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New York City, N.Y., May 9, 2018 / 05:07 pm (CNA).- The papal pomp and Catholic circumstance on display at this year’s Met Gala in New York (aka the ‘Oscars of the East Coast’) was met with a combination of confusion and optimism from Catholic thinkers and writers.

The theme for this year’s annual gala, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination”, inspired equally creative and controversial attire, including the bedazzled, skin-bearing papal ensemble worn by Rihanna, a pregnant Cardi B dressed up as Mary Queen of Heaven, and a Sistine chapel-inspired dress worn by Ariana Grande, among many other outfits emblazoned with crosses and icons and other Catholic-inspired paraphernalia.

The event kicked off the Met exhibit with the same theme, which features Church garments borrowed from the Vatican, religious art from the Met collection, and 150 designer fashion pieces that were intended to pay homage to Catholicism.

Considered by some to be a perverse and often baffling event, many Catholic writers seemed reluctant to dub the gala as either completely sacreligious or as a stroke of New-Evangelization genius – most fell somewhere in the middle.

Ross Douthat, a Catholic columnist at the New York Times, called the gala a “beautiful and blasphemous spectacle” and noted that “When a living faith gets treated like a museum piece, it’s hard for its adherents to know whether to treat the moment as an opportunity for outreach or for outrage.”

While he lamented the lack of faith behind the fascination with Catholicism, Douthat did wonder whether there was a lesson for the present-day Church contained in the secular world’s enamoration with the trimmings and trappings of an older Catholic aesthetic – one that he said has largely taken a back seat in the Church since the Second Vatican Council.

“The path forward for the Catholic Church in the modern world is extraordinarily uncertain,” Douthat wrote. “But there is no plausible path that does not involve more of what was displayed and appropriated and blasphemed against in New York City Monday night, more of what once made Catholicism both great and weird, and could yet make it both again.”

Also lamenting the lack of real faith behind the display was Matthew Schmitz of First Things, who said that people should pay attention to the real Catholic imagination and the meaning behind it, and not the overly sentimental and shallow aesthetic Catholicism that was on display at the gala.

“The same faith that gave rise to these beautiful baubles proposed views on sexuality and social order that are contrary to the spirit of the age. It is foolish to suppose that either the Church’s teaching or its relics are mere artefacts that now have lost their power,” he said.

“These beautiful copes, stoles, clasps, and rings still move men—still have the power Leo XIII acknowledged in Testem Benevolentiae when he advised priests in America to spread the faith ‘by the pomp and splendor of ceremonies’ as well as ‘by setting forth that sound form of doctrine.’ In the Met’s carnival atmosphere, their splendor seems all the more radiant.”

Some writers noted that the gala also revealed a double standard of what is acceptable to culturally appropriated, following an uproar last week over a Utah teen who wore a Chinese dress to her high school prom even though she was not Chinese herself.

Daniella Greenbaum, writing for Business Insider, said that while she finds the whole concept of cultural appropriation “deeply misguided,” she did think that the Met revealed a double standard over what qualifies as offensive, given the outrage over the Chinese dress and the lack thereof over the Catholic costumes at the gala.

“It highlights the unfairness. Social-justice warriors inevitably create distinctions — they have appointed themselves the arbiters of which cultures deserve protecting. And in the meantime, it seems, they’ve left Catholics out to dry,” she wrote.

However, others saw the cultural appropriation as a neutral or even positive part of the event, creating opportunities for further conversation.

Madeleine Kearns, writing for The Spectator, a UK publication, said that Catholics ‘can cope’ with cultural appropriation, and that being offended by it is a “counter-productive, ideological dead-end; a festival of victim culture. As far as I’m concerned, if people want to dress up as the Pope, or drape rosary beads over their car mirrors — why ever not? It starts a conversation about a culture I’m proud of.”

Eloise Blondiau, writing for America magazine, said that “If nothing else, the theme of this year’s exhibition and gala shows a willingness to engage with religion that is healthy and promising in a climate where polarization is rife.”

While the event was organized in cooperation with the Vatican, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was one of a few prelates in attendance, joking later that he ordered in “street meat” – hot dogs from to a pushcart – to the posh event after finding the refreshments insufficient, and joking that Rihanna borrowed her miter from him.  

The cardinal, who some criticized for attending the event, said in a press conference for the opening of the exhibition that he came because the ‘Catholic imagination’ honors “the true, the good, the beautiful.”

