A high school in California has discontinued using an infamous image of a crucifix submerged in urine as part of its curriculum following backlash from parents and threats of lawsuits.
Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, part of the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD), drew the ire of Christian students and parents for using Andres Serrano’s controversial 1987 photograph, Immersion (Piss Christ), as part of a required Theory of Knowledge course for its International Baccalaureate Diploma, according to attorneys with the Thomas More Society.
The image, which depicts a crucifix in a jar of Serrano’s urine, sparked a firestorm of public outrage when it debuted in 1987 after being created with grant money from the taxpayer-funded National Endowment for the Arts.
Attorneys with the nonprofit Thomas More Society fired off a letter to the SBUSD on May 9 claiming the school had created an illegal hostile environment for Christian students by using the image and demanded it be removed from the Dos Pueblos High School curriculum.
“The school’s deliberate use of a despicable image in a course required for an International Baccalaureate Diploma shows extremely poor judgment,” Thomas More Society special counsel Paul Jonna said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital. “Even more importantly, it is an act of unconstitutional anti-Catholic, anti-Christian bigotry.”
The attorneys at Thomas More claimed their demand letter was at first met with a “noncommittal response” from the district’s legal counsel, noting a May 22 response letter from them did not verify that the image would be permanently removed from the course.
Parents upset at the inclusion of Piss Christ in the curriculum showed up at the public comment portion of a SBUSD school board meeting on May 23, and those who challenged the principal and threatened a lawsuit were met with applause, according to a video.
Story from Fox News
Thank God for the concerned parents and the Thomas More society attorneys for their fight against the new dystopian reality and this assault on our souls.
How about if the schools try to “Piss” on the Koran? What do they think will happen to them? So why degrade/disrespect our Catholic faith and Jesus? Because we do not threaten them with violence? Disgusting.
It is a lazy comparison.
Axiom, Mary, two beautiful and insightful posts. Thank you.
Fr. James Martin does worse every day on Twitter when he advocates that Catholic doctrine be changed to accept gay sex. And, yes, that’s exactly what he does every day even though he devilishly cloaks it and denies it.
He never has done that.
He did it last week when he said that all Catholics should celebrate pride month to show that they accept LGBT people. By “accept” he doesn’t mean accept them as persons. He means accept the gay sex they do and accept that men pretending to be women really are women.
People. Persons.
Well, it is ridiculous to not accept that some gay people have sex that the Church does not approve of. Just as heterosexual persons do.
And it is a Christian duty to accept that these people have the same dignity as all other people because sin does not remove that.
He has never advocated for changing the Church teaching.
You never should accept that any sex outside of a man-woman sacramental marriage (for Catholics) is licit or moral.
He has had two books since Building a Bridge so he a lot more variety in his twitter now.
He still does some LGBTQ support but not for sex.
I just checked his twitter online. The top post is a retweet of an Outreach Catholic (a gay organization he helped to found) story. Outreach Catholic promotes changing Catholic doctrine to make homosexual genital acts moral. By founding and promoting Outreach, Fr. Jimmy Martin is advocating for Catholic doctrine to be changed to praise gay sex. He does it through cloaked means rather than directly and explicitly. You have to pay attention and analyze. He does it all the time, but through cloaked means.
Oh now the lie is he wants Catholic doctrine to be changed to praise gay sex.
I posted last night when the top post was the 3 Jesuits being ordained. There were 14 posts before there was an LGBTQ tweet. I am not a follower of his on Twitter but I have been checking it lately to see if he weighs in on the Dodgers controversy. I have noticed that there are a lot less LGBTQ posts then he used to have.
Twitter changes rapidly. Now there are two tweets above the Outreach tweet.
But we all know that Fr. Martin does outreach to LGBTQ Catholics and non-Catholics.
The guy in the portrait is Thomas More.
St. Thomas More to faithful Catholics.
When you started this website, if someone had told you that you would use the word “piss” in a headline, what would you have said?
It’s possible that the artwork had a legitimate educational presence in the curriculum. Don’t be so reactionary.
How many Catholic kids are reading this vulgar, filthy news story? I am unsubscribing. No one In my home will ever again view this website.
I knew at least one person would react like that.
Get some thicker skin.
Thick-skinned people are also thick-headed, thick-hearted, and spiritually dead. Protect your Catholic children.
CCD is above reproach in its reporting, and it certainly did not manufacture the offensive title for the despicable photo. This was affixed by the artist. The focus should instead be about the success of the backlash from parents and the Thomas More attorneys in removing this image from the Goleta High School curriculum. Perhaps if you had read the whole story you would have understood its importance. Instead of taking offense at the messenger, why not use that anger to fight against those want to corrupt our school children with anti-Christian images.
