DOCSLIB.ORG

KI 19 20 January

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
KI 19 20 January Welcome to Kangaroo Island Catholic Community (Part of the Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island Cluster of Catholic Parishes) SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR C Vol 7 : No 09 KANGAROO ISLAND CATHOLIC PARISH Parish House: 22 Giles Street, KINGSCOTE, SA 5223 Phone: 8553 2132 Postal address: PO Box 749, KINGSCOTE, SA 5223 Email: [email protected] Web: www.kicatholic.org.au NOARLUNGA DOWNS CATHOLIC PRESBYTERY FIRST READING all of them. The particular way in Phone: 8382 1717 Isaiah 62:1-5 which the Spirit is given to each About Zion I will not be silent, about person is for a good purpose. One PARISH TEAM CONTACTS Jerusalem I will not grow weary, may have the gift of preaching with PARISH PRIEST until her integrity shines out like the wisdom given him by the Spirit; Fr Josy Sebastian (8382 1717; dawn and her salvation flames like a another may have the gift of in emergency - 0452 524 169) torch. preaching instruction given him by the same Spirit; and another the gift Fr Roy John (8382 1717) The nations then will see your of faith given by the same Spirit; integrity, all the kings your glory, another again the gift of healing, PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL and you will be called by a new through this one Spirit; one, the Mr Peter Clark (8559 5131) name, one which the mouth of the power of miracles; another, Lord will confer. You are to be a prophecy; another the gift of PARISH NEWSLETTER crown of splendour in the hand of recognising spirits; another the gift Mr Peter Clark (8559 5131, the Lord, a princely diadem in the of tongues and another the ability to [email protected]) hand of your God; interpret them. All these are the (All items for the newsletter must be no longer are you to be named work of one and the same Spirit, received no later than Tuesday ‘Forsaken’, nor your land who distributes different gifts to evening.) ‘Abandoned’, but you shall be called different people just as he chooses. ‘My Delight’ and your land ‘The MASS CENTRES Wedded’; for the Lord takes delight GOSPEL ACCLAMATION • KINGSCOTE: Our Lady of in you and your land will have its 2 Thess 2:14 Perpetual Help, Cnr Giles/Todd Sts wedding. Alleluia, alleluia! Sunday - 9.30am God has called us with the gospel Like a young man marrying a virgin, to share in the glory of our Lord • PARNDANA: Uniting Church, so will the one who built you wed Jesus Christ. Cook Street you, and as the bridegroom rejoices Alleluia! 2nd Sunday - 2.30pm in his bride, so will your God rejoice in you. GOSPEL • PENNESHAW: St Columba’s John 2:1-11 Anglican Church, Cnr North RESPONSORIAL PSALM Terrace and Fourth Street Ps 95:1-3, 7-10 There was a wedding at Cana in 1st Sunday - 1.30pm Proclaim his marvellous deeds Galilee. The mother of Jesus was to all the nations. there, and Jesus and his disciples had SPONSORSHIP also been invited. When they ran out KANGAROO ISLAND SECOND READING of wine, since the wine provided for TRANSFERS (0427 887 575) 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 the wedding was all finished, the generously donate transport for our There is a variety of gifts but always mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They visiting Priests. the same Spirit; there are all sorts of have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, service to be done, but always to the why turn to me? My hour has not CHILD PROTECTION same Lord; working in all sorts of come yet.’ His mother said to the Child Protection Unit 8210 8159 different ways in different people, it servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ is the same God who is working in There were six stone water jars (Continued page 4) January 19/20, 2019 • Page 1 12 1. Peace MarchKangaroo on Palm Sunday Island 25th March Catholic Parish Mass Roster PARISH NOTICES 27th Jan: Readers: A Clark, A Gibbs. Mass next week : Fr. Josy. Gifts: Clark family. Kingscote 9:30 AM Sp. Ministers: K Florence, K Hammatt. Confession available 30 min before mass. Cleaning / Coffee: A Clark. Parish Council next week after Mass. WorlD Youth Day ADelaiDe Mass: Please pray for………. 5:00 pm SunDay 27 January at SacreD Heart Josephine Sexton, Skyla Davidson, Noeline College Somerton Park. Thomas, Charles and Sue Gorman, John Slagter, Cheryl Scopazzi, Pat Hadland, Christian Hadland. World Youth Day Adelaide is fast approaching, but Mei Kuen Sexton and Elizabeth Schoolbread. it’s not too late to be part of the action. Sacred Heart College in Somerton Park will come alive on Fr. Jim Honner. Sunday January 27 for an event featuring live May all our sick parishioners, relatives and performances from some of Australia’s best friends know the healing love of Christ through musicians, a range of workshops and speaker our actions and His healing presence. panels discussing topics including environmental Jesus did this as the beginning of his protection and social justice, food vans, a rock- signs at Cana in Galilee climbing wall, merchandise, a live broadcast from and so revealed his glory. 