Busy connecting dots, are you?

Then connect them all the way back...

back to JPII.

The hermeneutic of continuity.

Dare we join the dots?

When the circus performers are in town, they sometimes perform for the Holy Father at the General Audience - in costume.  Circus performers are itinerant workers.  In the top photo with Pope Benedict XVI, "the event was organized by the Vatican office that looks out for the welfare of migrants, refugees, seamen as well as prostitutes and street children — people who by force or choice live without stable homes."

I used to make fun of these things as well, and it was easy to insinuate a gay theme to it all, but it is also feeding spreaders of calumny and detraction who love playing connect the dots and hunting down homo-heretics and demons.

Saturday Detention: Erotic Art in the Cathedral.

Fresco in Cathedral church of the Diocese of Terni-Narni-Amelia

depicts Jesus lifting nets full of prostitutes, 

homosexuals, and other lascivious characters, into heaven.

Theology of the Body Studies.

The work is incredible - I like it very much - but of course, I paint, and I'm a bit more open to such things.  That said, it's pretty gay, and I expect many will be disturbed by the content.  "Erotic" content, as the artist pointed out: “In this case, there was not – in this sense – a sexual intention, but erotic, yes,” said Cinalli. “I think that the erotic aspect is the most notable among the people inside the nets.”

The Lifesite article pretty much emphasizes the homosexuality of the Argentine artist Ricardo Cinalli commissioned by Bishop Paglia and Fr. Fabio Leonardis to do the mural.  Cinalli explains that he was guided at every step by the two priests, saying: “There was no detail that was done freely, at random. Everything was analyzed. Everything was discussed. They never allowed me to work on my own.”

That would drive me nuts.  The artist deserves time off purgatory for having endured that.

Detail

The angels are kind of skinhead looking.

Lifesite also seems to suggest something queer about Paglia and Leonardis.  I can see why, yet the composition is nonetheless very compelling - Christ rescuing sinners - as Today's Gospel of the call of Matthew reminds us, "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners."  The fresco is on the inner wall of the Cathedral's facade, so in some sense, one is leaving that sinful life behind as one approaches the sacraments.  Christ, the fisher of men, pulls in the nets of salvation - filled with sinners, including the bishop and the priest.  It's a stunning allegory, very much in accord with the concept of mercy, going out to the peripheries, as proclaimed by the Franciscan papacy.

I don't see it as something scandalous, though I can understand while some who believe the Church is being undermined by homosexuals, modernists, and liberals would be.  I think of the scandal the Sistine Chapel caused when it was first completed, because of the nudity and the churchmen depicted in hell, and so on.  I'm not sure that there is anything ideologically subversive in the Terni fresco, albeit disturbing for the 'erotic' content - not explicit of course - more at intent.  In Italian art there is a great deal of nudity, much of it in churches.  It too can be considered erotic.

Knowing a bit about art history might quell the fears of some who appear to be scandalized by the work.  The nudity in the work of Luca Signorelli's Orvieto frescoes comes to mind.  Critics point out that the model for Christ in the Terni fresco was a gay hairdresser.  So what?  Throughout history artists have used models of 'ill repute', therefore I don't understand the problem.  And who knows, maybe the gay hairdresser is a former homo - living a chaste and celibate life now?  The critics are also scandalized that 'Christ's private parts' can be seen through his clothing.  It's not as if we've never seen it before.  Fra Angelico did that too, along with many other painters throughout history.  In art, on one level at least, it demonstrates that Christ was truly man and truly God.

So anyway - I like the work - but it is a bit queer... not that there is anything wrong with that.

The only Catholic thing lacking is any reference to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

That's Fr. Fabio with the heart on.

H/T Dad29

Voris is saying 50% of Catholic priests are gay.

Ruggedly handsome.

Just because a priest is fastidious in his decorum...

I think Sr. Jeannine Gramick said the same thing - although she may have put it at 80%.  Voris' breaking news story here.

People say this stuff all of the time, but no one 'comes out' to prove it, or names names.  Everything moves along as it has always been.  It's innuendo, suspicion, conspiracy driven.  I think it's an exaggeration.  I think it's scapegoating.  I think it's a witch hunt.  I think it needlessly scandalizes ordinary Catholics to announce such things without backing them up with hard facts.

Today - what does it even mean?

Same Sex Attracted?  It's an inclination, a temptation.  What if a faithful priest, who loves Christ and loves chastity, simply experiences an attraction - yet is repelled by the very thought and recognizes it would be a sin?   What if everyone else just thinks this or that guy is gay - but he's never even thought about it?

Gay?  No one is 'gay'.  Right?  That's what 'they' say.

Sexually active homosexual?  Not a good fit for priesthood or religious life.

So.  Does Voris mean that 50% of clergy and religious are living in sin?  That they are active homosexuals in relationships with other men, or that they are promiscuous?  Is there some sort of registry for these men which one might consult to verify the stats?  Are there massive percentages of priests dying of AIDS?  Wouldn't that be front page news?

No doubt there are, and have been such men in the clergy.  No doubt there are adulterers and pedophiles as well - but these types of claims go nowhere.  They are meaningless - especially now days - where is the proof?  These stories feed anti-Catholic-anti-clericalism.  Where are the irrefutable stats and facts and confessions?  What about straight priests who fool around?

If the clergy is that corrupt - we'd know.  We knew about the scandals, we know priests can fall from grace - but to condemn 50% of priests and suggest they are destroying the Church is a very grave accusation and a genuine scandal.

Voris can get by on his rugged good looks for only so long.

What?