Uh....I feel it awkwardly obvious to any free-thinking american out there..........If you object..that is to say "protest".....various tenants and operations of the Roman Catholic Church......shouldnt you like join or create your own PROTESTANT church??? Why is any sane person attempting to "reform" a crystalized, iron clad 2000 year old structure called the Roman Catholic Church???
1
I never thought I'd agree with Ross Douthat but, yes, this year's Met Gala was even more revolting than usual. A few years back Tina Fey deemed it a "jerk parade."
They certainly surpassed that label this year.
Let the trumbrils roll...
9
Ross does not get catholicism.
4
People here who are writing about the Church and who aren't Catholic should just stop commenting. Really. You know nothing.
17
Poor Ross Douthat. He was born in the wrong era. He pines for the true Medieval Catholic experience: inquisitions, selling of indulgences, self-flagellation and hairshirts, pilgrimages, burning of heretics, church control of the state, elaborate Gothic cathedrals - when men were men, and churches were churches.
He sighs: “a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination” i.e. weirdness.
But if the church needs circus-like weirdness to attract members, and filigreed bizarreness to energize its persuasiveness and credibility, what does that say about the substance of its message? The use of elaborate smoke and mirrors - a dead, incomprehensible language in its rituals, holy water, gold chalices, lavish priest costumes, clouds of incense smoke – are like a rock group using pyrotechnics in its stage show to offset uninspired songs and musicianship. Think Spinal Tap. The Church’s documentary would be “This is Catholicism.” And it would be just as funny as the fictional heavy metal group’s mockumentary.
Baroque Catholicism does belong in a museum – a Museum of the Weird – along with jackalopes, shrunken heads, séances, and two-headed farm animals. If the Church cared more about substance, and less about fireworks and magic, it would sell all of its gold chalices and crucifixes, troves of art work, and valuable properties, and use the proceeds to do what Jesus supposedly preached – help the poor, feed the hungry, heal the sick.
28
Does the NYTimes need to keep running columns on Catholicism, written by a good-old-days white male?
I'm sure Douthat could find a job at some Catholic newspaper, where the readers would care about the inner politics of a dying sect.
The cause of Christianity's decline is not the changing of costumes and music. It is scholarship and education. The world now knows there were many gospels, the stories in the Catholic bible were written down long after Jesus was dead, the gospels incorporate other myths etc. etc. etc.
The correct way to present debunked myths is not an important issue.
9
Religions have caused misery, death and destruction for centuries. The sooner they go away, the better off the world well be.
23
Make Catholicism great and weird again? MCGWA? Yikes! I don't think so. If Ross wants high high Masses he has only to veer into a high high Anglican Mass to trip out on incense, black mantillas and doleful Renaissance polyphony. The last time I was at a traditional RC Mass (black chasubles, Gregorian chant et al) it took 45 minutes to get to the epistle. As for inculturation he should be blaming JPII whose liturgical expert took that Pope into muddy waters indeed. Again Douthat is pining for what was a phase in Catholicism. Why doesn't he yearn for the good old days of the catechumens in the Roman caves? They were Catholics too. Bone up on your Newman Mr. Douthat.
9
Believing in ancient superstition and fairy tales in the age of iPhones and Alexa...
15
Religion. Celebrity. Opiate of the Masses.
8
A Catholic church that is still struggling to disentangle itself from generations of complicity in widespread child rape is plenty weird enough for me already, thanks.
16
I have written to both the editor and the 'corrections editor' that the ignorant claim by Tariro Mzezewa in her article 'Rihanna Reigns Over the Met Gala with Her Pope Dress' that the actress is wearing a Papal Tiara is grossly incorrect. Remains incorrect.
She is wearing a Mitre not a Tiara. All the reference is poorly researched which proves this event is held for the desperate for attention crowd and has no value for an institution like a Museum. The event should be held at Madison Square Garden or some New Jersey racetrack.
9
But ... Tom Brady. He's really good at football.
And his wife - well, she is just ... superb.
What's the problemo?
2
How about a Catholic Church which preaches and practices that life should be lived based on the life of its putative founder -- i.e., one which abjures riches and powers and loves thine enemy as thyself.
12
There was nothing "lewd" about Rihanna's outfit. The melodrama, Mr. Douthat...
4
Keep the ritual. Keep the mysticism. Keep the beauty, and the austerity. Get rid of sexual repression. Let women be priests. Let priests have sex. Let priests have families.
10
Ross, pretending to know things one does not know is pretty weird already.
6
Ross,
What do you mean weird again, all religions are weird & have been from it's very beginning. It started when a man hears a voice that tells him to sacrifice his only son, which he consents to do, & it gets weirder and weirder, a dead man comes back to life, & is worshiped as a God.If that isn't enough a man dies and flys up to heaven on his horse, which is described as paradise where no sex is allowed, & people just float around on a cloud.
Ross you must admit dressing up in costumes is mild by comparison.
13
Make Catholicism Weird Again. AGAIN?
12
The clothing was mostly poorly conceived and executed . What would real talent have produced? Patou, Givenchy, Halston, Madame Gres? Some more glorious certainly.
The church should keep playing card tricks at the mass, but come to reality in everyday life. You can not live a honest life under the boot of Rome. I am talking about all you thrice married, condom using, independent thinkers out there. The internet has exposed a clerical community brimming with Homosexuals etc. Render unto Caesar , fashionistas!
1
I was about half-way through this column when I thought to myself: "Wow, this is an all-too-rare column by Douthat in which he doesn't take gratuitous and mis-informed swipes at liberals and liberalism. He's a much better writer when he sticks to things that he actually understands (e.g. Catholicism); and I'm actually enjoying reading this column."
Then he spoiled it by falling back into his usual claptrap, like: "The radicalism of [Pope Francis'] economic and ecological vision, often portrayed as simply liberal, actually represents a kind of left-leaning pessimism."
Mr. Douthat, your coded disdain for us liberals (even when you attempt package it in the semantic trappings of high-minded cultural discourse) is no less scornful and divisive than overtly reactionary (and hate-filled) media hacks like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Coulter.
Your attempts at thoughtful punditry don't hide, or even soften, the condescension and divisiveness of your message. In fact, in many ways people like you are as much to blame for the current state of our country's political mess as the overt Right-wing wackos.
9
My great hope is that the esteemed NY Times quits turning over it's valuable pages to superstition and nonsense several times a week. There was a time when the Catholic Church pretty much controlled all of Europe. How did that work out for them?
Ross Douthat's comments on Catholicism belong in a religious newspaper. Having escaped a Catholic background (barely), I can attest that Douthat's opinions, and those of people like him, cause real harm and suffering in the world, permanent harm.
9
Why have religious beliefs at all ?
4
Thought it was Halloween.
4
Tracing christianity thru America.......First there was European state religion...the Roman Empire...morphed into the Roman Catholic Church...King Henry married Catherine of aragon in a Pope sanctioned marriage...imagine that one....England and Spain united as one Catholic approved Empire...then the fun got started. King Henry wanted things his way....not the Pope's way...thus we got RC-light...the Church of England...still state religion, just not sending dues to the Pope in the Vatican...Henry's daughter continued the struggle against the Pope....only upped the ante by condoning and endorsing "protestant" religious groups and outright attacking Spain. Soon enough through your basic palace intrigue, England again has a Catholic King, and the Puritans get kicked out. New England created as a convenient place to isolate the bleak-minded bastids. After a rough patch, Irish protestants(quakers mostly) also removed to America. Once solidly Church of England types in Virginia begin to assert independence as more protestant types ejected from Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany show up in the "Mother Colony". Revolution. Puritans move into WesternNY....Mormons created...a bizarre imitation of Catholicism with a Puritanical twist. Great Awakening, and now the Shoutin really gets started. Ellis Island Immigration turns out to be "Revenge of the RC Church" as about 110% of immigrants are catholic...resurgence of Catholicism is evident in todays Evangelical movement.
3
It's about beauty, art.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/heavenly-bodies
Gee, I guess there's no beauty in Ross' world.
1
How does one offend or blaspheme a religious institution that protects pedophiles?
7
"..elements of the Catholic tradition have turned into archaic curiosities to be rediscovered by aesthetes and donned lewdly by Rihanna.."
Quite curious in this never ending, pointless rant that you chose to single out Rihanna over everybody else playing dress up for your diamond edged scorn. (BTW, how about that Tom Brady in that fabulously bizarre, gold embroidered tux? That was just so wrong it had to be right.)
Is it perhaps the gem encrusted "Pope Hat" that she's wearing that upsets you so?
Feel better soon, we need your brilliance.
Make Catholicism Weird Again?
When did it ever STOP being weird?
4
One of the encouraging things I observe happening in the USA is the behavior of people from south of the border.......as the mexicans, guatamalans, hondurans, etc.....stream north, a sizable number of them stop attending the Catholic Church and set up their own fundametalist churches that set their own standards and teach the Bible lessons. Iglesia Bautista, Testigos de Jehova, Seventh Day Adventist, Casa de Dios, on and on..........Dont get more American than that.
Remembering the genocide the Spanish Catholics visited on the native peoples in the New World. Their actual god was gold and other shiny things. Bigly sad.
6
Please stop this nonsense. My family and I are all cradle Catholics and we are sick and tired of conservative converts from Protestantism like you Ross who want to impose your archaic view of our church on the rest of us. You do not speak for us.
9
As a practicing Catholic I see only one path for the church to continue to exist through the ages: keep telling Catholics to have 10 kids in hopes that 3 of those 10 kids remains Catholic. Because Catholics like Ross Douthat make Catholics like me want to throw up at our religion and it’s fake outrage for costumes over sexually abused children.
5
Why is it cultural appropriation when a gringo wears a sombrero to a cinco de Mayo party, but not the same sin when these people do something metaphorically similar at the Met gala?
37
I have given up on making any sense of this post-decency era, save maybe to look at it like some absinthe dream of Oscar Wilde; but then, our skull-shatteringly inane ironies may have overwhelmed even his genius. Here we have a group of obscenely wealthy people, most of whom despise an obscenely wealthy (and morally vile) President, dressing in the costumes of an obscenely wealthy church that was founded by an extremely impoverished man. And in the midst of this Roman circus, Mr. Douthat is still wringing his hands over guitar masses. Is it too late to reboot “Spy” magazine?
56
The “message” of the Catholic Church transcends traditions and trinkets, these are distractions and therefore dangerous; the “fascination” is rooted in truth, eternity, and creation ... which make vestments, incense, and Latin liturgy irrelevant, A longing for the good old days and the autos-da-fé does not really help one to live and to spread Christ’s word.
33
If you think Rihanna was "lewdly" dressed, please let me take a moment to introduce you to the 21st century.
(An introduction that seems even more important now given your previous "'incel'-sympathizing" essay.)
2
"Make Catholicism Weird Again"
When was Catholicism ever not weird?
3
I comment here as a now older woman who, by age 11, literally deprived of oxygen amid the Catholic weirdness of a penitential "Magdalene" program similar to those in Ireland. Prolonged penitential stress positions. Deprivation of light. No beautiful costumes. Ross writes as an inexperienced newbie ideologue. I've seen photos from the Met gala and really liked the celestial, spectacular weirdness that reflects early Roman Catholic culture that reflects differing ancient Mediterranean cultures: plural. During my first trip to the Metropolitan Museum, I was struck by how much of the art seemed Catholic to me. Why wouldn't it be? The Roman Empire ruled Europe during both medieval and renaissance times. The Met displayed ancient Roman and Greek artifacts emblazoned with swastikas. The movement of the big dipper around Polaris, a pattern familiar to people of the north, is probably the inspiration for the swastika, a good luck celestial symbol before Hitler claimed it for his hatemongering. This past year, an alt-right candidate displayed the Celtic Cross as his symbol. Sad. The original ritual of the Mass informed people about Christ without contextualizing Christ's place as rabbi/teacher in Christ's times. There is much beautiful stained glass and artistry to be found in synagogues. The Egyptian hieroglyphics in the Met look like the newspaper to me. Love one's neighbor as oneself. That which is hateful to me, I should not do to my neighbor.
1
When contemplating this essay, the Met Gala, and Christian triumphalism, the word that comes to mind is “vulgarity.” The photos of the gala made me angry at the waste of money which could have helped Cardinal Dolan’s and New York’s neediest. Vulgar. Sarah Jessica Parker wearing an icon on her head - extremely vulgar. A celebration of the Florentine finery (think lace and brocade and gold) of the princes of the church - off the rails vulgar. I believe in having beautiful things in places of worship: vestments, flowers, fine instruments and so on. But this event was so devoid of anything remotely resembling the essence of religion - love and service - that I have to condemn it as a person of faith.
6
Regardless of the hoopla, all I can say is that the mere concept for that gala was strange.... 'fashion' and 'catholicism', in the same sentence?
2
Ross--
You have a point about "reform" Catholicism. I'm a lapsed Catholic, but the Church I'm lapsed from is the old time version. The last time I went to Sunday Mass it was still in Latin. But I can't imagine going back to the church as it is today, dominated by suburban Republicans with vicious ideas about immigrants, etc that nobody considering himself any kind of Christian could possibly promote. And today's priests being too timid and perhaps too stupid and uneducated to challenge. And as far as esthetics, could there be anything as ugly as a suburban Catholic church built since the 1950s? Or as beautiful as the grand immigrant churches of the past, now being abandoned and sold by local Dioceses for conversion to condominiums?
6
Women are second-class citizens in the Catholic church; truth is not blasphemy.
Patriarchy has got to go, along with the gaudy show.
6
Is there anyone out there who can identify with the patrons of the Met Gala? But the institutional Church rests upon a foundation of unspeakable wealth and corruption that has nothing to do with Catholicism as a belief system. Ritual, bizarre vestments and mitres have long been part of the presentation. As such, it's always been an easy target for parody. And frankly, as surreal as the show at the Met might be, there is nothing more freakish than an institution that refuses to come clean about its role in aiding and abetting pedophilia on a tragic scale. Catholicism's integrity lies in the truth of Christ's suffering and the love and humility of lay believers. When the Church returns to its roots and purpose, who cares what a bunch of publicity hungry celebrities wear to a dance?
1
Mr. Douthat’s repeated characterization of the Second Vatican Council, which was informed by many generations of profound Catholic scholarship and piety, as “protestantizing” is slanderous. His whining articles on the Catholic Church, colored by his secular political commitments, are among the things that are "an impediment to the mission of preaching the gospel in the modern world."
7
Blah, blah, rich people, blah. Dorothy Day and St. Francis of Assisi like many other Catholics, devoted their lives to social justice, spreading love, helping the poor, and alleviating suffering. I read about their lives, and I think about their values. They inspire me to be a better person than I would otherwise be. Ross, if you want to write about Catholicism, why don’t you write about them?
6
How does one blaspheme against opulent clerical garb that was sacrilegious to the memory of an itinerant Galilean preacher in the first place?
2
I'm not Catholic, but being an art historian, I love beauty. So visiting Melk Abbey in Austria, I was fascinated by all the elaborate, gold Catholic ritual items, including highly-decorated vestments, that are displayed in their museum. Yet I was also appalled! Sickened! "Baroque Catholicism" indeed! So much money spent to adorn and beautify a few followers---of Jesus?
2
The title of this column assumes that Catholicism became weird recently and was not so until then!
1
It's actually almost impossible to believe that this happened. Somebody wears a sombrero for Halloween at Yale and a dean is fired. Literally. But the Met, the NYT, and apparently everybody else has no problem with this? I await the "sexy rabbi" and "sexy imam" costume event next year. Wait...I'm pretty sure the "sexy imam" at least will not be happening.
6
While some Catholics perceive this year's Met Gala as blasphemous - no one is threatening jihad and murder in response. Anyone who condemned Bill Maher's comments on Islam should remember that fact.
4
This was a mockery, plain and simple, by a bunch of people who have long lost their way. Just think, if this was held a year earlier Harvey Weinstein would likely have been in attendance. Image the outrage if the theme had been Islam and not Catholicism. Outragely rightly so from Muslims and over-the-top outrage from our progressive leftists, who are increasingly losing all sense of self awareness.
5
Monday night’s Met Gala was a monstrous circus, with NYC’s Cardinal as one of the ringmasters featuring props supplied by some misguided knuckleheads at the Vatican Museum. I don’t believe the Pope was unaware of this spectacle. I hope he bawls Cardinal Egan out for participating. Obscene.
1
If Francis and the modernizers would not want the Catholic Church to trade on fear maybe they should start by taking all those crucifixes out of our faces. Trade on fear! Fear and blood is the sum total of religion.
2
Another installment of Mr. Douthat’s ongoing series bemoaning the waning power of transubstantiationist codswallop.
His prescription for the ‘problem’ posed by the inexorable erosion of sorcery by rationality is... more elaborate costumery?!
Perhaps the ancient myths of the Aztecs and the Egyptians would still be thriving... if only they had applied lipstick more generously to the pig?
Keep on keepin’ it weird Ross!
: ) L
5
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Matthew 19:21-22)
The Catholic Church and the Met Gala participants flaunting Catholic aestheticism have something in common with this rich young man. Perhaps one serves God better than the other in charity work, but to what extent do they both serve themselves? To what extent have each truly grieved?
As a Catholic-turned-Congregationalist, I see the merits of maintaining a House (or Temple) for God, as long as everyone can come in and participate equally and where love reigns supreme.
If you build it, they will come.
AMDG
1
Why do I have a feeling that a lot of Catholic priests just loved the outfits and would also love to try them on themselves.
2
I think people leave Catholicism painfully in response to its rigidity, legalistic and pompous arrogance. No ritualistic weirdness will bring back those believers disgusted by the moral cruelty of a church indifferent to the suffering caused by the sex abuse crisis. Take on that problem with actual accountability in a real way and believers will return.
2
Catholicism faces a simple calculation, whether the resources expended on pomps could be better used to aid the poor. The Catholic baptismal rite used to ask Christians to renounce Satan’s pomps. How are they different from the pomps on display at the Met?
3
I like Pink Floyd's description........"The tolling of the iron bell, calls the faithful to their knees, to hear the softly spoken magic spell......"
3
Where are the Social Justice Warriors screams over cultural appropriation? Oh, right, the Left doesn't apply hypocrisy to anything they believe if involves things Christian, Western, or white.
1
Why does one of the world's great newspapers waste so much space gifting the esoteric rants from such a narrow faction of a single, if historically relevant, branch of Christianity?
1
Meanwhile, did the gala have a point? When artists and comedians mocked the Catholic Church forty years ago, they made a certain political statement. Now -- to me, at least -- the Met gala was just a cheap shot, built on the originality of others in the past.
Everyone should, OF COURSE, continue to critique the Catholic Church and to demand that its polity be just. No issue there.
But, again, what was the Met gala doing? Not a political statement -- or, at least, I don't think so. Not original art or comedy. Just poor taste, as far as I can see.
The celebs looked ridiculous.
3
Pope Francis is not responsible for declining attendance. The neverending child sexual abuse scandals and cover-ups are the problem.
7
Neither Thomas Merton nor Teilhard de Chardin would agree with you, Ross. That should tell you all that you need to know about the state of Catholicism, past and present.
2
Douthat and his "Make Catholic Insularity Great Again" pitch does not cut it. His religious pose has a complete secuar/political foundation that mimics today's Evangelical religion. That is no accident as Douthat came from that creed but now poses as the saving voice for Catholicism. What singular hubris!
3
I am amused by all the high brow intellectual discourse in this article - if you want to know why Sunday mass attendance is declining just go to mass once and try listening to the absolute drivel spewed by priests and deacons masquerading as a homily. Anyone with even an ounce of observational intelligence will immediately realize that not a single attendant is paying even the remotest attention to the gibberish coming from the pulpit. Of course there are decent priests giving thoughtful and effective homilies, but they are about as rare as a $2.00 bill.
6
I have no theological or doctrinal stakes in this (I'm a lapsed Unitarian), but only the observation that this whole gala is a decadent spectacle that is socially and culturally stomach turning! -- talk about "cultural appropriation." The Metropolitan Museum should be ashamed of itself, and the New York Times should reconsider why it spills gallons of ink on such an event!
3
Not one mention of the Catholic Church's long history of sexual abuse of children in this "essay". The "brand", has been ruined, and will stay so until the Church truly reckons with those crimes.
When "Religion" becomes all steak and no sizzle, it becomes much easier to notice the complete absence of steak.
3
The term "lapsed Catholics" is no longer used. The correct phrase is "Recovering Catholics".
One of your best, Ross: very thought-provoking and lots to chew on.
People like Douthat remind me of how thankful I am for the Reformation.
2
Amen, Mr. Douhat!
"MAKE JESUS JEWISH AGAIN" would've been a better title to Mr Douthat's brilliant opinion. Even the divine Michelangelo -- who provided the best 'returns' on Martin Luther's hostile takeover of leveraged indulgences -- was, imho, a closeted Jew. How else to explain his scant representation of New Testament material?
Outside his 'Pieta' and one Madonna and Child everything else is more "Waiting for Godot" whence a Kurt Godel, Einstein's mathematician, would eventually better address God's greatest gift -- i.e., freewill -- in terms of life's constancy precluding any semblance of completion.
This, after all, is Catholicism's best gift to culture insofar as 'The Word' made flesh can't help but invoke information theory for the collective conscious to posthumously create the very God whence our image is finally deserved to have come in the first place let alone in Him to fuse in grand unification once our Edenic expulsion's MAGA-reversed. Retrocatively encoring another big bang for our curtain call.
A parody and mockery of vulgarly opulent traditional vestments and ornamentation so characteristic of the Catholic Church of the past can hardly be called blasphemous. If anything is blasphemous, it is the Church itself, whose Popes once were lascivious tyrants who practiced Machiavellian power politics in the actual time of Machiavelli and Michelangelo.
Catholic traditionalists such as yourself are all too morally contaminated by that past and by an almost repulsive desire to restore the autocracy of that Church. Casting about inquisitional epithets such as "blasphemous" does not endear us to your cause, it only confirms the questionable moral ground you claim to stand on.
4
"Francis and other would-be modernizers are right...that Catholic Christianity should not trade on fear. But a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination, and far too much of that has been given up, consigned to the museum, as Western Catholicism has traced its slow decline."
Substitute "superstition" for "fascination" and re-read the above quote. People have a hard time with Ross's brand of Catholicism, because well-educated people don't generally put a lot of stock in miracles. Miracles which conveniently took place thousands of years ago, and are not subject to any form of contemporary verification. We know a lot more about the dinosaurs, which vanished 65 million years ago, than what God allegedly said to Adam, Eve, Moses, Mary or Jesus. That's a problem, one no church can solve.
Further, this particular religion, invented by men, by and for men, treats one-half of the world's population as permanent second-class citizens. Men tell women what they can wear. Men tell women that they must care for impregnated cells, although males have no corresponding obligation to do so. Men tell women what they must think (ask Joan of Arc). Only men can be priests, because....why, exactly? Ask a Catholic man.
Catholicism is already plenty weird. Make it sensible, or watch it disappear.
4
The message of this gala and the clerics who supported it only points to what the Church became. More caught up with Pomp and Circumstance. To show the Catholic Church's great wealth and its power over its congregants.
It certainly did not speak to the Church's founding on the simple beliefs of Jesus, "take care the least of our brethren."
In the accumulation of wealth and power, just like any other institution, the Church has lost its way. That is why pews are empty. Not because they have taken the mystery out of the Mass.
But because they cast you from the Church if you are gay, mortal sin, divorced, mortal sin, marry outside of the faith, mortal sin.
It is their judgement, their hypocrisy that has emptied churches.
At least Pope Francis takes his vows of poverty serious. The same cannot be said of the Cardinals, Bishops and priests.
Until the rest of the clergy live by the reason the Church was founded in the first place, pews will be emptied.
No more raping of children, no more stealing from the coffers of the Church, no more judging and more inclusion. Then maybe pews will be filled.
