Hello everyone,

I'm looking for any and all contacts for the Catholic Magicians Guild. It would be great to find a chapter here in Sacramento, but any contact would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help rendered,

David Dayton

Sorry I can't help you David but welcome to the Café.

You might try "The Good News" forum about 18 down from the top.

Good Luck!

-Mary Mowder

David,

There is a Christian magician's group if that is what you mean. If so, confirm it and I will contact some associates and get you a contact. I never heard of a Catholic group.

Doc

Dear Everyone,

Thanks for the information and kind replies. There really is a Catholic Magicians Guild and I'm bound and determined to make contact with it. Angelo Stagnaro has a write up about it in his Catechist's Magic Kit, but I've been unable to make contact with either him nor the guild through any web or book contact information.

Nothing against general Christian magicians. I wish you all well. But I'm waiting in the wings until a good contact comes along.

God be with you,

David Dayton

Hi David,

My name is Angelo Stagnaro. I'm a mentalist living in NYC and the Guildmaster for the Catholic Magicians' Guild. We have 200 members in 7 countries and are about to start a chapter in both California (Sacramento) and in Washington (Spokane.) I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Please feel free to post your questions here or you may send them to me directly at: StagnaroAngelo@hotmail.com.

In short, the Catholic Magicians' Guild is based on the catecetical instruction methods of St John Don Bosco, an Italian priest who lived in the 1800s in Turino, Italy. He used sleight-of-hand and stage magic to teach the children under his care the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He is the founder of Gospel Magic as he was the first to use and write about the use of magic to teacher about Christianity. If you can read German, there's an excellent article on Wikipedia (Germany) that lists all of the source material to support these claims.

We accept non-Catholics in our group. In fact, we have a Presbyterian and Baptist minister who are members.

There are tests for each level of involvement in the Guild. The Guild is interested in promoting Gospel Magic, artistic development of the magician performer and his/her spiritual development.

Thanks,

Angelo

David,

I am a member of the Catholic Magician's Guild...a great group o folks!

AL: Magic is an art form which can be used to teach many things, including Catholic Truths. THIS is what they have in common!

Please help me set the record straight.

I've never heard before that, "lay people are not supposed to teach catholocism"?

I'm a lay person, who voluteers as a catechist teaching Catholicism (First Communion and Confirmation).


Thanks.

quote]
On 2010-11-12 22:00, Al Angello wrote:
David
Since there are no gospel catholic magicians, and lay people are not supposed to teach catholocism, what exactly is a Catholic magician. I am both a magician, and a Catholic, but the two have nothing in common. I have done many Catholic school assemblies, and my religion has never come up at a Catholic school.

Try this web site out.
http://gospelmagic4u.blogspot.com/2009/0......gic.html
[/quote]

Al: Just out of curiosity, where did you hear that lay people are not supposed to teach Catholicism? Virtually every Catechism teacher in America is a lay person!I am a lay person, and I am PAID to travel the country and give talks teaching Catholicism...so do hundreds of others lay people...some of them very famous.

Also, you state that there are no Gospel Catholic magicians...but Gospel Magic was ORIGINATED by St. John Bosco...a Catholic Priest! There are dozens of Priests and even some Bishops who perform magic as part of their ministry...and we even have one here on the Café...Fr. Photeus (probably slaughtered the spelling...sorry, Father!).

David,

We have here "The Fellowship of Christian Magicians!" a specific forum for Christian magicians. Like Al Angello, I'm not personally interested in commingling religious aspects with magic but some magicians do it here and I'm sure that some of them will be help you in your quest.

Now what would be the problem to learn from Jewish or Muslem or Agnostic magicians? Wouldn't it restrict your access to an already restricted art? Designing your scripts alongside your faith, and even to promote it, is fine. We had for years here a fabulously nice Minister and splendid magician called Scott Guinn and he would generously share his magic within and outside the believers in his own faith.

Lawrence: Just because one joins the Catholic Magicians Guild in no way means that we WOULDN'T share our skills with non-Catholics. Just as joining the Society of American Magicians wouldn't mean that we would only share our knowledge and skills with Americans.

It is simply of group of like-minded men and women who happen to share more than just a love for the art of magic.

Angelo is a member here. In fact, he is one of the replies to this thread. He gives his email link in the reply. I can tell you from personal experience, he DOES answer emails!

Hi Everyone,

If anyone wants information about the Catholic Magicians' Guild, please feel free to write me at: StagnaroAngelo@hotmail.com. Alternatively, you are welcome to call me at: (888) 502-6115.

