Just when blasphemy is withdrawn from one place, it rears its ugly head in another. This time in New Mexico.
The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) and its America Needs Fatima affiliate campaign had just finished a successful rally of reparation and protest at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The controversy centered around two portrayals of Jesus Christ that were finally taken off display. Press reports described them as a photo of a nude woman standing in Jesus’ place at the Last Supper and another of a topless woman on a cross.
Now, the American TFP and America Needs Fatima’s anti-blasphemy network is opposing another offense.
There is no such thing as an ordinary blasphemy since all blasphemy is by definition an extremely serious offense against God. However, Alma Lopez’s “Our Lady” exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico goes to new extremes. Press reports describe the exhibit as a computer collage portraying a bikini-clad Virgin of Guadalupe, held aloft by a topless woman-angel.
A Special Devotion to Our Lady
Our Lady of Guadalupe is full of significance. The word Guadalupe was actually a Spanish mistranslation of the local Aztec dialect word, Coatlaxopeuh, which means “one who crushes the serpents.” Within six years of this apparition, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism. The cloth where Our Lady’s image appears, shows her as the God-bearer – she is pregnant with her Divine Son.
What makes this exhibit especially offensive is the fact that the Virgin of Guadalupe is officially the Patroness of all the Americas. She is the powerful intercessor cherished and loved by the Mexican people. Since she is shown as a mother with child, she is also considered protector of the unborn.
“This isn’t just any blasphemy,” claims Mr. Robert Ritchie, campaign coordinator. “It targets Our Lady in an invocation that is so dear to Catholics, Americans, and those who fight abortion. The ‘artist’ could not have picked a more cherished image of Our Lady to deform.”
Need to Oppose Blasphemy
For these very reasons, the TFP’s anti-blasphemy network is mounting a peaceful and legal campaign to oppose this latest exhibit called Cyber Arte: Where Tradition Meets Technology, where the offensive portrayal appears. As always, all violence is strictly forbidden in this protest.
Protesting is the only way to prevent more blasphemy. Just because this exhibit follows closely behind the Brooklyn exhibit is no reason to remain silent. In fact, public pressure recently forced officials at Kennedy airport to cover an unclothed Christ painted on a mural there. Email protests to Yahoo! led that company to abandon plans to market pornography directly on its search engine site.
Grassroots action can be extremely effective and Catholics – especially those devoted to the Blessed Mother – must come to her defense when so vilely attacked. Many local faithful have already staged protests at the museum in Santa Fe and voiced their objections. Now is the time to join with them.
To remain silent and indifferent only encourages the promoters of blasphemy to shamefully peddle their agenda. The American TFP campaign is well underway and includes Enough is Enough! protest postcard fliers, email protests, and a future rally of public reparation.
“Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish?” (Words of Our Lady to Juan Diego.)