Posted on 03/10/2005 8:32:51 AM PST by concernedAmerican1
If someone hung a picture of your mother amid images of prostitutes and pornography, would you be upset? Would you protest? I’m sure you would.
In fact, the Blessed Mother is being insulted in this fashion at the Catholic University of Dayton, where an “art” exhibit in the Rike Center Gallery depicts “Mary amid images of prostitutes, pornography and firearms that has shocked some students and professors…” (Dayton Daily News, 03-07-05)
Even worse – the University of Dayton is one of the nation's ten largest Catholic universities, founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, whose particular mission is to honor the Mother of God. Yet today they promote this blasphemy against Our Lady.
Please contact Dr. Curran, president of the University of Dayton and demand its removal. To sign a message of protest, go to: http://tfp.org/student_action/activities/protests/ud_protest.php
After you sign your protest, give his office a call. Be polite and firm. Tell him how you feel about it. Ask him to remove the exhibit immediately and issue an apology. Tell him you cannot understand how a Catholic institution dedicated to honor Mary can insult her like this.
Please call today.
Dr. Daniel J. Curran, Ph.D. Direct: 937-229-4122 Main: 937-229-1000 Fax: 937-229-3396 Email: president@notes.udayton.edu
I just got off the phone with Dr. Curran’s office. The receptionist claimed that the offensive exhibit was just an exercise of “academic freedom.” My blood pressure went up a few notches, to put it mildly.
You see, Our Lady of Fatima asked us to make reparation for the sins committed against her Immaculate Heart. It’s heartbreaking that Catholics are insulting Our Lady when they ought to be honoring her.
Please act without delay. Thank you for your love for Our Lady. You would do a good deed if you send this message to your friends and acquaintances.
Trusting in the triumph of her Immaculate Heart,
John E. Ritchie, TFP Student Action, www.TFPStudentAction.org
OTOH Jesus didn't minister to the righteous. He spent a lot of time with thieves, tax collectors and prostitutes and I think no less of Him.
The only Catholic colleges that matter. Forget the rest.
Let's see this "artist" pull a similar stunt with an image of Fatima. How many seconds would elapse before CAIR had the exhibit shut down, the university denounced, and a lawsuit in the making?
I'm guessing 7.9 seconds.
The over/under on Catholic bashing on this thread is set at Post 18. Any takers?
Is Bob Jones III a Freeper?
I don't know if the author considered it a vice. Those words describing the display are taken from the Dayton News article.
According to many of the enlightened ones in our cultural elite, the purpose of art is "to shock and offend". (They really believe this, teach it in the classroom, and use it as justification for public grants supporting their "art".)
Guess that means this stuff must be pretty good. 'Cause I'm certainly offended.
Well it should shock aethetically. Not crudely as much of the 'artists' who (mis)use this mantra do.
should be 'aesthetically'
Sounds like it is time to FReep the University of Dayton.
Not only that, Jesus descended from a prostitute. The prostitute Rahab that was the great great great grandmother of King David. To me that shows the greatness of God's love, that He would choose such people to be part of His redemptive plan.
I haven't seen the display so I'll reserve judgement on it.
Looks like it will be "Over" 18. I am surprised (pleasantly).
Huh?
The world needs the next pope to have a "package" made of brass. More probably though he will be lactescent. It will be the final step in the subjugation of the Catholic Church to the evils of the modern world.
With a little help from bugmenot.com, I got into this: http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/0308artshow.html
...where I read that the exhibit causing offense is the work of Derek Cracco.
"Cracco, 36, an assistant professor of art and art history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, contends that by working too hard to create a 'sexless' Mary, the church achieved just the opposite; it 'hypersexualized' itself.
...
'She was a normal person with normal desires, not good or bad,' Cracco said...
"In one collage, Cracco's Mary stands in her familiar, open-armed pose...surrounded by images of Nevada prostitutes, shown on their actual business cards the artist obtained in Las Vegas." (Anyone doubt the man's motives? Just visualize this and the matter is settled.)
The university provost said the exhibit "is an opportunity for UD, as a major Catholic university, to take the lead and provide interpretation of the exhibit and ask tough questions in a public forum." He asked other university officials to view Cracco's collages and they saw it as "an extraordinary opportunity to encourage constructive dialog."
Though I am not disrespecting Mary the Mother of Jesus, you cannot call it blasphemy, she is not God
The Artist as Mindreader.
Apparently he is aware of her interior dispositions. Quite an assertion on his part. He must be an Artist of Great Mystical Powers.
Exactly. Even if it was disrespectful or even blasphemous, it still presents a wonderful opportunity for a "teaching moment".
Right on - Jesus let it be known that it wasn't the healthy that needed the care of a good doctor... If good doesn't roll up its sleeves and jump in with the not-so-good, there can be no improvement. Missionaries don't go into Christian bastions to preach. Betty Crocker doesn't set up booths in Keebler's factories. I guess I better quit before I go too far...
