Pax Christi USA

They bill themselves as "The national Catholic peace movement". As Bugs Bunny might have said, "Confidentially Mack, they look like Moonies to me!"

These people have not only taken the "spirit" of Vatican II and run with it, they've sped away as if they were riding in a Superamerica!

I tried to construct a cohesive narrative analysis of this site, but can't do it, so pardon my bullet points:

• Their artistic rendering of Archbishop Romero is reminiscent of the idyllic genre of posters and banners one might see in Red Square during the Soviet era. (see fig. 1, fig. 2, fig. 3)


• The ad stating, "The War in Iraq Remains a Defeat for Humanity". Uh, no. It'd be a defeat for the dude in his underwear. Is Baghdad Bob ghost-writing for them? These people could smoke a Rasta under the table!


• Right below the "defeat for humanity" ad, they're plugging the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima & Nagasaki and their "vision for a nuclear free world". That's original.


• The beat goes on, Part 1. Their "product of the week" is "A Backgrounder on Capital Punishment".


• The beat goes on, Part 2. And, if you hadn't guessed already, the second item in their catalog is, a rainbow "peace" flag, which is described as "...an international symbol of hope, solidarity and joy in a time of war and terrorism". Cardinal Mahoney must wet himself just thinking about it!

I could drone on, but I won't. Well, maybe just a couple of quick tidbits on their links page deserve mention...two of my favorite (sic) links to "campaigns endorsed by Pax Christi USA":

• The Catholics for Faithful Citizenship. This smacks of the heretical "Patriotic Rosary" — which recommended replacing the traditional mysteries with various politically-oriented quotes of the Founding Fathers and intoning a prayer for various states (like Alabama, Ohio, etc.) at the end of each decade 'prayed' — promoted by Caritas of Birmingham recently. Can you say caesaropapism?


• And last, but not least, the "National Network to Oppose the Militarization of Youth", complete with the obligatory, overly happy/content/pedagogic third-worlders in the banner graphic. And guess where this page links to? Well, break out your Village People 45s, baby, 'cause the Quakers are goin' disco!

Now, they may all be very nice people, but they sure as hell shouldn't be calling themselves Catholic!