We’re only four days away from the anointing of the messiah. On Tuesday, Jan 20 Barack Obama will be sworn in as President of the United States. The mountains will crumble and the skies will open. A dove will descend on Obama’s head or perhaps on the Lincoln Bible that he will use to pledge his oath. If it were June or July our president-elect might even emerge from the Potomac River, symbolizing the nation’s washing away of the Bush Administration.
Well, maybe not.
Sure I am being facetious. Yet, even the most objective observer must confess that the adoration of Obama has reached dizzying heights, even redefining the term “cult of personality”. Think I am exaggerating:
$ After hearing that Obama was a Spider-Man fan growing up, Marvel Comics decided to devote an issue to the webbed super hero and the president-elect. Obama is featured on the cover giving Spidey a thumbs-up. Apparently the two even fist-bump in the issue.
$ Masonry, a society condemned by the Catholic Church, is holding an inaugural ball in honor of our president-elect. According to a press release announcing the event, on Jan 20 The William R. Singleton-Hope-Lebanon Lodge #7 of Washington D.C. will host the “first-ever Masonic Inaugural Ball in honor of President-elect, Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joseph Biden.” Considering that Freemasonry has existed in the U.S. since our nation’s inception, it is surprising that this is only D.C.’s first Masonic inaugural ball. (Incidentally, among the reasons the Catholic Church demands that its flock not join Freemasonry is that “theoretically and practically it undermines the Catholic and Christian faith, first in its members and through them in the rest of society, creating religious indifferentism and contempt for orthodoxy and ecclesiastical authority.”) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm
$ The Brooklyn Cyclones, a minor league baseball team that plays in Coney Island, will rename itself the “Baracklyn Cyclones” on June 23 to honor our president elect. The team will dress in a red, white, and blue uniform with the name Baracklyn Cyclones spread across the jersey. Fans who attend will receive an Obama bobble-head doll. What connection the president-elect has to Brooklyn to warrant this adulation is unknown . . . at least to me.
In truth, although I did not vote for Obama and I disagree with him intensely on certain issues, I feel sorry for him. With the expectations heaped upon him he cannot help but fail. The number of Americans, including those in the media, who expect him to lead us out of this “recession” is staggering. This global financial collapse has been brewing for decades and experts are as clueless as the average person as to the direction the world economy is headed. Yet, people still expect Obama to shepherd us to the promised land.
Our new president appears to be an intelligent man who will work diligently as president. In light of the executives he has selected for his administration, he seems to want a diverse group that reaches across the political spectrum. That is a welcome sign and we wish him well.
But let’s remember Psalm 145: 2-3:
“Put not your trust in princes: In the children of men, in whom there is no salvation.”
Donald Tremblay
Catholic Agenda
Catholic Agenda
Showing posts with label Cult of Personality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cult of Personality. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2009
Sunday, November 30, 2008
That Most Evil of Holidays
(A speech from a progressive politician in Anywhere, USA)
Attention, everyone! I have an announcement.
It’s that time of the year again—time for the most evil holiday on the calendar.
Christmas.
We must resume our annual battle to prevent the open celebration of Jesus’ birth. Our main point of attack will continue to focus on the notion that Christmas displays create hostile environments for non-believers. Playing the victim card continues to work well. We’ve been able to virtually eliminate Nativity scenes from the public sphere, and we’ve white-washed the term Christmas tree and replaced it with the conventional Holiday tree. Public schools have proven invaluable. Christmas concerts have been replaced by Winter Festivals. Children may sing about Kwanzaa and even Hanukkah, but the only "Christmas" songs allowed are those generic winter songs about sleigh-riding, Santa, and winter wonderlands.
What is that you’re saying in the back of the room? The majority of Americans want Christmas decorations publically displayed? Forget them. We who are offended by Jesus have the final say . . . even if there are only a limited number of us. When you have as many supporters in the judiciary as we have, the number of followers is irrelevant. If those Jesus Freaks want to celebrate his birthday then let them go to a church.
On to the next item: I have in my hand a few of the anti-Christmas strategies that have been put into effect by other towns around the nation. These are just two examples; there are many more that will be enacted over the next few weeks.
Last weekend the town of Patchogue, NY celebrated its 15th annual boat parade. Formerly the Patchogue Christmas Boat Parade, the name was changed to the Patchogue Holiday Boat Parade because of "complaints that the use of ‘Christmas’ seemed to make the parade less inclusive". (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443785,00.html) Fireworks by Grucci withdrew their fireworks donation to protest the change, but so what? Getting rid of the word Christmas is what matters.
"Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) administration has banned all holiday decorations from common spaces on campus and canceled a popular greeting card design contest, which is being replaced by an ugly sweater competition. In Griffin Hall, the university's giving tree for needy preschoolers has been transformed into a ‘giving garden.’" (http://www.news-press.com/article/20081125/NEWS0104/811250380/1075 )
Pretty good, right?
Yes, yes. I understand you’re frustrated because you still have to confront those offensive decorations on people’s private property. Be patient. Think about how much we’ve accomplished in just the past 10 years. Eventually we’ll be able to concoct some law that your rights are being violated by the very sight of these hateful Christian symbols regardless of where they are displayed.
And remember to look at the total picture. Each year more people accept the minimizing of Christmas. We have succeeded in making them feel powerless to stop our onslaught. Plus, we are now rearing generations of children who are clueless as to how widespread the Christmas holiday once was. In another 20 years our followers will be legion.
Let’s meet again next week. We have much work to be done.
Donald Tremblay
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The king and The King
When most people think of Elvis Presley they envision the 1957 teen who revolutionized music and sent girls swooning with his gyrating performances. Few of these people know how spiritual “The King of Rock-n-Roll” was and how he struggled daily to be closer to the “King of Kings”. Gospel was Elvis’ greatest musical love, which is fitting since despite his multitude of number #1 hits, he never won a Grammy Award until 1967 for “How Great Thou Art”.
Catholicexchange.com (http://www.catholicexchange.com/2008/09/27/113998/) has posted an interview with Dolores Hart, the actress who starred with Elvis in Loving You and King Creole before leaving Hollywood to become a cloistered Benedictine nun. Among the stories she tells is that of her and Elvis during the filming of King Creole:
When we were making King Creole, he had so many people after him — you couldn’t walk through the streets in New Orleans. It was like a circus. You would not believe the crowds. Policemen were everywhere. We had to go to hotel rooms to wait in between scenes. When we finally got to the site, we were ushered into the elevator, [and] in the hotel rooms. There would be boards built from one hotel to another. We crossed over to another hotel and would go down the elevator and enter another room. They’d bring us sandwiches. Elvis would open the Gideon Bible, as that was the version placed in the hotel rooms. Whatever passage he’d open it to, we would talk about it. He would ask me, “What do you think of this passage?”
In the estimation of many, including myself, Elvis was the greatest ballad singer in history. When he sang ballads (and gospel) his spiritual hunger for God shone through in his voice, his mannerisms, and his passion. It was as if a portion of his soul was spent with each note, each lyric.
Society idolizes celebrities. They are royalty. They are larger than life. Elvis’ life de-mythologizes that “Cult of Personality”. He was an incredibly gifted performer who brought joy to many. Yet he was also a sad, flawed individual desperate to be re-united with God and suffering the pains of that separation.
In other words, he was like you and I.
Catholicexchange.com (http://www.catholicexchange.com/2008/09/27/113998/) has posted an interview with Dolores Hart, the actress who starred with Elvis in Loving You and King Creole before leaving Hollywood to become a cloistered Benedictine nun. Among the stories she tells is that of her and Elvis during the filming of King Creole:
When we were making King Creole, he had so many people after him — you couldn’t walk through the streets in New Orleans. It was like a circus. You would not believe the crowds. Policemen were everywhere. We had to go to hotel rooms to wait in between scenes. When we finally got to the site, we were ushered into the elevator, [and] in the hotel rooms. There would be boards built from one hotel to another. We crossed over to another hotel and would go down the elevator and enter another room. They’d bring us sandwiches. Elvis would open the Gideon Bible, as that was the version placed in the hotel rooms. Whatever passage he’d open it to, we would talk about it. He would ask me, “What do you think of this passage?”
In the estimation of many, including myself, Elvis was the greatest ballad singer in history. When he sang ballads (and gospel) his spiritual hunger for God shone through in his voice, his mannerisms, and his passion. It was as if a portion of his soul was spent with each note, each lyric.
Society idolizes celebrities. They are royalty. They are larger than life. Elvis’ life de-mythologizes that “Cult of Personality”. He was an incredibly gifted performer who brought joy to many. Yet he was also a sad, flawed individual desperate to be re-united with God and suffering the pains of that separation.
In other words, he was like you and I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