In the ‘Catholic imagination,’ the True, the Good, and the Beautiful have a name: Jesus Christ, who revealed Himself as ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life,’” he said. “In the ‘Catholic imagination,’ the truth, goodness, and beauty of God is reflected all over… even in fashion.  The world is shot through with His glory,” he said, adding a thanks to the organizers of the event, as well as to the Vatican “for its historic cooperation.”  

Dolan later told SiriusXM’s The Catholic Channel that as a self-proclaimed “JCPenney’s Big and Tall man” his personal interest in the event was not for the fashion, but for the chance to engage with people about the Catholic faith.

“There were some aspects that looked like kind of a masquerade party, a Halloween party,” he said. “I didn’t really see anything sacrilegious, I may have seen some things in poor taste, but I didn’t detect anybody out to offend the church.”

However, “A number of people came up and spoke about their Catholic upbringing and things they remembered and it was a powerful evening.”

The exhibition itself will run May 10 – Oct. 8, 2018 and is hosted at the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the medieval rooms at the Met on Fifth Avenue, and the Met Cloisters in uptown New York City. It is the Met Costume Institute’s largest show to date.

Church garments and liturgical vestments, many of which are still in use, will be displayed separately from the fashion exhibit, out of respect. The items in the separate exhibit come from the Sistine Chapel sacristy’s Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff and range in age from the mid-1700s to the pontificate of Saint John Paul II.

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New York City, N.Y., May 9, 2018 / 03:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A surprise performance by the Sistine Chapel Choir at the Met Gala this week left attendees in awe and helped convey the joy and beauty of the Church, said one of the organizers of the performance.

The choir’s performance had not been announced in advance, coming as a surprise to those present at the May 7 Met Gala, which takes place annually on the first Monday of May and serves as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

This year the Met exhibition, which opens May 10 and runs through October 2018, carries the theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” and features around 40 items on loan from the Vatican.

The items, many of which come from the Sistine Chapel Sacristy’s Office for Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, range in time period from the mid-1700s up to the pontificate of Saint John Paul II.

Given the special nature of the Vatican items, they will be set up in a separate display from the other pieces, which include religious art from the Met collection itself and around 150 designer fashion pieces intended to pay homage to Catholicism and which draw inspiration from Catholic iconography, liturgy and other aspects of the faith tradition.

John Hale, one of the leading organizers of the choir’s surprise performance at the gala, told CNA that the evening “was really a wow-moment.”

Hale sits on the board of directors for the Vatican’s Patrons of the Arts, which consists of different chapters, most of which are in the United States, who fund restoration projects for the priceless treasures housed in the Vatican Museums.

At one point after the performance, Hale said Anna Wintour, Met board member and editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Vogue, told him guests were unusually silent, commenting that “this is the quietest I’ve ever seen for this gala.”

Wintour, Hale said, told him attendees “were absolutely enthralled” by the performance. That sentiment, he added, “summed it up beautifully.”

“I spoke with a number of the attendees and mixed with them right after the performance and it was perfect silence, there was very good applause and reaction…so many folks were just really moved.”

Commonly referred to as “the pope’s choir,” the Sistine Chapel Choir consists of 20 professional singers from around the world, as well as a treble section composed of 35 boys aged 9-13, called the Pueri Cantores.

With a 1,500-year history, the Sistine Chapel Choir is believed to be the oldest active choir in the world.

According to Hale, who is also president and co-owner of Corporate Travel Service, the invitation to sing at the Met Gala came during the choir’s U.S. mini-tour in September 2017, during which the choir sold out performances in Washington D.C., New York and Detroit.

The choir’s director, Maestro Massimo Palombella, had approached Hale several years ago about creating a tour in the U.S. The September mini-version was essentially a test run, Hale said, and given the choir’s success during their fall tour, a longer nationwide tour is being organized for this summer.

Hale said he was initially hesitant when he was asked to help organize a performance at the gala, and had concerns over sensitivity to the Catholic faith. However, when the Vatican green-lighted the choir’s visit, he jumped on board and kept the performance under wraps for nearly a year up until the moment the choir filed in and began singing.

And having worked with the Met to get all the details in order, “I can really say they were not only respectful, they really wanted to communicate the beauty and faith of the Church,” he said. “I really had that sense, and it was very sincere. I was very moved by how sincere they were.”

The exhibit itself was “beautifully done,” and serves as “a real opportunity to express the Church’s teaching through beauty, through truth,” Hale said. “The same with the performance of the Sistine Chapel Choir.”

