UPDATE: 29 July 2024
The French Olympics peeps said “Oh no! That wasn’t the last supper! That was an “interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus [that] makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings”. They lied.
The Catholic Herald of the UK has a piece in which one of the pervs who took part in the blasphemous act confirmed that it was supposed to be the Last Supper. HERE
Correct me, please, if I am wrong, but I haven’t seen anything from the Holy See about the outrageous insult to all Christians, Catholics in particular. Does anyone know of anything clear?
Meanwhile, I read in The Middle East Monitor that “Al-Azhar condemns ‘reckless’ Paris Olympics ‘Last Supper’ parody”
Al-Azhar condemned the “insulting scenes” involving Christ during the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday, calling it “reckless extremism and barbarism.”
The ceremony featured a live representation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with drag queens and a transgender model. Critics accused organisers of promoting homosexuality and sexual deviance.
In a statement, Al-Azhar, the largest religious institution in Egypt, denounced the portrayal as disrespectful to Christ’s esteemed prophetic stature and offensive to believers.
It reaffirmed its rejection of any harm to any prophets, emphasising that nearly two billion Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet and God’s messenger. Jesus, Prophet Issa (peace be upon him) as he is known to Muslims, is mentioned in the Quran many times.
Al-Azhar warned against using global events to normalise insults to religion and promote destructive social behaviours.
The uproar from the scenes on Friday led to Paris 2024 Olympics spokesperson Anne Descamps apologising, saying there was no intention to disrespect any religious group and that they aimed to display societal tolerance. [B as in B. S as in S. Of course that was their intention.]
Meanwhile, Bp. Baron is back on Twitter/X with another video. Again, he hit it out of the park.
To the Paris Olympics organizing committee, not good enough. #OlympicGames #Olympics2024Paris @Olympics pic.twitter.com/p8urrYLhA0
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 28, 2024
Friends, on Saturday I spoke with Eric Shawn about the offensive Olympics opening ceremony. Today’s apology from the Olympic committee isn’t good enough. pic.twitter.com/8vZmtpb8Ra
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 28, 2024
Originally posted on 28 July
I’ve started writing and stopped a couple of times. I finally saw clips from the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics. I’m angry. I’m not that surprised, even though it is shocking to see how blatant their hatred and brazen blasphemy was.
The opening ceremonies of the SUMMER OLYMPICS…. This is what they want to communicate to their own population and to the entire world. This is the signal to all of the enemies of God that the war must now go hot and hard against not only the Church as an institution, but against what they really hate and fear, the Mass in particular, the Eucharist. They did so in the symbolism of pure perversion even including abuse of children. And there are traitors on the inside of the Church who have, like moles, sent up the signal flares to the Enemy saying, “The time has come! Climb Mount Perversion!”
To use a bellicose image, and this is a hot war now, if they are not shooting at you, you are not over the target.
The Devil has limited resources and limited time to work. Therefore the Enemy focuses on the true impediments to the destruction of souls. The Enemy will constantly and viciously attack the Catholic Church and her members because the Church is truly the only thing standing in their way. Attack her pastors, attack her members in their now pastor-induced enervation. Attack when individuals, communities, parishes, dioceses, nations no longer fulfill the necessary virtue of Religion, the sine qua non for the strength and health of any human endeavor. Attack.
The Enemy also tells you what they are up to. They did this hideous act of blasphemy on the anniversary of the martyrdom death of Fr. Hamel. It would not in the least surprise me if, during these games, more priests are attacked and more churches are torched.
UPDATE:
I found an excellent video message from Gavin Ashenden of Catholic Unscripted across the pond. He hit for six, to put it in terms they get over there.
This video convinced me to get a paid subscription to their channel. I’ll reallocate one of your donations to me for this. It’s war. Let’s call this a kind of “lend lease” act of solidarity. I’d like to do more with these three, Ashenden, a distinguished convert, insightful and witty Katherine Bennet (not a Jane Austin character) and the ever-sharp Mark Lambert. Of course I may be old news for them, hard to say, but we all must close ranks.
I suggest that you check their channel and, if you sign up, tell them Fr. Z sent you. Check them HERE
UPDATE:
In trying to write this particular post, I have had to fight to save the draft. They wouldn’t save. I’ve had to cut and paste the html into a new post.
