Posted on 05/27/2005 5:57:33 AM PDT by murphE
A Catholic media monitoring group is furious over an animated cartoon that depicts Pope Benedict XVI giving a statue of the Virgin Mary a Nazi salute and muttering "Heil Mary!" in a slight German accent.
The cartoon, a shot at the Pope's past as a member of the Hitler Youth, appears on the left-of-centre website rabble.ca, published by prominent Canadian feminist writer Judy Rebick.
"We don't think any group should be ridiculed in this way," said Joanne McGarry, executive director of the 5,000-member Catholic Civil Rights League.
The cartoon, by Toronto artist Mike Constable, is anti-Catholic and insulting, she said. "It's a slam to Catholicism and the Pope."
But social crusader Rebick argues that the cartoon, titled A Creature of Habits, is funny.
"Canada has a long history of satire. Sometimes very biting satire," she said.
"He's our artist. He has complete artistic freedom to do whatever he wants to do."
There have been no complaints, aside from the one from the Catholic Civil Rights League, said Ms. Rebick.
Mr. Constable's "Animation on the Edge" feature has been published on rabble.ca every two weeks for the past four years.
The popular website gets about 300,000 visitors every month, she said.
Ms. Rebick is probably best known for heading the National Action Committee on the Status of Women in the early 1990s. She has written several books, including Imagine Democracy and most recently Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution, and currently serves as the Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University.
Mr. Constable said he has received only one negative e-mail about the cartoon, and the writer planned to pray for the artist. He hasn't had any other response.
"Certainly, one person praying for me is enough," said Mr. Constable, who published an animated cartoon last year titled Mel Brooks' The Passion, which satirized the Mel Gibson film. The cartoon showed the Jewish comedian as the Christ figure with the crown of thorns spinning around his head.
"No one was offended. Maybe Mel Brooks should have been offended," said Mr. Constable.
The current cartoon is a reference to the Pope's past. As a 14-year-old, he was drafted "against his will" into the Hitler Youth in 1941, according to his memoirs. He served in the army from 1943 to 1945. He was never a member of the Nazi party. Last week, in a major address, the Pope condemned "the genocide of the Jews."
Ms. Rebick said the purpose of Mr. Constable's cartoons is to make people uncomfortable. "If he annoyed people, then he was successful."
Ms. McGarry said she doesn't think it's her role to tell publishers what to print and what not to print. However, she argues that rabble.ca is getting federal funding through a circuitous route.
The website is an independent project of Alternatives, a Montreal-based non-governmental organization funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, said Ms. McGarry. One World Canada, also a project of Alternatives, is a partner of rabble.ca.
"A circuitous route, to be sure, but it would appear that at least some taxpayers' money is supporting this publication and hence this cartoon. Of further interest is that One World's own guidelines state that it does not allow partners to engage in religious intolerance," she said in an open letter to Aileen Carroll, minister of international co-operation
"It's not a huge amount. But 50 cents would be too much," said Ms. McGarry yesterday.
But Ms. Rebick said rabble.ca was incorporated as a non-profit organization several months ago, and it never received CIDA funding. It raises money for its operations through fundraising from readers and partners such as unions and non-governmental organizations. Rabble.ca has been contracted by Alternatives to provide copy for Oneworld.ca, a portal to non-governmental organizations.
"It's not public funding. We're hired by Alternatives to do a job," she said.
Both the cartoon and the funding issue has stirred up lively discussion on the rabble.ca online forum, where many readers are critical of the Catholic church and its stance on same-sex marriage and other issues, as well as tax breaks for the church.
Ms. Rebick agrees.
"I object to the Catholic church's position on homophobia," she said.
ping
Canada's become quite the hellhole, hasn't it?
Well... didn't the liberals say they'd move there if Kerry didn't get elected?
Because liberals lie.
(Woodroot + stresstab + indignation = one fiesty Petronski!)
LOL fiesty is good!
If we can get a conservative in power, that might change
I wish you the best of luck. Start by eliminating the speech codes and kicking out the Quebecoises.
Do they take baths at all?
Good point.
Canada has a long history of satire???
Really? I mean SCTV was pretty good but that was about it wasn't it?
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