History repeated itself

Sacrilege on Easter 2019

It is sad that I must repost a version of this, but it happened again. I am perplexed, angry, embarrassed, and running through a number of other emotions, particularly in light of the Islamic terrorist bombing in Sri Lanka that killed three hundred Catholic and Protestant worshippers in coordinated attacks on yesterday.  The posting appeared last night.  The poster described it as a "little gentle humor for Easter."  It is not gentle or humorous; sacrilege is rarely either. It showed one of the many versions of the ancient icon of Christ the Pantocrator.  

The icon, of which there are many versions, shows Christ with His right hand raised, with the thumb and third finger making a circle and the other three fingers outstretched.  A book rests in the crook of the left arm.  The gaze is directed at the worshipper. That gaze locks the worshippers eyes in His.  It is difficult to look away. The book's pages are inscribed in Greek.  

On the offensive post the words of scripture were erased to create a blank space.  In place of the word of God is a hand shadow of a bunny meant to appear as if coming from Christ's hand.  One caption noted that it is the explanation of the beginning Easter bunny.  

When I posted a response two years ago one commenter suggested an overreaction because "Jesus must have a sense of humor."  That tickled my sense of humor right before the anger swelled. Rather than saying, thinking, or admitting that the drawing is inappropriate, he lapsed into the kind of projective defensive posture characteristic of children (see Anna Freud's The Mechanisms of Defense for a fuller explanation) followed by a few ad hominem attacks that included the accusation that I am a judgmental Pharisee.  I am not judging.  I am making a diagnosis.   There is a difference.  One must call pathology for what it is. 

Another sampling of  so-called humor for Holy Week appeared later in a poorly done depiction of Batman and Robin.  Balloon over Batman:  "Hurry for the washing of the feet." Robin replies: "Holy Thursday Batman."  Why?  That is the burning question.  Why must Catholics embarrass themselves, the Church, and the rest of us?  Has a certain type of Catholic, both vowed and lay, become so desperate to be seen as hip, cool, funny, with it, laid back, modernist, or entertaining--Don Rickles is dead, a replacement is not needed--that thought and reflection have been replaced by the kind of disinhibited behavior seen in drunks? They generally can't figure out the difference between appropriate and wildly inappropriate or between the sacred  and obscene.

Was there an icon of Christ the Pantocrator making the Easter bunny on the pages of Scripture anywhere in the two Coptic Church that were bombed on Palm Sunday in 2017 or in the Catholic Churches bombed yesterday in Sri Lanka?  Would the vanishing Catholic communities in the Middle East find amusement in a superhero cartoon characters mocking the rituals of Holy Thursday? 

I suspect one of the reasons people flee the Catholic Church or move into fundamentalist sects is the joking approach some ostensible Catholics and, tragically, some priests and religious, take toward it.  The level of disgust I had to struggle with last night made sleep difficult.  

In 2017 I received an e-mail from a friend who saw the original version of this post on my blog.  "I read your post. . .  I completely agree that our culture (many Catholics included) is off the rails concerning any recognition of the sacred. The profane and cynical is lauded in the media. Facebook is just another vehicle. When we name the sin of profanity, it is turned into intolerance (or just not getting the joke).  The right hand gesture in the icon you mention is very sacred. I went to a Byzantine Ukrainian high school where the priest's hand for blessing was formed in that manner. The fingers spell out the Greek letters IC XC which are the first and last letters of Jesus and Christ. It is truly blasphemy that the name of Jesus Christ is photo-shopped into a bunny."

Included below are photos of the icon of the Pantocrator (I did not take the photo) and an ecumenical service at sv. Jože in Ljubljana on Easter Monday 2017 (took several hundred photos that night by request).  It was attended by  Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Byzantine Catholic men and women.  The principal celebrant was a Ukrainian Catholic priest assisted by a transitional deacon for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Slovenia.  One of the Jesuits also concelebrated.  Note the priest's right hand extended in blessing at the end of the service.  

Father, forgive them, for they are totally clueless. 

_______________

Note the position of the fingers on the right hand.  I took this at an ecumenical Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, Orthodox service on Easter Monday in Slovenia in 2017.  The main celebrant was a Ukrainian Catholic priest.  He is blessing the congregation at the end of the service. 

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD