Amppax Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 This is a letter written by one of the few African American bishops we have. I haven't had the chance to read through all of it yet, but it's certainly thought provoking. I'm sharing it here because I'm assuming that other people will be interested in it too. I'd love to hear what people think, once they've read it. It's pretty long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Wow, that's long. Will have to read another time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superblue Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 ugh I read the prologue and hated it, the snide way of slipping in, " how would you feel if everyone in the Catholic Church were portrayed as multiracial or black with only a few white saints " , it's a crock question; but why is it being brought up by black bishop ? It is a crock question for plenty of reasons, if we are going down the racial road, then we have to acknowledge and address the gender issue as well and give that just as much serious thought and prayer as this bishop suggests we do in regards to " racial divide " etc in " society and the church ". It is poor article over all, with a slanted vision. There are soo many reasons for bias and racial division just in the Church alone, and when he speaks of only one race in a congregation or only a few races here an there,,,, it is silly, of course there are going to be mainly one race of people in a congregation or economic class, pending where the church is built. By this logic of thinking that he mentioned, if I go to the heart of Mexico, and I see myself an only a handful of whites in the congregation, evidently by his thinking, this is a problem. More over Mexicans should have their version of God / Christ as a Mexican. By focusing on such things, art, etc and pointing it out, is only flaming the racial divide not answering it. You want to see more racially diverse art work, then create it, but don't go and proclaim it unfair that since history only focused on certain races or only feature certain races that in turn means something is wrong. Christ is / was Jewish it is a fact, but more over what is unfair, is that later in history his disciples , saints, and apostles have come from all races and to ignore that, and not address that, more over to not research any art that has been created to show that is proving the disingenuousness of this paper in general. The Renaissance period features art the way it does because of those who commissioned the art work and where the art was being created, not because of racial biases. So that is one reason why that prologue is so off and wrong. Then I jumped to the end of this, and it is just a big of mess as the prologue , basically after you are done praying,{ go to a mainly black catholic church and " learn about them and make new friends " } As Catholics we don't need to do anything special to " bridge the racial divide " we just have to start living our faith in all aspects of our life. It doesn't help by playing who is the biggest victim game, racial divide goes both ways and that is not what is addressed in any way here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 Wow, that's long. Will have to read another time. That's what I said. Saved to Pocket for another day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) This is a letter written by one of the few African American bishops we have. I haven't had the chance to read through all of it yet, but it's certainly thought provoking. I'm sharing it here because I'm assuming that other people will be interested in it too. I'd love to hear what people think, once they've read it. It's pretty long. I find African American Bishops boring, and quite frankly, uninspired. African Bishops, however, are endlessly interesting to listen to. I think it's because their cool accent draws me in. Edited January 7, 2015 by PhuturePriest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilllabettt Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I find African American Bishops boring, and quite frankly, uninspired. Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 I find African American Bishops boring, and quite frankly, uninspired. African Bishops, however, are endlessly interesting to listen to. I think it's because their cool accent draws me in. Not one of your best quotes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 (edited) Not one of your best quotes. But see, if you only read the first line I sound racist, but then if you read the second you realize I just like accents. I would choose to listen to an African, British, Australian, French, or whatever Priest any day over an American one. American accents bore me and I tend to drone out after a while if what you're saying isn't stimulating. Stop assuming the worst in people. Give people the benefit of the doubt. :| It also helps to know I can't even name an African American Bishop, so obviously I can't make a judgment on how I perceive them in the first place. The only African Bishop I can name is Cardinal Arinze, who is overall good, though a video I saw a while ago makes me question his actual niceness. Edited January 7, 2015 by PhuturePriest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amppax Posted January 7, 2015 Author Share Posted January 7, 2015 But see, if you only read the first line I sound racist, but then if you read the second you realize I just like accents. I would choose to listen to an African, British, Australian, French, or whatever Priest any day over an American one. American accents bore me and I tend to drone out after a while if what you're saying isn't stimulating. Stop assuming the worst in people. Give people the benefit of the doubt. :| It also helps to know I can't even name an African American Bishop, so obviously I can't make a judgment on how I perceive them in the first place. The only African Bishop I can name is Cardinal Arinze, who is overall good, though a video I saw a while ago makes me question his actual niceness. I get that. but still. :| And I'm not assuming the worst, I'm letting you know how it comes off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 I get that. but still. :| And I'm not assuming the worst, I'm letting you know how it comes off. Oh, I knew how it would come off. I thought intentionally saying incendiary comments was how this whole trolling thing works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihil Obstat Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Good trolls never claim to be trolling. You have much to learn, kouhai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisa Marie Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 The whole "well that's just the way it was" and "if you want diverse representation in your art why don't you just create it" arguments miss the point. It's not wrong to paint White Jesus. It's not wrong that White Jesus art is popular art. What's wrong is that White Jesus became so popular that it not only became the standard depiction of Jesus but also that it left no room for Brown Jesus or Black Jesus. It's good to think about what your reaction would be if you grew up looking at Black Jesus. Art with Black Jesus looks weird to me, although it shouldn't be much different than looking at White Jesus. It's okay for me to acknowledge my own biases. Christianity got fused with European culture centuries ago, and there's loads of evidence that Christian missionaries were just as interested in spreading European cultural ideals along with Christianity. There weren't big separations between society and religion and politics and culture like there are today. That's just what happened. So we have to acknowledge that the fact that White Jesus is so popular in regular art as well as "great" art is hugely due to European cultural imperialism. Along with that, we need to be conscious of it and allow other cultural depictions of Jesus (and religious figures) to thrive. And that's not simply just a matter of telling artists to make art. Look how many people criticize the inclusion of cultural diversity and write it off as PC nonsense. You wouldn't need to include White Jesus in a Mexican community with a few white people, because White Jesus is already popular and easy to find. It would, however, be good to include Mexican cultural "stuff" and events for a white community with a small Mexican population, but it's not easy to find Brown Jesus and all that goes along with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 The song Black Jesus by Tupac is genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhuturePriest Posted January 7, 2015 Share Posted January 7, 2015 Good trolls never claim to be trolling. You have much to learn, kouhai. If you want trolling on Phatmass up to your own standards, perhaps you shouldn't leave me to be the only one here trying to keep this place alive and well? :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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