Axiom, not all Catholic news stories should be published. St. Therese of Lisieux, Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, Ven. Fr. Patrick Peyton, Pope St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, and our good parish priests– to name a few– would not publish these kinds of news stories. Neither would St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata. And don’t bring Matt Walsh’s filth into your devout Catholic home, either. Look to beautiful Biblical passages of how God created Woman, according to His Divine Plan, for the true answer to “What is a Woman”– not unChristian Matt Walsh and the filthy, dark, Satanic secular world. Our Blessed Mother, the Immaculate Conception and holy Virgin Mother of Christ, is the greatest of all women, the glorious Queen of Heaven. Above all keep your devout Catholic home and family safe, pure and holy, for Christ and Our Lady. Throw away your cell phones, computers, etc., if you must. This is the last I will ever write, on this website. Tomorrow we celebrate Corpus Christi, with a holy Eucharistic Procession after Mass. We must try to bring the Light of Christ into this dark, Satan-infested Culture of Death.
“… not unChristian Matt Walsh ..” Reply to Axiom, your post assumes you know the mind of the saints, and have a special window also into the soul of Matt Walsh, who is a devout Catholic. I found your post painful to read due to this supposed insight of yours which has the look of spiritual grandstanding. If this was your last post I nevertheless ask you, should you see this, to examine yourself on whether your spiritual gaze penetrates accurately into the nature of things.
You are no Catholic gentleman, if you view and endorse obscene filth. Many Me Generationers have no manners, no morals, nor a moral conscience at all. Matt Walsh produced pure obscene filth. If Catholic, he should see a priest, repent, and destroy his trash. Wash his dirty, filthy mouth and his mind thoroughly with soap. A truly good, professional broadcast journalist like Paul Harvey or Walter Cronkite would never allow such filth to be produced or broadcasted in their studios. Do not allow obscene filth and trash in your home. And don’t call yourself a follower of Christ, if you do. Keep your wife and children far away from obscene filth– no matter what you claim to believe. No excuses.
Here is Paul Harvey’s famous broadcast, “If I Were the Devil:”
https://youtu.be/S9NoQHgjM_0
Vin Scully was a renowned Dodgers sportscaster, and a fine Catholic man of integrity and Christian Morality. He stood firmly by his principles, as all other great Catholic and other Christian professionals used to do. They were real men! Good Catholics, patriotic Americans, with tremendous religious Faith, and good family values. Vin Scully would not tolerate immature, unpatriotic athletes, who knelt at the singing of the National Anthem. Today, as the Dodgers are now teamed up with the Devil, awarding the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at tonight’s pre-game event, Vin Scully would resign his job, call out the horrible blasphemy against Our Lord, lead a protest with Catholic fans, and recite the Rosary with them, and join Bishop Strickland in his Eucharistic Procession, making reparations to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for the terrible sins of the Dodgers and the blasphemous, fake “nuns in drag.” I am certain he would sternly reprimand a filthy, immature, obscene, pornographic broadcast journalist, like Matt Walsh, with his film, “What is a Woman?” Vin Scully recorded the complete Rosary on a special CD, for the Catholic Athletes for Christ. You can still order his Rosary CD, through Amazon. We need to bring back true, authentic Catholic and Christian Manhood, with deep convictions of religious Faith, Christian Morality, and deep devotion to Our Blessed Mother, as well as deep patriotic convictions and good Family Values, to this country. Especially for Father’s Day.
Paul Harvey’s prophetic warning, “If I Were the Devil” was broadcast on his radio program nearly 60 years ago, on April 3, 1965.
CCD does precious little “reporting”. It has the college column and the church’s to drive to column. The rest is blatant theft of intellectual property with a link to the source.
And yet you’re a frequent commentator , “blatant theft of intellectual property ” how ? I doubt you have a grasp of how it applies to this site or sites like it , if you think so why are you still here ?. Poor analysis and commentary ,
” The rest is blatant theft of intellectual property with a link to the source.” YFC, as I have noted before, your posts are becoming more negative, even bitter. You weren’t always like this, but you are forced into a combative stance over and over again. I have contributed to that, and I am sorry. I wish all differences here on the forum were simply along the lines of ideas and kept on that level. I have taken some personal hits too, and most of the time it stings. Not everyone can restrain themselves from personal attacks and I shall endeavor all the more not to do so with you, jon or anyone else here with whom I differ. Let us find solace in the love of Christ!
Ignorance is not bliss !, ignoring the evil an horror do not make them go away .
How do you unsubscribe to sonething that doesn’t require a subscription in the first place?
Anti-Catholicism per se isn’t unconstitutional. The National Endowment for the Arts and its grants Are. Had we been faithful to said document in both spirit and letter, “Piss Christ” would likely never have happened.
Tonight, when the Dodgers wrongfully honored the anti-Catholic, anti-Christian Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence– Dodger Stadium was totally empty, except for a small handful of people. I, and many others, were so surprised– and totally thrilled, viewing this online. Outside the Stadium, thousands of Catholics, Protestants and others were gathered, saying prayers, giving big speeches, praying the Rosary, and making big protests. They all wanted to honor Jesus Christ, and make reparations for this horrible act of blasphemy against Our Lord, occurring inside the Stadium. Since the Stadium was near-totally empty for the pre-game honors ceremony– with huge crowds of protesters outside–maybe the Dodgers will re-think their terrible error, and decide never to do this again. That is my hope. God shall have the last word on this.