Remember: you don't have to be Catholic to be in the Guild...but it wouldn't hurt.

Angelo
Catholic Magicians' Guild

Well, welcome, David: And thanks for helping the rest of us learn about the Catholic Magicians Guild. How fascinating.

Ron

I am an old man, and when I went to Catholic school we had only nuns teach religion classes. We had lay teachers at our school, but they were not allowed to teach religion. Since there are very few clergy left now a days I guess things have changed. Is John XXIII still the Pope?

I do know a little about St. John Bosco though, and he was more famous for his street performing, acrobatic, and juggling skills. I never heard anything about him doing magic. Perhaps you are just hopping on the St John Bosco bandwagon, because all jugglers both Catholic, and noncatholic all over the world know that he was a famous juggler.

I don't believe that it would be kosher if a Protestant Gosple magician were to do a religous based magic show at a Catholic school.

Thanks to all who have commented on this thread and given me good advice and contacts. I forgot that these posted threads might continue long after I found my information. I tried to join the SAM, the IBM, and even the local Gospel's Magicians group, but they have all "conspired" to hold their meetings on Wednesday nights---one of the two evenings I teach college. When I came across "Catholic Magicians Guild", I thought, "Hey! Another chance!" Now I am finally in the Catholic Magicians Guild and our assembly does not meet on Wednesday nights.

Hey Mike! Thanks for posting so many good answers about the guild.
Hey Angelo! Thanks for contacting me and helping me get an assembly started.
Hey Al ! Thanks for helping me get my juggling off to a great start.
Hey Mary! See you at the next public Sacramento magic performance.

David

Why not? As long as he/she is not pushing their particular brand of Christianity, I have no problem with their performing at a Catholic School.

David Copperfield is Jewish. Do you not go see him perform just because you might be Catholic? Hardly.

Hi Everyone,

This is a response to Al Angello's post. There are some Protestant Gospel Magicians who have traced the origins of Gospel Magic to 1860s, or thereabouts, where tent revivalists would use magic effects to punctuate their sermons but, as St John Bosco's (aka "Don Bosco") memoirs explain, he had used sleight-of-hand and even stage illusions to teach religion to the children in his orphanage and street urchins even as far back as 1923. Here are his journals in PDF form:

http://www.bosconet.aust.com/pdf/MOpart1.pdf

Please take note of Chapters 3, 13 and 14 which make specific reference to the effects he performed including a self-decapitation and other classic effects.

As you can see, Catholicism and stage magic have had a very long history and are not at all in conflict with each other. So-called "sorcery" which only exists in bad movies and in the uneducated public imagination is not the same, as all magicians know, with the kinds of stage illusions we perform. Thus, there is no problem for Catholics, and indeed other Christians (i.e. Protestant and Orthodox Christians) are welcome to praise God using this art. As the Jesuit motto teaches, "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam," (i.e. "Everything for the greater glory of God.")

Please feel free to come by, electronically-speaking, and ask questions:

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Angelo-St......53474176
twitter: http://twitter.com/ErasmusMagic
e-zine: http://lists.topica.com/lists/SmokeAndMirrors/
blog: catholicmagiciansguld2.blogspot.com
web: http://www.KismetMagic.com

Thanks,

Angelo Erasmus Stagnaro, Guildmaster
Catholic Magicians' Guild

Click here to view attached image.

Hi Everyone,

Just an addendum to my previous post, despite its self-promotional nature, my point is to demonstrate that Catholicism, and Christianity in general, has no problem with stage magic especially if it is used for a constructive purpose such as instructing children in the Faith. To prove this, you will note that my book on Gospel Magic received an imprimatur from the Catholic Church which is the highest vote of approval and confidence of the most stringent, religious orthodoxy that the Church can offer an author and his book:

http://www.amazon.com/Catechists-Magic-K......1&sr=8-1

Further, a BBC article specifically refers to Don Bosco and his patronage of magic for the use of catechetical instruction: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2021595.stm

In addition, though no one should blindly trust anything written on Wikipedia, the article on Don Bosco specifically refers to his interest in and use of magic no less than six times: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bosco

I hope this clears up any questions or hesitations anyone might have.

Thanks,

Angelo, Guildmaster
Catholic Magicians' Guild

Hi Everyone,

I've made more posts to the Magic Café Forum in the past hour than I have in the past three years. This time it is due to my poor typing.

The Catholic Magicians' Guild Blog should be:

blog: catholicmagiciansguild2.blogspot.com

Please feel free to drop by.

Thanks,

Angelo
Catholic Magicians' Guild