While there was some “outlandish fashion” that hit the red carpet at the gala, the vast majority of the 600 some attendees were “dressed beautifully and very appropriately,” he said.

“That might not be picked up traditionally because the media wants the outliers,” he said, explaining that while it is important to be sensitive to how the Church is portrayed, the Church also has to “go out.”

“We have to communicate beauty, and we have been invited, as a Church, to communicate what is our expression of beauty and our making manifest God’s presence through beauty,” he said, adding that in his opinion, “it would have been a crime not to respond to that invitation.”

Ultimately, what gets communicated through the beauty of things like fashion and music is God’s love, Hale said. “Everyone wants to be loved and we all need to be loved by God.”

Referring to a recent pastoral letter written by Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron titled “Unleash the Gospel,” which spoke of the need to find “shallow entry points” for evangelization, Hale said the Met exhibit and gala “was an entry point into encountering God through the true beauty and good.”

Choir members themselves felt both appreciated and respected by gala attendees, he said, noting that a number of the singers told him they could see people in the front row, and it was obvious they were captivated.

“Several choir members commented on the smiles, the joy, they could see genuine joy,” he said. “There was an exchange and a communication of joy that was palpable and apparent to the choir members and to the attendees.”

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Washington D.C., May 9, 2018 / 01:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The release of three American prisoners from North Korea was hailed as an important first step in addressing abuses within the nation, as U.S. leaders call for a continued expansion of religious… […]

Dallas, Texas, May 8, 2018 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- For undocumented immigrants in Texas, something as simple as a routine traffic stop could mean arrest and deportation.

Since an anti-sanctuary law was enacted this spring, Texas law enforcement officers are permitted to inquire about the immigration status of anyone they have detained, even during routine interactions, and must comply with federal guidelines to hold undocumented criminal suspects for possible deportation.

Despite promises that the law would not lead to racial profiling and unnecessary arrests, its passage has left many immigrants feeling uneasy in their communities.

Father Michael Forge, a Catholic priest in Farmers Branch, Texas, told Dallas News that since the anti-sanctuary law was passed, several of his undocumented parishioners have told him that they felt unsafe to going to church or taking their kids to school.

That’s why Forge and several other local Catholic churches have begun issuing Church identification cards. Unlike state-issued identification, they do have any legal significance, but they can provide officers with a name and address, assuaging for some card holders the fear of arrest during otherwise routine interactions.  

Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly of Dallas, who helped launch the initiative with the group Dallas Area Interfaith, said that the identifications give immigrants a sense of safety, community and belonging.

“It was just a way of giving them status within the church,” Kelly told CNA. “It was a way of saying you belong to us, you’re a part of our parish family.”

Applicants for the church ID cards are typically asked to provide some other form of identification, such as an expired driver’s license or passport from their country of origin, or an affidavit certifying their identity.  

Some parishes ask that immigrants show that they are active parish members for several months before applying, though that is not a requirement everywhere.

“You don’t have to be Catholic for that matter,” Forge told Dallas News. “We certainly want our immigrants, legal or otherwise, to have some sort of peace.”

Kelly said the cards have been a way to offer some solidarity with and peace of mind to fellow Christians.

“They’re our brothers and sisters but oftentimes they live in the shadows, they’re subject to injustices, wage theft, people may hire them and not pay them,” he said.

Police in the cities of Dallas, Carrollton and Farmers Branch have been told that they are allowed to accept the church cards as a form of identification. The church IDs include a person’s name, address and home parish. They can also be used to enroll in citizenship or language classes.

“So far people have said there’s a sense of relief and joy that they have something that says that they belong to this parish,” Kelly added.

“They recognize that it’s not an official government ID, they know that, it’s just a way of saying: ‘we are acknowledged here.’”

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Santa Fe, N.M., May 8, 2018 / 04:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A 2017 U.S. Supreme Court decision has given new life to New Mexico backers of state funding for private school textbooks, as their case returns to the state Supreme Court.

“Ending the textbook lending program will disproportionately hurt low-income and minority children, at a time when they need access to a quality education more than ever,” Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, said May 7. “We should be investing in kids’ futures, not crippling their ability to gain a quality education.”

The Becket law group, working on behalf of the New Mexico Association of Nonpublic Schools, has challenged a court decision that ended non-public school students’ participation in an 80-year-old textbook lending program for state-approved textbooks and other educational material.