53
The mass is not a show or a set of magic tricks. The pomp and the mysticism the "wierdness" are necessary for us,the small minded primitives that we are,to greet and attempt to connect our souls to our infinitely unknowable creator.
And for all who might be tempted to mock me for calling us all small minded primitives if you think l'm wrong read some the comments on this piece.
The ones with the most recommends are the ones overflowing with examples of small, primitive thoughts,simple language and condescensions,that don't contain a hint of doubt that the writer could be wrong about all of it.
4
If your going to believe in invisible being from out space, then everything is fair game.
3
This might be a good time for a little introspection for Catholics and Christians everywhere. That uncomfortable anger you feel seeing your religion and culture in a museum setting and worn by people who know nothing of it is no doubt similar to what Indigenous people feel when we wear headdresses at festivals and buy Navajo-inspired patterns at H & M.
4
Some of the outfits were kind of cartoonish and as a Catholic I could be offended if I thought they were intentionally mocking us. There is such a thing as an elegant evening gown, something you would see Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn wear that might have been more appropriate for this function.
3
Inculturation? Try having a conversation with either a native Italian- or Irish-person studying or working in the US or UK. Their observations will remind you of the often direct political power of the Catholic Church in those societies, essentially, poorly disguised theocracy. Perhaps this aspect of "Catholic tradition" might be more concerning than the less-than-surprising and perennial addiction to celebrity demonstrated by the Met gala.
1
Not a word about the church's inability to address the pedophile issue nor the treatment of women. How weird is that in today's culture.
4
Too bad Mr. Douthat felt the need to use the word "weird", an enticement to the ironic reader, I suppose.
Religion is not ironic.It is serious. Any doubt, ponder Philip Larkin's poem,"Church Goer". And Larkin was an unbeliever.
1
None of what is on display at the Met was or is the faith. Christ gave his great commandment: love your neighbor as youself. He said nothing about vestments or incense! The Church needs to do less working with the GOP and more working for social justice and the people. It should worry less about real estate opportunities and TDRs and political power. Now that would be weird.
5
The Met Gala, at worst, was in poor taste.
But Mr Douthat uses it as an excuse to take aim at the anti-religious, anti Catholic Liberal Left, when it is the hypocritical, Evangelical Right who are eroding respect for religion by supporting and celebrating the most immoral President in US History...but he's OK with that.
6
Ross, dude, you are SO wrong. Your thesis is that the so-bad "liberal" Vatican II reforms of John XXIII were allowed to proceed and flower and then failed, falling flat on their folk-music face. What you utterly fail to mention is those reforms were truncated, cut-off and hermetically sealed by a brutal counter-reformation against Vatican II initiated by Pope Paul VI and led fiercely by John Paul II and Benedict XVI. So for 40 years, the Church has been forced to return to a Vatican I mentality, with most Vatican II reforms crushed or left to whither on the vine. As a result, confusion reigns supreme in the R.C. Church, we lost an entire generation of parents and children ready to live in a more open, loving and understanding community -- one not led by the likes of uber-conservative Cardinal Burke parading around like a queen in his ridiculous medieval garments. As my Jesuit spiritual director says, "God is wild and crazy and free," and it is THAT spirit and sentiment Ross that will revive the Church -- not your absurd attachments to medieval feudalism, "conservatism," and "weird" Catholicism. It is your pre-Vatican I point of view that is wrecking the modern American R.C. Church and leaving the pews more and more empty.
10
Weird "again"? I wasn't aware that it ever stopped being weird to begin with.
2
I am a life long Catholic and spent most of my career in Catholic education. My two thoughts on this column.
1. I don't find anything about Pope Francis to be "radical".
2. I didn't consider the attire at the Met Gala blasphemous, more simply, ridiculous. It looked like a circus. Why anyone would wear a nativity scene on their head and think that looked becoming is beyond me.
7
Every single person my age (I am a millennial) who was raised Catholic is now an Atheist, myself included. Watching the Catholics I know vote for Donald Trump in 2016 was the absolute last nail in the coffin for me.
Speaking as a sheep who fled from the flock, I'm pretty sure it's the staggering hypocrisy of the "weirdness" that is driving us all away. But please, by all means, restore some of the weirdness. Exorcism movies are my favorite =]
3
What a joke. With all the issues confronting us, Ross wastes valuable space hurling stones at Pope Francis. This is exactly how we ended up with Trump. Right wingers unwilling to compromise on anything and wanting nothing to do with compromise. They want it their way and only their way. Yes, Pope Francis is different but he’s not tearing the Church down or causing World War 3. Learn to accept others ideas Ross. It is good for the soul and our Country.
6
Catholicism is a dying faith because of its cruelty, hypocrisy, and refusal to accept modernity decades ago. Let priests and nuns marry. Let gay people feel included. Liberate women and allow them to choose divorce and how or when or if to raise families.
3
Can someone please present an explanation as to why Cardinal Dolan participated in the Met Gala spectacle? What was he thinking while watching the nudity, etc.? Sure doesn't seem to be a show that a cleric should be promoting - especially one ranked as "Cardinal" in the Catholic Church. Perhaps a confession is in order??? Just saying.....
5
"...a religion that claims to be divinely established...".
Ross is there another kind of religion? And if that religion has been divinely established, what can man do about it, and what does it matter that man attempts to do anything about it at all? It is what it is. If it has been established by God your and my beliefs about it matter not. If it has been made by man then man will make of it what he will.
Your obsession with Catholicism is somewhat disturbing.
3
Funny, the eastern orthodox churches don't get railed against like the Catholic church despite being the 2nd largest church in the world with even more of the elaborate rituals and practices that infuriate feminists. I'll chalk that up to protestantism's rise in western Europe against the Catholic Church centuries ago, and that animosity persisting in a secular age, whereas the eastern orthodox will mainly elicit a "huh?" response.
It's one thing to criticize a religion for its transgressions and mishandling of them (child abuse), and to disagree (role of women, abortion, birth control), but it's another to show ignorant disrespect (ignorant because most don't really know much about the Catholic faith beyond the stereotypes) while at the same time asking for respect of others' religions and cultures.
4
Ms. Wintour has attempted to equate the Holy Roman Catholic Church with the likes of the Kardashians; a convenient vessel for public amusement and commercial exploitation. If this were attempted with any other faith it would be purloined as the height of disrespect and even labeled religious persecution. Instead, it is accepted as just another tedious celebrity photo opportunity, of interest only to the “deplorable” masses that Ms. Wintour abhors. As a Catholic, I celebrate the art, culture and history of my Church and choose to ignore the surrounding circus in the same way that I ignore the Kardashians.
4
The Catholic church has always tried to put on a show, beginning with the stunningly elaborate cathedrals and the pomp of the Vatican. Perhaps Monday's entertainment demonstrates that plenty of Catholics prefer the show over the message.
4
Mr. Douthat seems to fall for the Trump-like idea to focus on style rather than substance. Catholicism (and Christianity more generally) hasn't declined in popularity because of it's accommodation to popular culture, but because of it's betrayal of it's core values. Sexual abuse scandals, an overt alignment with the political right, and a focus on narrow matters of sexual morality (as opposed to a mission of charity, mercy, etc.) have led many to see the church as morally vacuous. Pope Francis has been a breath of fresh air in this regard, but the church needs time to rebuild trust that it is more concerned with the plight of the poor than with a political agenda or desire to force its narrow view of sexual ethics onto people.
4
Sorry Ross, but Catholicism will never regain its former stature and influence, modern 'culturisation' or not. Nor should we want it to. It remains a historical anachronism, becoming ever more absurd and medieval as rationale enlightenment grinds forward, slowly but inevitably decoupling humanity from the yoke of blind faith in an imaginary deity and the fear of His omnipotency over the fates of men. The triumph of reason over superstition will one day be complete, and the catholic church, with all its ridiculous hypocrisies, will finally be consigned to the dustbin of history, a relic of cultures past.
3
Douthat has a predictably unimaginative approach to catholicism today, as if the only cause for lack of Church attendance is secularization and the only path to resuscitation is is re-Latinizing and restoring faded glories. Either Catholicism is correct - it is the true heir of Peter and will never disappear from this earth - or it is wrong on that score. Either way, as history shows, the Church ALWAYS changes - just on Church time, an elongated scale that makes sense of taking 240 years to move from stopping stake-burning to actually banning it. As my father (trained in seminary as a canon lawyer) always said about Church time, the Church's reasoning is: hey, you never know.
2
I'm afraid Mr. Douthat made a common error, namely to consider "Catholic culture" a monolithic, encompassing entity. It is not, and we shall do well to accept that the Catholic Church is culturally catholic -- in the proper meaning of that word.
1
I'm guessing that Pope Francis' message about income inequality and how we treat the poor reads as "liberal pessimism" to Douthat while to me at least, it reads as "Christ-like".
About attendance falling, it's no secret that mainstream U.S. Roman Catholic media and leadership are doggedly arch-Conservative, buying into the Fox News narratives about a "war on Christmas", persecution of Christians in the U.S., evil homosexuals, and the notion generally, that all Liberals are God-less pathetics whose only aim is an American Communist utopia.
Meanwhile, younger Catholics are rejecting the Social Puritanism of the U.S. Roman Catholic leadership by not attending Mass.
2
Poor Ross, the benighted Conservative Cafeteria Catholic Historian, picking and choosing his way through church history and longing for the days of the most dogmatic, elitist, wealthy, isolated, authoritarian Catholicism.
What Ross wants is his personal Catholicism, to crush all other comers.
His pining for history is really meant only for his personal history, the comforting cocoon of certainty with no room for doubt or serious questions. Kind of the opposite of The Dark Night of the Soul that has long been the hallmark of a personal journey of faith.
You want church history? How about the church before it became obsessed with abortion as one true sin of mankind? The church of a few hundred years ago that gave not one thought to abortion? Before men stepped in, and in their pride and avarice changed everything God had ordained.
How about the church before riches and finery, before dominating the world of money and art. Before it lost its connection with the people it was created, by man (and men) to serve. To serve, period.
The one thing missing at last night's gala (an explicitly cultural event, granted with a religious subject) were the gilded robes and diadems Jesus wore to cross.
Ross says he wants 'fascination' when all he wants is a show he likes better.
4
Unfortunately, it would appear that, as a convert to Catholicism, you are unduly fascinated with the ritual. Had you been raised in the faith, you may have had an insight into its more negative aspects
3
it’s hard for its adherents to know whether to treat the moment as an opportunity for outreach or for outrage.
Um, outrage. That is all "religion" is. Manufactured outrage. And Tribalism. But you religious folks are always outraged.
Wow. There sure is a lot of lint in that navel you're gazing into! The Catholic church has always been weird. The fashion show was a fashion show. If the church wants to be relevant (and not emotionally and, sometimes, physically dangerous) to its members, it can follow the "social good" course where it had had the most success.
2
There will always be people that make fun of Catholics and Protestants in a number of ways, but religious leaders must choose the path that raises their faith and abides by the Bible. Religious leaders cannot cater to society in order to find more adherents because they will kill their religion.
I was told a story some time ago by an Afghani refugee that says a lot about what the Catholic Church really is. When his family came from Afghanistan with nothing, it was Catholic Services who found his family a place to live and his father a job at a gas station. His father was impressed that a Catholic charity would help a Muslim family get settled in a new country and decided again that he had made the right choice for a place to live. That's the Church you should be applauding Ross; not the one that won't even discuss contraception or allowing people who got divorced to partake of the sacraments ever again in their lives! But that's what you seem to be focused on when you talk about my Church. Pope Francis certainly doesn't get everything right but blaming him and those of us who believe he is making a difference-oh and I guess John XXIII -for Vatican II- is just as wrong as my blaming the conservative Popes you seem to yearn for for the child abuse scandal. Oops I guess I do. So please stop condemning a Church for trying to be open to more people -ones that you somehow don't deem worthy to be Catholic.
5
I wonder about that "living faith" Mr. Douthat writes about.
Surely, he had to look at the words sitting next to each other and think, "Whoops. That's an oxymoron if ever I saw one."
So he let it go because that's what everyone has said forever? So he doesn't care that "living" is usually applied to something one can see, even it's with the help of a microscope -- moving and breathing and reproducing and so on? So he didn't latch on to the word "faith," and realize somethings amiss? How could he have not said "there's nothing there, dead or alive?" Nothing, not even a very, very weensy thing.
Can someone as educated as we might presume Mr. Douthat to be write this stuff straight-faced?
i was disturbed by the ostentatious display at the met, not because of any feelings of mockery of the church but because it is a reminder that the RCC in New York is one of the richest organizations here, with billions of dollars in real estate, leaseholds and ritual objects of gold, silver, jewels.... upon which they pay *no taxes*. and yet, it allows the schools and churches of its poorer parishes, full of truly faithful and devout catholics, to be closed, and for the faithful of those parishes to be forced to travel farther for their masses, confessions and communion, and for the education of their children. i am a long-lapsed, anti-church (all churches) ex-catholic, and even i am embittered by this treatment of the least of these, their brothers. when they close the schools and churches of the minority parishes, where do they expect their future priests, nuns and religious teachers to come from? they are basically throwing away their seeds of the future. any one of those dresses and/or the artifacts on display would keep one of those parishes open for a year. it is disgusting.
2
Ross, I wonder if you would agree that religion needs to do both things in these times we live in: to inculturate, AND to double down on challenging the degradations of late-modern liberal-consumerist culture.
The tricky choices are of practical wisdom: on what issues to inculturate, and what to challenge.
1
The Catholic Church went off the tracks somewhere in its first century and has continued far from its origins in the teachings of Jesus. Men, starting with Saul, co-oped it for power, wealth or their own brand of "truth".
The political control of Europe by the Catholic Church (which enabled kings to use religion to augment power and allowed the church to use secular power to retain control) is no different than the secular control wielded by "pagan" rulers in ancient Egypt, Greece, etc.
Mr. Douthst's nostalgia for the pre Vatican II church emanates from every article he writes. Pomp has nothing to do with the message of Jesus, only the grasp for power/wealth from men who saw a chance to cash in.
For centuries artists and musicians were forced to turn their creative abilities to religious works because that was the only way they could express their talents. That is one of the few silver linings spawned by the church. Thanks to the Met (and Proust) for reminding us of that.
Is it appropriate here to mention that the christian world and culture has been the epicenter of the only two World Wars in history? And it holds the power to annihilate humanity?
2
Mr. Douthat longs for something "weird." Please, Ross, accept reality, allow others to dress up any way they desire, and "imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try." Implying that people are somehow bad for poking fun at Bronze Age racism and misogyny by wearing costumes is weird.
5
Francis is not the cause of the church's decline but a symptom of the increasing secularization of the Western World and the scandals of sexual abuse of minors carried out by and covered up by the traditional hierarchy that Douthat longs for.
The referendum likely to pass in Ireland eliminating the law that the embryo is fully equal to its mother is another symptom of a servile population coming to realize that the church is corrupt and not to be believed.
None of this is the fault of Francis but the intrinsic corruption within the structure is the cause of the decline.
"I'm a pagan," said Frances McDormand. Perfect!
1
There ARE Christian sects that reject modernity and embrace their own weirdness: the Amish, for example. I believe the Amish version of Christianity qualifies as a “full alternative culture in its own right… (that) spurns both accommodations and entangling alliances.” As someone who was raised Mennonite and left the church over 20 years ago, I can assure you that this kind of approach is not exactly a recipe for church growth. Or relevance.
"..whether to defer to medical professionals.." How magnanimous of the church to allow families and doctors to make a decision about their child. Heaven knows that doctors and women's families should not be allowed to make decisions about family planning. Great and weird is what Portland, Oregon is. Great and weird is NYC and the Met, and the American Museum of Natural History. The Catholic Church under Pope Francis is becoming great and weird. Reactionary catholic clergy and writers need to get out of the way.
1
I realize that great men and women were excommunicated - and even tortured and killed - for expressing sentiments like this, but as one rabbi is alleged to have said, there are sermons in running streams, and as ee cummings once said, when the “ears of my ears are awake, and the eyes of my eyes are open,” then we see everything as it is in truth, infinite.
What is the purpose of the great liturgical rituals, not only of Catholicism, but of great religions the world over, if not to awaken our ears and open our eyes to that infinite vastness, boundlessness and awesome mystery which is present not only in running streams, but in your morning coffee, the sound of the subway pulling into the station, the rush of traffic, and ultimately, in every breath and every beat of your heart.
I saw a fascinating interview between Jordan Peterson and Iain McGilchrist. Contrary to the media caricature of Peterson, he was at every moment (perhaps prodded by the extraordinary McGilchrist) dancing toward that sense of the infinite mystery inherent in every moment of the universal “dance” which he and McGilchrist were joyously evoking.
Ross Douthat does not realize we are entering into a vastly different era, one in which the “spiritual but not religious” and the “nones” are awakening to that “in which we live and move and have our Being;” their ears are awakening and eyes opening, and thus have little need for the old structures which serve now only to impede our awareness of that mystery.
2
A piquant juxaposition exists between the concurrent exhibiitions at the Met: "Heavenly Bodies" and "Golden Kingdoms." Permission for Pizarro's brutal destruction of the Inca Empire was sanitised by a promised conversion of the resident pagans to Catholicism."Golden Kingdoms" presents a tiny remant of sacred objects that were not melted down and sent to Spain. I wonder if Inca gold found its way to the magnificent costumes on display in "Heavenly Bodies."
1
I wasn’t invited; however, I would have asked Stella McCartney to whip me up something in sackcloth and ashes.
2
I was raised a Catholic during the 1950's and sixties. I left the church a age 20. It was weird back then but then again most organized christian religion is from their stage shows on Sundays to their odd adherence to such concepts as the virgin birth and the Holy Trinity. A church should never exist for the purpose of its members serving the institution but for the institution to serve its people. The Catholic Church has failed miserably at this.
The questions that remain are, of what are you afraid and precisely what is it about medieval pomp, pageantry and folk tales that assuage that fear? I guess I just don't get it, probably never will.
Seems to me this little shindig checked off quite a few of the seven deadly sins: Lust, gluttony, greed, and pride.
How is it that the Vatican signed off on this thing? What are the optics for faithful Catholics? What does it say about the church when a woman flaunts a dress mocking the pope that costs more than many of the flock make in a year?
I've got something to check off, too; another reason I'm an atheist.
1
The liberals are always speaking about political correctness but when it comes to the Catholic Church and all things Catholic they completely ignore their own advice. They need to start practicing what they preach about the Catholic Church or they are nothing more than a bunch of hypocrites.
This gala was sacrilegious and there is no other way to describe it. The Catholic haters will find it hilarious but those of us who take our faith seriously are not laughing. What would the reaction be of those who criticize and defame the Church if this sort of display was directed at Jews, Muslims. Buddhists, Hindus, etc. You know the answer. They would be condemning it and crying for people to boycott this blasphemy. There is a double standard when it comes to the treatment of the Catholic Church and Catholics are not fools. We know this hatred exists and have been aware of its existence for a long time.
I hope there will be outrage not only among Catholics but also members of the clergy to this crass and vulgar depiction of our faith. We need to speak out against this unfair and despicable treatment every and anytime it takes place. If I seem angry, I am. When my faith has been debased, I take it as an affront to the 1.3 billion Catholics and growing worldwide.
The Met Museum will pay a price for this horrible depiction and it will hit their pocketbooks. This is no way to get the people into the Museum with exhibits like this. Boycott is the answer. I am.
2
If it had been any other religion, the liberals at the Met Gala would’ve been protesting. I am no fan of Catholicism, and ridicule and satire of its practices are fair game.
But the Gala as a whole, was a black face or tomahawk chop equivalent, and those who participated should feel deep shame. The hypocrisy was powerful.
4
As usual, Ross is howling directly into the wind. The Met Gala is simply more evidence that Catholicism, as it has been practiced for the last 100 years is finally entering its dotage. The modern world has driven the search for meaning and purpose into the inner realm of the heart and mind. The modern world has proven that the hierarchy and basic structure of the Catholic world are corrupt and a waste of valuable time. Pope Francis is actually reminding people of how utterly simple Jesus's teachings were and that, ironically, appears to be just another nail in the gilded Church's coffin. His humility stands in stark contrast to an institution so bejeweled, moribund and fossilized that it cannot see its way towards full inclusion for women. Ross, you are clearly a thoughtful and intelligent man. I'd love to see you write on other subjects. Regarding this subject? You are beating that poor dead horse into oblivion.
2
Countering the trend to "give up" liturgical beauty, the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem conduct exquisitely mystical masses at St Gervais in Paris, and at Vezelay and Mont St Michel. Their special vocation is to bring spiritual beauty to urban environments. They are mindfully inclusive, incorporating practices from the Orthodox church and from musical traditions from around the world. True catholics!
1
Not wanting to wade into the intrareligious discussions between reactionary and revolutionary members of any one particular cult or sect it would appear, as an outsider, that the basis of conflict is between those who fear and reject change and thus demand rigid conformity to an idealized past and those who embrace and accept evolutionary process and are open to an unknowable future.
Another point: Is this sort of "opinion" piece appropriate for the general opinion pages of the NYT? Should not Mr. Douthat's pieces be moved to a "religious" section of the NYT where those of other faiths and beliefs would have equal opportunity to hawk their opinions to those who choose to listen?
... let's not revive Fire and Brimstone approach to faith. Enjoy a little Truth and Beauty, how about?
1
What you attribute to efforts at outreach and modernity are actually based in the hypocrisy of the very traditionalist church you yearn for. The programs of "stealing children" in Canada and Australia were at their height when the Latin Mass prevailed. The lack of openness to "mixed" marriage went with the Latin Mass and altar rails. It was the mystery and shroud of culture that allowed so many heinous offences to occur not the openness of fresh air and understanding.
The church has from the time of Constantine paired the promises of life, love and grace of the gospel message with the forces of death and law exercised by the State. In this way, we have taught successive generations of Christians that war and conquest and empire and greed and wealth and even state-sanctioned murder are acceptable if they are carried out in the name of Christ. The truth is that the institutional church is nothing more than a dead relic of an obscene partnership between Church and State and its rites are thoroughly sullied. American Christianity paired "We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal..." with the three fifths compromise, and so forever tied itself to the racial hatred that still courses through the veins of white America. "Keeping something weird" is a euphemism for "Keeping it white." That sounds rather Trumpian to me.
1
There is nothing that could be more weird for triumphant Catholicism's return than a crusade here, an inquisition there, a book or witch burning over there. Even more faith affirming would be Armageddon and the rapture return of Jesus for final moral judgment of humanity. What happened at the Met was no 'Bonfire of the Vanities''. Caligula or Nero could and did much better than that.
Still another article based on the assumption that Catholicism and evangelism are the only branches of Christianity and that mainline Protestantism no longer exists.
I don't really care about the Met Gala and what it "meant". A Protestant debate on gender in religious language ( on Facebook, of all places) was much more important, but you're not going to hear such things if you focus all your attention on branches that give all the power to men.
An interesting view of all this through the lens of a Catholic traditionalist and there is a lot to think about here. I think the Church in its attempts to modernize after the 1960's lost something, the church in many ways was theater, and yes magic and some of that was lost. While unlike Russ I don't think the church should have stayed mired in the pre 1960's (one of the reasons for Vatican II was after WWII, with all its carnage, a lot of people started questioning religion and if it still had meaning) it also kind of de-anchored itself with so many things, threw out the baby with the bathwater.
The biggest one I personally think is that the church in modernizing (or the forces wanting to go backwards under JPII and Benedict) forgot the one big thing the church represented, community, with Vatican II and then with the counter-Vatican II movement, the church became one of ideology rather than community. I think Francis understands that, but he hasn't seemed to develop the idea that in this disconnected world of social media and the like, that the church can represent a community, to bring people together, rather than as the US leaders seem to see it, as an ideological war. I think people see the battles over Abortion and Gay marriage and the like, and ask themselves "what does that have to do with my life", and the answer is increasingly "nothing". That ideological emphasis is as empty as a model wearing a jewelled Mitre.