More party tricks.
UPDATE:
Bishop Robert Barron knocks it out of the park. I have to hand it to him, since he became a diocesan bishop. He asked the old question, “Would they have mocked Islam?” Of course not, not in France of today! They are, instead, signaling that the attack is on. At the end of this short, Barron says, “[They] know who their enemy is, they’re naming it. They’re telling us who they are. And we should believe them.”
Friends, my thoughts on the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. #Olimpiadas2024 #OlympicGames pic.twitter.com/xU1ljFMZft
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) July 27, 2024
UPDATE:
I’ve looked at some titles of videos from the usual commentators but, sheesh, who had the time? They tend to go on and on.
UPDATE:
With his trademark clarity.
Liberalism has so rotted out minds that even many who are appalled by what happened in Paris frame it as a matter of offending people. No, it is about the evil of dishonoring God, and of undermining social and moral order, which requires being oriented to God above all.
— Edward Feser (@FeserEdward) July 27, 2024
UPDATE:
Paris goes dark except for the Sacré-Cœur Basilica pic.twitter.com/L4XQ0Nop0e
— Arthur Bloom (@j_arthur_bloom) July 27, 2024
UPDATE:
I read a piece at NewsMax. My emphases and comments.
Paris 2024 organizers apologized on Sunday to Catholics and other Christian groups angered by a kitsch [meaning, “naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal taste”… no, it was worse than that] tableau in the Olympic Games opening ceremony that parodied Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous ‘The Last Supper’ painting. [It parodied MASS not just a painting.]
The segment, which resembled the biblical scene of Jesus Christ and his apostles sharing a last meal before crucifixion and featured drag queens, a transgender model, and a naked singer made up as the Greek god of wine Dionysus, drew dismay from the Catholic Church and the religious right in America.“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance,” Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference. [I’d like to see the French, but…. “Clearly” ?!?!? B as in B, S as in S. There’s no way that this received approval without someone saying “Clearly a lot of people are going to be offended and there will be bad fallout.”, to which others said, “Clearly, good.”]
“We believe this ambition was achieved. [What, please, does that mean?] If people have taken any offense we are really sorry.” [That strikes me as a false statement.]
France, while proud of its rich Catholic heritage, also has a long tradition of secularism and anti-clericalism. [Tell that to the thousands of priests and religious murdered during the Terror.] Blasphemy is not only legal, but also considered by many as an essential pillar of freedom of speech. [“Blasphemy is… essential”. Hell is … essential for blasphemers.]
Supporters of the tableau praised its message of inclusivity and tolerance. [How was that tolerant of Catholics and other Christians with valid sacraments?]
The Catholic Church in France said it deplored a ceremony that “included scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity.”
Some French athletes had trouble sleeping because of the fallout from the controversy, said Monsignor Emmanuel Gobilliard, delegate of the Bishops of France for the Games.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna, the highest ranking Catholic official in Malta and an official for the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office, said he had contacted France’s ambassador to Malta to complain about the “gratuitous insult.”
In a message to the ambassador shared on X he wrote: “I would like to express my distress and great disappointment at the insult to us Christians during the opening ceremony … when a group of drag artists parodied the Last Supper of Jesus.”
Some commentators said the controversy was another example of 21st century culture wars turbocharged by a 24-hour news cycle and social media.
Thomas Jolly, the artistic director and mastermind behind the flamboyant opening ceremony, said religious subversion had never been his intention. [That strikes me as a false statement.]
“We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” he told reporters on Saturday. [Perversion?]
In the AP story we get a different tenor…. some quips:
[…]
Le Filip, the recent winner of “Drag Race France,” expressed their positive “surprise” and “pride” at the ceremony’s scale and representation.
“I thought it would be a five-minute drag event with queer representation. I was amazed. It started with Lady Gaga, then we had drag queens, a huge rave, and a fire in the sky,” they said. “It felt like a crowning all over again. I am proud to see my friends and queer people on the world stage.”[…]
[NB] “The (French) government knows what it’s doing. They want to show themselves in the best way possible. They showed no restraints in expression,” Le Filip told The Associated Press.
