Artwork depicting the Virgin Mary as a stripper stirred trouble while on display at a small Catholic university before the piece was apparently stolen, said the AP.
The print was part of an exhibit last month at the University of Dallas which labels itself as “The Catholic University for Independent Thinkers” that a piece by Joanna Gianulis who said she was trying to raise questions about perceptions of saints and sinners and didn’t intend to be sacrilegious.
“How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful?” she said. “What if she has the best intentions and strives only to help those in need?
“Many single mothers are in this position and that is another reason why I chose to reference the Virgin Mary, because she was another woman who was in a tough position and probably received much criticism because of it.”
Gianulis said she has no digital image of the print. Others who have seen it say it includes a veiled young woman wearing pasties and a G-string with money stuck in it.
All I can say is that I know stealing is prohibited in the Ten Commandments but in this case…I mean come on. God couldn’t have meant stealing this was bad, right?
The display went up Feb. 8 and prompted complaints within a couple of days. University President Frank Lazarus was away from the campus in the Dallas suburb of Irving when it was displayed but went to see it when he returned.
Lazarus said he found the print objectionable but didn’t remove it because of concerns about restricting academic freedom. Instead, he and other officials decided to put up signs warning that some items might be considered offensive.
Joshua Neu, a junior majoring in English and philosophy, (and obviously one of the only sane people on campus) was among those upset by the print.
“The university ought not display images that make profane that which the institution holds sacred,” he said.
Hey, imagine that. I suppose she must have gone to a good high school, I guess.
In 2001, nine members of the full-time staff of the university’s 15-year-old Institute for Religious and Pastoral Studies (IRPS) program, a graduate program designed to prepare lay Catholics for church ministries resigned. The resignations included those of director Douglas Bushman who said,
“I do think the current administration is more sympathetic to those who have difficulty with our emphasis on doctrine as the foundation of all pastoral activity in the Church. All along our concern has been to offer a program consistent with the mind of the Church, to teach in rigorous fidelity to the texts of the Catholic tradition, and to stress the universal call to holiness. A principal objective has always been to lead students to appreciate the interdependence of truth and love, doctrine and pastoral practice, and thereby to overcome the false oppositions between them.”
Imagine that. Actually teaching what the church teaches. Bushman ended up at Ave Maria University where guess I haven’t heard of any blasphemous art works…at least yet.
March 10, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Where is the Bishop of Dallas on this one?
March 10, 2008 at 3:53 pm
“How do we know that an exotic dancer is sinful?” she said. “What if she has the best intentions and strives only to help those in need?”
Is she really that poorly schooled on what her faith teaches?
March 11, 2008 at 3:19 pm
When I read it had been stolen, I was filled with admiration for the student(s) with more backbone than the president. I hope the priest who heard the thief’s Confession gave him/her a fitting penance, like a big hot fudge sundae.
March 11, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I went to the University of Dallas, and graduated in 2006. The faculty and the bulk of the student body are conservative and Catholic, and the administration keeps trying to make us a common, liberal university. Frank Lazerus is a cowardly man, and a weak Catholic. He won’t stand up to the board (half of which is liberal, thanks TO the bishop of Dallas). He won’t rein in the administration, or apparently the art department, which has never really been in synch with the spirit or mission of U.D.
It is also important to note, that the artist who painted that thing is not from U.D. Nope, she is from some other obscure college. They imported the damn painting, if you can believe it.
I love my alma mater, more than I can say. This kind of thing rips out my heart. However, do not write of U.D., it is a good place, with excellent teachers and students, who care about being Catholic.
The ironic thing is that we were just awarded the “Joyfully Catholic” designation in the Guide to Catholic Colleges, or some such thing.
March 12, 2008 at 4:22 am
I too must jump to the defence of UD. The art department has always been at odds with the catholic mission and as I read the stories from my friends at UD. the President hasn’t seen the painting because he was out and by the time he got back on campus from a trip the painting was stolen.
The paragraph about the resignation of the IRPS faculty is about an incident that happened under a previous president, one that was really bad. There are lots of issues with the diocese but UD’s Catholic Identity is still very much intact because the students and teh Theology department especially will not let it go by the wayside.
March 12, 2008 at 9:20 pm
I would like to give a little move information about the situation at UD. UD does have a very strong Catholic idenity which is very evident by the majority of the student body and faculty. I would say that though this piece of “art” was an abomination to the University and the Catholic Community as a whole there is no excuse for the theft.
We are to live in the world but not be of the world. I would venture to say that this would mean that Catholics will have to deal with sins like this against it but we are not to lower ourselves down to the worldly level to think that we can correct the problem by a sin in return.
We must pray for the artist that he/she may realize the harm they have done to the community and we must pray for the thief (theives) that they may repent and at least come foward to accept the consequences of their actions.
March 27, 2008 at 3:19 am
Would like to point out that the artist is not catholic and not from UD. I think the artist brings up the point that who are we to judge what is sinful and what is not?
May 26, 2010 at 11:33 pm
LOL. I'm a graduate of UD and majored in printmaking. This cracks me up because it is NOTHING compared to some of the artwork that was produced by UD students in the 80's.