They Hated the Eucharistic Congress and Loved the Olympic Blasphemy

There is an artistic photograph of Thomas Jolly hanging on a cross, wearing clown makeup. The image is unmistakably Christ on the Cross. Recall that Thomas Jolly is the director/choreographer who also designed the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Paris, where he was accused of blasphemously recreating the institution of the Eucharist, Da Vinci’s Last Supper. 

Reporter Christine Niles says of the photograph, “I’m sure Jolly will tell us this is most certainly NOT based on the crucifixion of Christ but rather a pagan scarecrow.” Niles’s parting shot: “And some Christians will actually believe him.”

Of course, there are Catholics who would deny the obvious and who would snigger up their sleeve at anyone who saw anything untoward about Jolly’s photograph. It’s art. It is an homage! Why would you be upset about that? 

These same people were overeager to mock anyone who thought poorly about Thomas Jolly’s Olympic Last Supper. “That’s not the Last Supper, you uncultured dolt! It is one side of a fashion runway and something-something-something Greek and pagan with a blue guy. Everybody who is anybody knows that.” Plus, you bigots, Jesus would have welcomed drag queens at His table, so what’s your problem? 

And how they cheered that Pope Francis’ response to the blasphemy was a nonresponse to the blasphemy but rather a condemnation of war. “Go Francis! He hates those nasty culture warriors, just like we do!”

That this was an image of the Last Supper is clear to all who can see beyond their ideological lens. That Last Supper moment was almost perfectly framed and was a perfect stick in the eye of the Catholic Faith. But, since it was those awful “conservatives” who were saying this, the online lefty coterie has to line up like trained seals to deride, gaslight, and gleefully mock us hillbillies. 

But why would this coterie of online lefty Catholics believe Jolly if he said his crucifixion was merely a pagan scarecrow? And why would they line up to mock any criticism of his Olympic Last Supper? Besides a whole lot of gaslighting going on, this group hates anything that smacks of that great evil: “conservatism.” 

If the “conservatives” do something, even something terrific, these folks hate it. If “conservatives” criticize something, even something awful, these folks defend it. Why? I think it is because “conservatives” hurt their feelings or their sensibilities or something way back at Steubenville or Christendom or someplace where they bumped up against such “conservatives.”

Consider the National Eucharistic Congress. This coterie of new lefties really hated it! Well, they hated it with the possible exception of the part where Gloria Purvis scolded us once again about “racism.” That they loved. They love a good stick in the eye to “conservatives.” But other than that, they really hated it. One Jesuit said it was too white. Others were distraught that rich guys sponsored parts of it. The Napa Institute sponsored an exposition chapel, and this really got them going. To this clique, the Napa Institute is the font of great evil in the Church. What is going to happen next? “Elon Musk sponsors today’s Mass?”

One of these online lefty women was peeved that the chairman of the National Eucharistic Congress sent an email to participants that was “laden with mistruths and culture war nonsense. Yall [they love “Y’all”]. While some good ppl [sic] sought (and received) grace, the conference was/is absolutely framed around a culture war that hurts the people of God.”

She firmly believes the National Eucharistic Congress was all about the culture war.

She must have missed the 50,000 people on their knees before the Blessed Sacrament and the thousand or more priests and bishops in attendance, though I am sure her problem is they were the wrong 50,000 people and most certainly the wrong few thousand priests and bishops.  

These were the same people who were aghast that those icky “conservatives,” led by Catholic Leonard Leo and ghastly “conservative” Catholics like Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh, overturned Roe v. Wade. I recall a column by Simcha Fisher lamenting the passing of Roe. She said now that it had happened, she “did not feel great.” And how these folks gloat whenever the pro-life cause loses a state election.

Here’s the thing. Many of these folks are simply envious. It was not America magazine and lefty Jesuits who put 50,000 people in that Indiana stadium on their knees before the Blessed Sacrament. It was not lefty Catholics who brought down Roe v. Wade; they had abandoned that fight long before Dobbs came down. In fact, they mocked efforts to overturn Roe.  Many of these folks are simply envious. It was not America magazine and lefty Jesuits who put 50,000 people in that Indiana stadium on their knees before the Blessed Sacrament.Tweet This

For some reason, they have a knee-jerk dislike of anything that smacks of “conservatism.” They are true reactionaries. Consider that poor woman getting beaten up by a man in the Olympics; if “conservatives” criticize this, the reactionary Left will mock it. You watch. They are animated first and foremost about their hatred of “conservatives.” 

They must be concerned that, overwhelmingly, the seminarians coming up are more in the mold of Robert Barron and Scott Hahn than James Martin and Michael Sean Winters. However, the good news for them is there will be even more “conservatives” to bitch about.