[…]
Le Filip responded to the criticism of the scene with a touch of humor and sorrow. [B as in B, S as in S.]
“It feels like the words of somebody who didn’t get on the guest list. We could all be laughing together. It’s sad to me, honestly,” they said. [“They”?]
Meanwhile…
[…]
Inter-LGBT President James Leperlier… “If you saw the opening ceremony last night you’d think it was like that normally, but it’s not. France tried to show what it should be and not what it is,” he said.
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“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group.”
Does it ever get old to this element presently pulling all the strings in the West? Mendacity is their drug of choice, it is there sustaining nourishment. They simply cannot get enough of the elixir of the Father of Lies, now reigning in the City of Lights…but not solely there to be sure…London, Rome, Washington as well. There is more veracity to be found in Tehran, Beijing and Pyongyang. At least they sport their appalling colors with pride, misplaced as it is.
Where are the men and women, self-proclaimed champions of tolerance and inclusion, at this moment? Nowhere to be found because theirs is simply a mask, worn only when useful for the enhancement of their narcissism and useful for self promotion.
Anyone who denies the existence of hell has not viewed our contemporary landscape without their rose colored glasses.
A natural extension of the French Revolution. Benedict XVIth once opined that we needed to “come to terms” with the French Revolution, or words to that effect.
I will not. Not now. Not ever.
Apparently the trains were also set on fire just prior to the opening ceremonies.
While I hate all sin, Blasphemy is the one that scares me the most when it comes to God’s vengeance. I’m reminded of right before COVID broke out and shut everything down. A university choir I was in (that was also under the direction of my parish’s Music Director, if you’re reading this, please say a prayer for him), was scheduled to perform Barrett’s Privateers in Ireland, which took the Lord’s name in vain at least nine times (It would have been over 500 times in total). I tried to convince him to use the alternative lyrics that the publisher provided to avoid offending God, but he decided to go ahead with it anyways and allowed me to not sing it. Frustrated, I went over his head to God on the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, and asked him to prevent it from being performed. Shortly thereafter everything was shut down and it never was performed.
Saying you’re sorry that people took offense is not the same as saying you’re sorry for having done something offensive.
The light on Sacre Coeur while the rest of Paris was in darkness!!! So heartening! But “the Light shineth in the darkness;” will the darkness now comprehend it?
It was despicable, pure and simple.
Who is the genius who thought this “performance” would edify anyone, or advance sportsmanship and create peace between the nations, which I understood was the aim of the modern Olympics?!
No, you are correct, Father. This is a calculated move to humiliate and attack Christianity – specifically, Catholicism.
I am delighted they are being called to account for this horrible, dreadful affront, which was not fit for anyone – Christian, non-Christian, man, woman, or child – to view. Apparently, the only thing that stops them is to hit them where it hurts most – in the wallet.
“All are Welcome !”
Any statements from Fr James Martin ?
It’s time to throw holy fists!
“We’re not sorry we were terrible, we’re just sorry that you didn’t like it. Clear?”
Massive eyeroll.
Has anybody seen what original language the ‘apology’ was in?
I’ve now seen two representations in English – both very close to each other. Both read as the classic passive, disassociative, non-ownership, non-apology form – ‘We apologize if anyone was offended’, rather than ‘We apologize if we offended anyone.’
I was wondering how much that does or does not come through in the original statement.
—
At least the (non)apology/explanation acknowledges some of the imagery. Kind’a cuts out the apologists who have been saying “No, that wasn’t the Last Supper, that was _____! Nothing to do with Christianity”
—
What amazes me (a little) is that it appears the host committee/opening ceremonies producers didn’t have program notes with background information on all the themes and references for all the broadcast/streaming presenters.
They have now removed all footage of the blasphemous tableau. This is not, I would be willing to bet, because of the backlash from Christians. The blue painted man who took part has expressed his personal pleasure at causing such offense. No, I think it’s because they included a child in this smorgasbord display of perverse sexual delights, and others have noticed. Society isn’t quite ready yet for the addition of the letter ‘P’ to the alphabet soup of sexual liberation, although it may be quietly assumed by some of them under the conveniently all-purpose ‘++” on the end of the unpronounceable acronym. It is the logical outcome of where they are heading, but they think it better not to let the cat out of the bag too soon.
