Pope Lays Wreath at Tomb of Zionism’s Founder

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Jodi Rudoren

Pope Francis prayed after laying a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

ISRAEL---Making history for the second day running, Pope Francis laid a wreath Monday on the grave of the founder of Zionism, becoming the first pope to do so, a gesture of support to Israel after several symbolic signals the day before that lent a spiritual lift to Palestinian aspirations for sovereignty. Francis also joined the Israeli leaders in condemning Saturday’s slaying of at least three people outside the Jewish museum in Brussels, which he called a “criminal act of anti-Semitic hatred.” [link]

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Pope & Patriarch Pray Together in Jerusalem's Holy Sepulcher Church

THE WASHINGTON POST
By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, May 25, 3:21 PM

ISRAEL---Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians have prayed together inside the Jerusalem church that symbolizes their divisions, calling their historic meeting a step toward healing the centuries-old Catholic-Orthodox schism. Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embraced one another in the stone courtyard outside the 12th century Church of the Holy Sepulcher and recited the “Our Father” prayer together once inside. It was an unprecedented moment of solemnity at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected. [link]

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El Paso Museum of Art Announces Retablo Exhibition Focused on "Saint Francis"

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS NEWS
By TAHLIB

Anonymous (Mexico, 19th Century) Saint Francis of Paola, 19th Century

TEXAS---Today's Pope Francis is the head of the Roman Catholic faith, but his namesakes: Sait Francis of Assisi and Saint Francis of Paola were of different eras, and this summer, the El Paso Museum of Art has organized an exhibition of these historic Saint Francis' that spotlights the museum's growing collection of retablos. A retablo or lamina is a Latin American devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art.

El Paso Museum of Art: "Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Francis of Paola" (Ends November 2, 2014) in Dorrance and Olga Roderick Gallery: Retablo Niche; One Arts Festival Plaza, El Paso, TX; (915) 532-1707; elpasoartmuseum.org

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Will Tourists Follow Pope Francis into the Dangers of the Middle East?

iAFRICA.COM

JORDAN---Jordan, home to many Islamic and Christian holy sites, hopes a visit this month by Pope Francis will promote religious tourism and boost an industry hit hard by regional turmoil. Tourism contributes 12 percent of gross domestic product in the desert kingdom and last year saw arrivals drop 10 percent to 5.4 million with revenues falling 6.25 percent to $3-billion. Pope Francis visits the Holy Land on May 24-26 with the first stop in Jordan, home to seven million people including about 200 000 Christians, more or less evenly split between Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. [link]

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As Pope’s Visit Nears, Hate Crimes a Concern in Israel

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Isabel Kershner

ISRAEL---With Pope Francis set to arrive here this weekend, Israeli security officials say they are bracing for possible hate crimes designed to provoke outrage and to sour the atmosphere around the visit. Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the Pope will offer a Mass in the Cenacle, a chamber traditionally revered as the location of the Last Supper, has become a focal point of friction. Jewish extremists say that the Vatican is trying to take ownership of the space, which is in a compound that some Jews revere as the burial place of King David. After a recent spate of hate crimes, including the defacing of a church and offices at the Vatican’s Notre Dame Center in Jerusalem, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, has urged the authorities to do more to crack down. [link]

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Family and Church Fued Over Thomas Eakin's Portrait

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Alison Leigh Cowan

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is trying to sell Thomas Eakins’s portrait of Msgr. Patrick J. Garvey, from 1902. But the family of Monsignor Garvey says the church does not own it and wants it back.

PENNSYLVANIA---The family of Msgr. Patrick J. Garvey, a Catholic priest who was once friendly with the realist painter Thomas Eakins, is trying to block the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from selling a valuable Eakins portrait of the monsignor through the auction house Christie’s. “We have no intent to sell,” said Robert E. Goldman, a lawyer for Monsignor Garvey’s family. “We simply seek to preserve and safeguard the painting, so it can be displayed in a place that honors his memory.”  [link]

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Mateo Hevezi 's "Spirits Among Us" Explores the Wonder of the Gods Around Us

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

#39 Buddha Foot

JAPAN---"Spirits Among Us" is a collection of 55 photographs by Mateo Hevezi which opens May 28 - June 04, 2014 at Kurihara Gallery in Tokyo. "I was born Roman Catholic, so I had always been told a story of one god" he writes on his website. "Why would I believe anything else? This story is all I ever knew, as a child. In Japan, there are many gods … too many to count, in fact." Today, Mateo maintains no political or religious affiliations whatsoever but in his work, he continues to explore the mysteries of faith and wonder introduced to him as a child in northern Indiana, and during his travels around the world. The Kurihara Gallery URL is at kurihara-art.com (Japanese only).

