open mind, but it is quite another thing to let geese fly around in there.”

Your brother in the frozen wilderness of North America,

Rev. Know-It-All