Concrete ways to fight back
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A stunningly blasphemous act of mockery at the opening of the Olympics in Paris last Friday shocked and pained Christians around the world — but not without some determined to resist.
The hypersexually-charged parody of Leonardo da Vinci's famous 15th century painting depicting Jesus' Last Supper with his apostles at the opening ceremonies stuck a knife in the heart of Christian faith.
And the nonchalance with which the performers inverted the sacred event into what can only be described as a scene from hell added salt to the wounds of believers.
Father Gerald Murray, frequent presenter on various television outlets, lamented,
Actor and comedian Rob Schneider called out the evil, posting on X. "I am sorry to say to ALL the world's GREATEST ATHLETES, I wish you ALL THE BEST, but I cannot watch an Olympics that disrespects Christianity and openly celebrates Satan."
"There were guys with their d*cks out in front of children, bearded drag queens everywhere," Schneider added. "I wasn't sure if I was watching the Olympics or a local school board meeting!"
The perverted parody has cast a pall over the highly-anticipated Olympic games in the so-called "City of Light," overshadowing THE main event — the games themselves. It detracted from the honest competition of world athletes to shamelessly push the leftist LGBTQ agenda, pedophilia included.
The CEO of Christian activist group Voice for Justice UK asserted that the opening ceremony "wasn't a celebration of sport, but of corruption, with 'Inclusivity' revealed in all its glory as a new religion."
"Inclusivity" is a reference to the expressed purpose of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) justification for the mockery.
Caught off guard by the brazenness of the spiritual gut-punch at the start of the games, many failed to see — or express — that the parody is not just as an attack on Christianity, but on God Himself — a harrowing reminder of Our Lady of Fatima's 1917 warning, "God is already much offended."
Father Murray hit the note, adding: "[The blasphemy] is not merely offensive to the people of God" but "it's offensive to God."
Bishop Robert Barron of the Minnesota diocese of Winona-Rochester was among the first clergy to respond to the anti-Christian attack.
"Christians should always resist evil, and I think we have indeed become too timid in the face of our cultural antagonists," Bp. Barron, founder of Word on Fire media, posted on X.
He urged the faithful not to cower or stay meek in the face of such bigotry, saying, "We Christians, we Catholics should not be sheepish, we should resist, we should make our voices heard."
During an interview with Fox News, Barron instructed Christians on how they can push back against the antagonism, noting that Christ's command to turn the other cheek is by no means equivalent to passivity, as is evident in the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"King used non-violent means to interrupt forms of wickedness that had embedded themselves into our society. Turning the other cheek and going the extra mile are practical strategies for mirroring a person's injustice back to him so that he might stop what he is doing and repent," Bp. Barron said.
He also stressed how effective social media can be in fighting evil, saying, "I do believe that today the social media give us a means to accomplish all of these ends. This is why I used my own platforms to resist what was going on in Paris — and I think it was pretty effective."
Bishop James Conley of the Lincoln diocese in Nebraska urged Catholics to re-double their prayer and fasting in light of the travesty.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, often called America's bishop, also weighed in:
"I urge the athletes not to run for the fading crown of worldly acclaim," he added, "instead run for the crown that does not fade, eternal life in Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God."
Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna of Malta reached out to the French Ambassador to Malta to express his outrage at the scandalous performance.
The prelate said he contacted the ambassador to express the "distress and the disappointment of many Christians at the gratuitous insult to the Eucharist during the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics."
Scicluna encouraged his countrymen to reach out to the French Embassy in Malta to do the same.
Father V (Fr. R. Vierling), a popular social media influencer, urged regular recitation of the Litany of Reparation in Honor of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It reads in part:
Be merciful unto us: Spare us, O Lord. Be merciful unto us: Hear us, O Lord.
For so many unworthy Communions, We offer Thee our reparations, O Lord.
For the irreverence of Christians, We offer Thee our reparations, O Lord.
For the continual blasphemies of the impious, We offer Thee our reparations, O Lord.
Sister Benedicta of the Daughters of St. Paul, also known as the media nuns, weighed in on the debacle. She posted that the images of the Olympics Opening Ceremony were such that they "pulled" her "back into chapel … to spend some time with the Heart of my beloved Jesus."
The nun invites everyone to join her in praying this Pauline Offertory, in an act of reparation for evil committed through media. Based on a prayer by the founder of her order, Blessed James Alberione, it reads in part:
Father, in union with all those celebrating the Eucharist throughout the world, I wish to unite myself with the heart and intentions of your beloved Son, Jesus, who offered his life for our salvation:
— that the media may always be used to support the good of each person and the common good … and to build respect for the gifts of God's creation
— in reparation for the errors and scandals spread throughout the world through the misuse of the media
— to call down your mercy upon those who have been deceived or manipulated by the misuse of the media, and led away from your fatherly love
— for the conversion of those who have spread error, violence, or a disregard for the dignity of the person by wrongly using the media and rejecting the teaching of Christ and his Church.
Father Chris Alar of the popular Divine Mercy videocast series lambasted the mockery as "a deliberate attack on Jesus Christ and a direct challenge to the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world."
Picking up on Bp. Barron's call to "resist" and "make our voices heard" in the face of this assault, Fr. Alar urges everyone — all over the world — take action right now.
"We don't burn things down … I think it was not many years ago when there was a cartoon of Muhammad and twelve people were killed because of it — that is not how we
Christians respond," Alar explained.
But, he said, "we are to defend God and our faith so answer the call of the bishop [Barron] and make your voice heard that you do not accept the mockery of God."
Toward this end, he encourages everyone to contact the International Olympic Committee through one of the following options:
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), the renowned theologian, said that every sin is slight compared to blasphemy, because blasphemy is a sin against God directly which is greater than even sins against our neighbor.
These words do well to inform how we respond to the most recent public assault on Christianity.
Dr. Barbara Toth has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition from Bowling Green State University. She has taught at universities in the US, China and Saudi Arabia. Her work in setting up a writing center at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahmen University, an all-women's university in Riyadh, has been cited in American journals. Toth has published academic and non-academic articles and poems internationally.
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