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Little Boy Blue: A&O Prize Honoree Norbert Krapf's Sexual Healing

SKYBLUE WINDOW
By Chi Sherman

INDIANA---Former state Poet Laureate Norbert Krapf has long been drawn to the blues, a love that began when he was in grad school at Notre Dame in the 1960s. Krapf left Indiana for NYC in 1970. He wouldn't return permanently until 2004. The poet's latest collection, "Catholic Boy Blues: A Poet's Journal of Healing," took seven years to complete and includes sensitive subject matter -- some 130 poems in which Krapf confronts the sexual abuse he survived as an altar boy in his youth. Using the blues as a "healing agent," Krapf writes in four voices -- himself as a child, his adult self, the fictional Mr. Blues who serves as a kind of counselor, and the priest who abused him. He's received kind comments from friends in Jasper, has moved some audience members -- themselves survivors of abuse -- to tears, and received in November 2013 the Alpha & Omega Prize, which "celebrates art that influences religious dialogue within the United States." [link]

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Catholic League Mocks Sotheby's Auction of ‘Piss Christ’ by Andres Serrano

THE DAILY CALLER
By Rachel Stoltzfoos

"Piss Christ" (1987) by Andres Serrano in artist's frame for auction

NEW YORK---Andres Serrano’s controversial photograph, “Piss Christ,” is for sale, and the Catholic League thinks anyone who would buy it is a “sucker” and a “lout.” The Catholic League, an organization founded to defend the rights of Catholics, has condemned the piece in the past as “gratuitous and intentionally insulting.” Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest brokers of art, will auction a print Thursday at 9:30 a.m., and expects to get between $100,000 and $150,000 for it. ”The Catholic League will not make a bid,” Donahue added in the statement. “But we are interested in interviewing the sucker who buys it. If you know who the lout is, please have him give us a call.” Serrano has said he wasn’t trying to offend. ”At the time I made Piss Christ, I wasn’t trying to get anything across,” he told The Guardian. “In hindsight, I’d say Piss Christ is a reflection of my work, not only as an artist, but as a Christian.” [link]

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Pope's Favorite Painting Returns to Chicago After Seven-Month Exile

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
By Menachem Wecker

"White Crucifixion" (1938) by Marc Chagall

ILLINOIS---When the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, advertised its exhibit "The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago" on its website, it didn't mention that Marc Chagall's 1938 painting "White Crucifixion" was part of the trove migrating south during Chicago's seven-month renovation of its modern wing. With the Chagall painting and 100 other works from the Art Institute's modern European painting and sculpture section now back home in Chicago, it's important to note that the work, which depicts a decidedly Jewish Jesus on the cross, is also reportedly Pope Francis' favorite painting.[link]

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Reflections: Saints, Art, and History

ARIZONA DAILY STAR
By Jim Griffith

The reclining statue of San Francisco in its old chapel in Magdalena.

ARIZONA---What are saints? In the Catholic Church, they are individuals who, while they lived, displayed the Christian virtues to such an extent that they were welcomed directly into heaven upon their death. One asks a saint to intercede on one’s behalf; it is God who works the miracle, not the saint. This is the official Catholic doctrine. And this is where religious art comes in. The official purpose of Catholic religious art is to give the worshipper visual reminders of sacred narratives, and to provide a focus for thoughts and prayers. Extending things a little farther, the saints can communicate with us through religious art. [link]

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Catholics Continue to Express Favorable Views of Pope Francis

TRUST | SPRING 2014

A Pew Research Center survey found that, six months into his papacy, Pope Francis was rated favorably by 8 in 10 U.S. Catholics, while just 4 percent of them said they have an unfavorable view of the pope. Opinions among U.S. Catholics are largely unchanged since the days immediately after his ascension to the papacy in March 2013. Among U.S. Catholics, Francis receives his strongest support from those who say they attend Mass at least once a week, with 86 percent of this group expressing a favorable view of the pontiff. [Vol. 15, No. 1, pg 30]

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