“A science textbook is a science textbook no matter whose shelf it’s on,” Baxter said, arguing that siding with the school would “stop discriminating” and “give all kids equal access to the best educational opportunities.”

In 2011, two parents challenged the program on the grounds the state constitution bars education funds from being used “for the support of any sectarian, denominational or private school, college or university,” language known as a Blaine Amendment. A 2015 New Mexico Supreme Court decision, Moses v. Ruszkowski, sided with the parents and ended nonpublic school students’ participation.

Becket has challenged the ruling’s reliance on the Blaine Amendment. The law group claimed the 19th century law was “originally designed to disadvantage New Mexico’s native Catholic citizens” and “was all about anti-Catholic animus.”

Such amendments have been used “to keep religious organizations from participating in neutral, generally applicable government programs on the same terms as everyone else,” the legal group charged. It cited efforts in Oklahoma to use a Blaine Amendment to block the use of scholarships for learning-disabled children attending religious schools.

Frank Susman, a Santa Fe attorney who represents the parents, said their case was backed by the Blaine Amendment and at least two other constitutional amendments which he said bar appropriations for private entities, whether schools or students.

“They all absolutely ban this type of aid,” Susman said in court May 7, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

The U.S. Supreme Court has returned the 2015 decision to the New Mexico Supreme Court to reconsider in light of its own 2017 ruling in Trinity Lutheran v. Comer. That 7-2 decision sided with a Christian preschool which had been denied a Missouri state grant for an effort to improve playground safety because it was associated with a church.

The United States’ highest court ruled that it was wrong to deny a church a public benefit that was otherwise available only because of its religious status.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department is also challenging the state court’s ruling, though the department has not provided funding for private school textbooks since the decision. The ruling relates to over $1 million in federal funds the state receives each year through the U.S. Mineral Leasing Act.

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La Crosse, Wis., May 8, 2018 / 02:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A special quasi-parish for Catholics of Hmong background will be established in the Wisconsin Diocese of La Crosse, its local bishop announced.

“It’s with great hope and joy that I … […]

Jerusalem, May 7, 2018 / 04:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Church leaders are defending the need for a Christian presence in the Old City of Jerusalem, as some report increased vandalism, verbal abuse, and aggressive property acquisition by Jewish settlers.

… […]

Altoona, Pa., May 7, 2018 / 12:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Two Franciscan friars who served as superiors of their community in Pennsylvania have pled guilty to charges of endangering children, for allowing a friar suspected of sexual abuse to continue to w… […]

Washington D.C., May 7, 2018 / 11:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal organization that promotes life, marriage and religious liberty, has been removed from the “AmazonSmile” charitable giving program… […]

Washington D.C., May 4, 2018 / 04:31 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism will have a new chairman, following Bishop George Murry’s resignation from the position after being diagnosed with acute leukemia.

“Our most heartfelt prayers are with Bishop Murry and his loved ones,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “We ask all people of faith to join us in praying for his full recovery.”

The cardinal has named Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, La. to serve as the chairman until the end of the term, the U.S. bishops’ conference website reports.

“I am grateful to Bishop Fabre for his dedication and commitment to now lead the work of the Ad Hoc Committee,” Cardinal DiNardo said.

The ad hoc committee was established in August 2017 in the wake of increasing racial tensions and white nationalist activism. Its work has included a press conference last fall at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the creation of resources for the Sept. 9 Feast Day of St. Peter Claver as an annual day of prayer for peace within communities.

The committee also promotes education, resources, communications strategies, and care for victims of racism. A pastoral letter from the committee is expected to be released later this year.

On Monday the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio announced that Bishop Murry has been admitted to the Cleveland Clinic.

“He will undergo intensive chemotherapy for the next four weeks,” said the diocese’s statement, which called for prayer.

Murry also chairs the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education, which provides guidance for all Catholic educational institutions in the country.

CNA contacted the U.S. bishops’ conference seeking information about whether the bishop would remain on this committee but did not receive a response by deadline.

Bishop Shelton Fabre was born October 25, 1963 in New Roads, La. He was ordained a priest in 1989 and became an auxiliary bishop of New Orleans in February 2007. In September 2013 he became Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux in southern Louisiana.

He is current chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee on African American Affairs, on which he has served since 2010. Since 2013, he has served as a member of the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church.

The bishop is a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Peter Claver, a historically African-American Catholic fraternal organization which he serves as national chaplain. He is also a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.
 

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