By all means let's phone them and have some constructive dialog. See if they still think it's an extraordinary opportunity :)
The understanding of blasphemy which underlies a person including the things and people "of" God:
2148 Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one's speech; in misusing God's name. St. James condemns those "who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called." Jas 2:7.
The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God's name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. The misuse of God's name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion. Blasphemy is contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin.
Wanna bet they think criticism is not 'dialog'?
How about a nice collage substituting the university officials in place of Mary? Wouldn't that be just as bold and thought provoking?
Academics and pros together. Nah. Too close to the truth to be exciting.
Was he displaying their business cards?
In one collage, Cracco's Mary stands in her familiar, open-armed pose...surrounded by images of Nevada prostitutes, shown on their actual business cards.
Surely you can see the impiety of such a display?
Now you're onto something! How about an image of a prostitute with outstretched arms, encircled by the business cards (with photos) of the university officials? :)
University of Notre Dame???
Who buys this crapola?
Nope. They went CINO a long time ago.
would you put pictures of Jesus among pornography? There is a difference, as I see it, between actually ministering to those who are sinners and simply putting up holy images among garbage for the sake of "Art".
I couldn't agree more. However, rather than simply denouncing the piece it would be far better to use it as an opportunity to teach about Christ's message. When confronted with bad ideas, open discussion is far more effective than censorship.
From the University of Dayton News file -
July 1, 2002
DANIEL CURRAN BECOMES FIRST LAY LEADER
READY TO EXPAND UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON'S REACH -- AND REPUTATION
Much of Curran's research has focused on ways to address social inequality.
snip
As Curran mingled with campus members during an ice cream social, many openly talked about his match with the Marianist university. The Roman Catholic teaching order draws its inspiration from Mary, the mother of Jesus, and believes strongly in service to youth and the poor.
http://www.udayton.edu/news/nr/070102.html
One of Jesus' ancestors (Rahab) was a prostitute.
I would think that with an immaculate conception and God as his father that Jesus carried no genes whatsoever.
Like the big majority of Catholic Hierarchy in this country the leaders and administrators at So Called Catholic Institutions DON'T REALLY BELIEVE the tenents of their religion and are no more than Social Workers
How about that. Not being catholic, I always thought "immaculate conception" referred to the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Dictionary.com just told me it means that Mary was born without sin.
If that's what it means, then I don't believe in the immaculate conception. Mary was in need of a savior like the rest of us. But for that matter, I don't believe in the concept of "original sin". We inherit a rebellious nature due to Adam. But the sin we are judged for is our own acts. That's why David could count on being reunited with his son.
In order to be human, Jesus would have had to have some genes. Those might as well come from Mary as anywhere else.
It was only necessary that he appear to be human; we have no autopsy.
Catholics believe Mary was born without sin, not that she was concieved without the need for a saviour. Since jesus always was, and God is outside of time, we believe that as a special grace, Mary was saved at conception through Jesus's sacrifice. This is what Catholics call the Immaculate Conception. It has always been a part of the beliefs of the Catholic Church (first written reference in the 2nd century AD, I think) but only in 1854(?) was it declared something that you could not disbelieve and still call yourself a Catholic.
The name of Our Lord should be capitalized, of course. Mea culpa.
The need for a Savior implies sin. Why would it have been necessary for Mary to be saved at conception as opposed to later? At some point obviously she trusted God and it was counted to her for righteousness, just like Abraham. Both were saved by Jesus's sacrifice because of their trust in God.
So as long as Mary was saved before she bore Jesus, why would it matter at conception as opposed to say age 16?
While we have no autopsy, we know he bled, we know he got tired, we know it was prophesized that he would be from the lineage of David. We know that extreme stress can cause the condition of sweating drops of blood as in the garden. We know he ate food.
And we know he ate food after the resurrection. Which means we will be eating food for eternity in our resurrection bodies.
There is no reason to believe Jesus was not fully human, indwelt by the spirit of God.
Without the Grace of our Lord there was no way she could hope to avoid sin throughout her childhood. Childhood is where many of the patterns of our life are set, and Mary did not have her free will taken from her. It would not have prepared her for the immense task that was to be set before her. God, being outside of time, knew Mary trusted in him, and as a special blessing allowed her to be saved in the womb, so each day she could grow in holiness in preparation for the choice she would one day make.
What better gift to give to your mother than the saving love of Jesus Christ? And if you had it within your power to give her that gift at the moment of her conception, would you have denied it her?
Would I have denied it to anyone? For Mary to be saved at conception implies she trusted the Lord at conception. I believe children in the womb have congnitive abilities. For example John the Baptist leaped in the womb at the approach of Jesus. But at conception? It might not be impossible, but I don't see it as scriptural or necessary.
While certainly I agree that Mary needed to grow in holiness in order to raise the Lord Jesus, I do not see the need for an immaculate conception.
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