Remember the suffering Christ of `fact'
Shannon and Frank Valenzuela
graduate students
It's sad that a person who has had 15 years of Catholic education would ask why humor about God would make people uncomfortable. After 15 years, he should know the answer.
According to Muto, people are squeamish about these jokes because they don't know his Christ of "fact" — someone who associates with prostitutes and the Devil and gets people drunk. But the real Christ of "fact" — of the New Testament — forgave the sins of the prostitute, changed water into wine in obedience to Mary and sent the Devil packing. Not to mention that the Christ of "fact" was scourged, crowned with thorns, spit upon, mocked, stripped and nailed to a cross, where he slowly suffocated to death to save us from damnation.
But this isn't the "intense" Christ that Muto wants to hear about, it seems. Suffering and death are not "hip." It's easy to "hang out" with a god who associates with prostitutes, drunkards and the Devil. It's hard to "hang out" with a God whose mission was to be tortured to death. (Note well: Catholics are required to believe in a perfect, not "flawed," Christ: see "The Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma.")
The suffering Christ is too intense. That's why, instead of seeing the face of the dying God when they look at a crucifix, some people choose to see "nice abs" and to wonder about nails and frames. These people make the crucifixion a joke because "they can't handle the truth." They can't handle the Christ of "fact." That's a fact, and it isn't funny.
Christ told St. Peter to "feed my sheep." We can only conclude from Muto's article that, somewhere along the line, some sheep weren't led to pasture. We hope that religious instructors will realize that children depend on their guidance and, in light of the apparent failure of Muto's education, that they will redouble their efforts to provide solid teaching in the faith.
But perhaps we drive home the point too strongly. After all, we're just another couple of Catholics without a sense of humor.
Shannon and Frank Valenzuela
graduate students
Feb. 24, 2002
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, February 26, 2002