2
The example of Reform and Conservative Judaism might give the, "reformers," of the Catholic Church pause. American Jews overwhelmingly identify as members of one of the several relatively liberal strains of Judaism, but don't regularly attend services or incorporate actual religious observance into their lives. Demographically, these groups are shrinking rapidly. The orthodox and ultra-orthodox camps, however - those that traditionally resist assimilation and modernization - are growing exponentially.
When religion becomes nothing less than a veneer to lacquer onto one's political convictions, it serves no purpose and ceases to inspire. To have impact, religion must have meaning, and to have meaning, it must have the courage of its convictions.
1
I think the author may be reading a bit too much into the Met Gala and its significance. I'm finding that it is now yet another tedious red carpet event that is indistinguishable from the Oscars or Grammys. The degree of commercialism and the emphasis on entertainment celebrities just seems really crass and mostly boring.
1
There is, of course, another Catholic tradition, epitomized in the St. Francis after whom the Pope named himself and in the lives of other saints such as St. Peter Claver or for that matter Dorothy Day--or even Jesus of Nazareth.
Douthat, strangely, seems alienated from this strain of Christianity and from the efforts of Pope John and the theologians of Vatican II to bring the fundamental message into the twentieth century.
1
The vestments, the cathedrals, and the music of the Church are art created to serve religion. They reflect and reinforce a supernatural world view. At the Met, religion was relegated to the service of art and fashion, and the supernatural significance ignored or even denigrated. I suppose that's blasphemy.
But art isn't the heart of Christianity. If you believe in the death and resurrection, and the critical importance of Charity (see Paul's epistles), then you are a Christian. Whether you worship in a cathedral or a storefront, whether the priest or minister wears blue jeans, or garments embroidered in gold makes no difference.
Even if you reject all the supernatural teachings (as I do), but are inspired by the teachings of Christ, you can still call yourself a Christian of sorts. I like the term "cultural Christian."
But if you set aside Charity, then you are as a "sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." Bible-speak for "a bag of hot air." And in that case, none of the rest of it matters. Luther's a great mistake was the substitution of Faith for Charity as the greatest of virtues. We are still paying for it.
2
This seemed like the end of something: Iconography that was all appropriation that lacked understanding. All show but no tell . . . a strange and grotesque carnival. I come at this as a lapsed Catholic who has become an Atheist and yet is still sentimental, still attached, tangentially, to the mystery.
1
very thought provoking. thank you mr douthat. think i will maintain my subscription just a bit longer.
2
Somehow the ownership concept is bent out of shape with the weird conservative lens Mr. Douthat tries to use. There is no patent on the design of papal costuming, if that is what is he thinks is being mimicked. If anything some at the Met Galai are taking a jaundiced view of authority(at least the women are). There is no display of some lost vestige of Catholic art. Probably the origin of Catholic religious dress derived from older non Christian sects. It did not spring up de novo. To add to this fuzzy story, Mr. Douthat is compelled to bring in Pope Francis's yin and yang actions. Instead of yearning for a human being, his inclination is to seek out some perfect authority that has no chance of existing. He will just have to accept that Catholicism is a manmade product, not something that dropped from above. This means as time passes, change brings knowledge that increases worldly understanding, dismissing previously held beliefs that are reliably proven wrong.
It's funny how people can get so worked up over how people treat/think of an old cult. Lets be honest the only real reason this is even a news worthy event is celebrities were gathered together, that's it.
Your article proposes a fantastic way to make the church into a curio. Or more bluntly, a freak show. I’m not Catholic, nor have I ever been, but to propose introducing historical artifacts and customs from the medieval ages back into a modern religion as a way to revitalize it is deliberately thick if it isn’t satire. The Catholic Church isn’t the global force it once was, but I think it’s members and clergy can more comfortably live with that than with becoming an gilded atavism for New York’s jaded elites to smirk at from time to time as though it were a matinee.
1
It's also possible that attendance is down at American catholic churches because the American bishops and archbishops have decided to focus on "the sanctity of life from conception to natural death" as the One. Single. Issue.
Never mind the fact that the politicians the American bishops and archbishops are implicitly backing (since those politicians align with the church on the One. Single. Issue) are also the ones who are shredding the social safety net, helping to enrich the rich at the expense of the poor, and bashing "teh gayz". In other words, going against pretty much all the teachings of that one guy who wandered the Holy Land long ago.
You know, the guy whose words are printed in the New Testament in red ink.
The Catholic Church has always been out of touch, but that is the state of religion in America. The is the essence of religion. It gives us an alternative to secular society. Secularists will continue to make fun of religion for all eternity. No religious leader can stop this. When they try, they destroy their religion. Look at what a joke the prosperity gospel has become. Those preachers make a lot of money but at what cost to their religion?
Douthat has a habit of confusing symbols of the church as being the church. The Catholic church is the whole body of people; not the buildings, or red slippers, or fancy vestments, or incense.
And as a people it's a lifestyle, a way of living one's life. It's for love that is carried inside oneself. It's not just following rules and regulations for their sake only, or being blind to the Spirit.
1
I am sure the Cardinal of NY loved the chance to display the opulence and wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. As a lifelong Catholic who thinks Vatican II did not go far enough I am happy to see the Latin Mass and it's ilk banished to the dustbin of history. What would have been truly revolutionary at the Met Gala would have been to see someone, anyone, dressed as simply as Jesus or his Apostles. Now that would have been a showstopper!
I thought the reading from the liturgy of May 9 might have some relevance. It's from Acts 17 and 18.
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
"You Athenians, I see that in every respect
you are very religious.
For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,
I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.'
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and all that is in it,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.
He made from one the whole human race
to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,
so that people might seek God,
even perhaps grope for him and find him,
though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For 'In him we live and move and have our being,'
as even some of your poets have said,
'For we too are his offspring.'
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image
fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.
God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
but now he demands that all people everywhere repent
because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the world
with justice' through a man he has appointed,
and he has provided confirmation for all
by raising him from the dead."
1
I get so tired of sanctimonious non-Catholics, or more likely guilt-repressing lapsed Catholics, complaining about the Church keeping its "treasures" and not selling them off for the sake of the needy. Where do these people think the market is for 300 year old vestments? I think the Church has been remarkably generous to loan 40 pieces to the Met show. It is making culturally important objects available for viewing. That is appropriate. The Sistine Chapel is Michelangelo's masterpiece but it is ludicrous to think it could be anywhere but where it is in the Vatican. To Ross' point, the Church has an incredible cultural heritage and it is important to recognize that and that those objects that remain under the Church's care retain their sacramental and spiritual qualities. Enjoy the objects for their beauty and/or for what they represent but people should redirect their antagonism towards the Church to the craven politicians who worship at the feet of the one percenters who care only about their vast worldly possessions.
4
Ross, I have to admit it, I LOVE how you’re just dying to go back to a Latin Mass and a priest who is a remote and aloof figure, “beyond” human understanding. Bring on the incense and the ritual dude. Here’s a nutty idea for Catholicism: Lose the patriarchy and let priests represent their congregants. They should be male, female, straight, gay, married, single, WHATEVER. We seem to have forgotten that Jesus was FULLY HUMAN and spent his whole life teaching by an example of kindness, charity and unconditional love. This is someone who tried to forgive the people who were KILLING him. If the Catholic Church is truly the church of Jesus and his apostles, then ANYTHING in Catholic doctrine that diverges from that central message of total peace and forgiveness is wasted.
I very occasionally wonder how many of the figure/talking heads purportedly in charge of the Catholic church, let's say the salaried bishops and archbishops, actually believe the accreted dogmatic drivel they dispense to their mostly poor and poorly educated flock. At least the costumes worn by the Met Gala's 0.1% collectively are good for a brief laugh. The Church ain't funny.
I am a Catholic and I feel insulted by this so-called fashion show. I love Met but now I am not sure about this anymore. Met becomes a tool to against people with Catholic faith. What freedom of religion in America? Give me a break, just like in China.
2
I hope Tara Isabella Burton's article is more accurate than her venture into music criticism.
https://irontongue.blogspot.com/2017/02/pay-attention.html?m=0
"Make Catholicism Weird Again" ???
I loved it when I was reciting the "prayers at the foot of the altar" in Latin ... but that was when I was 7,8, 9, 10,11, 12, 13 & 14 years of age -- and, as now, knew not the meaning of the Latin words I parroted, but which I am still yet unable to dismiss from my rote recall. (Can you, Mr. Douthat, 'dismiss' the 'tongue talk' you likely 'engaged' when the Douthat family embraced Pentacostalism?)
In any case, I otherwise 'lapsed' from all things Catholic nearly 50 years ago, or since I actually reached "the age of reason." By then I realized that all religions are silly -- and, far worse, result only from men's appreciation that one platform 'for' power (and money) could come from fantasizing a super-duper supernatural with whom the purveyors had a connection that, if money and power be given them, might be shared (if but parsimoniously) with masses consumed by life's fears and uncertainties, with such sharing held out as the one-and-only possible, if conveniently difficult, road to salvation for all those "poor souls."
So, and in all events ... Catholicism (and all other 'faiths' supposing the supernatural) has been weird 'all along.'
Man what a great article! Also summarizes my aesthetic (to go with numerous intellectual) attractions to RCC. As a Protestant annoyed by its aesthetic lameness, the Online Converts crew (your twitter friends) and these old riches of RCC attract, while the present reality of 'beige Catholicism' (see Bishop Barron and this phrase) and avg cultural-Cath neighbor work against...or at least say "why bother".
Anyway, great article, very interesting anecdote/translation link, and no need for a clarifier like last column! :)
No need to make it so philosophical and complex:
Trivializing religious symbols by using them as garments and accessories is just bad taste.
No need to get offended either--embarrassed for the offenders, maybe, but not offended by them.
3
Religion is two things; the exercise of power/control, and idiocy.
Europe has known this since the 1700s, Italy pretends to be Catholic but largely ignores the church. The French took land and influence from the church in revolution after revolution. It only has influence where education is discouraged or ineffective.
Like the Republican South and rural America.
Based on the attendees I've met at Tridentine Mass revivals, it's the traditionalists themselves who are the "curious dilettantes". They pray in a language they don't meaningfully understand, get dizzy from huffing incense, and are quick to apply the same senseless and cruel authority from "the good old days".
Why isn't this considered the same kind of empty dress-up as at the Met gala? At least at the gala, they were in on the joke...
I, for one, wish that the Met Gala would end. I find it rather repulsive to see all of the money on view, money that could be better spent on people who NEED it than on fancy costumes. The party benefits a self-funding department that focuses on fashion. Wow.
As a practicing Catholic I found the use and abuse of Catholic symbols very insulting. Talk about "cultural appropriation."
2
The vestments and trappings of the previous Popes are what are obscene. The treasures of the Vatican were acquired by theft. Their priest when around the world stealing from every culture and civilization and wiping out many while doing so. They plundered precious gems from South America which this Pope apologized for but didn't return anything. The whole exhibit is a travesty. If the attendees were making fun it makes it all the more meaningful to call out the Church for its hypocrisy. Yes, the attendees could have used the money wasted on this for some worthy charity, but so could the Vatican. As for the doctrine, all religions have their odd ideas. The Churches historical insistence that theirs is the only way and they killed people who refused to believe in it is what makes the church truly weird.
1
Catholic VESTMENTS are not costumes. There is a meaning and reason behind everything a religious wears. Special prayers are recited as the vestments are put on. For example: "Make me white, O Lord, and cleanse my heart; that being made white in the Blood of the Lamb I may deserve an eternal reward" is said by the priest as he puts on the alb/long white garment. The bishop's miter (which Rihanna mocked) has great symbolism. It is seen as a helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17, Thess. 5:8). The two folded peaks symbolize the Old and the New Testaments, and the two lappets (flaps in the back) are reminders to keep both the spirit and letter of the Bible. And no, liturgical vestments are not museum pieces. Currently, they are used every day by Catholic priests who continue to offer the Tridentine Latin Mass. The True Catholic Faith is deep, complex,and transcendental. There is so much to be learned by those who practice it, and also for anyone who wants to avoid making naive and insensitive observations about this blasphemous event.
1
What keeps the Catholic Church, and religion in general, alive is the forced indoctrination of children. If it became the custom not to indoctrinate our young until they reached the age of reason, the Church as we know it would be gone in a few generations.
1
I found the costumes hilarious and intriguing. Naughty nun has been done to death, so why not try naughty female Pope? Well now we all found out just how effective that costume really is.
I’m not sure if it was intentional, but those costumes all proved the durability of the fundamental designs of Catholic vestments. None of the costumes were even para-sexy, and they all seemed like slightly less compelling versions of the originals. And perhaps in their own odd way those costumes inspired some reconsideration of what our bodies are really meant for.
1
Mr. Douthat if there was one thing I picked-up on quickly was the fact that you are a convert to Catholicism. Although I was not raised a Catholic I grew up in MA and lived most of my long life in RI where 90% of the population is of Catholic origin due to immigration patterns. I attended mass with my grandmother. The majority of my friends were raised Catholic though most are now lapsed. My sister-in-law had taken her final vows as a nun, but eventually left. After Cardinal Law was revealed as complicit with the church's abuse of children she stopped going to church. (I noted that Pope Francis went to his funeral, for shame.) My husband is a lapsed Catholic because he was abused both by his parish priest and two Christian Brothers. This is my story. However you are too young to have lived through Vatican I so you do not know how meaningful it was to many Catholics. Pope John XXIII was loved. And heaven forbid Pope Francis spends more time thinking about the poor and those left behind (like divorced Catholics) rather than on the historical pomp and glamour the church has always embraced. Jesus was a simple man and I feel the current pope tries to see with Jesus' eyes and walk in his footsteps. In my experience it is mostly converts who see the church though rose colored glasses and romanticize the past.
PS I found the Met Gala despicable. The women looked like they were ready to model for a new painting of "The Rape of the Sabines".
3
For many of us, Catholics and non-Catholics, the NYC extravaganza is much closer to contemporary catholicism than any hybrid or accommodation. The history of the papacy and the incredibly flawed popes who outrageously disported and engorged themselves and vested interests and played an immoral brand of self aggrandizement and power politics is a real legacy that is unaddressed by Douthat's superficial treatment of NYC. Until the Church can set aside it's political calculations and call out Trump, pedophile priests, war and poverty it will continue to relegate itself to growing irrelevance. One in six US kids are poor--food challenged and lacking healthcare. The gini coefficient and studies of wealth point to increasingly unequal and unfair economic self aggrandizement by the top 10% (1%). Politics and morality is bought and sold. Truth is trampled underfoot every day. The President is an icon to illicit wealth, untruth and moral turpitude.
...And yet Catholics voted for Trump and good Catholics who regularly attend Mass think of him as a role model. Approval rates are around 80%. This is today's Catholic Church -- birth control healthcare bans, religion in schools, anti-choice, supporting Trump. No wonder Catholicism is facing crisis. The vestments and behavior on display in NYC are symptomatic. And it puts the conundrum to what is truly good in the Church --silence about poverty, dedication to the poor and needy, the struggle for equality?...
The Gospel well taught is the hallmark of America's great churches, Protestant and Catholic.
• 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.
For more, drop by Seville on Holy Week and witness the weirdness alive and thriving – incense Latin, vestments et al.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o5j9l8-zlnU/maxresdefault.jpg
https://espanarusa.com/files/autoupload/40/14/82/4qcrxmi3427296.jpg
I so miss the incense and the gore!
"I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved -- the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!" ~ JOHN ADAMS
You go Ross!!!
5
This article starts with the supposition that the Catholic Church needs to be revived, because the pews are empty. But perhaps there is no way to revive it, because neither strategy offered by Douthat will work. Maybe it's already a dead relic and the Pope's role is purely performative.
In other words, we have already arrived at the state of affairs suggested by Proust, and Douthat is just unwilling to accept that to be the case. As a Unitarian, I don't
t really have a dog in this fight, but I believe that's a plausible conclusion that can be drawn from the article itself.
6
"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." Huh?
Are you saying that without the bling, no Catholic philanthropy, like that of the Catholic orphanage that kept my father and his brothers off the streets of Depression era Chicago, would exist? (Maryville Academy, still in operation and coming up on its125 year anniversary...) Without bling, no Catholic Relief Services that funds world-wide charitable endeavors?
Now that's truly WEIRD - bling, ancient or modern, has nothing to do with these compassionate efforts.
The continuing existence of these Catholic-led operations causes me to pause in my condemnation of the entire modern organization and its adherents long enough to see that at least some of the various evils perpetrated by the faith have been balanced by needed humane acts that government has neglected and other organized religions have not matched.
Clearly, it's not all about bling for many Catholics. That's pretty much left for the Met socialites.
That said, I did treasure a shot glass with the imprint of the Vatican a devout friend once gifted me. Nothing wrong with a little bling even poor folks can enjoy.
15
I think that Mr. Douthat's view of the Church prior to the Second Vatican Council as a more spiritually and mystically pure version of the faith that is less corrupted by secular culture is romantic and idealized. A cursory examination of the relationship between the papacy/clergy and the secular world through the Church's history demonstrates that a return to an earlier Church would not result in the pure faith that Mr. Douthat desires. I think the problem lies in the difference between personal spirituality and the institutions of religion. Institutions must interact with the rest of society and so will always reflect that society and its evolution over time; because they must compete with other institutions (or belief systems) they will always be vulnerable to the temptation to serve their preservation as an institution rather than the deeper needs of their members. The Catholic Church has survived as long as it has at least partly because it has been able to adapt to societal and cultural changes - but the cost has been that the institution no longer meets the needs of individuals like Mr. Douthat. I suggest that he will only find the Church he desires in his own mind and heart - rejecting institutional dogma, perhaps the words of Thomas Paine are germane - "my mind is my own church." Adopting this perspective, perhaps the treatment of the institutional trappings of the Church will be less troublesome.
9
As a Presbyterian, I would say that the RCC has beautiful traditions, values and music. Can you not follow the example of the Church of England, which has embraced the traditional while upholding the values of Christ? It saddens me to see so many gay people serving in the church in many roles while being rejected in the theology. Pope Francis is not perfect, but I feel that is widening the door for many people who have been marginalized. Copying Protestants will not bring more people. Faith and trust will.
10
I am always fascinated by the rituals and costumes of the Catholic Church and am certain that many followers are faithful to the fundamental message of " God is Love", wether or not the church is now playing guitars etc.
However, I also sense that all the rituals probably were created to " give" followers something magical- a distraction from all the power and greed that the church must own in it's history.
So, I am going to stick with the "God is Love" crowd. The writer can stick with the anti- Francis conservatives.
7
More than anything, I see the Met Gala as the poster boy of the new relentless vulgarity that is sweeping our world like a sand storm in the desert. What were they thinking? It is so irrelevant, this bonfire of the vanities. A "divinely established" religion, the Catholic Church has extended its dominion for thousands of years through its despotic exercise of temporal power so maybe the Met Gala is an appropriate mirror of its moral decline. Federico Fellini must be turning over in his grave to see his concept of the clerical vestments fashion show copied outside the frames of a film.
8
Perhaps it is PC, politically correct, to depict Catholicism in a weird way? Imagine if it was say Hinduism. With 33,000 gods and goddesses and counting, that would be a phenomenal exhibition to behold! And in all it’s glory you would’t need so many thousands of pearls, a trident and humble bowl would do.
If Catholicism wants to relate to the poor, the MET gala was certainly not the way to go. It showed off the pompous ness, the glitter and the wealth of the Vatican instead of its compassionate humane side. (Ok ok so many of the fashion designers did employ seamstresses and sewing experts who whipped out costumes after days of labor! Yay for employment).
7
I plan to boycott this Met Gala show. Instead I will be going to Lourdes and Fatima and make my own pilgrimage where I will be with people who share a strong religious faith. These sites attract many millions of the faithful each year with all faiths being represented. The Met Museum has been losing visitors over the years and they have been struggling to get them to return. They also have terminated many of the employees over the years. I used to be a volunteer at the front desk but stopped some years also. To be honest I do not miss my service there.
6
I'm so glad that Ross keeps us up to date about the latest events in the official religion of the New York Times. What is the view of the Anglican Church on the refugee crisis? What is the view of Shite-Sunni relations held by the leaders of Al-Azher University? How has Modern Orthodoxy responded to the exclusion of Reform and Conservative Judaism in regard to marriage in Israel? What is the view of the incorporation of neuroscience in Theravada Buddhism? How has feminism had an effect on Hinduism? ..... oh forget it. None of those faith traditions deserve space in the pages of the Times. If they were given that attention that it might distract from Ross' monopoly of faith. Nothing makes for the start of a great day like being told that the paper you buy doesn't see you as a full citizen because you weren't raised a Catholic.
4
My husband of forty years grew up in a traditional Catholic family, in South Bend, Indiana, not far from Notre Dame. He was taught to fear missing Sunday Mass and convinced that he had to find a ride to a Catholic Church even when out on a lake trip with a friend’s family. What would be the punishment for skipping Mass? Hell. Of course. And my mother-in-law’s sister-in-law, my husband’s aunt, once explained to me that she’d had twelve children because she didn’t want to go to hell. Of course she loved her children (and suffered a few nervous break-downs. My mother-in-law, who had eight children, was prescribed anti-depressants by a religious physician).
And this is the glorious old faithful regime that Ross Douthat, with all his heart, longs to resurrect. It was grounded in threats and the subjugation of women, who were taught by celibate men that God the Father intended them to give birth to all the children their bodies could possibly conceive.
Mr. Douthat writes with dread and regret that the Catholic Church is becoming more “Protestant.” Meaning: loose, lax, and accessible, not sufficiently scary to enforce obedience and reinforce a gilded patriarchy. Now priests speak Mass in the congregation’s native language, the Pope’s too liberal, gays sometimes get recognized as people, divorcees are welcome, and women are in the parking lots, popping The Pill like candy.
Horrors! The pillars are cracking, the citadel is crumbling!
Darn that darned Martin Luther!
18
Ross Douhat writes “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.” This could have been written by a radical Islamist ranting against cultural elites not toeing the line when depicting Prophet Muhammad! But I digress. Ross should consider that maybe the reason attendance to Mass continues to decline is that priests are not delivering an engaging message. After many years of absence from the church I decided to look for a parish where I could re engage with my faith and the sense of community church attendance provides. I tried the local Catholic Church and ultimately ended attending the Episcopal church. It all boiled down to the priest in charge. Unlike the Episcopal priest’s engaging sermons that directly connected and seamlessly weaved the Gospel to current events the Catholic priest appeared simply to repeat what he had just read. While one fed my spirit the other put me to sleep.
13
My first thought as I began to read the column was that substitute the White House for the Met and you would get the Trump Administration. That was a weird feeling.
The rest of the piece veered off into a conservative diatribe against modernity that just doesn't hold true when you think of all the bad things that the cults based on mysticism have done to humanity. Let's not go back to the days of fear based on exorcism, inquisitions and crucifixions.Reality is scary enough.
9
the sooner the catholic church flakes away to the dust of antiquity the better the world will be.
12
As someone apparently the Catholic Church is trying to attract - a “spiritual” millennial - I cannot stress how much this article missed the mark. This is not a strategy misstep - as if responding better to modern dress, music, and language would have prevented the church’s decline. The child sex abuse cover up - still happening today - will prevent me from ever respecting the Catholic Church. It’s treatment of women remains a cultural albatross preventing true gender equality. And well ... abortion, LGBTQA rights, etc. etc.
A “Make Catholics Weird Again” campaign is not going to do the trick. The Met is the proper place for the Catholic Church - the past.
14
the catholic church is the greatest, most destructive organized crime syndicate in human history. there is nothing in the pretentious and lewd displays of the socalled 'artists' who attend the met gala in costume that would equal the obscene excesses of centuries of bishops lording it over their sexual abuse victims at first communion and confirmation rituals. the catholic church in America is dying a well-deserved death.
11
Follow the Golden Rule.