1079 Life FM and a youth-led Mass. Tickets are “They have no wine.” only $20 each and can be purchased online at “So what?” www.cathyouthadelaide.org.au/wyd or at the gate. For more information, please contact Peter “Do whatever he tells you.” From that instant she left it to him. Bierer at the Catholic Office for Youth and Young Adults, or see the blue poster at the back of the To us: Church. “Do whatever he tells you. “Love God, love your neighbour, Frs Selva Raj Leenaiah and Jack Otto SJ have make a home for the Spirit.” generously accepted their appointments to serve Help us leave our Parishes under the leadership of Fr. Josy. everything to you, Lord. A full list of Archdiocesan appointments for 2019 approved by Bishop O’Kelly is available from Peter We are water. Clark Turn us into wine. Catholic D ! Ron Rolheiser column Ronald Rolheiser, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, is president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He is a community-builder, lecturer and writer. His books are popular throughout the English-speaking world and his weekly column is carried by more than sixty newspapers worldwide. WENDY BECKETT – RIP audience but also brought scorn from must, like little children, be No community should botch its a number of critics. They mocked protected from the erotic so that deaths. The renowned her simplicity of language, criticized even while they’re supposed to be anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, her for not being more critical of the doctors of the soul they should be suggested this and its truth applies to art she presented, and were put off shielded from the deep impulses and communities at every level. No by that fact that she, a consecrated secrets of the soul. Sr. Wendy didn’t family should send off a member virgin, could so comfortably discuss buy that. Neither should we. Chastity without proper reflection, ritual, and sensuality and the nude human body. is not intended to be that kind of blessings. They found it difficult to digest that naiveté. this pious woman, a consecrated On December 26th, 2018, the family virgin, clad in a traditional religious Full disclosure: I had a personal link of art and the family of faith lost a habit, sporting thick glasses and to Sr. Wendy. Many years ago, when cherished member. Sr. Wendy buck-teeth, could be so much at ease I was young and still searching for Beckett, aged 88, famed art critic, with sensuality. Robert Hughes, of my own voice as a spiritual writer, committed woman of faith, and Time magazine, once mocked her as she sent me a large, beautifully- nurturing friend to many, died. Since a “relentlessly chatty pseudo-hermit framed, print of Paul Klee’s, famous 1970, Sr. Wendy had been living as a with her signature teeth” whose 1923 painting, Eros. For the past 29 consecrated virgin and hermit on the observations were “pitched to a 15- years it has hung on a wall behind grounds of a Carmelite convent in year-old” audience. Germaine Greer my computer screen so that I see it England, praying for several hours a challenged her competence to every time I write and it has helped day, translating religious tracts, and describe erotic art given the fact that me understand that it’s God’s color, going to daily Eucharist. she was a consecrated virgin. God’s light, and God’s energy that inform erotic longing. Early on, after choosing this way of Sr. Wendy mostly smiled at these life, she began to study art history, criticisms and countered them this In 1993, while visiting the started writing articles for way: “I’m not a critic”, she would monastery where Sr. Wendy lived, I magazines, and published the first of say, “I am an appreciator”. As to her had the opportunity to go out to a more than 30 books on art. In 1991, comfort with sensuality and the nude restaurant with her. Our waiter was she did a short BBC documentary on body, she would answer that just initially taken aback by her television and was an immediate hit because she was committed to traditional religious habit. With some with a wide audience. She soon celibacy did not mean that she was trepidation he timidly asked her: began to host her own BBC show, not fully appreciative of human “Sister, might I bring you some Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, which was sensuality, sexuality, and the beauty water?” She flashed her trademark so popular it sometimes attracted one of the human body – all of it.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lending Library