Some decades ago, the gay-rights capaigner Peter Tatchell wrote a letter to the British newspaper The Guardian extolling the “positive nature of some child-adult sexual relationships”, saying “it is time society acknowledged the truth that not all sex involving children is unwanted, abusive and harmful”. He hotly denies this now, but it is a matter of record that he did write it (26 June 1997). And he wasn’t alone in that view among public figures at the time.
The sexual liberals have strategically retreated from it for now in the face of natural horror from the rest of society, but it’s still on the agenda. They just don’t want hot-heads among them to go public with it too soon again. There’s still some way to go in softening up the public on this one, but their end-game is still to have ‘no boundaries’. None!
Did I miss it, or has there been no criticism from the Orthodox?
In addition to the horrendous blasphemy and all the lies and everything we see, there is another element of pride and chaos together that just seems completely fitting:
WHEREAS they planned this for a while and spent lots of money on it, and
WHEREAS they knew exactly who they hired, and had a pretty good idea what was going to be done (this surprised none of the organizers), and
WHEREAS they pride themselves on all the planning and choreography and event coordination skills …
FIRSTLY, their first reaction is just to file a copyright claim against anyone retweeting it, obviously ashamed, trying to limit the damage, and
SECOND, the best “mature response” they can come up with is to throw some poor gal who frankly reminds me of a grad student from Brown or Vasser or maybe Bryn Mawr, never faced a challenge in her life more stressful than “Daddy bought the wrong-color pony” in front of cameras and read some passive-voice-non-apology pablum? Really? They didn’t see this coming? Or, they think that’s the vile finishing touch they want on top of this streaming pile?
I suspect there isn’t that much intellect at all on the other side, just money and the media.
Archbishop Charles Scicluna: In a message to the ambassador shared on X he wrote: “I would like to express my distress and great disappointment at the insult to us Christians during the opening ceremony
While I am glad that the archbishop was willing to speak out publicly, he still flubbed it. “my distress” and “disappointment” is still couched in terms of how it affected me. That’s a subjective observation. The problem is that it was objectively insulting and offensive behavior, meant to be blasphemous. Saying “subjectively, it bothered me” doesn’t cut it. Arguably, the archbishop of Paris out to be registering lawsuits and filing complaints with the police and so on, i.e. pushing the narrative that the organizers were engaged in hate speech toward Catholics, and engaging in other (probably illegal) actions.
“Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group…If people have taken any offense we are really sorry.”
Objectively, this is, itself, yet another offensive pile-on. Not only is it a lie, it is patently a lie, and is meant to encourage others to ridicule our stupidity. Which is exactly what Le Filip did: “It feels like the words of somebody who didn’t get on the guest list. We could all be laughing together. It’s sad to me, honestly,” They knew the “apology” was simply more ridicule. Is the French hierarchy so stupid they will fall for this?
“We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that,” Translation: it is not OUR fault if you refuse to join us in blasphemy and mockery of your religion, that’s on you. We’re being inclusive in inviting everyone to mock you and your God.
Some commentators said the controversy was another example of 21st century culture wars turbocharged by a 24-hour news cycle and social media.
No, the offensiveness of the event was there with or without a lightening fast reaction. The controversy was intentionally created by those who wanted to be offensive and controversial, for effect.
No apology has been given by the designer, because of course, he’s not sorry. Thomas Jolly was a controversial appointment as director of the opening and closing ceremonies for both the Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Quoting from the FT, “the prominent leftwing newspaper Libération immediately decried the Olympic choice. In an article scoffing at the 42-year-old’s “pompous aesthetic”, culture writer Ève Beauvallet painted a dystopian picture of a Jolly-made opening ceremony, with performers “dressed as goth gremlins vaguely out of a Cure music video”, cast in “embarrassing scenes that hearken back to the most spluttering displays of inept 20th-century drama lessons”.
Pretty accurate prediction!
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Thank God I didn’t see it, I had enough after the Library/Books scene, which glorified Les liaisons dangereuses.