It's that simple. Everything else is pomp.
6
Funny. I see the Met Gala as an assault on all culture. It's a craven money grab by a great institution that lost its way. It is the culmination of the Campbell-Breuer-Lauder fiasco. The venerable institution decided to go head-to-head with MoMA and the Whitney and it lost. It fires curators and hires consultants and raises admissions and expands willy nilly. It didn't double down on incredible shows of importance, it doubled down on TMZ and slide shows of famous people dressed as popes.
The show should be called, "The Sacred in the Profane Age of Trump."
66
Young people in droves have abandoned formal religions in the U.S. but particularly the Catholic church which is so chauvinistic and focused on the 'pelvic issues' I am a Catholic all my life but my three adult children are not.
I want the Catholic church to embrace remarried people, LGBT, the sinners, other Christians and people of other faiths in God, married or single male or female priests, and walk with those in need in the world as Pope Francis proclaims.
6
Ross, I watched you on Bill Maher and I must say you were a good sport about the whole thing. I was raised Catholic and, while I'm no longer practicing, many things have stayed with me- the hail Mary is still a go to mantra. It just didn't take to me, even as a child, and I see religions as dangerous bully pulpits that don't have to pay taxes. Now, I know this isn't their stated intent but in the day to day living among the practicing believers, all I see is judgement and scorn. At least the Catholics are taught that what they do or don't do matters. Unlike these many Protestant breakaway faiths that give all of their believers a pass- as long as they claim to believe that Jesus is their lord and savior.
Both Catholics and Protestants have become extremely intolerant and fearful of differences in other people's ethnicities and sexual orientations. I'm not intending that to be a blanket statement, just an observation. I've talked to people who believe that the devil is at work blinding people from what they perceive as a sinful choice. How can people be so arrogant as to believe they know these things? Can't they at least admit that they won't know for sure until they die? As far as opening up Communion to all who enter, I say Jesus broke bread with Judas and that should apply everyone.
7
I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Jesus did not say that as a matter of hope, but as a matter of fact. Theologically, God, including Jesus, knows the entirety of time in an instant. Jesus knew that the Christian faith would struggle throughout its existence and He knew that Rihanna would wear a Papal Mitre in 2018.
The lamentations about how the Church is viewed by popular culture, will never undermine the stone foundation of the church, which is a truth that transcends the ways of the world.
This brings me to another quote from Jesus:
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
Jesus's ministry draws a clear distinction between the ways of the world and they ways of God. And likewise, Jesus did not make this statement as judgment on the world, but as a matter of fact. The ways of the world will never conform to the Spirit of truth.
The fact that the blasphemy of the Met Gala has gotten so much attention, brings to mind another quote from Jesus.
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Those who know the Spirit of truth, should not be bothered by the Met Gala.
7
Much to remark on here, particularly the wretched excess by those otherwise daily platforming for social and financial equality, and yeah we get the irony of the thing.
But beyond that, it's the blatant appropriation. To have done so -- appropriate?! -- with virtually any other current culture on the planet would have been blasted wrong at best and utterly unacceptable and you've-got-to-be-kidding-me surely.
But here it's fine. Appropriate and mock away.
Gross and offensive, smug and precious, in a word nauseating.
2
Austerity is not at all new in Catholicism: see the Franciscans and the Cistercians, or even Dorothy Day. It is rather funny to me to see Mr. Douthat champion wealth and ostentation per se as markers of a Catholicism of which he approves. What a strange, partial view of a church in which austerity and reform have always been such strong, vibrant currents.
7
Catholic conservatives may consider this blasphemous because taboo requires them to be blind to the reality -- intensely appreciated by non-believers -- that the magic in all that ritual lies precisely in its mind-blowing weirdness.
3
I am neither a Catholic conservative (lapsed a long time ago) nor quick to use the word blasphemy - I consider the MET gala in bad taste, however, and unnecessarily disrespectful to a religion whose downside we hear a lot about but little about the upside (and there is a lot in terms of nuns and priests around the world standing up for those in need and often losing their lives with no proselytizing).
7
The pity of Catholicism is that at it's Christ core it is a most merciful and humanistic set of doctrines. But as one of the older institutions of religion it has had plenty of corruptions, and like other religions became ultimately territorial and corporate. The world has suffered a great deal from the push and pull of one religion trying to dominate the other. The brutality of the conflict between Christianity and Islam alone set the stage for many of the problems we still confront today, even to the point of providing the rationalizations and platforms for slavery. These faiths schooled each other well in human degradation.
Peculiar then that it was sex starved predatory priests that were the sin that really dinged the credibility of Catholicism, and it is this that has made it a circus clown act in modern culture.
If Catholicism has anything spiritual to offer at this point it would be to focus more on the compassion at its root. That is its one true gift. This of course depending on how much one believes in the roles of religion for the benefit of humanity in the centuries to come.
I guess we can at least respect it as a relatively tolerant religion nowadays. Because had this stunt at the Met been a fancy dress party based on say Islamic iconography - the place may have been blown to smithereens.
8
On the other hand, Catholic Relief Services is one of the highest rated charities, the Maryknoll nuns/priests have often lost their lives in defense of the poor and powerless in Latin America, Groups of nuns tend to the sick and needy around the world with not religious requirement from those tended. There is real bad but real good also - the latter we don't hear about as much.
3
Perhaps that crafty Jesuit Pope let this carnival go forward to illustrate the sheer shallowness of those who participated.
These same participants who condemn the 1% shelled out $30,000 a ticket , and who knows how much a gown to have their picture taken.
After reviewing the "models" they struck me as little girls dressing up in their mother's clothes.
If Pope Francis wanted to send a message to the members of the Curia of the advantages of "dressing down", what better way than this?
13
The standard by which Douthat measures innovations — stated at least twice in this essay — is whether they have the effect of making a secular culture (or “moderns”) more Catholic; whether they bring more of the people outside to come inside.
But that is the wrong measure. Instead the standard should be whether innovation has brought more who are already within the church to deepen their engagement. On these terms, the measures of Vatican 2 — even seen from the outside — have been a considerable success. It is hard to imagine how the church would have navigated the loss of credibility and trust of so many sexual abuse cases — compounded by the moral failings of coverups — had these changes not been made.
Another effect of these changes has been seen in the Protestantism toward which Douthat has a thinly veiled disdain. It’s specifically in the reawakening of interest in the liturgical — not just in ordering Sunday worship, but in shaping the cycle of the church year.
7
Modern culture is not against religion, it is indifferent about religion. Vive la différence.
Young people are simply not interested enough in glitzy hats and supernatural eccentricities to persecute those who seek martyrdom.
7
Stop abusing children; treat women and gay people as equals; be more Christ-like, and expect the same from parishioners. Be relevant. Costumes and rituals are way down the list of problems with the Church.
25
While this essay has clearly touched a nerve, we should all step back and appreciate the author’s writing. You won’t find minds like this writing in the overwhelming majority of publications. Thanks for writing as an adult to other adults.
6
I concur, reluctantly, cautiously; but the man can write, and every so often-infrequently, to be sure- he speaks from his heart. Wouldn't want to look like Francis, now, would he ?
2
Being raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church and deciding I was an atheist as a result, I nevertheless joined the Episcopal Church with my wife in 1966. In 1966, the Episcopal Church reached its maximum membership, so I have been a member of an institution in decline since. Within a few years of our joining, the Church began to experiment with various new rites and came out with a new Prayer Book in 1974. The new book included two sets of rites, one closer to the 1928 book, and a second with more contemporary language that was supposed to have wider appeal. I'm a psychologist, so I could have run an experiment: randomly assign parishes to 1)the '28 prayer book, 2) Rite I, the more traditional from the new book, or 3) Rite 2, the more modern. We could have measured which parishes showed more growth--or less decline. The Episcopal Church will never provide "a full alternative culture in its own right", and we'll never bother you about what you believe, but it would be interesting to have real data on what people are looking for in a church. I don't know about the '70s, but I'd bet today the more traditional language would have done better. I fear I agree with Mr. Douthat to a degree and think that people are looking to their church to provided something that takes them out of everyday experience.
4
I am surprised that the Met gala is taking so much attention. Designers have been drawing inspiration from religious dress for some time, as this article from this very paper 25 years ago points out: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/05/us/piety-on-parade-fashion-seeks-insp... That article could enter into helpful dialogue with Mr. Douthat's as it includes a variety of voices weighing in, from clergy to art historians to fashion designers.
3
I think the fact that American Mass attendance is declining more quickly in the "Francis era" is not due to the Pope himself, but rather due to the fact that most local priests are not espousing his same views. His support of more liberal social views may be shared by his fellow Jesuits, but small town conservative priests are unlikely to agree.
4
The way forward is clear: Christ is risen.
The church can only offer inspiration, not control.
The church has fallen because it has been the handmaiden of political power trying to exercise control over the general populace as well as it's own adherents. That power has been extreme in controlling it's own agents: requiring celibacy from priests is just nuts. It has confused self control with love. Sex between consenting adults should be only with love. Say it again:
sex should require love!! So contraception should be just fine. GLBTQ sex is fine as long as there is love!!
It's the emotions that count and the joyous and gentle expression of loving emotions that the church should support.
Step away from political power and coercion and remember that Jesus was offered political power by "satan" and rejected it.
4
The Catholic Church is a disease; atheism is the cure.
6
Oh Ross...I'm glad you referred to persuasion when it comes to reigniting the Catholic faith. Laws conceived to force the rest of us to live by your medieval codes will not work in the end. And Evangelicals in their quest to recruit new souls to their beliefs will not succeed when they betray their own in supporting the corruption that is Trump. Yes, Ross, it is complicated. I'll stick to the opera.
6
The cultural heritage of the Catholic Church is like the cultural heritage of the Chinese emperors for the leaders of Communist China... very interesting, but not essential. What matters for Catholicism are the teachings of Christ. For each individual it is a matter of faith. The trappings are clutches to lean on, but the Bible is the core.
7
As an agnostic, I experienced no soul-wrenching angst at the Met Gala for religious reasons and I believe that it in any case, it fact had only the most tangential relationship to any organized faith. Our religion these days is the fatuous worship of celebrities, whose numbers seem to multiply exponentially, even as their talent declines inversely. The juxtaposition of these vacuous, preening mannequins against some of mankind's most sublime accomplishments is what turned my stomach; it's no different than vandalism. Of course, as the dutiful chronicler .01%, this paper devoted so much copy to this pathetic spectacle they almost forgot to gush about food and real estate for an entire day.
6
If the homework assignment was to find a way to use the word “blasphemy” in a sentence, Ross gets a passing grade. If, however, the idea was to show that the ideation that led to the Inquisition was left behind in the 17th Century, not so much.
4
I grew up a very observant, religious Roman Catholic schoolboy. In the process I made a 'bargain with the devil' in my late adolecence and paid for it dearly. and I thank the Roman Catholic Church for that. It's no fun, believe me, to be in the spider's web of priestly abuse, and so I look on this Met Costume Party as a decadent frivolity.
3
I am so sorry to hear of your having been abused. I hope some day it will feel safe enough for to come home. We miss you. But do what you need to do. You are in my prayers.
These "celebrities," as they style themselves, look like a bunch of teenagers-- exuberant, provocative, yet self-involved and silly-- who have discovered their grandparents' attic and decided to shock them by wearing their stuff at the dinner table. (I must admit they succeeded. Rihanna's mitre was simultaneously offensive and ridiculous, but I find as I get older that I find most things in the modern world to be the same, so I am working on getting over it.) They can keep the clothes and wear them in good health. They represent the majesty of the Church, and that can be exhilarating in more nostalgic moments, but they also sadly bear the stains of scandal and have the distinct whiff of oppression on them. My hope is that the Church gets a makeover, perhaps starting with some new clothes. It can then make amends for its past and rediscover its original mission, the mission of its founder, to fashion a world of peace and justice.
4
Your perspective on the past 50 years of Catholicism is again colored by the secular standard that you so berate. You measure it how many Catholics, not by its pastoral mission. As though the mission is a membership drive or a fundraising campaign. You fail to recognize/admit to the public failings of the church which are rooted in the hard line traditionalism that you so pine for. Contraception, the clergy Sex Abuse scandal, support for the US War effort in Viet Nam, and the surfacing of some of the harsh treatment and abuse that orphans and others were subjected in Catholic institutions that were supposedly there to serve them. Similarly, you have a blind spot about the outstanding pastoral outreach and actions on behalf of the poor. Father Greg Boyle and Homeboy Industries in LA, the Sisters of Notre Dame in South Boston, the Dominican outreach in Tennessee to Grandparents who are now raising children as a result of the opioid crisis, literacy programs in Chicago, etc. The Tradition is important and there is much to respect and adhere to, but to mindlessly hold onto institutional practices without reflecting on the lived experience of people is not consistent with the mission. Francis seems to grasp that and his decisions in the face of complex reality are made humbly and respectfully. I suggest you show the same in your analysis.
10
Catholicism's attempt to deal with modern culture conflicts with the overwhelmingly seductive rationale of Pope Alexander VI in 1493 of The Doctrine of Discovery. This excuse for colonialism, white supremacy and missionary zeal, diminishes the need and desire of individuals to express their individuality in matters of sex, politics and spirituality. These galas and other rituals do not harm the Church. Unquestioned adherence to some doctrine is the problem.
3
I understand perfectly Ross.
I always go to Comic-Con in my full Star Wars Jedi vestments.
The Force is strong in this one.
Yet everyone seems to treat it as a cos-play.
When life itself is, The Force!
If only they could feel the existence of the Force, that impersonal energy flowing throughout the universe. Then they would understand. Master Yoda tells us to do or not do. There is no try.
Yet all these wannabe Sith Lords and....
...oh who I'm I kidding.
ITS MAKE BELIVE.
Have fun with it and enjoy the comradery and discuss how the costumes were made and take pic. with new friends.
Its a Grift Ross. Lots of money to be made.
People do it for $$$ and comradery of like minded people.
Its all based upon Sci-Fi, Fantasy story books.
Sound familiar Ross?!
7
So-called traditional Catholic culture is a nostalgia-infused chimera. The Church has been under constsnt threat of assimilation by the secular culture since its very beginnings, when Theodosius made it the state religion. Jesus himself faced the question, and answered it with the ironic Zen koan "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's". The glorious symbols that Douthat wants to offer as a real alternative culture date from the time when Popes waged war as secular princes. The dogmas that conservatoive Catholics seem to prize most date from the 1800s. And so on. The Church, Roman or not, has always been in tension and uneasy collaboration with the secular culture, which yearns for, and attempts to understand and follow, fundamental ethics. It's when the Church's teaching and pracices violate those ethics that the secular culture turns against it. That's why it sees no blasphemy in the costumes of the Met Gala. Costumes are just costumes, created for entertainment, drama, and more or less subtle social comment. It's theatre, which "holds the mirror up to nature". Conservative Catholicism is a costume drama. Modern Catholicim doesn't yet knw exactly what it is, but it does know where it wants to go: to be a living presence, to "inculturate" by moving the secular culture even further towards realising the ethical imperatives summed up by Jesus as "Love God, and love your neighbour as you love yourself."
2
What a travesty, this spectacle "The Gala". I absolutely love to see good fabrics, embroidery, and so on, for me, it illustrates what human creatiivity is about. But to use it in this manner ... what do these people get out of it? Five seconds of "fame"?
Better to fund some children and others to go to the MET.
A University where I live, mounted an exhibition of such vestments, and other Church artefacts. It was open to the Public, and had several school-children tours, and taught in a historical, cultural, social context. Now, that is respectful.
1
In my experience, all of Christianity trades of fear. I suspect that many, if not most, other religions do the same. I sincerely doubt they'd have so many followers otherwise.
3
I see Mr. Douthat believes marrying the wrong person is an unforgivable sin (the only one I know of in my Catholic Church). It is sad that he cannot find it in his heart to allow to Church to make an accommodation to people who made a long-past mistake.
4
The modern day relevance of the Catholic church is mostly a legacy of its association with major military and economic powers over the centuries. People want to believe something, so why not adopt the beliefs of those who hold power?
It's not a pretty legacy. My son, after seeing cathedrals built on the foundations of destroyed Mayan temples, at age twelve, has never again entered a cathedral.
And the Met Gala? It's just a lighter-hearted version of Game of Thrones or some other medieval role-playing; a gaudy but good natured fantasy in which weirdness is the theme for a night.
But weirdness is just a palette for the imagination, a Rorschach for our psyches. It has no more substance than what we make of it. It has a place in modernity, but not center stage. We've been there: it wasn't pretty.
5
All of those trappings on display, and being aped by the glitterati, are moored in a 13th to 17th century Italian politicization of the church. They have little to recommend them other than their gaudy grandeur designed to inspire awe of the political power they are meant to display. The sacred ceremony of the Mass has little to do with what the priest is wearing and more to do with what the congregation is doing. If you don't understand that, Ross, then all the gaudy trappings will do little to inform your faith. Having lived through the Vatican II changes to the mass and visual trappings of the buildings, I must say I prefer this contemporary Mass and buildings to the old ones. And, prefer this Pope to the previous ones, as well.
12
Could not have said it better myself. As a Roman Catholic and a teacher in a Catholic high school, I can assuredly say that my students are turned off by the pomp and ritual of the Mass. But they love a good sermon that shows how the bible or Catholic theology and ethics relates directly to their life. They are bored by long, ritualistic Masses but are energized to do work for the poor, disabled, etc. The Church needs to speak directly to the people and provide avenues for us to put our faith into action. What our churches look and sound like matter little next to that.
8
“A religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination.”
I would think a divinely established religion would not need any of mankind’s herky-jerky machinery. It would shine like the sun, obvious to us all, no? I believe Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor made an argument similar to this on and to Jesus Christ Himself, when he had the audacity to return to Earth in all the unassuming splendor of simple love. We all love a light show, Mr. Douthat, but nowadays we prefer to let the crew running the machinery come on stage and take a bow. In other words, thank you very much, but I’ll take my divine straight up, without the cheap robes of mummery.
1
I read the link to the Proust article. I am glad that I did. Traditional Catholic liturgical worship is strong in France. Perhaps it is the stone itself that the great French Cathedrals are made from could be part of the reason - ceremonies change, fashions change, governments change, we ourselves change but like the stone of the Cathedrals and the Inspiration that built them, does not change - and as human beings we recognize this.
1
The Met Gala was certainly a frivolous party attended by wealthy celebrities, but it was also a fundraising event for a cultural institution that has historically served a larger public constituency. The event this year mocked an aspect of religion that is a fairly easy target (see Matthew 23:5), but was arguably closer in spirit to Frans Hals' Merrymakers at Shrovetide than to Melchior Lorck's Satire on the Papacy.
3
The first thing that is needed is a sense of humor. As somebody that attended Catholic schools for 13 years of my life I will always remember a history professor that proclaimed "the Catholic church is the greatest show on earth". I am not sure that I disagree with him. Pope Francis could have never imagined the splendor that was born out of the Vatican. Pope Francis is a man as a member of the Society of Jesus aka The Jesuits that leads a simple life like Jesus Christ. The task of taking the Catholic church forward involves heavy lifting that is unimaginable. If it is to exist in the future then allow priests to get married and allow women to be priests. Then it will have a chance of survival.
6
I think that Ross has more in common with the swells at the Met Gala than he grasps. The pomp and circumstance is aesthetically glorious, yes, but has nothing to do with the core of the faith, which is the gospel and the sacraments. I was raised in the Church - 16 years of Catholic school, including a Jesuit college. I remember the shift from Latin mass to English and singing songs from Godspell at my 1972 confirmation in a newly built brutalist church. So I guess I'm one of those Vatican II Catholics Ross and his fellow traditionalist deplore. But those of us who came of age in that time learned that our role as Catholics is to be a sign of Christ's healing presence in the world, in all that we do. Ad majorem dei gloriam, as per the Jesuit motto. The clothes are meaningless in themselves, whether worn by an NYC fashionista OR a bishop. Pope Francis knows that. But it seems that Ross doesn't.
7
As a fellow Catholic I generally admire Mr Douhat's perspectives but I think he is making the same mistake of many traditional Catholics in assessing that the liturgical and cultural changes enacted by Vatican II are a "mistake" because they coincided with objective decline in Church membership, divorce, marriage, etc. Remember that ALL organized religion including ALL Christian denominations have experienced the same declines during these decades and many of them had no such liturgical changes. Modernity has posed challenges to Catholicism. Period. Trying to correlate liturgical changes with other effects during the same period is dubious.
6
We're over 300 years into the crisis of modernity and columns like this one indicate we're no closer to a resolution than ever. For a free individual to commit to Christianity (whether Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant varieties) they must first acknowledge and accept the authority of tradition or scripture or both. But the critical, historical analysis of the evidence over three centuries has made it clear that neither claim can be supported: they are only assertions of authority. One must either be a kind of flat-earther as regards the evidence -- concocting more and more specious and elaborate arguments as to the historical accuracy of ancient texts -- or one must make a leap of faith: that is, assert belief in face of overwhelming evidence contrary to the truth claims of the Church.
I assume that Douthat belongs to the latter group.
Rich 'celebrities' just love to play dress-up, and we just love to watch (and photograph, and publish, etc.). What fun.
3
The blasphemous debasement of the Church's vestments is just what the sorry spectacle of medieval thinking that is the Church deserves. A spiritual organization that keeps trying to feed its congregants articles of faith that are about four centuries past their sell-by date shouldn’t be surprised when the faithful seek nourishment more in line with contemporary hunger. The Met's ecclesiastical drag show has simply exposed the tawdry, hollow entity that is today's Church.
3
Whenever the topic of religion arises I have to keep coming back to cosmologist Stephen Hawkin's brief, but accurate idea that "religion is fairy tales for adults."
3
I quite like a lot of what the Catholic Church has to say, and indeed as a former altar boy, I took my catholicism quite seriously for a while.
But with the passing of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, I realized that it was time to put away childish things.
The universe is an indifferent and dangerous place; the church’s moral certainties are a comfort. But those moral certainties have been based upon a Let’s Pretend game that’s beneath us. Where is Toto when you need him?
Take away the imaginary spirits and the church’s moral teachings would and should stand on their own. And if not, they should be abandoned.
Funny hats and men in weird dresses isn’t the core of the Church.
The teaching that every person is sacred is.
But when the Church spends its time scolding condoms and a Friday roast beef, it demeans the core of its message.
And that is what has truly hurt the Church- hiding child molesters, cultivating a culture of sexual excess among clergy (as documented many times,- see Frontline for one), obsessing ONLY over abortion while ignoring poverty, incarceration, and disease... the Church has squandered its authority and it should be no shock that its attendance is declining.
Combine that with an insistence that to belong to the communion you have to believe in absurd things, and the Church is lucky it has as many adherents as it does.
8
Yes. All this.
1
The confidence of Catholicism is evident in its ability to withstand and promote body blows to its own self-image. Try and imagine an institutional tolerance of self flogging cosplay within any other religion.
Generosity and self critique, not to mention hypocrisy, are programmed and deeply embedded in the culture that supports and relies on this flawed religion. While I am not a Christian, in a strange way, I feel comforted by Catholicism and the net good will effect it has on society. Catholicism is the voice of consciousness within Religion.
4
As a Catholic, I find some of the attire at the Met Gala to be offensive. I am fully aware that some of the trappings of Catholicism may seem silly to the uninitiated. Too many people think Catholics "worship" Mary. We don't. The transubstantiation is a big stumbling block for even more. But, it seems to me that part of the reason many Catholics ignore the Church, is that the Church has sacrificed too much of the glorious . mysterious, transcendental aspects of worship. For example, American Catholic music in liturgy is dreadful. It doesn't look like this can be repaired.
4
So the Vatican more readily cooperated in what might be called a branding event honoring homo-erotic couture than it has in legal efforts to prosecute pederasts hiding in its midst?
Dominus Vobiscum
2
Orthodoxy remains.