    Lending Library KQED is pleased to present the Lending Library. Created expressly for KQED’s major donors, members of the Legacy Society, Producer’s Circle and Signal Society, the library offers many popular television programs and specials for home viewing. You may choose from any of the titles listed. Legacy Society, Producer’s Circle and Signal Society members may borrow VHS tapes or DVDs simply by calling 415.553.2300 or emailing [email protected]. For around-the-clock convenience, you may submit a request to borrow VHS tapes or DVDs through KQED’s Web site (www.KQED.org/lendinglibrary) or by email ([email protected]) or phone (415.553.2300). Your selection will be mailed to you for your home viewing enjoyment. When finished, just mail it back, using the enclosed return label. If you are especially interested in a program that is not included in KQED’s collection, let us know. However, because video distribution is highly regulated, not all broadcast shows are available for home viewing. We will do our best to add frequently requested tapes to our lending library. Sorry, library tapes are not for duplication or resale. If you want to purchase videotapes for your permanent collection, please visit shop.pbs.org or call 877-PBS-SHOP. Current listings were last updated in February 2009. TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTS 2 DRAMA 13 NEWS/PUBLIC AFFAIRS 21 BAY WINDOW 30 FRONTLINE 32 FRONTLINE WORLD 36 P.O.V. 36 TRULY CA 38 SCIENCE/NATURE 42 HISTORY 47 AMERICAN HISTORY 54 WORLD HISTORY 60 THE “HOUSE” SERIES 64 TRAVEL 64 COOKING/HOW TO/SELF HELP 66 FAQ 69 CHILDREN 70 COMEDY 72 1 ARTS Art and Architecture AGAINST THE ODDS: THE ARTISTS OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE (VHS) The period of the 1920s and ‘30s known as the Harlem Renaissance encompassed an extraordinary outburst of creativity by African American visual artists.
    [Show full text]
  • Ebook Download Sister Wendy on the Art of Mary
    SISTER WENDY ON THE ART OF MARY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Sister Wendy Beckett | 55 pages | 01 Sep 2013 | St Anthony Messenger Press,U.S. | 9781616366933 | English | Cincinnati, United States Sister Wendy on the Art of Mary PDF Book Ask a Question What would you like to know about this product? God made the body. Cynicism, fake sophistication, and irony actually keep us from true insight, because cynical people are unduly dismissive. Wendy was born in Johannesburg to Aubrey and Dorothy Beckett. Click the AdBlock button on your browser and select Don't run on pages on this domain. Imagine going on a tour of a world-class art museum with a talented and insightful curator. Search by title, catalog stock , author, isbn, etc. The risk is worth it, because it is the eye of the lover that sees most clearly. In , she returned to England and moved into the trailer at the Carmelite Monastery. Despite her old-fashioned garb, her views on Catholicism were anything but traditional. Beckett entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in and graduated from Oxford University in , but in , she obtained papal permission to leave her congregation and become a consecrated virgin. Sister Wendy Beckett. More than 25, sellers offering you a vibrant collection of fashion, collectibles, home decor, and more. She always returned to the austere seclusion that was her home for nearly a half-century, although her trailer was upgraded in But her insightful, unscripted commentaries — a blend of history, criticism and observations on Leonardo da Vinci, van Gogh, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Monet and other Western masters — connected emotionally with millions in Britain and America.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
    Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION November 1, 1992 to November 1, 2017 2 Contents Page Message from Bishop Zubik 5 Mother Seton by Janet McKenzie 7 Triptych of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton by Eric Armusik 10 Reliefs: “Widowing…” and “Revelation…” 12 Pietà by Frank DeAndrea 16 Pipe Organ 19 St. Cecilia by Ralph LeCompte 20 St. Maximilian Kolbe & the Holocaust 22 Windows of the Former St. Ignatius Church 23 Former Holy Souls Church 24 Former Immaculate Conception Church 26 Former St. Joseph Church 27 New Statuary & Window Extensions 28 Sanctuary Furnishings of the Former St. Luke Church 31 Other Articles 32 In Memoriam 34 3 4 5 6 MOTHER SETON by Janet McKenzie At left you see the painting Mother Seton, commissioned for St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. The artist is Janet McKenzie, a native New Yorker now living in Vermont. She studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Art Students League in New York City. She has devoted her life to the imagery of women, and for the past twenty years has attended also to ethnic diversity and children. Janet McKenzie’s painting, “Jesus of the People”, was selected winner of the National Catholic Reporter’s competition for a new image of Jesus at the Millennium by judge, Sister Wendy Beckett, art historian and BBC television host. In the words of Sister Wendy, “This is a haunting image of a peasant Jesus – dark, thick-lipped, looking out on us with ineffable dignity, with sadness but with confidence. Over His white robe He draws the darkness of our lack of love, holding it to Himself, prepared to transform all sorrows if we will let Him.” The painting was first unveiled at Carlow University, in connection with a university project on feminine spirituality.