Of course the whole production was deliberately designed to offer insult to Christians. Maybe the closing ceremony will insult Muslims?
Our Bishop of the Diocese of Allentown PA gave this statement which was read at Mass at our FSSP parish:
“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Last week I was privileged, along with others from our Diocese, to participate in the Tenth National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. It was a truly grace-filled time, rich in many blessings which will be revealed in the life of our own Diocese. Fifty-four thousand Catholics lined the streets on Saturday for a Eucharistic Procession to give public witness to the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
The next day, last Sunday, the Eucharistic Congress concluded with a splendid Holy Mass, full of the vigor of the entire Church. Our Lord was truly present in those days, and we were grateful as a Nation to offer Him praise, honor, and adoration.
But the enemy was not pleased, and he chose the time of his evil response.
The sacrilegious response to our public worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament came quickly, at the Opening Ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics. With one billion people watching, a horrendous depiction of the Last Supper, complete with a monstrous drag queen “Jesus” and transvestite “apostles,” was offered by the French Olympic organizers as their disdain and ridicule of the Christian faith.
In other centuries, Catholic France was admiringly known as the “Eldest Daughter of the Church.” It is truly evil that such a mockery of the Last Supper, at which Our Lord gave us His entire self: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, should have occurred in France, where the blood of Catholic martyrs has stained its soil. While this scandal occurred in France, given the increasing secularization and marginalization of the Church in our own Country, it could also happen here.
Therefore, we recommit ourselves to our public witness and reverence of the Holy Eucharist. We pledge our efforts to continue the work of the National Eucharistic Congress by becoming Eucharistic Missionaries to our brothers and sisters. We also set ourselves on a path of reparation and penance for all of the offenses heaped upon Our Lord present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
The enemy wastes no time in trying to shock and discourage us, but our weapon is the Holy Eucharist, the power of which will never be defeated.
“May the Heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved, with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the Tabernacles of the world, even until the end of time. Amen.”
Devotedly yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Alfred A. Schlert, Bishop of Allentown”
What is so frustrating now is that the liberal relatives and friends are posting how we are offended over “nothing”, because it was “not the Last Supper” but a famous meal of pagan gods, and they show the picture of that meal that it “really depicted”, since it is Greek and that was where the Olympics began!
So once again we homophobes are just looking to be offended, and we are so stupid not to get that this wasn’t about the Last Supper.
The brainwashed (“Christians”) have accepted this narrative, and we are just all wrong.?
Excellent words from Bishop Barron. The apologies offered are non apologies: “we’re sorry, but not sorry, etc.” I call Male Bovine Excrement. Regarding the harrowing picture of Paris in darkness with only the Sacré Coeur Basilica bathing in light, that church was built in reparation for the atrocities of the godless Paris Commune. Coincidence? I think not! I have decided to boycott these Olympics. While I feel sorry for the athletes, who didn’t ask for any of this, I refuse to let the IOC and the corporate sponsors to make any money off me. Money talks…
Where are all the Christian, most especially the Catholic, athletes? I understand the sacrifice it would require but they should be quitting the Games in public protest, in support of their Faith.
I was far more gratified with the response given by Bishop Andrew Cozzens, as noted in Crux:
[snip]
Da Vinci’s Last Supper, he said, “was depicted in heinous fashion, leaving us in such shock, sorry and righteous anger that words cannot describe it.” Cozzens urged Christians, and Catholics in particular, to respond with prayer and fasting, saying, “We are invited to enter into this moment of passion with him, this moment of public shame, mockery, and persecution.”
“We do this through prayer and fasting,” he said, urging Catholics to pray at Sunday Mass for “healing and forgiveness for all those who participated in this mockery.”
[snip]
That is, IMHO, a thoroughly Catholic reaction: righteous anger with an appropriate response—prayer and fasting in reparation on behalf of God, who was insulted.
(Unlike Archbishop Paglia, who feigned a little sadness and then pivoted to the “profound question” raised by the performance, which is how to get “everyone, absolutely everyone [to sit] at the table where Jesus gives his life for all and teaches love.”)