There is ancient precedent for the Hautoween that Anna Wintour threw for her toy people. It was called the Feast of Fools. Once a year, Catholic "peasants" would parade through their medieval streets making fun of their Catholic hierarchy, theology and ritual.
Cardinal Dolan and his counterparts in Rome were duped into their participation in the Met Gala. So different from when the Pieta was sent to the NYC World's Fair. That had reverence. The Met Gala was a cynical send-up of all things Catholic.
1
The Met Gala was an obscene, flaunting spectacle of empty wealth and commonplace vulgarity. Absent of beauty, wit, grace and all but self-referential vanity, it was a perfect reflection of what the institution of the Catholic Church represents.
A grotesque parade of decadent last remnants of the Roman Empire, rotting out in dirty cash and self-indulgence, in perfect sync with worn-out "celebrities" strutting over-pampered bodies and under-developed creativity in outfits fitted out for rutting.
Thanks to the Roman Church's global promotion of human over-reproduction -- the greatest of its manifold sins -- the only real "luxuries" left on this planet are space, silence, and undespoiled air, water, and habitat. Like untainted food and trophied remains of extinct and slaughtered animals, these will soon become luxuries only the rich can afford.
This "exhibit" is the perfect spectacle for worn-out institutions, hoarding in airless rooms treasures "acquired" from the thieves that orignally stole them.
5
What a tacky spectacle - vulgar and commercial - nothing left of elegance, style and aestheticism. What a vile and coward attack on the Catholic religion. One can feel the envy, jealousy and perfidy of other religious leaderships directed at the Catholic church.
I can only imagine what would have happened had it been about other religions and hear the cries of "you are anti-this, anti-that" - I am surprised the Catholic church does not react more strongly. It is perhaps why they are so strong, they don't need to protest, their strength is in the truth of their message.
2
Context, context context.... When I see the great cathedrals of Europe and the jeweled fine fabrics and vestments from that era, I see human ingenuity, skilled craftsmen, feats of engineering and learning, and yes a political system all on display from the time it was all created, setting a base (with all of its flaws, and yes injustices) for the continuing enlightenment of human beings. It's all part of the on-going, physical and emotional evolutionary process of the human species, including those who make up the Church. It is not to be cast aside, but treasured. But we still move on, to further insights, never discarding the past but incorporating the best of it into our lives, and the worst of it as lessons not to be repeated. Signed, a practicing Catholic.
6
My deceased partner (z"l), drifted away from the Roman Church in the wake of Vatican II, but not, in his own view, from the "one, holy and apostolic church." Instead he found both solace and fulfilling spirituality in High Church Anglicanism. All his life he remained true to his elementary school education in a pre-Vatican II parish school and in his Jesuit secondary education. He disagreed profoundly with many doctrines of the Roman church, but never with the dogmas of Orthodox and Western Christianity. When he died and friends and neighbors asked me about his religion, I found it best to say, "he was a Eucharistic Christian." My neighborhood R.C. parish church has made itself a shrine to the glories to the great music of the pre- and post-Tredentine Roman Catholic church. I attend many of the Sunday afternoon concerts and sometimes, when I sit there and let the music flow over me and into myself, I ask myself, "how could you give this all up?"
It a curiosity of the times in which we live that what one of its great Rabbis of two generations ago termed "serene Reform" Judaism has, in most of its congregations, become far more Ashkenazic traditional in its services of worship in the last half century or so with not only greater use of Hebrew but altogether a far more traditional prayer book. Interesting, eh? I do understand the historical forces that have brought this about but then, why has Roman Catholicism followed such a different route?
Mr. Douthat has the odd task of speaking to an anti-Catholic audience about our faith and I think he does a good job. However, this piece is hard for me to follow though I understand that a Felliniesque fashion show was staged by some wealthy non-Catholics in Manhattan and made the author a little wistful. This aside, I am encouraged by his apparently growing appreciation for Pope Francis whose many gifts have yet to be recognized by many Catholics who are also conservative or right-wing in their politics. The author has previously said things about Bergoglio I thought were not quite as unfair as the things said by many devout folks commenting on Catholic sites. He has now surely read more of what the Pope is actually saying than I have, and has noticed that the Pope is genuinely Catholic. Lastly, I continue to read the comments on Mr. Douthat's articles and I am again amazed at the assurance and vitriol that people not connected with our faith exhibit when discussing it, and how genuinely misinformed so many otherwise well informed people are about the Catholic Church. Mr. Douthat and I are among a tiny minority of the faithful who still like to read this newspaper and I seldom see comments from kindred spirits. I applaud the ecumenical spirit of this column and his persistence because the comments demonstrate that such outreach is sorely needed. Fellini's criticism was much better informed and far more entertaining.
9
Douthat ignores why the "weirdness" was slowly but surely phased out after the protestant reformation. The "weirdness" that of the fashion displayed at the met gala is inspired the by a time when the Catholic church was essentially as powerful as the monarchs of Europe.
The fabulous garb displayed at the gala and in the met exhibit itself is that of royalty, which the clergy basically was. The reformation, among many other things, was about taking away the power of a corrupt and wealthy Church and allowing the common people to feel close to their deity without a royal middleman. Getting rid of the gilded robes and tiaras was just an aesthetic first step to reshaping Christianity for the common man.
While I, and obviously fashion designers, may find these robes and tiaras fascinating and beautiful, they certainly don't scream "we're all equal in god's eyes." If all the priests on earth start wearing diamond encrusted miters, there still won't be an uptick in church attendance.
4
When I was a kid, I attended Catholic Services and enjoyed the pageantry of the services, the Choir and the incense.
I left the Catholic Church long ago but this article made me realize that what I liked (but didn't realize it at the time) about the services was that they were a form of pious entertainment. Even now, though I despise Catholic Dogma, I have fond memories of the Services.
Having attended a few services at various Protestant, Evangelical, and Fundamentalist Churches, I have found that much of the services are devoted to entertainment. Christian bands, dancing show choirs, even some stand-up comedians.
But I must admit that the pageantry of the Catholic Church at least provide a more sacred atmosphere.
4
I appreciate Mr. Douthat's thoughtful columns, but as a life-long practicing Catholic I must disagree with his premise. The Church has always been about change. The recent daily scripture readings from the Acts of the Apostles describe how the early Church extended beyond its original Jewish constituency to the Gentiles and the Greeks. I have attended Mass around the world, in enormous elaborate cathedrals and outdoors in the middle of a field and in a grove of trees. The essentials of the Mass were still present, despite the cultural element differences present in the venues. Non-believers have long mocked some of the Church's visible trappings. Let them mock. True faith and a true faith community do not require any of these trappings.
7
If we can talk of Catholicism being "great," that greatness has nothing to do with the embrace of the trappings of royalty by the hierarchy.
The greatness of the Church, if we can talk in terms of greatness, derives from the Church's commitment to the works of mercy (hospitals, Catholic Charities, Catholic Relief Services, St. Vincent de Paul socities present in many parishes, social justice ministries, etc.) and its educational institutions, as well as the many religious orders of women and men engaged in doing the works of mercy and education.
The exhibit, a few years ago, at the Smitsonian and other locations that told the story of the nuns in America in building hospitals, schools, and orphanages provided the correct understanding of what made and makes Catholicism great. The Church's greatness, if we can speak in those terms, has nothing to do with liturgical celebrations featuring an all male cast dressed as roalty and speaking in Latin.
10
Isn't it interesting that we are fascinated by the over-the-top Catholic "costumes" at the Met Gala at the same time that we are also fascinated by the upcoming British royal wedding?
Ultimately, we as a species love pageantry. Some of us like it in our religious practices and some do not. But we cannot ignore its power as a culture.
6
One of the faults of the Catholic Church has been a lack of humor. Humor is absent from the Gospels, from Paul's letters, and from a lot of the literature and ritual -- which led to the introduction of "The Feast of Fools" in the late middle ages. Ordinary people dressed as bishops and celebrated fake masses, and there was generally a feeling of cheer and disrespect toward the aristocracy and the clergy. India has a similar festival, "Holi," in which people all over the country, including the Prime Minister, squirt colored water at each other in a display of hilarity and raucous fun. Spain still has (thank God!) festivals and processions in which the religious is joined with the humorous, and the participants sport dresses and costumes recalling former times. And Brazil has Carnival, which I feel sure Douthat would frown upon, but which I remember enjoying as a child. The Met Gala was a sort of carnival of the rich and famous, but we miss this aspect if all we see is colored by jaundiced and bilious criticism. Saint Teresa of Avila prayed to be delivered from "santos encapotados" ("deadened saints"), of which we have increasing numbers these days. And if not now, when?
4
Funny that in this entire piece, Mr. Douthat, never once mentions Jesus, nor the basic message of his teachings. Catholicism was the first major religion those teachings gave birth to, but over the centuries somehow the message got lost in all the "stuff" which was meant to somehow glorify God, but which really glorified the men who were in power. Doesn't that seem to happen time and again? A Zen story likens spiritual teachings to a finger pointing to the moon; it is easy to focus on the finger and lose sight of the moon. Let all those costumes and trappings be in a museum, or at a gala, they are just fingers pointing to the moon. Understanding the moon is the far more consequential pursuit.
5
The fantasy clerical fashions modelled at the Met were perfectly in tune with the ermine tastes of the European catholic hierarchy for most of its history--Cardinals as youngest sons of dynastic families who couldn't be willed any of the estate or title so they had to work their way up through the Holy Roman Empire. This was the source of the churches' anti-modernism throughout the 19th century, not theology; the popes were monarchist sympathizers from aristocratic families who were enraged by the French Revolution. And if all of this makes a catholic feel like a spectator at a garish spectacle not meant for them, that would be in keeping with what the church really is...
3
Ross and so many of the neo-traditional followers of the Roman church continue to camp out in the idea that the Gospel can only be proclaimed by going BACK to some fantasy Golden Era when the "real Catholics" had the "real faith." it is a regressive fantasy. They conveniently forget the excesses and tragedies associated with that cultural power, and conveniently ignore the fact that the church has been adjusting itself to changing times, cultures, and understandings since the first century. It's why the Gospels and the Pauline and Pseudo-Pauline Epistles look so different from each other. It should be applauded that the church is (semi-) willing to engage with the modern world as it is, and display and (semi-?) reflect on its history and art. Refusing to engage with modern intellect and culture dooms the real radical Gospel to a fusty old museum piece like the Latin Mass.
5
Catholicism is in a deep spot right now, as the separation of church and state seems to take an inexorable road; given that several of it's assertions 'demand' suspension of what makes us humans, reason (if you do not believe, literally, in the trans substantiation, the conversion of the bread and wine, during Mass, into the body and blood of Christ, you cannot be called a Catholic). Isn't that weird enough?
How uplifting it is to read another encyclical from Pope Douthat. But I have to ask--was this editorial written ex cathedra?
I was planning to visit the Catholic exhibit at the Met but after seeing how some of the attendees were attired in a mockery style of Catholic dress, I will skip it. Cardinal Dolan was there last night and I hope he has the courage to voice his disapproval of the costumes that were on display by some of the attendees. He has often spoken out about how Catholicism is the last religion that is allowed to be ridiculed and defamed. I hope he will speak out against the blasphemy that appeared last night and not shy away from defending Catholicism.
Many of the women who were dressed in this degrading way were not even Catholic so of course to them it seemed like a joke. To those of us who are religious and take our religion seriously it is anything but a joke. I wonder what Pope Francis would have thought if he had been in attendance? He may lean a bit to the left, but I highly doubt he would have found the dress amusing. No one who is a practicing Catholic and takes their faith seriously is laughing. I certainly am not.
I hate to see my Catholic faith blasphemed and ridiculed in this way. This would never be tolerated towards the Jewish or Muslim faiths. Can you imagine what the reaction would be if you were to mock Mohammed? There would be protests and probably violence occurring in the streets. Catholics would not go to that length but if you are offended, you must speak up and say so. If Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN, were alive she would complain.
3
I am very much in favor of celebrities or just plain rich people paying $30,000 for tickets to a Met gala to support the Met. If I am in NYC I never miss a chance to go.
But, I am trying to imagine what I would feel if a group of rich mostly non-Jews would don Jewish style religious garments or accessories in a similar non-respectful, sorry but hardly any respect here, manner. I doubt that I would be happy, more likely angry and even if it was for a good charitable cause.
Raise money, party, but all this is supposedly an adult activity. Act like adults, even if you are a celebrity and show some respect. And these people are supposed to be cultural role models?
3
I am not Catholic but I think Pope Francis and the Church deserve more respect than being associated with the bizarre spectacle at the Met. I may be a simpleton but I don't understand the purpose of this opinion piece or why the NYT is associated with it.
I think it's time for the NYT to bring in as a columnist Richard Rohr, the Franciscan friar who speaks to millions with a spiritual message. What a contrast he would make with Douthat's habitual nitt-picking, hair-splitting, navel-gazing dogmatic miniaturizations that are so... well, uninspiring and irrelevant. In fact, I think they should head off in parallel columns just to play each other off, one inspiring and hopeful, the other dour and sanctimonious as if possessed (O blasphemy!) by Calvin's ghost. I know of no sermon attributed to Jesus where the word dogma is ever said. Christianity without dogma, without shamefulness and without an obsession with sin and saving souls may hit the mark that Douthat 's closed-mindedness seem to miss. In fact, a Catholic friar seems to be doing it with great popularity. In this instance, Catholicism is not dead.
4
How proud the Met must be to have hosted this spectacle, which was nothing more than a mocking of Roman Catholicism by the cultural elite. The depths to which we have fallen when "celebrities" stoop so low.
jasper
1
speaking of "excruciating" ... (from back when Catholicism was pretty "weird") https://www.ranker.com/list/torture-and-execution-spanish-inquisition/ka...
Didn't someone once say that all religion is abuse? I was raised Protestant-- my husband is Catholic, and despite being fully cognizant of the church's position toward guys like us, there is no question that he could even consider abandoning his religion. Intellectually, I think he sees through the nonsense, but he will never shake it. He was that deeply indoctrinated. I have had to come to terms with the fact that married life for me means church every weekend, end of discussion.
So, yeah -- bringing my outsider perspective to the Catholic church, I find it plenty weird, no "again" needed. My husband has to go to church every week (plus holy days of obligation) for fear that otherwise the magic will be broken and he'll be cursed forevermore. He knows I take a dim view of this, and when I tell him they sure did a number on you, he does not disagree.
As for flaunting Catholic iconography for fashionable ends, sorry, it's been done. For her encore, Cher literally framed herself as the Virgin Mary, and suspended from cables circled around the arena at one of her concerts here in Philly years ago. A moment of shared divinity for gays of every faith.
3
I think it's a bit disingenuous to accuse the Met-goers as sexing up their costumes when the Pope has been wearing a stylized phallus for a hat for over a thousand years.
And as glacial of social progress the Catholic Church has made over these many years, I highly doubt the youth will come clamoring back to the fold when all of that is reversed just so we have an opportunity for another Pope Benedict and his saucy little red loafers.
4
Oh, what will Ross do?! He's beside himself at losing his sense of place in the world in the fading of his comforting cult - it's disorienting and discombobulating to be up in the air losing one's old bearings, and all too easy to look for heretical scapegoats and loss of "tradition" for its decline rather than examine deeply and renew spiritually with a clean slate.
This is part of a natural process: religions collapse of their own weight by their fetishization and ricebowl- and power structure-maintaining institutionalization of often originally well-motivated spirituality. As soon as humans organize and structure them, they're eventually toast. All of the agonies since the first few centuries AD have been part of the decline of the Roman Church, and the priests have scrabbled via fantasy indoctrination, repression, violence and unholy power and commercial alliances in an admirable rearguard action to stem an unstemmable tide. The tide is going out now.
2
Moving away from the Latin mass had nothing to do with my disenchantment with Catholicism. But misogyny, homophobia, and pedophelia sure did. Incense is unlikely to bring anybody back.
3
It's simple Ross. What the Church needs to survive while still honoring its two millenia of tradition is the Latin Mass and women priests. That said, I thought the Met Gala costumes were the most rococco fun since the Counter Reformation.
1
Some symbols are meant to die. They are the ones that pass into museums as artifacts of a time when they once may have inspired awe or represented earthly power.
Catholic Christianity cannot be collapsed into or contained by its accidentsls such as its ritual costumes.
What we saw at the Met was a costume party, pure and simple-- or maybe not so pure or simple! To "read" it as some kind of anti-Catholic moment or a sign of a Vatican Ii spawned decline feeds the anti-Francis narrative Mr. Douthat is fond of propogating.
The Met premise is that secular fashion found inspiration in the ritual costumes of catholicism. It may have been the other way around.
2
One of the fundamentals of living an ethical life is respect for the beliefs of others. Catholics do not believe in the Catholic Church, we believe in the life and teachings of Jesus. The best of us are the people who have walked away from worldly possessions and serve others with their life, such as parish priests and other religious. My own parish priest wears vestments that his mother sewed 45 years ago. Money could not buy the love sewn into these garments.
4
Douthat approximating Proust says "the actors might know their roles, and the incense might waft thick, but attendees could 'only ever be curious dilettantes; try as they might, the soul of times past does not dwell within them.'" Were this true then there would be no Shakespeare theater, nor troupes of actors replicating the script. Douthat objects later in his essay that Proust's thought experiment, unlike the Catholic Church, is not alive. But how is the Church alive except that it, like those Met Gala actors, those Shakespearean troupes, plays out the script? And no one knows if the priest who chants or the choir that sings, believes any of it. Douthat assumes that what differentiates the Met attendees and the Catholics lined up in pews on any given Sunday is that the former are soulless. Phooey. What differentiates them is who controls the narrative and for the Catholic Church historically, that has always been the case. The traditionalists are not so much outraged by the spectacle (bottom line, it is all spectacle especially at Mass) as they are about who is worthy to say the lines, wear the costumes, come to table.
1
I am ordained in the United Church of Christ, but grew up (born in 1946) in Cleveland, Ohio, living for some years in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood. I respect the Catholic Church and its adherents. My problem with Mr. Douthat's article is his repeated reference to the Protestantization of the Catholic Church as if Protestants are enemy. I do not like "entertainment" that mock belief systems in one God, in love, and in social justice. To study Christian church history which began with Jesus and Judaism is to see many cultural changes and many harmful practices as well as attempts to move back to the model Jesus provided of love for one another. I appreciate Douthat's concern for this exhibit which I share as I read his article. I hope he can continue to call attention to such without making Protestants part of the problem.
1
Ross' analysis here is regrettably superficial. Contending with secularity is certainly the key issue that has been successfully challenging modern religion for 500 years, since the Renaissance and Reformation. Germany's celebration last year of the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation was entirely secular—focusing on Martin Luther the man (which he would have hated) rather than on his profound spiritual insights, purportedly because today only 10% of Germans attend church, and the 90% would not, it was thought, appreciate what the Reformation was really about.
Religion's long decline and loss to secularization has been a complex history, but perhaps at bottom a matter of intellectual cowardice, failing to sustain the sense that the world is coherent and one, against secularity's never validated custom of escaping the religious wars by seeing the world as fragmented into separate parts, roughly corresponding to modern academic disciplines—university against multiversity. Modern science is based on cosmological coherence, but scholars generally have not appreciated that, nor churches understood its implications for religion.
So the answer is not to revive weirdness, but to challenge superficiality, in the unrealistic and indefensible fragmentation in our modern world-views. The widespread spiritual hunger of our time is fertile soil awaiting living seeds, and deep thought will be the key.
I was not alive in 1789, but I can only imagine that soirees at Versailles must have resembled this. Would love to know what percentage of the attending glitterati had any familiarity with the contents of the Metropolitan Museum.
4
I don't get it. How can Mass attendance decline? It's MORTAL SIN to miss Mass on Sundays. I can only speculate that attendance at Friday Confessions must have ramped up mightily to accommodate all the previous week's Mass-missers.
I understood back in the John XXIII days that the wrong things were being reformed. The arid theological claims, the restrictions on normal happiness and minor "sins" that harmed no one, not even the sinner, the rigid persecutions, the restrictions on birth control and secular entertainments and "banned" books and movies, all mostly remained in place; what went away were all the things that made Catholics feel special, that defined them as a separate people, and that would have kept them together: Friday fasts, Latin Mass, Ash Wednesday ashes, throats blessed on St. Blaise's day, in fact all saints and the rituals surrounding them: It was ordinary Catholics, not rich Proustian aesthetes, who would have preserved the faith.
2
Douthat’s nostalgia for “great and weird” seems remarkably innocent of the extent to which the success of Romanized Christianity was a necessarily tragic. Worldly success is a corruption of the “weirdness" of Christianity’s founding message that the first shall be last and the last first.
The prescription to focus on the aesthetic for all that ails the Catholic Church seems to me to be a solution in search of a problem. To attract followers the Church needs to be relevant to the needs of its parishioners in the modern life: our increasing alienation from self and community due to technology, the absence of meaning and purpose in the extreme form of capitalism embraced by much of the world, the increasingly inequitable world among other issues. Unfortunately, I have little confidence that a priesthood lost somewhere in the 11th century with regards to women in the priesthood, celibacy, etc is the right group to speak to modernity.
1
On a side note - there are multiple comments noting the serious issues with the church (anti-divorce, stances on gay marriage, abuse scandals), all of which are serious and relevant, however, I think it's important to note that the Church is not its members. I was raised Catholic and attended Catholic school through college. Although I do not practice anymore, I have learned to have a great respect for people with faith. Most of the people I grew up with were not and are not bigots. Currently, the church my family attends starts every mass with a statement that it welcomes everyone: divorced, gay, straight, trans, whoever. So while the church as a whole may have views people do not approve of, there are good things happening in local churches.
My grandfather was a lifelong member of the church and although he did not agree with everything they did, had a great deal of faith. When he passed the nurses commented that they had never met someone who was so accepting and unafraid of death. This was purely due to his faith in some greater being/life. While some people will shake their heads and say its intellectually impossible, instead I only wished I could believe so profoundly in something that I was able to accept anything life threw at me, including my own mortality. This showed me religion is about faith, acceptance, and kindness, rather than the politics that get in the way. I do not practice any longer, but for these reasons, I will never look down on someone who does.
3
At least Mr. Douthat acknowledges the connections between uber-catholics and libertarians. Jesus and the early Christians appeared to be socialists.
You can't go backwards. The struggle seems to be either having a smaller church for old timers or a larger church that is looking ahead. A fascination for pomp, ceremony, and mysticism will not garner new members or further the message of the Gospels.
Vatican II was an effort to move forward that is now being resisted by traditionalists longing for the past.
Time for a schism. A house divided cannot stand.
3
“But a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination...”. Catholicism is ever only as persuasive as the witness of its adherents. Even in the Gospels, when pressed for more “fascination,” Jesus opted to instead emphasize the importance of the heart before God and neighbor. Regardless of which rite is used, that is the only compelling consideration in any age.
1
The Met is a civic treasure and to sustain it we must abide the swells whose contributions help keep the doors open for the other 99% of the public. If that requires an evening for the deep-pocket set to indulge their egos by rubbing elbows with garishly outfitted performers and media-invented celebrities, so be it.
1
I don't think that turning the Catholic Church into a fad is the kind of inspiration that it needs to be relevant.
Christianity, not just Catholicism, seems to be about a whole lot of things today, *except* for Christ's teachings.
Maybe the Catholic Church should just continue to follow Pope Francis' lead in aligning itself more closely with those teachings, in a world that most definitely could use being reacquainted with them.
I am not holding my breath however. The Catholic Church was long ago corrupted by its acquisition of political power, a pursuit that is now afflicting Evangelicalism. The radical ideas that God is love, that you should love your neighbor as yourself, etc., are, perhaps, just too “yesterday” a concept for today's world.
1
Ross, I haven't attended a mass that wasn't set to brilliant music (like Beethoven's Missa Solemnis or the Verdi Requiem) in more than a decade - but believe you me, when you listen to the words of the liturgy...it's pretty weird already!