    [Show full text]
  • Citizens of Heaven Philippians 3:20 “But We Are Citizens of Heaven,” 3:17-4:1, 8, 9
    20200628 Citizens of Heaven Philippians 3:20 “But we are citizens of heaven,” 3:17-4:1, 8, 9 “Where are you coming from?” asked the U.S. border guard. “Brampton, Ontario,” I replied. “Where are you going?” he continued. “Buies Creek, N.C.,” I said in my, then, strong Belfast accent. “Citizenship?” he asked. “British.” “Passports?” My mother passed me the four British passports and I handed them over. As the border guard looked at them, he asked further, “Where were you born?” “Ireland,” I replied. “And you’re British?” “Yes.” “Where do you live?” “Brampton, Ontario,” I said with the strong accent. “Are you Canadian residents?” “Work visa.” I said. “Have you papers for that?” “Yes,” and my mother supplied her Canadian work visa. “Hmmm,” said the guard. “So let me get this straight, you were born in Ireland, you’re travelling on a British passport, you are living in Ontario but are not a permanent resident. You want to go to North Carolina. How long are you going for?” “Five days,” I said. “What will you be doing there?” “Visiting family friends,” I replied. The guard looked at the four of us, paused, and said, “Have a good time.” “Phew,” we thought. In the ensuing years, we became “landed” and then Canadian citizens which made border questions inherently easier. I remember when I applied for citizenship. I filled out the paperwork and was given a small book to read about Canada. They expected citizens to know something about Canada, its history, geography, and politics. Then there was an interview.
    [Show full text]
  • Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons Online
    wCDtJ (Read ebook) Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons Online [wCDtJ.ebook] Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons Pdf Free Sister Wendy Beckett DOC | *audiobook | ebooks | Download PDF | ePub Download Now Free Download Here Download eBook #1052366 in Books 2010-09-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.66 x .47 x 7.02l, .82 #File Name: 1570758980128 pages | File size: 19.Mb Sister Wendy Beckett : Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons before purchasing it in order to gage whether or not it would be worth my time, and all praised Real Presence: Sister Wendy on the Earliest Icons: 40 of 41 people found the following review helpful. One of Sister Wendy's bestBy David A. NovakSister Wendy has been the source of many original books and videos regarding art and its religious significance in a secular world. They are unique in that they invite the reader and viewer into wonder rather than authoritative control. The artistic traditions she examines are viewed through the lens of religious faith and human delight. Her books on the icons of Mary and Jesus lead the reader through a process of discovery. Her process is at once personal (through her own travels and experience) and is well informed. Sister Wendy knows the original purpose of the icons: they are acts of worship rather than objects of desire. She brings together rather than separates the multivalent tangents that, when brought in harmony, allow the person in the presence of the icons into enter them as experiences of faith and love. Of course, she has the ability to do the same for many works of art whether it is Damien Hirst or Titian.
