Thursday, February 26, 2009

Catholics Rejoice – Protest Against eBay Auction of Consecrated Host Works!

It's not enough to promote good; we must also fight evil!

Some years ago, a friend warned us of the unthinkable. Someone was selling a consecrated host on eBay.

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(Processional monstrance from the Convent of the Dominican Fathers of Valencia, Spain. When Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, He knew all the future desecrations He would suffer.)

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The seller was capitalizing on the claim that Pope John Paul II had consecrated this host at a Papal Mass in 1998.

Immediately, we issued an alert to its 30,000 e-mail subscribers
encouraging them to send an instant protest e-mail to eBay.

It read, “I am asking you to go beyond removing this sale.  Change your present policy and never allow any consecrated host auctions again by putting them on the list of Prohibited and Questionable Items.”

At first, despite thousands of protest e-mails, eBay was unmoved.

Alarmingly, at least one more consecrated host appeared for sale on the auction site.

However, the protests continued and many canceled their accounts.  We sent in two more waves of protest e-mails while other organizations also kept up the pressure.

After an avalanche of protest e-mails, petitions and calls, eBay decided to change its policy and will now refuse to sell consecrated hosts and other highly sacred objects.

This resolution came to us in the form of a letter.

We transcribe the pertinent paragraphs of eBay’s letter.

As a marketplace, we strive to respect the diverse perspectives of our sellers. We also work hard to promote an open environment for trade.

That said, eBay has policies in place to remove listings for illegal items as well as highly offensive listings that promote hate or intolerance.

We understand that the listing of the Eucharist was highly upsetting to Catholic members of the eBay community
and Catholics globally. Once this completed sale was brought to
our attention, we consulted with a number of our users, including members of the Catholic Church, concerning what course we should take in the future should a similar listing appear on our site.

We also consulted with members of other religions about
items that might also be highly sacred and inappropriate for sale.

As a result of this dialogue, we have concluded that sales of the Eucharist, and similar highly sacred items, are not appropriate
on eBay.

We have, therefore, broadened our policies and will remove those types of listings should they appear on the site in the future.

As always, we welcome and appreciate the assistance of the community in upholding the rules of our site.

Should you see another Eucharist listed on our site, we encourage you to notify us so we can take appropriate action."

While commending eBay for its resolution, we rejoice that, once again, protest proves effective.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, goes the adage attributed to Edmund Burke. One of the reasons good often does little or nothing is because it buys the lie that its opponent is too wealthy, established and powerful.

We feel like David against the all powerful Goliath of a century-old university, tycoon movie industry, wealthy museum, or a worldwide market.

We often forget what the great Teresa of Avila once said: “God and I are the majority.”

In the past three decades we have seen the promoters of blasphemy increase their offenses against all that Catholics
hold most sacred. While some have done little or nothing to combat this evil, others have fought without respite.

The American TFP and its America Needs Fatima campaign are proud to join so many other organizations that have made
admirable efforts to fight this modern plague. These protests have always been peaceful and legal but powerful.

When the Good Moves, Things Happen

In 1978, Planned Parenthood issued a brochure with a blasphemous cartoon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with a deformed
and ridiculous face in an advanced state of pregnancy.

The TFP entered the fray by coordinating a protest of 2000 people before the headquarters of the anti-life organization in downtown New York City. The result was a written apology from Planned Parenthood before the street protest was even over.

Ever since, the TFP has organized public protests and postcard drives. Some of the major protests included actions against the movies, “Hail Mary” in 1985, “The Last Temptation of Christ” in 1988, and against the play “Corpus Christi” in 1998.

After 2000, the blasphemies escalated. In 2000, the TFP organized protests against the movie “Dogma”; against a museum exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Alma Lopez’ “Our Lady” exhibit, and the play “Jesus Has Two Mommies.”

In 2002, we protested the movie “The Crime of Father Amaro,” the play “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told”; in 2003, against the ABC-TV program “Jesus, Mary and Da Vinci”; and in 2004, against the play “V***** Monologues,” and we regret to report that these are only the main ones.

Although silence is generally the tactic used by offenders in response to protests, God has granted us the consolation to know how importune antiblasphemy protests are to the producers
of public blasphemy.

Some Examples

In 1988, the American TFP demonstrated at the debut of “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and published a full-page
advertisement in The New York Times protesting the outrage. Shortly after, the film’s director, Martin Scorcese, acknowledged in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ¡Ya! on September 8,
1988 that the protests and controversy surrounding the film were effective in changing people’s perception of it.

“I believe that my film reflected the Divine nature of Jesus [sic] and at no moment did it offend the religious sentiments of any viewer. However, the problem is that after so much
controversy, the public went to see my film already conditioned and convinced that it was sacrilegious and blasphemous. If the public debate around it had not occurred and the press had not given it so much attention, the public would have seen the
film with other eyes. . . .”

In June 2001, the honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe was defended in Santa Fe, N.M., when a large crowd of pained devotees of Mary offered public reparation for Alma Lopez’ bikini-clad “Our Lady” of Guadalupe held aloft by a female, topless  “angel” exhibited at the Santa Fe’s Museum of International Folk Art.

This protest pierced the artificial silence. At the 96th annual meeting of The American Association of Museums held in Dallas in May 2002, which 5,000 museum officials attended, a panel discussion was formed to deal with the subject of anti-blasphemy protest.

The panel focused on Alma Lopez’ display, suggestively labeling the discussion, “Our Lady of Controversy.”

James Miller of the TFP attended the meeting and reported his amazement at the confessed sensitivity and vulnerability of museums to public protest. “Accept that you are not going to win,” said one panelist, “There is no [winning] in such a controversy. You’re just going to survive.  Those are the facts. It’s not pretty but those are the facts.”

Others reported their own helplessness in explaining to the
public their reasons for airing blasphemy.

They noted how one scene of a protester praying a Rosary on the evening news had the effect of erasing any public sympathy
for the museum. They testified that protests are not just symbolic gestures or free publicity but effective statements that echo throughout the arts community.

Alma Lopez, speaking on the panel, admitted that it was “difficult and hard to go through all this,” as she received hundreds and hundreds of e-mails from offended Catholics and even children.
Panel speakers were also impressed at how well organized the protest was and showed slides to illustrate the point.

Deputy Director McCarthy stressed the national projection of the controversy by admitting that the museum received over 65,000 protest postcards from the TFP effort. “How seriously do you take
these people,” McCarthy asked rhetorically before  responding, “Very seriously!”

And further noted how unprepared the museum was, especially as the protesters “never, never gave in on any point.”

Journalist and panel member Hollis Walker told the audience that blasphemy protests are a no-win situation for museums, and that their best policy is defense and damage control.

The panelists also acknowledged that the fact that Archbishop Michael Sheehan of the Santa Fe diocese spoke against the exhibit caused irreparable damage to the museum’s public relations
campaign.

Panelists qualified Archbishop Sheehan as “one of the most powerful people in the state of New Mexico.” In the end, the Santa Fe Museum of International Folk Art conceded by canceling
the four-month extension planned for the exhibit, thereby acknowledging that the controversy had created a rift with the local community.

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Finally, though it helps to verify the dents we make with God’s help against blasphemy, protest is a right, a duty and a privilege.

We pray and hope that the success against eBay’s auction of the Holy Eucharist be a motivation to Catholics to do what they must in face of blasphemy.

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