I guess Brother Robert neglects the fact that there is no salvation outside the Church and assumes these two non-Catholics are saints in heaven. He also obviously can't comprehend that iconography is not a means to express your artist individuality and, most importantly, they are not a medium to pontificate your idealistic hair brained hippy theologies.Everyone knows bad art = bad theology and this is what happens when that bad art meets bad theology and manifests itself in Pasadena California.... this little event - Politics & Spirituality: Outer Witness, Inner Faith.
I can hear your moans of disgust. The event was an inward reflection of how our faith is worked into our politics with reflective inner mantra moaning, or some other crap like that, while meditating in front of various 'icons' created by Mr. Lentz. The event ended with a moment of self
The Mirror Image Icon
vomit.
"And finally, we present a blank icon, a mirror as it were, which will be placed at the front of the ballroom. We hope by the end of this time together, we can each find our own unique face in that mirror. What is our gift? What is our precise way of putting together our spirituality with our politics?"
11 comments:
While I won't argue the aesthics of the "art" I'd be a little careful when throwing out the "no salvation outside of the church" bit.
It is true that without the Church there is no salvation, meaning that salvation is brought into being by the Church, yet that does not mean that one cannot find salvation if not Catholic.
But a thorough reading of Paul VI's "Evangelization in the Modern World" would help illuminate that we can never be sure of anyone's salvation including our own.
I, for one, cannot imagine that the two men depicted, King and Ghandi, haven't conversed and dined with our Lord in Heaven.
Scott. Scott. Scott.
You opened a can o' worms.
I, for one, cannot imagine that the two men depicted, King and Ghandi, haven't conversed and dined with our Lord in Heaven.
MLK not only denied Christ's Church, but most of the Sacraments... to include his denial of The Real Presence of Christ in The Eucharist, Sacramental Confession, etc.
Ghandi was just a flat out pagan.
I find it odd that a Catholic would state what you've said, Scotty. Especially in light that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have died a martyrs death. Was their death all for nothing?
I guess the real question is this.... did King and Ghandi knowingly, willingly and intelligently refute Christ's Church?
I just found out about this guy a couple weeks ago. And what is shown isn't even the worst of it. (Just do a search for "Robert Lentz" and "Lord of the Dance". Yes, that is supposed to be Jesus.) I refuse to sully Miss Cannonball's fine blog by linking to his website.
Other icons depicting "catholic" saints include: Harvey Milk, a "LBGT" martyr, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an activist who railed against the all-male priesthood and a woman-ordainer, and others.
Some of the worst include depictions of saints in loving embraces; "Boris and George the Hungarian'", "Jonathan and David", "Polyeuct and Nearchus", and "Sergius and Bacchus". Anyone with eyes to see can pick up the homoeroticism.
Another apalling icon is his "Christ Sophia", a female depiction of our Lord, with the words "I Am Who Am" inscribed in the halo.
The last icon depicted as the 'mirror' instantly resonated with the words from Pope Benedict,"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one's own ego and one's own desires...An adult faith does not follow the waves of fashion and the latest novelty."
His dissidence cought the attention of Abp. Sheehan regarding his icons, several of them are no longer being mass-produced but are still available as supplies last. One day they will be gone, thank God.
He's has two books as far as I know. The cover of "Christ in the Margins" shows an icon he painted he calls "Christ of Maryknoll", an organization renowned for supporting heretical liberation theology. The other book, he provides illustrations for Joan Chittister's "A Passion for Life". Yes, the Joan Chittister.
He has won a "Bridge Building" award from New Ways Ministry, a Catholic dissident group that supports homosexual behavior. Other recipients of this award include; Mary Ellen and Casey Lopata, Sister Margaret Farley, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and Rev. Charles Curran.
I sincerely apologize to Miss Cannonball and others for monopolizing her comment space, but this guy needs to be avoided like the plague.
Oh boy, may favourite snack, heresy-defending Catholics who implicitly deny dogma.
If you don't know EENS keep your mouth shut.
Scotty: you don't. Your post is a classic mixture of truth and error.
From the trinitystores.com website
"In deference to the criticism of Michael Sheehan, Archbishop of Santa Fe, these ten images will no longer be distributed by the Order of Friars Minor. Trinity Stores will continue to sell these images until the inventory has been depleted.
--Br. Robert Lentz, ofm "
I am almost compelled to buy them and then destroy the whole disgusting lot of them just to rid the Earth of its filth. Lord of the Dance is pornographic at best.
Scott, I think what VSC is referring to is something called invincable ingnorance. Chime in Cavey if you disagree with the words I am putting in your mouth.
I don't think MLK & Ghandi where ignorant of the Church through no fault of their own.
To use your own words, Scott...since the Church does not assume who is heaven or hell.. what makes this heretic OFM free to assume the salvation status of MLK & Ghandi? Its ok for Br. Lentz to assume they are heaven but not so for me to assume otherwise?
Scott--I hope you don't honestly think you are Catholic. Read the Cathechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 846-848, for starters. Personally, I think the new catechism is a little . . . well, it ain't the Baltimore or the Trent Catechism, that's for sure. Also, read Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salis!
As to the post itself, shoot, what do you say to such garbage? I am wondering why and how "Br" Lentz remains in the OFM.
Bad art = bad theology = the Novus Ordo Church today.
Saddest of all I've seen the two "icons" you depict for sale at the Daughters of St. Paul. Whatever happened to that order?
There is nothing in the catechism that suggests that we should assume that non-Catholics are not saved. I don't know who originated the dictum 'we know where the Church is, but we don't know where it isn't', but there's a lot of theological sense in it.
Poor Scott seems to be getting a bit of a bashing for making comments that are in no way heterodox.
Needless to say though, I think depicting Ghandi and MLK in icons, no matter how good and holy they were, is totally inappropriate...
Post a Comment