As spiritual traditions go, the Catholic liturgy demands that you make huge leaps in logic that do not come naturally even to spiritually inclined persons.
Honestly, the Jesus of the Jefferson bible, the Jesus as profound ethical philosopher, works far better in the modern world than the Jesus of the melodramatic Catholic and Protestant traditions.
The last thing that authentically spiritually inclined persons in the modern world need is more tortured logic, costumes, and melodrama.
2
"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."
Ross, I think you may be one of the few that sees offense in just about any way t he trappings of Catholicism are on public display.
I wouldn't look so hard at how our culture is abusing Catholic symbols as much as I would focus on how Catholicism is being practiced by its adherents who hold political office.
If you want outrage, it's there aplenty. Paul Ryan, who claims to be such an ardent Catholic, firing his chaplain (he's reinstated in a brouhaha that never should have happened. Father Conroy, a Jesuit , seems to have violated the secret code of all chaplains who are in Congress as window dressing, not advocates for human values as expressed in the Gospels.
I can't be bothered by your pessimism about the future of the Catholic Church, Ross. In my neck of the woods, my parish is growing and well practiced. Our priests are close to parishioners, spending most of their time teaching us to be closer to God.
Moreover, culture will do what culture will do--appropriate the trappings of any religion when it suits their purpose. They aren't "offending" me in any way--certainly not like Catholic politicians who use church teachings to push their very public agendas on abortion but ignore all the rest about helping the poor.
Ross, remember separation of church and state. it exists for a reason.
6
There are some modern reasons for being anti-RCC: 1) Their exclusion of women from the priesthood and their attitude towards women's rights over their own bodies; 2) Their awful reputation resulting from rampant cruel and institutionalized child abuse, and abuse of young women.
1
I grew up Catholic but have left the faith for 50 plus years. It is just not for me...however this type of "fashion" theme mocks the Catholic Church and the faithful who have remained in it and insults and degrades what these people consider sacred. It smacks of Liberal Hypocrisy and I understand why Catholics are angry.
Ah, if only we could bring back the good old days. Take it from someone a lot older then you, they were not all that good, and although you are still a young man, you are old enough to know that.
Recreating the past to affect the future is a fools errand.
1
Blasphemy - a victimless crime.
Forgotten by Ross and his wish for the "good ol' days" were a couple of highlights. The Crusades. The Inquisition. The sale of indulgences. The endless shuffling of pedophile priests. The role of women. The control of women.
As for being a living faith - Catholicism seems quite firmly anchored in the past.
3
usually share Douthat's views or care for his columns or religious views, but this is an extremely nuanced analysis of the dilemmas in Catholicism and the modern disenchanted world jumping off a quasi parodical and controversial Met celebrity dress show. Nice historical contextualization. Douthat may be much more intellectual, cultured, and thoughtful than I ever thought. A very nice riff on that Proustian thought experiment. Much to think about here.
The dress of the actresses at the Met Gala is nothing but the revival of the style of the French Incroyables of the time of the Revolution, adapted to the tastes of the leftist radical Democrats of the 21st century.
In a sign of protest against the discrimination of women in most of the churches, one would have welcomed a foursome representing the Quadrinity, enlarged from the Trinity by inclusion of Mary.
1
From Mr. Douthat:
"... 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"
" ... Catholic tradition have turned into archaic curiosities to be rediscovered by aesthetes and donned lewdly by Rihanna"
From news reports and Cardinal Dolan:
"Wonder where Rihanna scored that bejeweled papal-looking hat for Monday night's Met Ball celebrating the Costume Institute's exhibit of Vatican fashion? .... Turns out the miter was a loaner -- from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the head of New York's Roman Catholic diocese."
"The news said she was wearing a tiara," Dolan said Tuesday in an interview on SiriusXM's The Catholic Channel, noting that it was in fact a miter of the sort worn by bishops and cardinals on formal liturgical occasions. "She gave it back to me this morning. ... She was very gracious."
Not to your taste? Fine. But Lewdness and Blasphemy?
Ross Douthat: Not just holier than thou, but holier than Catholic Cardinals (AKA a Prince of the Church)
3
Great article. But the picture of Sarah Jessica Parker, Andy Cohen and Rihanna epitomize our godless and adrift culture.
2
The Catholic Church of today is much more alike to last night's gala than it is to the gospel.
3
My god (pun intended) but does anyone actually care about this kind of nonsense anymore? What a painful slog of a read with no payoff. How many angels will fit on the head of a Met gala? Answer: No one cares!
1
Oh dear, Ross. I know you are new to the religion, but you're in on this too? Watching and writing about the May Halloween party where the wealthy play dress up with other people's religions? I would have thought as a mature dad, you'd be home playing board games with your children, not glancing at the mockery and playing along.
Next year, we're going to ask everyone to dress up like their favorite Jews in history. Beanie hats, strings tied up the arms, curly temples and thick eyeglasses. For the daring, there will be temporary (naturally! all in good fun...) tattoos of numbers running down the arm... We'll all come together and have a good hoot using our imaginations to be the best aesthetic chosen people we can!
Seriously though, what other religion would it be ok for the rich folk to dress up and mock like this? Shame on you for not ignoring it, even if your employer thinks it is a major news story in your city. Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but seeing Sara Jessica dressed up like that... you really have no idea how this is playing in Peoria, do you? Ought to have a smarter catholic on staff, if you and Gail and Mo can't flag this coverage as offensive and alert the Sulzberger, Stevens and Leonhard fellas to not overplay it...
3
As you were with Mr Maher, the church has become little but entertaining. No amount of modernization can or will save this relic from joining the blasphemous memories the costumes of Rihanna and Parker evoke. Everything has become schtick.
Only poseurs, museum exhibits, the ranting of our maddening leader and columns such as this are left to memorialize the demise of our Western culture. The world is moving on Mr Douthat and all you can do is look back.
Sad, sad, sad and sad!
Almost brings me to tears.
1
The Catholic Church did a marvelous job of dazzling people for a long time. Candles, incense, fabulous costumes, fantastic stories, magically changing bread and wine into literal flesh and blood, and then inviting spectators to eat and drink in a group ritual.
It served a very real purpose -- crafting a fantasy that people were unable to distinguish from reality, and thus controlling the masses. It was brilliant. But the spell, for many, has been broken. Should we really yearn for a return to a time in which men (and only men, of course) in robes cast spells and chanted in the language of a fallen Empire?
5
Ross, the way forward for the Church isn't "extraordinarily uncertain." The way forward isn't a choice between modernity and isolation. The way forward is with Christ. With Christ and in Christ to serve, to preach, to love, to care for those around us.
5
I remember a woman saying how shocked she was when mass switched from Latin to English. What had seemed to her to be holy and celestial turned out to be trite. Some people like being surrounded by mystery. I am one of them, and fortunately there IS real mystery, not trite at all: I found that in physics. Behind the daily brouhaha there is the ethereal mystery of equations. Cold but majestic. And real.
4
Dear Mr Douthat,
This is a real question: Hasn't Proust's prophecy resoundingly come true? Since modernity and the "death of God," aren't all religions (and not just Catholicism) kitschy simulacra that continue to play cultural and therapeutic roles, but which can never be "real" ever again?
1
Catholicism could become weird by rejecting the rule of money that is the economic manifestation of modernism. If interest cannot be charged, economic rationality is impossible and decisions must be made on other grounds. Beggars and others who cannot find or do not want regular employment, will be accepted as part of God's plan instead of being reviled as moochers.
Traditional Catholicism attempts to preserve certain customs and laws in a world gone modern and secular, instead of opposing this modern and secular world in its entire existence. God is worshipped in Latin, but the world operates in other tongues less pleasing to God. This is defeat. Victory would be that God is worshipped in love, and love is the universal language and permeates our corner of the cosmos.
2
The issues mentioned are pondered separately by Pope Francis and all faithful parishioners. We don't need hectoring from a zealot.
Marriage and divorce are difficult in a postmodern, stressed world. Divorced Catholics need the Eucharist to come to an at-one-ment with God and their fellow man.
Intercommunion mixes incongruous philosophies of life - I did not agree with Tammy Faye. I personally practice meatless Fridays during Lent with McDonald's Filet O' Fish sandwiches. My sports bookie, a devout Catholic, told me to go meatless.
Ross and others do not apprehend the Latin Mass like most before Vatican ll. If it brings them a sense of wonder that a religious ritual should do, that's great. But most were lost with Latin, and had to be cued to transubstantiation by the ringing of a bell.
Now we can follow the Eucharistic Prayer as said by the priest. His words over bread and wine are enough to inspire wonder for us. If you look at all aspects of the Mass, the entrance procession, the penitential rite, the kyrie, the gloria, the opening prayers, the readings, the Gospel, the Nicene Creed, the offertory of the gifts, the Eucharistic Prayer, communion, and dismissal to a greater world (missa est) that is enough mystery and ritual for hoi polloi.
There are serious problems with the hierarchy of the church.
Little is wrong with the Mass and the Eucharist, the source and summit of Catholic life. Alas, many do not understand the meaning of the ritual.
8
Ross shares two bad habits of many conservative Catholics. First, he must define the Church in the negative, by how different it is from Protestantism. This thinking a relic of the Reformation. Second, although not on display in this article, he demands adherence to Catholic rules in a negative way. For example, abortion is against our beliefs and faith so must be banned. Ross cannot see that people won’t follow rules to be Catholic, they will only follow the reasons for the rules that speak to their heart. There are beautiful reasons for many Catholic rules, that form an integrated way of life, a way of life not promoted by our liberal culture or supported in any meaningful way by the Church.
2
Ross, your column downright delights me! You are your preferences exceedingly well.
Not that I share all your views (alas), but that I too (like you, a convert to Catholicism) relish its ancient Latin & vestments & the whole ecclesiastical mise-en-scene.
But -- it would be so VERY easy, simply to allow you & yours as many Latin masses as you wish; & those who (like me) trust Francis' guidance (& the Holy Spirit, one hopes!) -- in offering our quite confused & confusing century, a gospel startling in its everyday dress, though potent.
After all, we'd both agree that Jesus came attired in what everyone else wore, & spoke in the vulgar tongue (not the Latin of Pilate & the empire).
5
Such underhanded mocking of another religion and a murder of crows playing dress up like a bunch of five year olds with a price tag that could feed the great unwashed living on the streets of America.
42
Not just another religion. But a religion that has always flaunted excessively priestly garments in the face of the “unwashed” colonized peoples so readily oppressed by the Church. If the Met flaunted this excess for the masses to be clearer, high praise. It did it’s job. There is nothing quite like creative people exposing truth blatantly rather than in an “underhanded” way. Their dredging up the artifacts and trappings of excessive luxury in the face of so much global suffering sparked and sustained by the Church is the real “Jewel” of the Met Red Carpet fashion exhibit.
The garb was too much? The riches of the Vatican could drape every man and woman at the Gala...and more.
32
So it would be OK if the Met gala was organised by Christians and they displayed yarmulkes, tallit, tzitzit, and tallit katan and called the exhibition "Kvetch about getting bupkes: Jews and Otisville"?
What if the selected attendees wore Jewish religious garb in the most disrespectful ways, making a mockery of the exclusionist Jewish faith and various Jewish sects?
This year's Met Gala will be infamous for it's crude mockery of another religion and for nothing else.
2
The decadence of the attendees was disgusting. Appropriating Catholic vestments for sexual allure of female attendees seems in keeping with the second class status of women in the Catholic Church.
Maybe Pope Francis can make a meaningful gesture by using the scene wealth of the Catholic Church to fight diseases that strike down millions of babies. We know that if you provide a few pennies apiece for antibiotics to treat infants in the Third World, you will reduce infant mortality by 25%. Put away the costumes and do what Jesus would have done.
86
Maybe Pope Francis can donate a few billion dollars to the millions of Americans living in poverty and close the huge (and growing) gap between the richest 10% of the population who use tax havens and the 90% of struggling Americans who pay their taxes and keep the government going. WWJD?
2
Wikipedia... Seriously? Try some actual primary source reading about the Inquisition, the atrocities committed by it we're committed by the Spanish government not the Church. Nice try though.
2
Douthat likes latin mass, imperial pontiffs, burn in hell preachers and his anti-sex - anti-abortion - anti- life - oops - pro-life drivel.
Sister Joan Chittister, the brilliant Benedictine nun , addressed his kind recently : ""I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is."
58
Jim...please....do NOT...under any circumstances....confuse fundamentalist lay preachers with the Roman Catholic Church.......this is a serious mistake being made by far too many americans these days......the once Fundamentalist Protestant movements have all been hi-jacked by Catholic Dogma.....now called Evangelicalism. Protestants have always rejected direct church involvement in politics......the Catholics have always advocated "Crusades" and heavy duty Church leverage on the government.
Isn’t this a form of cultural appropriation?
17
Read "Origin" by Dan Brown.
1
It's fiction.
One must wonder, given Ross's reverence for them, whether the old Mass itself, together with its rituals and costumes and icons, hasn't become a sort of graven image. Are they worshiping the symbols or the God that presumably created them?
And, one must wonder, whether it would make the old Mass and the cultural symbols that surround it more authentic to hold an inquisition against Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and anyone else that doesn't believe in transubstantiation. And maybe even have an annual crusade.
What fun is repressed sexual energy if you can't use it to persecute someone?
19
Reducing the beauty of 2000 years of Catholic liturgy and art to "a graven image" is dishonest; almost as dishonest as the brutal iconoclastic stripping of all those things from mass under the guise of modernisation and renewal, when all it really was was a stripping of all that was reverent and upliftingly beautiful. But sure, throw in an uninformed and extremely tired Inquisition trope while you're at it.
This event has a whiff of 'let them eat cake' in the air.
Were there any milk maids in the mix?
14
Let's take a breath, shall we?
To begin with, the Met Gala is a charity event, an occasion for depriving the obscenely wealthy of some paltry part of their fortunes. Why not let them have a little fun in the process?
Second, the charity in question is the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute, a historically and artistically significant institution. But more to the point it is, after all, a Costume Institute, why on earth would someone appear NOT in an outlandish costume?
It's the rich guy version of a Giants jersey and face paint. There is little relationship to the mindlessly opulent (and endless) decadence of your example.
But, if you want to demonstrate a little cultural sensitivity, sobriety, and respect, how about the Catholic Church (and, please God, the Evangelicals) cease taking my tax dollars to run their barely disguised political programs and their hateful and divisive social clubs?
I am shocked to realize I have just subjected myself to a screed about three equally vapid subjects: "stars", "fashionistas" and the means to keep the catholic church relevant in the modern world. Please get some writers that will discuss something real and relevant.
25
Blah blah blah blah blah. I ask you this, if SJ Parker were to have sported a plastic Muhammed on her head, would she still be alive a week from now? Definitely at least in hiding. But she is praised for, and with a self-congratulatory grin on her face, making kitch out of one of the most sacred Christian beliefs. What if rabbis and Jews in general were similarly blasphemed in The NYT? Would not be printed. Christians, including Catholics and especially Irish Catholics, are the last unprotected species. Julianne Margulies made a comment in a fashion magazine that her husband is half Jewish, half Irish, which made him half smart, half drunk!!! Imagine if that was restated with two other cultural stereotypes: half greedy and half poetic. Imagine the outrage.
The Times own long-gone Abe Rosenthal wrote in the NYT decades ago that Christians were the most threatened people on earth. Would be so much fun if the Times unearthed those ancient columns.....
25
I agree. What if some Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh etc. symbol had been used. This was not a "Halloween dress-up" party, and even most thinking parents of five year olds would not have allowed it.
How debased have we become. Instead of hearing about making America great again, perhaps we should be reading about "The Decline of the Roman Empire".
1
I must respectfully challenge your view about Irish Catholics. Read Dan Barry's 2017 article about Tuam, Ireland. Read any of the studies done about the Magdalene Laundries. The Irish Catholic church imprisoned pretty girls, pregnant girls, rape victims and uppity wives right until 1996 and managed to keep it a secret. The glitz of the Roman church covers much anguish and suffering and the most recent of it occurred in Ireland. Girls and women who speak up about it often find themselves accused of anti-Catholic bias. Not so.
The Vatican gave its blessing. Deal with that first.
Frankly after centuries of attacking and mocking others I kind of this its their turn.
Nasty piece.
"[T]he Francis era has been a springtime for accommodation and inculturation ..."
That is such an obvious reference to The Producers that Mr. Douhat and the NYT should be completely embarrassed.
6
Fantastic article, Ross. Yes, the Catholic faith is still as weird and radical as it was in the beginning. For a while there the outwards forms of the religion--the buildings, the vestments, the chants--came to be so much a part of the broader culture that people got dulled to them through familiarity. I am thinking of pre-Vatican II days. Perhaps the Vatican II fathers wanted to shock the world again by giving Catholicism a new face? Epic fail there, obviously. But God will never desert His barque and now a new generation has forgotten our ancient Church culture, so that it seems strange and fascinating once more. This might be a good thing! Once again, our culture looks just as weird to the modern eye as the content of our faith, in fact, *is*. To save souls by harboring them in the One True Church--it's a radical mission that must necessarily be at cross purposes with secular culture, now and always. Let us rejoice and be glad.
5
Catholicism was already weird.
I do appreciate Douthat's angst at seeing his faith's symbolism appropriated for hedonistic ends.
You'll never meet so many lapsed Catholics as at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser.
May it ever be thus.
25
The term "lapsed Catholics" is not used today. The correct phrase is "Recovering Catholics".
I don't think the Catholic church needs any help in being weird. This is the church of the Inquisition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-da-f%C3%A9 ( burning "heretics") who did not let Galileo off the excommunication hook for his heresy of insisting that the world was heliocentric until the late 19th century. Let us not neglect evidence of past popes dalliance with both boy and girls and the current pedophilia scandals.
I admit that it was a bit of a bacchanal but after all we are late empire and the parade of red carpet fashions did rather look suitable for quattrocento Venetian hookers.
19
I am not a catholic, yet, having great respect for many of the aspects this article relates to: "The Met,as well a the catholic religion, of which many of my dear friends are the adherents. I also enjoy the world of fashion, My thoughts and response to the Monday night , spectacle' is akin to the from Sharon Knettell.
2
Geez, Ross, give it a break. I know converts have the most enthusiasm, but you're sucking the life out of spirituality with the endless navel-gazing. As someone whose family practiced in secret in Ireland, I have never had a relative who made such a production about being Catholic, even from my late mother who attended mass every day, gave much of herself to her parish and said her prayers at home, religiously, and in private.
59
Well said.
The only thing I can muster for this hyperventilating opportunity to smear the Pope yet again, is: oy vey already.
29
All the gaudy trappings and tortured logic of the 13th century will not answer the ultimate question of existence, Ross. You cannot will yourself into delusion. Accept it: life is a mystery, be kind.
31
It’s art. Get over it, Rihanna looks mahvelous.
56
It's pretty vapid art!
6
No she didn't. She and others looked ridiculous.
It's in the eye of the beholder.
5
It's not art. It's decadence and vulgarity. It's women proving without a doubt that not only men can be mindlessly ridiculous jerks. It's yet another sign of our nation's fall into degradation. The object here was art, not the display of women's bodies in garb more worthy of Halloween than anything else. Dignity and self-respect are dead in America.
5
Slightly off-topic but not irrelevant: the Met Gala did not strike me as blasphemous and certainly not as an aesthetic delight. Rather, I wondered why so many of the celebrities dress so very badly and why they choose to display such opulence and wealth at a time of great need. Why not show up in something simple? Obviously, I do not have the mind-set of a celebrity, which is just as well, as I simply do not wish to be a member of such a vain crowd of bad dressers.
239
It was a fund raiser at an art gallery and patrons not only gave their money but helped to attract other monies by transforming themselves into art by costume. You may or may not like the individual outcomes but you must acknowledge the spectacle, the visual impact, the creativity.
3
In situations like the Met Gala it is not a matter of the attendees vanity. Appearing at events like this is their job. They earn their living by entertaining, and entertaining requires spectacle and shock and awe (think the circus or a Broadway musical). The outfits are really their uniforms, like those of basketball or football players or clowns, that announce their profession as entertainers. Most, if not all, do not personally pay for their costumes, and are paid to wear them, as they serve as advertisements for the makers, like the logos on athletes' uniforms. And as for the many in need, thousands are employed in making those costumes, including the materials, accessories, and handwork, and eliminating them in favor of "something simple" would put many out of work. Fashion supports the families of thousands and thousands. Deplore the questionable artistic design choices, but enjoy the spectacle guilt-free.
2
The celebrities attending the Met Gala were probably wearing clothes that the gala organizers agreed that they would wear - those garments are actually theatrical costumes - not garments.
5
"a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination..." Perhaps a more apt word is "magic." Problem is, people nowadays tend to see magic as illusion. We can indeed be fascinated by it, but we know deep down we're being fooled.
128
"Illusion", well said. Brings to mind Voltaire: " Illusion
is the first of all pleasures".
6
I would be inclined to say "a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of logical reasoning" But then, this is the Age of Trump.
Bob G
It may not be magic but singular because at early dawn what Mr. Douthat writes opens a window of memories. His essay is sumptuous and in tune with the opulence of the Met Gala, recognized by this reader for his honesty.
A sophisticated British friend in Paris of a certain age, a highly devout Catholic, will enjoy and appreciate his views to a certain extent while also finding these costumes of interest. She is acquainted with the word 'Joy'.
Mr. Douthat managed unwittingly to take this American back in time to The Champs Elysees. She has just been to see 'The Graduate' and her parent is going on a curious rampage about the irreverence of Jewish Hollywood producers always poking fun at The Catholics.
It is in the great Humanitarians that I find food for the soul, whether it is Brother Francis, the Pope, or Viktor Frankl.
Next week begins Ramadan, the Holy Month for those of Muslim faith, celebrated by a friend and her family in Africa, and she has never taken a short-cut in her life.
Mr. Douthat, a nod of appreciation for writing with fervor and passion, while keeping in mind that 'dour' in voice causes some of us to take flight.
Catholicism will not compete with secular forms of community gathering by offering more old school costumes, incense, chants, lectures, candles and imposing statues. People are learning that hour-long sleepy prayer ceremonies pale in comparison to more active forms of enlightenment. Hot yoga is the new Sunday mass. The kid's soccer playoff game the new first communion. Meeting your friends for pick-up basketball at the park the new liturgy. I'd argue people are becoming better -- more loving, kind, empathetic, caring -- through being active in a group on a Sunday rather than dedicating half the day to get to the exclusive we are going to heaven Sunday mass. It may be that more spiritual growth comes when one is physically active with a group than when one is sedentary, hunched, watching, repeating, kneeling, then getting lectured at by a celibate MAN in a king-like robe. The church is losing new recruits because younger generations see more spiritual growth in getting out than sitting in.
157
Your comment makes me think you have never had a genuine connection to a church congregation and certainly never participated wholeheartedly in a sacramental religious act, such as the Mass. The forms of fellowship and community building you prefer are absolutely foundational to both a healthy society and a healthy individual, but you should not assume that they perform the same functions, for either the individual or the society, that active engagement with religious life provides.
Many people have no interest in or connection with a religious tradition and that is one aspect of a modern, pluralistic, and secular society -- and it's AOK. It doesn't actually require being dismissive of people who do have that interest and connection.
1
Yes, yes, yes. I try to tell my mom that she is missing out on spending time with her grandchildren because she insists on dedicating a chunk of her weekend mornings droning on and on, the same boring songs I joined her for 30 years ago. "Taste and See" they urged- well, I have found more community, positivity and inspiration at my better- attended 9 AM yoga studio and my daughters' playground - I can't teach inclusion, love and acceptance to my children and stand by a religion based on patriarchy, bigotry and prejudice.
6
Beautifully put, PE, thank you. But might you not be overemphasizing the physically active part of your analogy?
Of course physical activity can lead one on a spiritual path, but doesn't the "being better - more loving, kind, empathetic, caring" come mostly from meeting friends, being in a group, engaging with community, regardless of the activity?
