If you subscribe to the idea that the lowest, most base offenses create the most buzz, then this latest stunt should probably have taken the cake.
Of course, its OK to offend Catholics. The line about comparing it to offending any other group — Muslims, homosexuals in the Castro district of San Francisco, or challenging a adamantly secular viewpoint — is both valid and extraordinarily old hat.
Naturally, you can’t force anyone to be good. Even if you could accomplish this, the results would be artificial, a methodical response to right action that drains the life out of most things, be it faith or law or rules.
That images such as the Mexican edition of Playboy evoke something contrary to what typically happens in the world. There were no riots. No one was harassed. No child was expelled from a publicly-funded school.
Yet the Catholic response typically results in a respectful yet forceful condemnation, one built around an example. That it is uniquely set apart from an otherwise worldly response says more about our faith than it does about anything else.
Images like these (or at least stories about them) trouble me intensely. Setting aside the respect Catholics reserve for the Blessed Mother, the intent is disrespectful to both Catholics and women alike. Those who hate the Catholic Church (and there are many) will continue to poke, prod, cajole, criticize, offend, and provoke the faithful.
To what ends do they provoke us? Well… to behave and react as they would and do.
That Catholics do not riot at offenses such as these is a testament that — at least in the quarters where the faithful still believe — we are indeed set apart.
As Christians we have something the rest of the world wants, but easily. And because Christianity is not bought, turn on at the flip of a switch, or done in any other way other than through a little something called grace which is a gift from that all-too-forgotten being called God — too often it’s discarded for the strum und drang of things; gifts, gossip, money, investments, feelings, holiday lights, or worse just tearing something beautiful down.
So friends, take it in stride. It’s called Advent for a reason, you know.