    [Show full text]
  • Sister Wendy on Prayer Ebook Free Download
    SISTER WENDY ON PRAYER PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Sister Wendy Beckett,David Ian Willcock | 184 pages | 11 Oct 2007 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9780826483898 | English | London, United Kingdom Sister Wendy on Prayer PDF Book Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wendy Beckett. Her book on prayer is okay. Sister Wendy's one thousand masterpieces. We are not wholly there for them, nor they for us. It is who you are that God comes to in prayer, and if it is a tired, fractious, despondent man or woman, He still takes you to Himself with infinite love and makes the best of what you can give Him. We need sleep. Hardcover , pages. Not sybaritic sleep, too much of it, but enough sleep to fit us for the day ahead. Read more Like love, beauty and motherhood, it quickly sets our eloquence aflow. Encyclopedia Britannica. Prayer is opening ourselves to His love. Mar 13, Beth Melillo rated it really liked it Shelves: christian-non-fiction , Union of South Africa. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. He will take possession of us. Yet so many people seem to feel that there is some mysterious method, some way in that others know, but they do not. St Anne's College, Oxford. We are simply not able to be so. Thx Ryan. I read it slowly, only one or two sections a day, so that I could be more intentionally about taking in the information offered. When we say 'God', we doing no more than pointing a finger. Sister Wendy Beckett is a South African-born British art expert, Roman Catholic nun, and contemplative hermit who became an unlikely celebrity during the s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC.
    [Show full text]
  • Parrhesia 24 · 2015 Parrhesia 24 · 2015 · 1-16
    parrhesia 24 · 2015 parrhesia 24 · 2015 · 1-16 thoughts on the unthinkable lee braver Art critic Sister Wendy Beckett once said that before Picasso, painters took it for granted that their job was to produce works of beauty. What else is art to do, after all? It was only after Picasso—specifically, after 1907’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,” with its squatting French prostitutes with faces like grotesque African masks—that painters realized they were not bound to beauty, that beauty was not a fate but, in a way, a limitation. Picasso showed that ugliness too could be the subject of great art, that artists could capture ugliness without rendering it beautiful,1 and this forever changed the course of culture. Like all truly deep assumptions, this one about beauty had hardly seemed like an assumption at all. It had seemed rather like an unquestionable, inescapable truth—until someone questioned it and thereby escaped it. What had seemed self-evident came to be seen as a self-imposed restriction. How much of the world, how much ugliness, how much mundanity had artists been ignoring? How much more could they now capture? This was perhaps the question of twentieth century art, with its depictions of hideous slaughter, its sliced-up cow carcasses, its snow shovels and urinals and soup cans, paint splotches and blank canvases. As I pondered Sister Wendy’s insight into Picasso’s revolutionary discovery, I wondered about my own profession: what kind of self-bound limitation might philosophers have long labored under? It must be very deep indeed, since rooting out and questioning presuppositions is our very bread and butter.
    [Show full text]
  • No Excuses for Torture Bishops Reimagined 'The Holy Family'
    THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY JAN. 18-25, 2010 $3.50 NO EXCUSES FOR TORTURE STEPHEN M. COLECCHI BISHOPS REIMAGINED MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS ‘THE HOLY FAMILY’ WENDY BECKETT OF MANY THINGS PUBLISHED BY JESUITS OF THE UNITED STATES alls and e-mail messages have birds to feed on. I used to walk on the been coming in asking whether wall alongside the pussy willow bush EDITOR IN CHIEF Drew Christiansen, S.J. C the cover photo of our last to place the fat on the branches. We issue was done tongue-in-cheek. I never had problems in those days. The EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT regret to inform suspicious readers birds came, fed on the suet, to return MANAGING EDITOR that the photo of a northern cardinal again to perch in our special aviary. Robert C. Collins, S.J. perched on a branch and fluffed out for Problems came later when I thought it EDITORIAL DIRECTOR warmth, as the credit on page 2 says, would be good to feed the birds with Karen Sue Smith was simply the most colorful option seed. One of our friends, Henry ONLINE EDITOR given me for a seasonal cover to mark Anderson, managed a garden products Maurice Timothy Reidy the onset of winter. plant where they made bird feeders CULTURE EDITOR As I look out from my office on the from redwood. I hung a feeder from James Martin, S.J. grey stone and asphalt of West 56th the bush and proceeded to fill it. LITERARY EDITOR Street, the countryman in me resists Suddenly the songbirds disappeared.