My "church" is amateur theater - in fact, I even speak of it that way. There I find home, community, family. But at my age, it's there's not a lot of exercise going on.
3
Official Roman Catholic teaching has changed radically over the centuries--but it did so slowly and out of the limelight. There were no newspapers, television or internet to notice when "usury" gradually changed from lending money at any interest at all to lending money at excessive interest, to give one example.
Even the elimination a few years ago of the doctrine of the existence of limbo would have caused much more of an uproar today. (The explanation that it was not really an official or central teaching is balderdash--I'm old enough to remember when it was quite official and central, thank you very much.)
It may be that Francis is preparing for necessary doctrinal changes, especially around issues of sexuality, by getting people used to the idea gradually over a long period of time, and by somewhat offhandedly reminding us of the doctrine of the primacy of individual conscience.
Some changes that are doctrinally possible today but that would change the atmosphere greatly would be allowing Latin Rite priests to marry, allowing women to have more official power, and even naming women as rectors of parishes or as cardinals.
79
Al,
Please find the Official Teaching on Limbo.
As for the Primacy of Conscience - you misunderstand
what that means.
1
Amen!
Akin to rearranging chairs on the Titanic. Perhaps a woman could get to spend the church's final moments in the wheelhouse of the great ship?
How much more interesting this column would be if the author would draw parallels between luxurious indulgence (the history of the church) and what lies beneath: what does Mr. Douthat have to say about the women who die, are criminalized and imprisoned in El Salvador for abortion or even a miscarriage? This seems pretty weird to me!
Maybe not in that funhouse, isn't this all ancient and wonderfully mysterious sort of way that some people of faith prefer, but in that criminal, raw manner, as in, "how weird that a faith supposedly based on love, acceptance and forgiveness thinks nothing of punishing the innocent and maintaining a truly false hierarchy of power based purely on what gender a human happens to possess when born within a country where the church still has reach."
I just got back from Paris and Florence. The architecture, sublime of course. And whenever I see a Cathedral I cannot help but think the truly godly thing to do would be to sell the art and set up a fund for the millions of humans destroyed by the Catholic church.
And if Francis is so "simple" (in my eyes, brilliant propaganda), then why does he not extend his simplicity to the ridding of such treasures?
81
May I remind you that any objects of art outside the Vatican City State belong to the Sovereign State of Italy! Even if Pope Francis desires to rid St Peter's Basilica and the other 3 basilica's in Rome under Vatican jurisdiction, he would probably place them within religious parishes somewhere within Italy; after all they are part of the culture and heritage of what is today called the Italian peninsula! It is up to the Italian people to decide what to do with their treasures.
1
You expose yourself as some sort of Protestant, because all Catholics, including lapsarian ones like me, understand why the old churches were so grand. All Catholics understood implicitly that these monuments belonged to them, however modest their circumstances, as well as to the kings and bishops, and may have been the one beautiful possession in their lives. This understanding continued to the 19th and 20th centuries, when generations of penniless immigrants glorified in the construction of great, monumental churches in Irish, Italian, Polish parishes all over America. They were also a thumb in the eye of the Protestant ruling class, since they were typically bigger and grander than their nearby Protestant churches.
2
If it's a choice of custodians between the Church and Russian billionaires I think I know who I want in charge.
I think Douthat completely, not only ignores the message of Francis, but more tellingly, the tradition which he seeks to revive. The early church tradition of simplicity and focus upon the greatest distinction between the cruelty and oppression of the classical world, was Love. This Love with at capital “L”, is what drew Christians together in little communities of faith and hope, in the life and joy of the human spirit.
How can Douthat ignore this? I don’t know, but he has.
He also ignores the historical Francis, from whom this pope has taken his name. St. Francis rejected materialism for a life of simplicity and austerity, at a moment the Church was launching its engagement with a world it sought to dominate, morally, socially, and materially. It succeeded then, by encrusting itself in dogmatic rules and commandments, which required nothing more than obedience. This St. Francis rejected then, and Pope Francis rejects today.
This gala seems a mocking reference to a rigid past to which ever fewer wish to return. It is a good attitude at long last,
97
Beautiful.
I just want to thank all those ancient Catholic scribes for coming up with religious hell.
According to the ancient hellish texts:
Jesus said that the angry man who holds his brother in contempt “risks the fires of Gehenna” (Matthew 5:22).
Our Lord warned, “Do not fear those who deprive the body of life but cannot destroy the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna” (Matthew 10:28).
Jesus said, “If your hand is your difficulty, cut it off! Better for you to enter life maimed than to keep both hands and enter Gehenna with its unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43).
Using a parable of the weeds and the wheat to describe the final judgment, Jesus foretold, “The angels will hurl [the evildoers] into the fiery furnace where they will wail and grind their teeth” (Matthew 13:42).
When Jesus spoke of the last judgment where the sheep will be separated from the goats, He will say to the wicked, “Out of my sight, you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!” (Matthew 25:41).
In the Book of Revelation, each person is judged individually and the evildoers are cast into “the fiery pool of burning sulfur, the second death” (Revelation 20:13-14; 21:8).
Of course, in reality, there is no heaven or hell, except the ones on Earth.
But thanks for the warm, hellish, sulfuric thoughts anyway, Catholic Church.
Thanks for elevating the sadistic human mind.
96
Socrates, you meet the definition of a walking encyclopedia. Mr. Douthat appears to be leaning more on The Brutal Love of God, rather than the compassionate Doctrine of the Prophet Jesus. Reading his essay is reminiscent of Moses descending the Mountain and giving a thunderous address to the Infidel Idols in The Tower of Babel.
'The sadistic human mind' can be found in a daily bulletin from an International Peace Organization, with updates from other News clips of what is happening on Planet Earth and where Angels fear to tread.
No Hemlock or Hades for you.
1
Interestingly, Geddes MacGregor, the Scottish theologian and author, states in his book "The One
Who Lets Us Be," that "God is love is the most breathtaking affirmation in the Bible."
I think the Indian Avatar, Sathya Sai Baba, would agree.
As a Catholic, I found this excruciating (almost in the literal sense of that word).
49
I think they figure if Christian readers focus on the dress-up and role-playing action in New York, we won't object to what they are doing to the non-Jewish people living in the Middle East and the Holy Lands.
God is watching through.
Sins like murder, theft and property destruction will bring justice, no matter how much the people who should be objecting are distracted by shiny baubles and pretty Jezebel's dressed to the 9s playing Pope.
2
Upon looking at the photographs of this event I was struck, for some strange reason, by the similarity to an extravaganza put on by the French aristocracy before the Revolution. I do not think ordinary working class Catholics, or anyone of faith who is not wealthy can be expected to offer applause for such spectacle and excess. History does not repeat but it often rhymes as the saying goes.
113
Raised Catholic, now atheist, I think I get what you’re saying Ross.
For some ethnic groups the Church is an integral part of life and culture. I can imagine Sweden without church bells and Madonna statues, but not Italy.
At 65, I well remember when the Vatican II changes began at our church (ushered in about the same time as the “new math” at our Catholic school – a double whammy). I’ve managed to lose my all-Latin missal, but still have the “new” one with about one-third Latin, two-thirds English. As an altar boy, I preferred to work the 10 AM High Mass, which remained Latin for a long time.
For those like me who might have carried on with some kind of tentative Church connection, if not regular Mass attendance, as a “cultural” Catholic (Italian grandparents), this whole “modernization” thing was a total buzz-kill. While there’s much to not like about the Church’s stance on women, abortion, the priest abuse scandal, etc., it’s still not a comforting thought to know that folks like my step-mom (of German Catholic immigrant parents) are left this desiccated, hollowed-out husk of a liturgy.
Despite my lack of “faith”, I had my daughter baptized, and brought her to Mass when she was very young, at Christmas and Easter. I didn’t want her to grow up having her first encounter with a church as a tourist in Paris or Rome. I needn't have bothered. It's all a museum now. If we can have Trump as "president", I guess we can have Rihanna as "pope".
76
Your story is the same as mine. I grew up in the Bay Area and served at the 10:15 mass at St. Joe's. Then later I drifted.
Our daughter went to church most Sundays to attend CCD. When she got to 8th grade last year, we asked her if she wanted to continue, as the curriculum was headed towards Confirmation.
She said that she would prefer to stop, and that maybe someday she'd pursue Confirmation on her own. Her grandparents were not happy about our religious parenting—but the whole point of confirmation is to willingly choose the faith. And she chose to wait.
And now our Sundays are free again.
Chris - Same experience for me Down Under. I even had my daughter baptized (although I didn't go) and educated in the Catholic system. Northern Europe is mostly culturally Xtian and still has some church going but ask them if they believe in a supernatural rewarding/punishing sky wizard of love and they'll think you're mad. Catholicism is weird enough thanks Ross, transubstantiation alone sees to that, and the sooner it shrinks into further irrelevance the better. (and Trump too!) p.s. daughter now atheist. :)
Some wish for the RCC which prevailed before Vatican II but they will never have it again. Do you really think the Novus Ordo is the RCC? Or is it a different religion formed in 1965? At any rate, modern morality(including sexual morality) is moving ever more surely away from the teachings of the RCC, never to return. The only place you can find the real RCC is in radical catholicism, which exists here and there but nowhere in great or growing numbers. It's dying.
The costumes at the Met Gala were in extremely bad taste, kind of like a lot of religious dogma today. It doesn't help anybody, and like the celebrities who dressed so outrageously yet sumptuously badly, are a prime example that the rich should be taxed more and churches should loose their tax exemptions. These people have too much money, as do churches. Neither represent real life.
118
I'd go further and say that the religious costumes that "inspired" this are also in extremely bad taste. The officially authorized wearers of the originals are displaying no less vanity than these cheesy ripoffs. I include the trappings of my non-Catholic faith in this opinion.
It's all part and parcel of the things that Jesus tried to throw out of the temple--hypocrisy and exclusion.
I agree with Mr. Douthat's diagnosis, but not his suggested cure - which, surprisingly, seems to be that we accept weirdness. Rituals indeed have the power to mold both moral and spiritual values, as many societies have realized. The problems come when the rituals lose their meaning, which can happen in a variety of ways. Proust's essay nicely illustrates the problem.
Rituals need to be transformed and reanimated if their power is to continue, as Confucious realized. Attendance to rituals so they do not become formalistic was arguably one of the core issues for Confucianism through the many centuries.
I am not being facetious in recommending that Mr. Douthat and his friends study Confucian scholars in looking for ways to reanimate ritual practices. There is a great deal of wisdom there. No group of people has thought more deeply about this issue and the many difficulties involved.
Accepting weirdness is obviously not a genuine solution to Douthat's and Proust's problem. More thoughtful and creative discussions have already taken place. Whether these discussions will resonate with the modern mind is another issue.
12
Douthat presses the point that for the Catholic Church to regain primacy, the expense of pomp is needed. Luxury marketing, that's the ticket.
Francis thinks the church has been spending too much time preening and admiring its resplendant reflection, and not enough time tending to the needs of the flock. He thinks one of the reasons the church has lost resonance with so many is focus on grand rites and political power plays instead of basic ministry 101.
WWJD, Ross?
56
Hmmm. Interesting Met Gala.
But … nobody thought to dress as an abused little boy, caught for all eternity in Dante’s First Circle of Hell (non-sinners) while her date, dressed as a priest, was caught feeding bishops to Satan at the center of Hell?
Pity. Lost opportunity.
McCauley Culkin could play EITHER role in this androgynous world. But what haute couture designer could do the tableau justice?
So, now the Church in order to regain cultural ascendancy must glory “in its own weirdness and supernaturalism”? You normally do that by parodying a reality; but how could the Church effectively parody a reality ALREADY so out there as to tolerate Sarah Jessica Parker dressing as she did (who, by the way, is Jewish, by her father – but, then, that may not count to Jackie Mason)?
Ross, obviously not your biggest fan of shallow celebrities ridiculously dressing up under the beneficent eye of a handy cardinal, is phlegmatic about outcomes, as are most serious Catholics. It doesn’t REALLY matter that seven billion human souls are going to take up residence SOMEWHERE in Hell … so long as HE isn’t forced to.
7
Despite my tongue-in-cheek response to Ross, I'd like to profoundly thank him for being the ONLY columnist, op-ed provider or editor this evening so far NOT to lambaste Trump on his decision to pull out of that abominable Iran "deal". (Except for Bret, with whom I again get to agree!)
Obviously, Trump has Democrats extremely worried: Gawd, what if it WORKS? We ALREADY have this damaging mess with North Korea to deal with, which could hand Trump the credit for de-nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, AND a roaring economy with "unemployment" that just dipped below 4% -- WHAT IF THIS WORKS TOO??!!
But Ross gave us entertainment and a sardonic wit on the Church (as opposed to the truth or lie of Catholic faith), and for that I thank him profusely.
6
I always enjoy hearing Republicans express what they think Democrats are thinking.
Most of the time they are batting zero.
Thomas:
Undivided Republican federal government, and soon a federal bench overwhelmingly composed of originalist jurists -- not to mention two-thirds of governorships and partisan statehouse chambers. Heck, I think we have a majority of dogcatcher positions.
That's hardly "batting zero". The ones demonstrably batting zero are Democrats.
Remember, religion is a part of the everyday experience of believers, and something that has to wear well, like a good raincoat that keeps the wearer dry, or a pair of shoes that don’t damage the feet. It’s the ordinariness of a religion that makes it work, not little tacked-on things that get in the way and make life more difficult. OK, I know this sounds Protestant, but for the Catholics I have known really well, religion was a part of daily life, not some kind of art exhibit or costume parade.
Fancy dress is fine for holidays, and aesthetics are nice from time to time; but they are not the main deal of a religion, as the original Saint Francis would probably remind you.
39
the photos show something along the lines of the grammy and emmy awards. When did people become such arbiters of bad taste. I can’t watch because it scares me what our society has become.
30
Honestly, ellie?
Your worried about our society because of a dress?
When I saw the pics of the Met Gala, I was immediately reminded of the clergy fashion show in Fellini's Roma. Always treating the Catholic idea with great humor and wit, with a gentle touch, the fashion show becomes more and more bizarre, as the vestments in the scene become larger and more ridiculous. At a Catholic college in the 60s, with a wonderful film night that attracted students from all over, my roommate and I were in hysterics as another Fellini film showed a priest teaching the hormone-happy students about chastity, while standing under a picture of St John Bosco, patron of chastity for boys. I believe we were the only people to get the joke.
32
Roma is fantastically funny, especially to a born RC. Fellini's aesthetic is very Catholic.
1
Catholicism needs to not become weird again but meaningful. The soaring cathedrals and beautiful costumes might get people to poke their heads in the door but what makes them stay? That's a tough question for all religions nowadays.
How do you represent the churches teachings, its meat and potatoes, as essential to people? I think in a mostly rational and mostly secular society like our own that means boiling it down to its rudiments. It's easily graspable "Top 10" tenets and everything else is gravy. Very cool and interesting gravy the study of which can really deepen one's faith into something amazing.
The Catholic Church does change with the times. In an accelerated present like our own, it will have to change faster to be relevant. For better or for worse that means more casual, less ornate, less bound in its traditions.
12
How do you represent the churches teachings, its meat and potatoes, as essential to people?
-----------
Duh. You put away the silly costumes and crack the Book. If you're new, look for the red text and concentrate on that:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
========
"Alleluia. Alleluia! We're Going to See the King!"
"But a religion that claims to be divinely established cannot persuade without a lot of fascination, and far too much of that has been given up, consigned to the museum, as Western Catholicism has traced its slow decline."
This sounds to me like a man who knows that what he's selling is snake oil. Maybe the secularization of society has nothing to do, either way, with what sort of clothing the priesthood wears, and more to do with the advance (other than in the United States in the past two years) of science and rationality.
32
Someday maybe we will no longer need mythology to cope with the randomness of life and death. Mythology though, requires pageantry, and now Mr Douthat wants the pageantry to save the myth. Dress it up however you want, but it's still myth. If you can accept that, then party on. Just don't demand that I have to live by the rules of your mythology.
44
Many, of all faiths, attend their worship services because they enjoy the pageantry and weirdness that they remember from their youth. They do not believe the myth, but they enjoy the show.
19
And what of the events occurring behind the curtains? And what about those to whom no invitation is extended (powerful women, autonomous women, the entirety of the LGBT community and those who love and relate to them).
If faith is for many simply a fond recollection of selective memories from youth, this does indeed help to explain the enduring power of a political movement (the Catholic Church) that was from the start about money, colonization, rule through fear, and abuse. Not to mention collusion, torture, the funding of endless wars, and (absurdly) serious, centuries long debate about whether or not babies who die before blessed can go to "Heaven."
4
No force is needed, no one can demand that you accept Christ's teachings...
Those who choose freely to follow him will have eternal reward. The rest of you will likely remain blind and biter, and always wondering why you have no peace of mind nor any peace to accept others who do not think nor worship your ways. You'll never force me to fall to your level, but I will pray that you open your eyes and find a better way for yourself that leaves you less in judgement of others. Only God can judge me.
How about making it intelligible again, by which I don't mean reverting to the Tridentine Mass. English speakers have been recently stuck with an English translation of the Mass that's awkward, hard to read, confusing, and feels like hackwork because it was done by a committee with very little feel for nuance and beauty.
40
Amen to that!
Ross, if you ever tire of the Catholic Church try studying the Cosmos in your search for meaning. It's hard, at least for me, but deeply gratifying in a weird sort of way. Is God some where deep in the Cosmos? I don't really know but it is exciting to learn hydrogen atoms that formed about 380 million years after the Big Bang and are in everything now that exists. That means you, your cat, butterflies, buildings including the beautiful European Cathedrals. Everything. We and our planet and all all else are in a certain sense one. Try looking at the stars. They make all else pale in comparison. If you want to find your God, this Spirit, look everywhere. And yes, it's all terrifying, wonderful, holy, and weird.
43
Nightwood, what you describe is very much in the Catholic experience. Obviously, it is likely that you'll never know that. However, you also leave out an essential element, i.e., people. The Gospels are about people as well as about a deep reverence for the universe that you describe. Problem is that modern humans are too distracted to undergo the commitment required for meaning. Any meaning, not only religious.
14
FYI, the astronomer who first proposed the Big Bang was a Catholic priest. There's no conflict.
4
I was repulsed by the costumes on display at the Met gala. I am an ordinary, work-a-day practicing Catholic, and I don’t appreciate the careless, arrogant mockery of many icons of my faith. That said, I also am fed up to the teeth of Ross Douthat’s petulant complaints about “liberalism” in his cherished medieval traditions. The Catholic Church is flat out wrong about artificial birth control. It knows this and so carefully stays away from the natural conclusion of their doctrine, ie. that Catholic men have to abstain from sex for most of their adult lives. Just say no, fellas! The Church knows that men will never accept this, so they focus on women. And the Alfie Evans drama was disgraceful. Right, force a brain damaged toddler to stay tethered to machines so you can keep him “alive” and wallow in how much you “value” life. The Catholic Church has lost adherents not because it is not conservative enough, it has lost the faithful due to corruption (wide spread abuse of children and accompanying cover ups); hypocrisy (elevating an extreme antiabortion agenda over all of the tasks Jesus gave the Church, such as sheltering the stranger, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, housing the homeless, etc.); and vindictive punishment. I stay a Catholic because here in my parish, we try to live as Christ taught us, with love and forgiveness. The true message of Catholicism is love and inclusion (look up the meaning of catholic, Mr. Douthat). It is humility and service, and forgiveness.
551
Eloquent, thank you.
15
I believe the teachings of Christ can be boiled down even more -- to 2 words -- be kind. If you think that doesn't entail carrying a cross heavy enough to merit salvation, try it all day for a couple of days.
18
With all the complaints you have with the Catholic Church, I am surprised you still practice the faith. Maybe you would be more content with the Protestant religion. They seem to approve of what you are looking for (birth control and abortion). It seems to me you are wasting your time in the Catholic Church. Why don't you give one of them a try.
7
Maybe because I was raised in the North Carolina, where Catholics were less than 1% of the state's population, my experience is different that what many of the other posters have suggested.
I attended Catholic schools for 12 years during the late 60s and 70's.I attended one of the only 2 Catholic high schools in the state. In 10th grade, we were told by Catholic priests, that divorce was tolerated and that the Bible was written by full of made up stories (like the snake in the Adam and Eve story and that Noah's Ark probably never have happened). I loved the progressive folk mass and our CYO group meeting where we sat around and smoked cigarettes. In the 80's, the Gay and Lesbian fellowship group was/still is, very active. One of the local priests was a widower with kids - another was still married (he had been an Episcopal priest). My mother served holy communion 7 days a week.
Yes, there are child abusers. Yes, there have been coverups and lies. But most of the Church is fully functioning and serving their families and communities without headline grabbing sins.
Any organization as large and old as the Catholic Church is bound to have many notable bad players. But don't be so quick to completely dismiss Catholicism by harping on and on about a small fraction of criminals.
By the way, my mother, who converted in college, was drawn to the Church because of its weirdness!
60
But the environment you describe would not be recognized as "Catholic" by the Vatican. The communion your mother served might be blessed to her son, but to those who set the rules it is draped in sin, worse than useless.
And as a rape and incest survivor, I can hardly think that the countless numbers of boys, girls, and young women who were abused by the powers-that-be in the Catholic Church, not to mention the millions upon millions of Jewish people sent to perish in the camps under the willingly blinded eyes of priests, Cardinals, lay-people, would call this element in the church a "small fraction of criminals."
My experience was similar. In the late 60's and 70's I was taught by young Franciscan Nuns who encouraged us to question our faith and possibly find answers within it. In Religion class we debated abortion and the death penalty. In English class they encouraged creative writing, as well as sentence diagramming. In retrospect these young women were obviously exploring their own beliefs, because the five of them eventually the Convent, married and had children, but continued to offer much service to their home parishes, becoming quite integral to their respective communities. So for me the Catholic Church is a growing evolving thing, not a relic, entombed in the dusty past.
3
Thank you CB - I also grew up in the Church you describe though it was in Canada. I was shocked when we moved to the US when I was in my teens. I could not believe how backward the Catholic Church was in Boston. The Boston Catholic Church seems to prefer living in a racist, misogynist 1950's TV show - not in the 21st century .
As a child I remember coming across Catholic newsletters and reading them in amusement at their antediluvian perspectives. Later I howled with laughter at the antics of Church Lady. Now I can't seem to escape from the efforts of humorless proselytizing from all corners of the public square. Religion ought to be freely available and rare and above all private or we might have to start thinking about taxing it.
28
Love it. May the gods bless you.
1
"Organized religions" like the Catholic Church are non profit groups and do not pay taxes because they obey the regulatory framework for non profits. Is the suggestion of this post that certain non profits, because they are organized religions and advocate world views that challenge some should be treated differently and required to pay taxes? Sounds like some want to punish certain non profits for speech they find offensive.
Here's a thought for recasting the Church so as to make it relevant, to energize it, and, all the while, to rededicate it to its original purpose. Make the originally mendicant orders truly mendicant again and give over their (enormous) wealth to the feeding, healing and housing of the world's poor.
22
Much of the "wealth" of religious orders is now given over to providing care and feeding for their aged members....there are few young people to carry the burden.
1
I understand the author's point.
When I first saw pictures of some of those outfits, I was heard to exclaim "Dear God!"
14
I found you article to be very stimulating. Thanks for your courage.
6
the weirdest thing about faith is the cross.. all the rest is dross, but we indulge in it , revel in it really as it is the way to endure the awful leap that is the cross. i suppose u can figure making Catholics stay away from the sacraments if they divorce is a form of the cross, but there are so many others that I wdnt get exercised as you do Ross over the German Catholics move to allow the divorced to take communion, in the end, there are many other ways that the cross will show up and Catholicism will help us to endure and even welcome it.
