We are witnessing horror upon horror in the Church and in our country. The institutional Church is a travesty. The Mystical Body has been savaged like her Bridegroom. Tortured beyond recognition. We are at Calvary now. There will be a glorious resurrection for the Church. This i know but I am not sure I will see it from this side...maybe from Purgatory.
You are right, Calvary has arrived. I never believed all of this would be happening in our lifetime, and everything seems to be unfolding at a rapid pace.
It is hard to believe that our very own Church allows this unseemly representation of what looks more like painted concrete barricades, than the Holy Family.
I agree and your comment reminds me of Roger Scruton's documentary Why Beauty Matters about the evolution of art away from beauty. Speaking of beauty in art, I like to follow the work of child prodigy Akiane Kramarik (she painted this portrait of Jesus when she was 8). She sometimes makes short movies about her paintings and she made one about her latest, a self-portrait done this year. She spent hundreds of hours looking at herself in a mirror to paint the portrait and explains that she went through agony for a period because she could not get her face right, that it seemed for a while, it was wearing several masks. The portrait and creation process was about looking inside herself in the midst of the year of horrors and staying true to herself. Akiane is spiritual but I don't think that she's associated with any church, but when she was talking about studying herself in the mirror for hours, I kept thinking of the quote from Fatima and maybe elsewhere about the illumination and how people would see themselves like in a mirror when they pass in front of it. Her portrait is a different sort of spiritual introspection from a real artist.
The only problem with looking at yourself in a mirror is that it is backwards. That's all I will say about that.
True. I never enjoyed looking at myself in a mirror, even as a small child. Funny, mirrors always made me uncomfortable. I look in the mirror to make myself presentable, and that's about it.
Has anyone else wondered what role it might play on the decisions behind the public displays of the Nativity that Vatican City is a UNESCO world heritage site. China and then Italy are the top UNESCO site nations. In comparison America does not even come close to them. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/286 The property is safeguarded by the law for the protection of the cultural heritage (no. 355, 25/07/2001) and by several rules of procedure issued by the various institutions of the Holy See in charge of heritage. For instance, the body responsible for the preservation and maintenance of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Fabbrica di S.Pietro, was founded in 1506 and is still active. The legal protective mechanism and traditional management system are adequate and ensure the effective protection of the site. The state of conservation of the property is constantly and carefully monitored, with special attention paid to the impact of the huge number of pilgrims and visitors. Monitored by whom and to whose criteria?
Exactly. What happened to the safeguards of cultural heritage? This Nativity scene looks like something you might see at the Museum of Modern Art, not at the Vatican. Traditional Sacred Art it is not.
Yes, she talks about that in this video and how the painting was mistreated, then held for ransom by an art dealer and sold for a pittance against her will. She painted another portrait of Jesus years later.
This is my professional comment on the Vatican nativity scene. I am a Master Artist, art juror, etc. The nativity reminds me of the characters made out of pasta noodles, something children would do. In fact, I read this is a display done from the 1960's from a little village in Italy that specializes in clay. Art can be creative, innovative, and often makes a statement. It can evoke a reaction, good or bad, and that is part of the creative arena. However, the Vatican, since it us a Roman Catholic Church, should choose art that represents its mission, not a worldly view. This was their mistake . . .they are trying to be inclusive of a world view. While our religion is inclusive of members, it is not inclusive of beliefs. Jesus was very specific in that, he said "I am the way, the truth, and the light". The Vatican in welcoming the pachamama has changed evangelization and joined the non-Christian belief system. Catholics should emphatically reject this kind of inclusiveness and be exclusive. We can enjoy art and creativity, but not let it be a mockery of our church, nor included in our church.
