Bishops condemn CCP art exhibit

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MANILA, Philippines — An exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) has earned the ire of the Catholic Church.

The exhibit features photographs of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary were adorned with objects not related to Christianity. One even showed a crucifix with a condom.

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz called the exhibit a “desecration” and advised those responsible for it to see a psychiatrist.

“Those responsible for this should better see a good psychiatrist and take their medicines so they’ll become normal especially as far as their human sexuality is concerned,” Cruz said in an interview.

The exhibit, featuring the works by mixed media artist Mideo Cruz, received wide attention and sparked controversy after it was shown on television.

“The ones who did those things are sick. They are not only sick but what they did was also sickening. No one in his right mind with the proper value system would even think of doing such things,” said Cruz.

“I wonder if those who did those desecration would allow me to do those things to them…. meaning to say to put those items on their face and body and desecrate them with all those items like used condoms,” he added.

Both Cruz and Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez are convinced that this latest affront against the Catholic Church had something to do with their opposition against the Reproductive Health (RH) bill and same-sex marriage.

“That’s possible,” said Iniguez.

“These people should respect the religion of others,” he said.

The Caloocan bishop urged the public to boycott the exhibit.

The Council of the Laity of the Philippines went to the extent of calling on the faithful to ban programs and products of television network ABS-CBN, and condemned it for its supposed efforts to malign the Church.

“We should ban their programs or products…they are really out to discredit the Catholic Church,” said Ed Tirona, president of the Council of the Laity of the Philippines.

Tirona cited the July 22 episode of a news program of ABS-CBN wherein they featured the said exhibit of the supposed artist who took the liberty of scandalizing the image of Jesus Christ by disfiguring its face and sacrilegiously vulgarizing it with obscenities ostensibly as an art expression.

“This is another affront to us Catholics coming as it does with this station leading in church bashing with their invented "Pajero" tag which they feasted on for two weeks. Has ABS-CBN given up its sense of decency in being a leading butcher of this administration against the Catholic Church?” he said in a statement.

“I call upon the Church organizations to denounce this obvious attempt of ABS-CBN to discredit our Church and what we Catholics believe in. Let us denounce this station for its total lack of sensitivity and professionalism,” added Tirona.


source: mb.com.ph
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