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	Catholic-Bashing Merits No Encore By Pat McDonough Newsday [New York] June 8, 2007 http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opmcd085246054jun08,0,1033571. story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines The Tony Awards are just days away. Among the nominations for best musical is "Curtains," a play based on a book by Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone. The critics called it blissful, witty and thoroughly entertaining. One went as far as to say it was a "gust of giddy good fun." Well, I wasn't laughing when actor Edward Hibbert walked on stage announcing that "those — Catholics really know how to put on a show." He went on to disparage the Eucharist in the first of many ill-fated attempts at humor, all of which held the audience hostage for two of the most boring hours on Broadway. Anti-Catholicism is deeply rooted in the Colonial history of our country, compounded by centuries of immigration and aggravated by the sensationalized coverage of the clergy crisis in recent years. The Center for Media and Public Affairs examined the anti-Catholic bias in the United States and found the church's marginalization of women and its professed sexual mores to be the topics most often addressed by America's media. In the years following the sex-abuse scandal, the church has become the constant target of public ridicule, but perverse priests and the hierarchy that protected them make up a minuscule minority within the church. Vatican II aptly described the Roman Catholic Church as the people of God, and like all people we are imperfect. But attacking the Eucharist offends not only the 1 billion Catholics in today's world, but two millennia of martyrs, men and women who died for Catholicism's rich heritage. The Eucharist is more than a sacrament that beckons bread and wine to become the body and blood of Jesus. It's a belief that we who receive the Eucharist can become his body and blood, his words and deeds, his heart and hands. It's not only the fruits of the Earth that are transformed at Mass, but those who receive the Eucharist are also transformed, or at least we hope to be. The Eucharist can help us become living witnesses to the work of a first-century rabbi who changed the world. It bonds us to people past and present, Catholic or otherwise, who have needed food and drink, a voice for the voiceless and a home for the homeless, or perhaps our prayers and protection. Fact is, the Catholic Church feeds, clothes, shelters and provides medical assistance and education to more people on this planet than any other institution ever has. Our Eucharist energizes those efforts. The world has condemned the Catholic Church for a history that includes the Inquisition and strong anti-Semitic sentiments. Surely, our past feeds the criticism that comes our way, but alongside valid argument sits commentary on our customs and catechism, our teachings and traditions. There are countless quips about our saints and sacraments and legends of one-liners about a laity that is perceived as passive and cowering under the control of clerics. Although stereotypes sometimes carry a thread of truth, more often than not they're built on bigotry and misunderstanding. An anti-Catholic slur showcased at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre fails to grasp the depth of our catechesis, one that teaches us to imagine the world in sacramental terms where God becomes a concrete and tangible reality. Our analogical imaginations are formed, informed and transformed time and time again by the Gospels, the liturgy, and most certainly, by the Eucharist. Can all that be reduced to a bad joke on Broadway delivered as an expression of artistic freedom? With freedom comes the responsibility to defend the dignity of all people, regardless of religion, race or gender. Words are powerful, capable of provoking strong emotion. Hateful words have been known to provoke hate crimes and senseless acts of violence. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a bias crime statute that prohibited the display of a symbol that can arouse anger, alarm or resentment in others based on race, color, religion or gender. Speech is a little more difficult to regulate, and speeches made under the guise of comedic art or entertainment are even harder to restrict. To be nominated for a Tony is a long-standing honor in American theater, but if religious faith is dishonored in the process of performance and its recognition, then our culture will eventually collapse in disregard for human dignity. Theatergoers, be warned. "Curtains" compromises what is most critical to who we are - who we all are, regardless of religious background: transcendent beings longing for wholeness and peace.
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