Friday, September 10, 2004

Satire?

Satire?
In response to my 'most bizarre thing I've seen all year' posting, I received the following (slightly puzzling) comment from Father Ethan.
I think that is anti-Catholic. They are mocking our vestments and customs. That is very wrong.
Respondeo dicendum quod
Without a doubt, Fellini was engaging in satire, but I'm at a loss why you seem to be taking it so seriously. Have you seen the film, or even the sequence in question?
I would suggest that the thrust of Fellini's satire is not so much Catholic 'vestments and customs', but rather clerical life in Rome and the rush to modernization within the Church in the early 1970's. Believe me, they both have aspects open to satire. There's also, no doubt, a swipe at certain excesses in vestmentry of a more 'pre-conciliar' stripe. Strange as some of my readers may find it, but there is such a thing as 'too much lace'.
Anyone got anything to add? Should Catholics find Fellini's Ecclesiastical Fashion Show offensive, or does it fall within the realms of fair comment?

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