www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall A Happy Ending!

So much of the news we hear today is very depressing. As a journalist I know that happy stories rarely make the news, but here is a story with a happy ending that is near and dear to my heart.

http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/orlandpark/1537977,042209churchtheft.article

Words can't express how excited I was to read this article. There was one small error in the article. The two icons that were stolen from our parish were stolen about two years ago during Lent, not a few weeks ago. I'm sure the reporter just heard that it happened during Lent and assumed that it occurred this year.

Katie

Such good news for your parish and priest, dear Katie!
Glory to God!

An excellent story indeed.

Home Glen Holy Water Font Recovered [cbs2chicago.com]

This quote by Fr. Loya does not sit well with me; I think it is rather extreme and distasteful. It also does not make much sense to me.

Thanks for the video link John.

The ending is happy, but I still find it disturbing that thefts like this could occur.

It did register as rather odd to me as well. Perhaps he was just upset.

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Father was likely speaking in the language of The Theology of the Body. Also, during Great Week and Pascha many of our liturgical texts reference marriage, bridal chambers, etc. The theft likely happened on Pascha, when Christ emerged from the tomb--a bridal chamber.

How many people reading that quote would understand? I would assume that many would find it offensive.

I've got to ask, what exactly is the problem or the offence? I think I understand, am not offended, and think it accurately, as a metaphor, makes the correct point. I can even say that I could find myself saying the same. If there is a nuance that I'm missing, please explain what it is. Thanks.

I think it is insensitive, bordering on repulsive, to compare anything, even theft of a holy object from a holy place, to that of rape. In the commission of a rape, something is taken away, something that can never be replaced, but it is not just a simple theft, it's violent, offensive to the sexual act of conjugal love, and an offense of God.

While the Baptismal Font is a holy object, and rightfully so, it cannot compare to the Temple of the Body created in the "image and likeness of God," (cf Gen 1:27). I believe in reducing the act of rape in a metaphor relating to the theft of an object we reduce the sacredness of humanity.

After some reflection and reading others' responses I think I understand the message that Fr. Loya is trying to convey, but I still disagree with the presentation of it.

Peace in Christ,
Ed

I did ask, and I'm sure you've responded sincerely. If I may explain, I asked because I thought the repetition of your view/emotions along with the possible inference of wider agreement ("I would assume that many would find it offensive.") might be implying as fact, no doubt inadvertently, an unwarranted and unproven consensus.

I do not presume to speak for Fr. Thomas, but allow that figures of speech (the metaphor, or the hyperbole for instance) do not survive well under dissection. Whether it is simile or metaphor (Forgive me, Sr. Roberta of blessed memory, I can't recall it exactly!), however, the comparison as intended is of unlike things, and that is as stated, not in reverse. It is not the case here of "reducing the act of rape in a metaphor" -- a virgin being raped is like my church (having a sacred vessel stolen)-- but of conveying a sense of outrageous violation rather than what might otherwise be considered just a simple act of theft of some replaceable item.