    [Show full text]
  • The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph December 30, 2018
    Year C Hymnal #876 The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph December 30, 2018 Sat., December 29 Mon., December 31 4 PM … Our Parish Family Weekend of December 23, 2018 Sun., December 30 Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, Joseph Regular Offertory $8,306.00 4—5 PM ...Food Pantry 7:30 AM …Nora Paris (1st Anniv.) by Nelson & Lillie Duquette Loose Offertory 567.50 Sat., January 5, 2019 Online Offertory Last Wk 1,050.00 6 PM … Pastor’s Reception 9:30 AM … Marie Jean by Mary Duval and Leslie Ann Total Offertory $9,923.50 5 PM … Edith B. Clark (living) by Anne Clark Stewardship Make up $ 112.00 On Monday, December 24, the food Monday, December 31 Holy Day Make up $ 45.00 pantry served 10 families and gave 12 PM … Available intention out 45 bags of groceries. The food 6:30 PM …Our Parish Family Food Pantry $ 350.00 pantry will be open on Monday, Tue., January 1, 2019 The Solemnity of Mary Christmas $ 9,527.00 December 31 from 4 — 5 PM. Please note the time 9 AM … Dennis Smith by SRP Christmas Loose 973.00 change. Wed., January 2 St Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen Total Christmas $10,500.00 12 PM … Claire Sasseville by Lionel & Lillian Coulon We will celebrate the So- Christmas Flowers $ 2,725.00 Thur., January 3 lemnity of Mary at a Vigil Mass on Monday, De- 8:30 AM ... Available intention Food Pantry $ 180.00 Fri., January 4 Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton cember 31, 2018 at 6:30 ********************** PM and at Mass on Tues- 6 PM … Joseph Handy by Gregory Handy Last Year: Wknd of Dec.
    [Show full text]
  • Mary Sipp Green
    MARY SIPP GREEN FINDLAY GALLERIES At the beginning of her artistic career, she learned her craft in the studio, painting still-lifes and portraits, and landscapes drawn directly from nature. Mary says, “I painted things as I saw them...very recognizable, very realistic…” Over time, she became increasingly engaged with the more abstract and spiritual aspects of landscape form. Mary says, “I felt there was more to say about something than its surface reality…I wanted to get more from a painting, and I wanted to go deeper. I was searching for a new direction.” Mary describes a day sometime in 1990 when she found that direction. She found herself once again, “walking a familiar meadow, a green field with a gray barn. That particular day, the field turned golden, with the flowering goldenrod, and in the light, the barn became purple.” From this experience, her unique luminist approach to landscape emerged. Her trademark skies, with their layers of color that have a perception beyond the merely visible, came to life. Mary excels at depicting the land around her and revealing the MARY SIPP GREEN most bespoke moments in time with her contemporary balance of expression and form. It is not the tangible qualities that are highlighted in her paintings; it is the softly washed memories of a place. For the past several decade’s Mary Sipp Green has found her home and studio in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, and Findlay Galleries is pleased to have represented this exceptional landscape painter in our stable of contemporary artists since 2005.
    [Show full text]
  • Dante Discovers Bergoglio in Hell
    Dante Discovers Bergoglio in Hell (being a footnote to the painting and thoughts on ‘a new pseudo-enlightenment’) Oil on canvas 26 x 24 inches. 2018 It would be a poor argument to blame the collapse of the Roman Empire simply on ‘lead pipes’. Similarly, ‘Political Correctness’ might appear a silly epithet to attach to the collapse of a civilisation. But there is a perverse need for compliance in human animals, drawn as they are, even to annihilation, by conformity. ‘PC’ is now an overladen cliché, however the underlying philosophy behind the drive for righteous compliance dominating the west is called ‘Relativism’ and is described by the Italian philosopher Marcello Pera as; ‘an epidemic…. It believes that all cultures are equivalent. It refuses to judge them, thinking that to accept and defend one’s own culture would be an act of hegemony, of intolerance that betrayed an anti-democratic, anti-liberal, disrespectful attitude toward the autonomy of other populations and individuals.’1 This applies particularly in the world of art where value judgements are no longer made. Of course, art critics may give expression to prejudice, but it is a prejudice within a postmodern conformity; what the artist does is art and therefore inviolable. Prodigies of compliant words defend this position, complemented by prodigies of self-referential works, the result being an art not drawn from any well-spring of ‘Truth’ or ‘Beauty’ (concepts long since debunked) but from a malodourous stream of blather. Consider the famous ‘Piss Christ’ (a crucifix in a glass tank of urine) that the Guardian art critic enthused over as ‘a wet dream of self-promotion for an ‘‘iconoclastic’’ artist’2.
    [Show full text]