L.A. has its cross to bear
Patrick Madrid over at Envoy Encore candidly shares his opinion about the crucifix in Cardinal Mahony's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels:Check out his comments box.Tell me. Does this edify you? Does this give glory and honor to Jesus Christ and His saving act on the cross? Is this monstrosity of a crucifix in any way authentically Catholic?
Some, a very few, I suspect, will no doubt feel compelled to say "yes," but they are wrong.
I say no. This is hideous. This is blasphemous.
posted by Quintero at 10:31 PM
6 Comments:
C'mon. Patrick has appointed himself the blasphemy police? The arbiter of what is right and wrong... who promised such powers??? ...and then he calls reasonable people jackasses who disagree with him.
Jesus died for this???
I don't know what to think about this. It's definitely not my favorite crucifix, but I think it is a good meditation on Christ's suffering. While traveling through Europe, I've seen some pretty gruesome crucifixes from the 14th to 16th centuries. They are not pretty to look at. I don't think this crucifix is blasphemous. It may not be to everyone's taste, but blasphemous is a pretty strong word. After reading what the artist had in mind, I think he had the right intention. I wonder if this crucifix were in a gothic setting if people would feel the same way. The fact that it is in the hideous Taj Mahony colors people's opinion, I think.
Suzie-
You make a very convincing argument.
I think it's hideous too, but hideous much like beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It's really more than a bit over the top to call it blasphemous though. Remember that controversial "art work" from many several years ago, featuring a crucifix in a container of urine? I think it was actually called "Piss Jesus". That was blasphemous. This is simply ugly. And I think Suzie may be right that it partly depends on setting. In a darkened gothic cathedral and with the corpus mounted on a different (darker) cross, I might have an entirely different opinion of it.
I've seen the crucifix at the cathedral half a dozen times now. The first time I saw it I was appalled and found it repugnant. The second time, and I think it was after seeing the movie the Passion, I was moved to tears and to the stark realization of what Christ suffered for love of us.
JOSEPH D'HIPPOLITO SAYS...
Someone should remind Mr. Madrid that in the Sciptures, it says that Christ was so hideous that none dared to look at him.
I agree with the first post in this thread.
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