I have not yet caught up with Dr. Ashenden & co. – for which, thanks! But, so far, with no active searching, I’ve run into one comment by a mild Muslim who found it offensive and saw how much more offensive it must be in Christian perception, and another asking whether those responsible, both Olympic and French, considered what the effect in Paris and further might be if Muslims found it blaspheming the Prophet Isa.
At Mass yesterday, our pastor’s homily was a beautiful exposition on the Real Presence and how we must continually draw close to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through Adoration and worthy receptions of Holy Communion, as well as the need to frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly. After he concluded, he paused, then said that he was going to append something to his homily that was going to contrast with the uplifting message he had just preached, as he recounted the blasphemous activities of the Opening Ceremonies, calling out wokeism, LGBTQ agenda, etc., by name, and then leading us all in a recitation of the Litany of Reparation to the Blessed Sacrament. He shared with us the message from various US and French bishops to offer sacrifice, fasting, and prayers in reparation. My family will pray this Litany daily this week, and my two oldest sons prayed a Rosary yesterday after Mass by one of our main streets with the sign “Pray in Reparation for the Olympic Blasphemy.” They received many positive reactions from passers-by, and only a handful of derisive gestures/comments. I thank God for their zeal!
this is but one of the many inevitable monstrous consequences of the most horribly misguided decriminalization of the unspeakable crime against nature. until society regains its natural contempt for this most reprehensible of all vices, things will only get worse. Ss. Peter Damian, Bernardine of Siena, and Charles Lwanga, ora pro nobis!
I didn’t see the opening ceremony because I no longer have interest in these things.
When the Olympics were in the UK recently, there were subtle anti-Catholic things at the opening and closing ceremonies. This time they’ve openly mocked Our Lord and God.
Still waiting for a response from Rome. Vatican Media have an article on the response from the French bishops, which isn’t adequate IMO. Guess I’ll be waiting a long time, because it’s already too late.
At our diocesan TLM yesterday our priest recommended that we spend more time visiting the Blessed Sacrament in reparation.
“People do not believe in lies because they have to but because they want to.”
– Malcolm Muggeridge
“A man may lie to himself very prettily, but he can never really escape from the knowledge that it is a lie.”
– Melinda Selmys, former lesbian.
“Do not accept anything as love which lacks truth.”
– Edith Stein
This grotesque dumpster fire of a performance has now taken a comical turn. They were so intent on insulting and demeaning Christianity and not offending Islam, that they went so far in their depravity to actually offend Muslims. You cannot make this up. If you were waiting on the multitude of heretics in Rome to be offended and step up to defend the Faith, please don’t wait, they have their own depraved art they are trying to plaster all over Catholic churches which ever way they can.
On a separate note did anyone see that event of a white horse with a hooded rider draped in the Olympic flag walking at the Eiffel Tower followed by a crowd with all the nations’ flags? Then later they had another mechanical, all metallic horse made to look like it was galloping on the Seine also with the Olympic flag. A white horse and later a pale horse? I mean, are they just cosplaying the book of the Apocalypse? Just hoping we might not notice? Things have gone beyond weird now. I read some very interesting social media accounts that give connections you would scarcely believe. These are not ordinary times folks.
“The French Olympics peeps said ‘Oh no! That wasn’t the Last Supper!”
And the Pale Horse was NOT the Pale Horse of Rev. 6:8! It was the pale horse ridden by Clint Eastwood in “Pale Rider”! /s
leaving us in such shock, sorry and righteous anger that words cannot describe it.” Cozzens urged Christians, and Catholics in particular, to respond with prayer and fasting, saying, “We are invited to enter into this moment of passion with him, this moment of public shame, mockery, and persecution.”
“We do this through prayer and fasting,” he said
Ugh. Sorry, but apparently this Bishop Cozzens still doesn’t get it. Prayer and fasting, sure. But that’s not all!. You are not supposed to limit yourself to those. Christ gave us a perfectly good example of righteous anger handled appropriately: he cleared the Temple of those desecrating it. He plaited a whip out of cords and used it to drive out the evil-doers. THAT’s using anger (a God-designed passion) in its proper place. There are people – including THE BISHOPS, especially the bishops of France, who should be using their righteous anger to take positive steps against the Olympic organizers. And there should be Parisian citizens, and athletes, who are using their anger in more concrete ways right at the Olympics, e.g. with protests and outspoken rejection of the double-standards against Catholics. It would even be reasonable for Catholics to protest at other athletic events around the world in solidarity with those in Paris. Imagine if they forced a shut-down of soccer events in Ireland, or football games in Boston – or at least forced a delay to address their complaints.