5
Tom, you hit the true paradox of Catholicism, i.e., the cross. Suffering is abhorrent to the self-indulgent and at the same time suffering surrounds us. Better to look the other way. Or dress up in costumes and fancy digs. It is definitely not for the faint-hearted.
Jesus did not ask for a driver's license when he handed out bread to the crowds, not even at the Last Supper.
Ross,
The message is divine - but some messengers, less so...
If you think of Francis as much a memo from the TR department (Theistic Relations) to Senior Management as a Second Coming - it all begins to make sense...
Even if these folks didn't buy a candle and just wanted to use the rest room - don't call in the cops too quickly...
They might just be God's children, too...
And - as several communicants have already highlighted - the memories of beatings seem all too often and recent...
If Jesus could tweet, he might just express delight at the sight of women as bishops...
Might even get more followers than Facebook...
But - probably a whole Order in the Vatican, to make sure Francis never gets his hands on a smartphone...
7
You know what, Ross? I enjoyed looking at the gowns and all. I loved seeing the Nativity scene on Sara Jessica Parker's head. And that is because I love the Incarnation/Nativity so much. I thought, "Maybe she'd let me have it to add to my collection!" When I saw that there was criticism of the whole thing, I thought, "We Catholics brought this on ourselves. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the accumulation of wealth and titles and lands and empires is what people remember. I mean, Martin Luther brought all this to light once before, Ross. Maybe this is a good nudge for us to once again examine our consciences.
Lighten up, Ross. Read Fr. Richard Rohr's books. It's not about us vs. them. Not now. Now ever. No dualism. We are all one. We are all saints.
23
Marilyn, every truth is a half-truth. The great thing about Catholicism currently is that is includes both Richard Rohr and Ross Douthat.
2
Over the top Catholicized glam at the Met, but in Australia Cardinal George Pell, the third ranking Church official at the Vatican, is on trial facing multiple criminal charges that he personally participated in the sexual abuse of children, and also in an administrative coverup of such widespread felonious conduct when he served as an archbishop there.
Catholics, including this columnist, should be paying more attention to, and be much more concerned about, an existential threat unfolding halfway around the world, than an upper class, one evening society event in Manhattan.
21
John Grillo, we all know about the sexual abuse scandal in the Church (and on-going in society). The question is why do some people need to keep bringing it up as though no other evil exists in the world? Makes me wonder what their agenda is.
1
Douthat agrees there has been inculturation over the centuries as the church responded to modernization but he quits today after only 50 years and declares it a failure?
Also, why go back to the Old Church since the existence of a New Church implies the Old Church is losing its adherents?
And maybe Ross should listen to The Catholic Channel on radio and learn how to have some fun with the faith.
The way NOT to have fun with the faith is Trump's way, as evidenced when he was booed at the 2016 Alfred E Smith Dinner.
9
Timeless rituals impart a sense of stability, but not for a moment are they the heart of Catholicism. In each Catholic Church there is a crucifix, not an empty cross, but a crucifix . The message is clear from age to age. You are called to love one another, live with compassion and forgiveness. If you will follow Christ, trying to see others as He would see them, be prepared to sacrifice and pick up your own cross. For every failure, every vanity that has stained the Catholic Church, there are thousands who have labored to be a servant and have loved as Christ loved.
36
"For every failure, every vanity that has stained the Catholic Church, there are thousands who have labored to be a servant and have loved as Christ loved." Amen, Brother. Clean up your own space before busy bodying next door.
2
To revive itself the Catholic Church needs to focus on charity and fellowship. These were key to the growth of the early church and are just as important today. Weirdness is overrated.
37
Magnificent, overwhelming and sinister for this viewer, the word 'Gothic' is key, and if The Met enjoyed a splendid evening in full gala without destroying religious artifacts and rosarie beads, it should not be faulted and rued for having been seen wearing hats that are not the creation of Christian Dior.
Madonna was the cause of inflammatory inquisitive remarks when seen years ago wearing crucifix symbols, and has lived to tell the controversial tale.
It is the tone of this article that is capable and coupable of driving Christians and Catholic Believers away. Away from Catholicism where one of the first lessons at school in France is, 'L'Habit ne fait pas le Moine', or The Costume does not make a Monk.
If this Museum Gala had taken place at Notre Dame in Paris, it most certainly would have been noted and blasted for being blasphemous. One would have heard the bells of the Cathedral being rung by Quasimodo.
9
Why "weird"? Much - perhaps all - of what has fascinated mere onlookers (and many notable converts) has had easily explained historical origins and, therefore, meaning. New York Church leaders' willingness to collaborate in a "Met Gala" that anyone could have warned them would be a travesty seems "weird" to me.
7
As a non Catholic and resident of the heartland I found the whole spectacle of a red carpet and wildly extravagant clothing all on behalf of not the art museum but the costume portion of the museum bizarre. This is what these celebrities put their energy into? Kim kardashian is among the highly selective guest list? You may mock him Manhattan but Trump and his outlandish behavior is one of you. Et tu mrs Clooney?
20
Mr. Douthat was offended, as a Catholic, by the in your face appropriation of religious imagery by Met attendees. I understand his feelings, but was personally more offended by the attendees' in your face economic insensitivity. They were all decked out like 17th and 18th century European royalty; was that supposed to be the message? Are they the royals, and the rest of us the starving peasants?
135
It seemed to slip Ross' mind that they were decked out just like the Tridentine Rite extravagance he extols.
4
Um, yes, to your last question.
1
I had a more worldly reaction to the state of dress: Tacky.
1
"Heaven on Earth" was symbolized by a simple man who lived simply. His crown was made of thorns, not some fancy papal haberdashery. Christ didn't go for the flashy bling; He was sent to do something far more important than impress. I agree that the "gala" was a New Age nightmare, but the "bride" that the Catholic Church is supposed to be can also get a little too preoccupied with her "makeup".
Church history is secondary to the life of Christ. Don't get the two confused, Ross. Next time you write, remember that most of that history had less than you think to do with His story.
317
"Christ didn't go for the flashy bling; He was sent to do something far more important than impress." Right. And this is the problem with the entire Catholic church. But it's also the problem with most of the Protestant churches as well. And much of the Muslim and Hindu world, and even many Buddhist traditions. The trappings and the tradition become the focus, not the message of the holy ones whose teachings were converted into the huge dogmatic behemoths that took over the world.
Organized religion tends to be much like the dog who sniffs at your finger when you point to the moon.
48
If you don't see that the Catholic-themed Met gala was blasphemous and discriminatory, please substitute a Jewish- or Muslim-themed gala and see what you think--and imagine the public response.
As for the title of this article, "Make Catholicism Weird Again," just try "Make Judaism (or Islam) Weird Again."
I am not Catholic, nor Jewish, nor Muslim, but I know--and deplore--religious bigotry when I see it.
Shame on the Met, and on the clueless members of the Catholic hierarchy who seemed to support the event.
8
Unfortunately, your "pure" vision of Catholicism is on shaky ground according to that church's own theology. In Catholic theology, revelation (history) is equal to what is found in the Bible (life of Christ.) I myself am a bad Roman Catholic because I give more weight to the parables of Christ and lot less weight to the subsequent 2000 years of Catholic nonsense.
Mr. Douthat writes about Catholics and a Catholicism I have never known. I don't know where he comes up with his ideas.
At our church, we're having to arrive earlier and earlier in order to get a parking spot, and the place is standing-room only, every Sunday, not just Christmas and Easter,
And we just had our guitar- and keyboard-playing musicians "promoted" to playing every Sunday, rather than alternating with a more traditional singer and fare.
And people come from all over the county, and even from others, to attend.
The modern church is not failing, and in fact is quite alive in some places. You just need to know where to look. Apparently Mr. Douthat doesn't.
28
Ross, the fires of the Inquisition are happily extinguished forever. Just be glad nobody showed up in a hair shirt or dunce cap worn by victims of the Auto da Fe.
66
Amazing...Talking around the problem a bit, Mr. Douthat?
Let's talk about FACTS for a second. The Catholic church officially 1) discriminates against women, 2) discriminates against LGBTQ folks, 3) proactively works AGAINST womens' health rights in its crazed pro-life narrative, 4) has a documented 50-year history of pedophilia well beyond percentage-wise the general population, and most egregiously, 5) has a well documented history of COVERING UP its own history of pedophilia.
So Ross, you're angels-on-the-head-of-a-needle pondering whether the C.Church is in sync with a celebrity-superficial costume ball at the Met? That's your thesis today??
385
Nature - by limiting pregnancy to females of the species - "discriminates against women".
8
. . . and accepting the idea that nature "discriminates against women" leads you to conclude that the Catholic church is justified to do the same?
"Let's talk about FACTS for a second. The Catholic church officially 1) discriminates against women, 2) discriminates against LGBTQ folks, 3) proactively works AGAINST womens' health rights in its crazed pro-life narrative, 4) has a documented 50-year history of pedophilia well beyond percentage-wise the general population, and most egregiously, 5) has a well documented history of COVERING UP its own history of pedophilia. " Apparently 2000 years of history is negligible when one cannot move beyond yesterday's headlines. Such dogma straight from the pages of the New York Times.
2
If pomp, circumstance and pageantry were the potential saviors of Catholicism, there are dissenting Catholic Churches that preserve pre-Vatican II rites everywhere that should be packed to the rafters - if this were true. Douthat makes the same move other cultural conservatives make… if only we were MORE conservative, people would flock to us!
It is, of course, a pipe dream. People, in the main, cannot be persuaded to go to subtitled foreign films or operas. I cannot imagine Tridentine masses would be anymore than quaint museum pieces if revived. Maybe if Proust were still here, he’d want to go to a naively repristinated Catholic Church, but then again- Proust, raised in the traditional Catholicism of that earlier age became an atheist. So maybe - not.
31
I'm not RC but I can say, having recently been there in the company of friends, that the Tridentine Mass Parish near me is thriving and crowded every Sunday. I'd also note that my church, the Episcopal Church, has been "liberalizing" for the last 50 years and those 50 years have been nothing but declining membership and parish closings. My parish is among the most liberal in the diocese having been the first to have a gay priest and bless gay marriages. We just cancelled 2 of our 4 weekend masses and laid off a priest. I'm not sure becoming less orthodox is working at all.
14
My father used to laugh about our parish priest who would rant about communism and abortion to a bunch of straight-laced suburbanites who had large families and were in general, fairly boring people . My dad would say that he expected the priest to turn his back and start speaking in Latin.
1
"Blasphemous spectacle?" Has Ross Douthat now become a Grand Inquisitor?
100
That's his lifelong ambition. Obviously.
8
Maybe, maybe not - but the CC has always been that authoritarian judge and jury for women and gays.
Showy pageantry in a dead language doesn't negate that.
3
Raul, the Met already had a gala for an exhibition showcasing Chinese artistic and cultural influence on Western fashion. It was in 2015 and it was called "China: Through the Looking Glass." Being Asian American, with Chinese grandparents, I thought most of the costumes based on Chinese art, patterns and designs worn at that event were rather beautiful. Some of the outfits looked kind of silly and weird, but fashion and art is subjective. To your last point, there were indeed plenty of people on the Internet blasting the costumed attendees about cultural appropriation of Chinese motifs and designs. All you have to do is Google it.
Two thoughts:
"Make Catholicism Weird Again"
Again?
"...from Roman Empire days through missionary efforts, Christianity had often advanced through inculturation, importing a consistent religious message into varying cultural forms."
Each proselytizing religion thinks its Way is the only Way, its Truth the only Truth, and that its duty to God and religion is to impose that Way and Truth on Others. Proselytizing religions are intolerant and, more often than not, take their intolerance to an extreme level.
36
I quietly left my church about five years ago. I had been chasing Jesus for all of my 50 years, and figured it was time to give both of us a break. I do miss the rituals and some of the people, and I found the belittling of iconography at the Met Gala distasteful. But generally, I’ve been surprised at how much happier I am outside the church, and if it makes Rihanna n’ them happy to take it a step further and wear shiny pope hats and leather cassocks, then okay for them.
36
"Outside the church"? there are lots of church denominations, and you might have been happier in another one, but the Catholics have apparently convinced you that they are the only one, and the NY Times isn't telling you any different.
If Jesus wanted people to wear plain unostentatious clothes, why did he have pranced around in gold-threaded chasubles and jewel-encrusted mitre? If he had wanted people to be simple and honest and kind, why would he have named himself Supreme Pontiff and demanded his backyard get a seat at the UN and his flunkies be immune from prosecution under secular law?
Gosh, some people just have no idea what's in the gospels.
88
Actually, Jesus neither pranced around in gold-threaded clothing, or named anyone Supreme Pontiff. Those affectations were the creation of men during the two millenia in which the church evolved into a global political and economic entity.
In fact, the gospel teaches that Jesus admonished his early followers against singing and playing tambourines in the temple, and instead to pray to the Father in the privacy of their own homes. Ironically, that point is reiterated each year from the pulpit in the gospel reading where Jesus teaches his disciples the Lords Prayer.
12
Most of your questions have been asked before, during the Reformation.
9
Ross, the pearl clutching and blaming liberals/hippies/Pope Francis is no longer entertaining or informative. Frankly, it's very tiresome. Get some new material, or a new Job. In fact, get thee to a Seminary. A very strict, conservative, rigid one. Perhaps in Germany.
394
If you don't see that the Catholic-themed Met gala was blasphemous and discriminatory, please substitute a Jewish- or Muslim-themed gala and see what you think--and imagine the public response.
As for the title of this article, "Make Catholicism Weird Again," just try "Make Judaism (or Islam) Weird Again."
I am not Catholic, nor Jewish, nor Muslim, but I know--and deplore--religious bigotry when I see it.
Shame on the Met, and on the clueless members of the Catholic hierarchy who seemed to support the event.
7
"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." Perhaps its adherents should recognize their religion is on life support.
27
Does anybody know if this is the first piece of theological fantasy/sci-fi to run on the NYT Op Ed page?
If it is, congratulations, and let's have more like it. We need more of this mysterious other world, which Ross Douthat seems to know far better than he knows the tedious real world in which the rest of us are forced to live.
69
The beauty of freedom of religion is that people are in a position to choose if they want to practice a specific religion. For centuries the Catholic Church was the most powerful religious force aided by its state sponsorship with countries throughout Europe. The Reformation changed this dynamic as countries in Europe suddenly had another choice. Then the United States came along and suddenly religions had to stand on their own merit because the state no longer sponsored any religion.
The Catholic Church has not helped itself with the abuse of children by Catholic priests and the subsequent shuffling around and protection of those priests at the expense of more children. The treatment of unwed mothers in Ireland and the disposal of orphaned or abandoned children in the churches care has been a further black mark. Even now the church does the bare minimum when it comes to crimes involving priests.
If the church cannot adapt and make itself appealing to younger generations who are much more tolerant and a lot less brain washed by early indoctrination about the evils of the flesh and the idea that women and the LGBT are evil and less than men then the church will die. Hypocrisy is unappealing and people have a lot more options for their spiritual needs. The Catholic Church put itself in this position and the churches decline will continue as it is no longer protected by the state. Adapt, repent, or die.
68
There is a difference between culture and religion, just like hot sour soup differs from one group to another. Rome's misogyny and Ireland's misogyny is not religious anymore than our secular American misogyny.
1
Monte Python said it more succinctly:
"nobody expects the spanish inquisition"
36
Ross, you just don't get it. And yet it's easy to understand what is happening to Catholicism. Think of Baal and Ishatar, and Zeus and Hera, Wotan and Pierun, Hator and Ptah. All were once worshipped and feared, all were encrusted with arcane theologies. Now add God the Father and Jesus and Mary and the rest to the list. Poof! Gone! Get it?
54
I guess it is ok for Sarah Jessica Parker to mock Catholicism. I wonder if I would be an anti-semite if I dressed up as an Orthodox Jew? Is this a double standard??
54
Considering the RCC's history with Jews and Judaism, you might want to re-state/consider your question...
3
Try it, why don't you. The proof's in the pudding, they say.
1
When the Met gala celebrates the opening of a Jewish art exhibit, we’ll see, but they’ll never dare feature a Muslim collection at a gala.
2
You make me appreciate my atheism.
106
What makes Catholicism weird?
Certainly the left over pomp from the time of princes, with the medieval nun's habits and the bishop's miters and robes stand out; so do the bleeding statues and the exorcisms and all the fooferall that gets put in movies.
What makes it weird to me is the seeming dichotomy of teaching the humble origins of Jesus, the humility of His time among us and His sacrifice, juxtaposed with our Cardinal who spent half a million on cathedral doors, and a re-written consecration prayer that insists that Christ hold a chalice, not a cup.
What makes it weird to me is the teaching of Christ, who forgave sinners, juxtaposed with a modern Church that cannot figure out how to offer a place for divorced people and gay people, even as they can forgive murder.
There is a lot that is weird about my Church, and Rhianna flaunting some fashion disaster is not it. What is weird is how the good so often gets drowned out by the stupid.
264
That chalice is but one example of a terrible, ham-fisted new translation into English. The word was incorrectly translated. It was "potērion" in Greek which meant cup and when Jerome did his Latin translation, "calix" meant cup as well. The new translators were either sloppy, had an agenda--or both. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/cup-or-chalice
24
Ross, the old time religion lives on--that would be the "love your neighbor" part of the Catholic Church, not the "punish your neighbor" part of the church. While the right-wingers intone threats of decline and apocalypse, many Catholics are leaders in feeding their neighbors, housing the homeless, and comforting the suffering. And also getting healthcare and championing equality and dignity for all.
You need a better Catholic crowd, Ross. Go ahead and find them.
169
In the ‘50s I became a lapsed Catholic after being subjected to an education supervised by nuns. But in the mid ‘60s I again attended Mass because I found out that our parish had decided to host a number of Filipino priests. It was a pleasure to attend as these men had wonderful voices, played guitars and enlivened the dullness of the service. But the elderly parishioners soon complained that the Mass had been turned into a hootenanny so the music and singing was discontinued. I stopped attending. The pressure not to change, to hold on to a litany, and to always want sameness seems very unnatural. I now identify as a Buddhist.
27
As someone whose heavily-worked pedigree shows descent from a Roman emperor and a bishop before celibacy was introduced, the Temple of Castor and Polllux in the Roman Forum has great resonance for me after two millennia, particularly in J.M.W. Turner's 1819 painting "Rome: The Forum with a Rainbow". That artist himself has a resonance with me after two centuries.
I suspect that the architectural artifacts of Christianity will continue to have similar resonance for millennia yet to come, regardless of how religion evolves. The rites surrounding Castor and Pollux have long since ceased, to the best of my knowledge, yet their stories are still readily available in libraries, even my own.
3
Father Douthat's fatuous love affair with a medieval religious textbook is one of the great Wonders of the World.
“Man has created God out of fear of dying.”
- Hannah Kent
“Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man?”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
“All religion, my friend, is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination, and poetry.”
- Edgar Allan Poe
“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”
- Carl Sagan
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
- Napoléon Bonaparte
“Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature.”
- Emmett Fields
“Do not wait for the last judgment. It comes every day.”
- Albert Camus
“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”
- Robert Pirsig
“There is not enough love and goodness in the world to permit giving any of it away to imaginary beings.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
“And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence”
- Bertrand Russell
Feel better soon, Ross.
279
I was a believer before reading this comment, but no longer! You make some devastatingly incisive, and substantive points; which I am sure are relevant to the piece in question (not that I've read it; why would I do that when I could just read a laundry list of reductive and unhelpful quotes?)
Many thanks, friend.
10
My belief in God is strengthened whenever I view the smile of a child. Only a divine force could create such a thing.
Today I watched some ducks take flight very gracefully. This was not the result of carbon or of an algorithm. There is an ineffable divine order that seems to govern such things.
The clergy might think otherwise, but that's what this child of Catholic schools believes.
Mark...I also enjoy the smiles of children and the flights of birds and other beautiful parts of nature just as you do.....but why do you have a need to insert a divine fallacy in your kaleidoscope ?
You have a highly capable, finely-tuned human brain that has benefited from millions of years of homo sapiens evolution - why not fully activate it ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_fallacy
I appreciate you were heavily concussed as a young one by the Catholic-Church-Industrial-Complex, but as an adult, you can feel free to jettison the religious fairy tale you grew up with.
Nature is heavenly, but it didn't come from heaven.
The Catholic education I received as a child 60 years ago was plenty weird, and it’s that weirdness that had to go lest it become so divorced from reality that the sheep would begin to stray. The pop Catholic movement was actually doing just fine until priests were found to be abusing children, which took a bit of the bloom off the rose for a lot of Catholics.
Even though I had no belief in any religion, I regretted the loss of the Latin mass because it did have a certain majesty that English couldn’t match. Since religion is all show-biz anyway, you might as well put on a show. And without it, I would never have known why people laughed at the quip about the Pope’s phone number*.
But instead of show-biz, what if Catholicism actually did things that helped people in the here-and-now? What if it didn’t go nuts about sex, ban contraception and perpetuate myths about the lesser status of women? What if it didn’t denigrate gay people, stand in the way of stem-cell research or condemn women who didn’t have the strength, health or resources to bring a child to term?
What if it didn’t force Catholics to stay in loveless or abusive marriages, and deny them the chance to take communion if they didn’t?
Apparently, taking care of people in this world is too weird, even for Catholics.
-------------------
*It was et cum spiri 2-2-0.
434
@gemli: I agree. I loved the Latin mass and even studied Latin as an elective in my Catholic high school. The majestic cathedrals, stained-glass windows, ornate priests' vestments, religious-themed artworks, incense and all the rest of the rituals and trappings were the best parts of Catholicism, in my view. They had the same effects on me as other kinds of art, moving and inspiring me with a sense of awe and mystery. "Catholic school humor" was an art form in itself. Many of the jokes were anti-clerical and sacrilegious and couldn't possibly be repeated here.
28
They were also the best part of the Roman Empire. But I do miss the altar wine.
My grandmother was Roman Catholic during the Latin mass era and I occasionally attended church with her, wondering why no one was paying attention to what was going on; either they were obsessively saying the rosary or just staring around the church because they couldn't possibly understand the Mass.
This Episcopalian child wondered where the fellowship was.
5
You offer up an interesting essay ( in the context of appropriation of catholic imagery for the sake of strutting about like a peacock ), but the trend is quite decisively towards the death knell of any type of organized religion.
I am struck by how right leaning pundits use the term ''radical'' in every other sentence to describe anyone that purports to lean left. ( especially in the sense of trying to roll back strict traditions or offering up human rights that have been denied for centuries )
It is not radical to believe that we are indeed created equal ( even if it is under one God or another ) and that people should be punished for infringing upon others and their human rights. ( The Pope has walked a fine line on this while not being ''radical'' in any way shape or form )
Worship and devotion can be done within oneself and does not need the state ( taxpayers ) to subsidize such train of thought or beliefs any longer, no more than any one person should be raised above one another simply because of birth or marriage in regards to monarchies that still exist.
The world is moving fast, and one fad will overtake another, so the spectacle we saw the other night in regards to those with money showing off was nothing more than that. The next fashion show might be satanic in style for all we know.
It is no longer a right or left paradigm but merely a choice of one own's convictions and beliefs.
Amen.
38
An individual who has found or returned to religion will (attempt to) separate the life of the man he is now and the life of the man he used to be, even as it can be difficult wholeheartedly to condemn the old or always to commend the new, for there wasn’t and perhaps couldn’t be the one without the other.
9
Your man (individual?) has had a 'conversion experience'. That experience of leaving behind, or transcending one's former self, and struggling in the process is part of human growth.
Of course there can't be one without the other, but condemnation of self or others is a terrible price to inflict on one's self or the others.
This condemnation is the hallmark of most religions. To me this condemnation is one of the greatest damages inflicted by religion and cults.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition", so the Pythons tell us. The Inquisition represents the ultimate condemnation.
Let's all just grow up and honor all parts of our human experience and allow healing acceptance of self and others.
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