The novel and movie may attack Catholicism but Amy Welborn finds “The Da Vinci Code” an opportunity for Catholics to actively engage in dialogue about the real Jesus.

“The Jesus of ‘The Da Vinci Code’ lies dead on the page,” Welborn said. “However, the book gets people talking about Jesus, and that should be our opportunity to re-introduce people to Jesus and the Gospels of the New Testament.”

Welborn, a popular Catholic columnist and author, spoke to more than 400 people during two sessions devoted to unraveling the misrepresentations of history, religion and art in “The Da Vinci Code” novel and movie. More than 300 people attended the lecture at the Pius XI High School Athletic Center on May 30. Nearly a hundred people involved in archdiocesan pastoral ministry and education attended the May 31 presentation.

Welborn is the author of "De-Coding Da Vinci: The Facts behind the Fiction" and "The Da Vinci Code Mysteries: What the Movie Doesn't Tell You."

“The real shame of the novel is that it distracts people from the truth about Jesus—truth that is life-giving and exciting and very real, not just the figment of someone’s imagination,” Welborn said.

Besides being logically and historically flawed, “The Da Vinci Code” is filled with errors, something Welborn claims does not take a Ph.D. to uncover.

“The book is 99.9 percent fiction. There are two to three mistakes on every page, many on history and art. If he can’t get that right, why would we expect him to get the religion references correct?”

Here are a few of the factual errors:

According to Welborn there are three levels of responses to the novel and movie. There are those that believe the whole thing. They respond to big elaborate theories and are uninterested in the facts. Then there are those who are totally uninterested and believe the Catholic Church was long overdue for a challenge of this kind.

However - the largest group and the group Welborn is most interested in - are the people that struggle with separating the work’s fact and fiction. These people, frequently identifying themselves as Catholic, offer the best opportunity for constructive dialogue and re-introduction to factual Catholic teachings.

This group, Welborn suggests, comes away from the book and movie feeling Jesus is portrayed as more human and they find comfort in the claim He was married.

“How little these people know about Jesus,” Welborn said. “This is where we need thick skin and must use this opportunity to re-direct discussion to facts and evidence. Invite folks to look at the letters of St. Paul and the Gospels of the New Testament.”

What perplexes Welborn about this group is that many have read “The Da Vinci Code,” accepting it as fact. However these readers are not going back to the Gospels to work towards uncovering the truth. So the question becomes—who is forming and doing the teaching – fiction writers?

“This is where we need to stop and ask ourselves to think bigger about Jesus,” Welborn said. “Our hearts need to be open. These are people who are interested in Jesus and they want to know. We need to invite them to come and meet the real Jesus.”

Welborn claims that process can start with a re-introduction to the New Testament and the letters of Paul, works blatantly missing from “The Da Vinci Code.” Re-directing attention to the Gospel should remind people of the humanness and compassion of Jesus she said.

“If they read the Gospels, they will meet a man miraculously born of a woman. A man, who worried his parents, grew in wisdom, was rejected by people of his own town, mourned the death of a friend, went through a terrible night of suffering, and died in great pain on the cross. Don’t tell me that is not human.”