Loved the video from Catholic Underground, but goodness that video’s comment section was cancer.
What breaks my heart, in addition to all Father and other commentators have mentioned, is how many weekly Mass attending parents still let their kids watch this rot, how many Catholics who would answer any poll questions about doctrine correctly will still religiously watch every second of Olympic content that their state of life allows. That’s why this happens and will keep happening.
It obviously did not occur to them that a Muslim would be offended by this as well. Yet there he was protesting outside of the Olympics grounds, asking: where are the Christians?
Indeed. But actually this could be a golden moment for Christians and Muslims to come together and realize our common bond in morality. How about starting with athletes from both sides saying No, We Won’t Play! In 1924 Olympics in Paris, one righteous man refused to run on the Sabbath. How far we have descended.
Att’n excalibur:
https://archons.org/announcement-by-the-ecumenical-patriarchate-on-the-opening-ceremony-of-the-paris-olympics/
And yet… and yet… signs:
the continued illumination of the Sacré Coeur amid the disruption of human “power”…
and Notre Dame will be reopened on 8th December next…
That happy event should include a solemn Act of Repentance and Exorcism of the entire City. It more than likely won’t. That’s where we are. Tant pis.
At least we’ll be able, for the first time since 2018, to have the High Mass and start of the Chartres Pilgrimage 2025 there again, with thousands processing through the city.
Well, we hope…
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/notre-dame-fire-5-years-later-what-are-the-plans-for-reopening-the-cathedral-in-paris
Visiting Wikipedia to start to follow up the art-historical aspects kat mentions in her comment, I find the article “Feast of the Gods (art)” (as “last edited on 30 July 2024, at 16:29 (UTC)”) – and am struck by how none of the illustrations bear any obvious resemblances to (parodies of) the Last Supper, except that of Jan van Bijlert (now in a museum in Dijon), which seems to do so emphatically. Looking him up leads to the “Bentvueghels” article, as he was a member of this “painters’ clique” in Rome “well known for its drunken, Bacchic initiation rituals (paid for by the initiate). These celebrations, sometimes lasting up to 24 hours, concluded with group marching to the church of Santa Costanza, known popularly at the time as the Temple of Bacchus. There they made libations to Bacchus before the porphyry sarcophagus of Constantina (now in the Vatican Museums), which was considered to be his tomb because of its Bacchic motifs. […] This practice was finally banned by Pope Clement XI in 1720.” So, quite a creepy, impudent, blasphemous historical context.
At New Advent, I found a link to a post by the Orthodox journalist, Terry Mattingly including the observation “And France is redefined as well, with Dionysus at the center of a culture-defining drama broadcast to the world, as opposed to St. Denys. There’s a new patron saint in town?” This can be taken further if one thinks of how the French St. Dionysius was apparently at some point taken the be the author of the Corpus Areopagitica and so identified with St. Paul’s convert (Acts 17:34). Lots of implicit ‘replacements’?
The particular impudence of the purported “interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus [that] makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings” stands out when one thinks of the constant stream of mythic instances of people being “driven to madness and murder” (to quote G. S. Kirk’s 1974 book, The Greek Myths) with probably the most well-known example being Pentheus “instantly recognized and being torn to pieces by his own mother”.
According to a recent Catholic Answer article:
Indeed, the painting that the ceremony’s creative director Thomas Jolly is widely presumed—including by his defenders—to be riffing on, Jan van Bijlert’s Feast of the Gods, was itself a deliberate play on the Last Supper as it is often composed in art, most famously in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting. Christians didn’t imagine this connection in a fever dream or invent it out of thin air, so stop being coy. (One Facebook commenter snarked, “I’m surprised they didn’t use a manger with a baby and a woman next to it [and say] it was Aphrodite and her son Cupid.”)
Here’s the link:
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/blog/gaslit-by-the-olympic-torch