As in, Archbishop Flynn!
Act I: Scene 2: Throwing off his 'black hat' the heroic Archbishop valiantly steps into the arena - as defender of the Faith, in an unusual public protest against that idiotic 'play' "The Pope and the Witch".
From the Star-Tribune editorial page:
Your Dec. 3 editorial "Fo play is not faux pas by the U" segues from a lighthearted observation about the author of this theatrical production into a poorly disguised, mean-spirited, sweeping indictment of the Catholic Church and its history. It goes well beyond the limits of logical argumentation and is rather a haughty and hastily cobbled together theatrical review and anti-Catholic diatribe, wrapped in the flag of academic license.
"Understandably" the editorial states, "Catholics don't find 'The Pope and the Witch' funny at all." With that statement, we most certainly agree. We could hardly find a nightmarish parody of the papacy, a fundamental tenet of our faith that has 2,000 years of history, to be very funny. One doubts that a play viciously satirizing a revered or historic leader of the Jewish or Islamic faiths as a heroin-addicted, bumbling paranoid would characterized by those faith adherents as "funny."
The editorial also reads like a promotion for the Dario Fo play, claiming that its stagings "have won uniformly charmed reviews" and that "most reviewers agree it is a hoot." Interestingly, those exuberant raves do not agree fully with the play's reception. For example, it opened briefly in Italy but was met with tepid reviews and not much public interest. In its run in San Francisco, where Catholic leaders objected, the play had an initial spurt of attendance, likely due to its controversy, but then was met with disinterest and had a short run.
Perhaps the best and most ironic evidence of the anti-Catholic tone of this editorial is its subheadline, which contends, "Those why cry 'Catholic bashing' doth protest too much." Yet the first sentence of the editorial's concluding paragraph reads: "The Catholic Church is a large, wealthy and exceptionally powerful global corporation with a scandal-studded history and a practice of involving itself in the political and social affairs of many nations." I could refer the writer of this editorial to a virtual library of books and manuscripts that refute this grandiose charge and that document the magnificent societal, artistic and spiritual contributions of the Catholic Church over the centuries. I would also ask that, if an unsupported polemic statement like this one doesn't rise to the level of "Catholic bashing," please tell me what does?
Harry J. Flynn is archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Who needs an Archdiocesan Spokesman when you have a strong Archbishop!
Act I: Scene 2: Throwing off his 'black hat' the heroic Archbishop valiantly steps into the arena - as defender of the Faith, in an unusual public protest against that idiotic 'play' "The Pope and the Witch".
From the Star-Tribune editorial page:
Your Dec. 3 editorial "Fo play is not faux pas by the U" segues from a lighthearted observation about the author of this theatrical production into a poorly disguised, mean-spirited, sweeping indictment of the Catholic Church and its history. It goes well beyond the limits of logical argumentation and is rather a haughty and hastily cobbled together theatrical review and anti-Catholic diatribe, wrapped in the flag of academic license.
"Understandably" the editorial states, "Catholics don't find 'The Pope and the Witch' funny at all." With that statement, we most certainly agree. We could hardly find a nightmarish parody of the papacy, a fundamental tenet of our faith that has 2,000 years of history, to be very funny. One doubts that a play viciously satirizing a revered or historic leader of the Jewish or Islamic faiths as a heroin-addicted, bumbling paranoid would characterized by those faith adherents as "funny."
The editorial also reads like a promotion for the Dario Fo play, claiming that its stagings "have won uniformly charmed reviews" and that "most reviewers agree it is a hoot." Interestingly, those exuberant raves do not agree fully with the play's reception. For example, it opened briefly in Italy but was met with tepid reviews and not much public interest. In its run in San Francisco, where Catholic leaders objected, the play had an initial spurt of attendance, likely due to its controversy, but then was met with disinterest and had a short run.
Perhaps the best and most ironic evidence of the anti-Catholic tone of this editorial is its subheadline, which contends, "Those why cry 'Catholic bashing' doth protest too much." Yet the first sentence of the editorial's concluding paragraph reads: "The Catholic Church is a large, wealthy and exceptionally powerful global corporation with a scandal-studded history and a practice of involving itself in the political and social affairs of many nations." I could refer the writer of this editorial to a virtual library of books and manuscripts that refute this grandiose charge and that document the magnificent societal, artistic and spiritual contributions of the Catholic Church over the centuries. I would also ask that, if an unsupported polemic statement like this one doesn't rise to the level of "Catholic bashing," please tell me what does?
Harry J. Flynn is archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Who needs an Archdiocesan Spokesman when you have a strong Archbishop!
"Oh Dennis..." (That's a line from "High Anxiety" - the movie.)
(Thank you Ray from Stella Borealis!)
(Thank you Ray from Stella Borealis!)
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