I threw Rupnik's art away

I accidentally bought a piece of Marko Rupnik art when I was in Rome last month.

I saw a wonderful Divine Mercy medal in a gift shop near my hotel, and at only eight euros, it seemed like a steal. I have long had a devotion to Divine Mercy, I did not have a medal to wear on the chain around my neck, and I thought it appropriate to add one during this trip to Rome for the World Meeting of Human Fraternity.

An hour later, as I was adding the medal to my chain, I took it out of the small display case and realized, to my horror, that on the back of the metal medallion was a color image of the 2016 Jubilee of Mercy logo of created. by Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuit who has been credibly accused and is being investigated for abuses of a grotesque and horrific nature.

I kept the medal, went to the trash can and went to throw it in, I prepared to escape from the image of Jesus carrying a man on his shoulder, the big black oval eyes from Rupniks art, one in the same in the middle of their faces .

But then I hesitated.

Are you allowed to throw a medal with the image of Christ in the trash? One side is the image of Divine Mercy and the other side (despite how much I don't like the art style or the artist) is Jesus carrying a wounded man on his shoulder. Jesus is on this medal. Am I allowed to throw it in the trash? It was not blessed, but it still held holy images. It was only eight euros ($10), but it still had Jesus' face on it.

I froze and decided to just put the medal in my suitcase for now. I could afford it when I got home, but I certainly wouldn't wear it around my neck while walking the streets of the Eternal City.

And here's why, as clearly as I can say it: if I don't have to wear, see or support Marko Rupniks art, then I won't. The credible allegations, the disciplinary measures taken so far and the ongoing mess of the whole scandal are proof enough that I, even in this small way of wearing the medal with his art around my neck, do not have to be complicit. This is a choice I can easily make. It's a small choice. It's a small protest. It is literally the least I can do to avoid even tacitly supporting an artist who made his art by abusing women.

But we are not called to do less. As Catholics, commanded to love and serve the least of these, we are invited, not commanded, to stand up for the most vulnerable, those cast aside and marginalized. And Marko Rupnik's victims fit that category. From time to time, it seems that mosaics with big eyes are valued more than real human beings with broken hearts. Paolo Ruffini's comments in Atlanta last month make it seem as if Marko Rupnik is a victim, that his art is being criticized and he is being punished prematurely, despite credible allegations, his departure from the Jesuits and the reopening of the investigation and case. against him. Victims of abuse, of any kind, are told that the mosaics on the wall are more valuable than their healing and justice.

And it's not just official Q&A in a media room. His tweets comparing Rupnik's sins to those of Caravaggio, or tweets saying that victims of abuse would not want Rupnik's art removed, even though other victims of abuse have bravely spoken out, claiming otherwise. It's when people say oh, it would just be too expensive to remove the art that we start to see where the priorities might lie: how much would it really cost to stay with the victims. When people insist that art can be separated from the artist, and a simple QR code next to an image can provide an explanation that the Church does not support the artist who created what they are looking at, even though we are told that the artist himself abused women while he was creating it, that we come to understand that perhaps this phrase intolerance of abuse is just that: a phase, but not an action item that is the main priority.

What should we do then? Do you tear your clothes and ask for mercy? Write opinion pieces that won't be read by those who can do something about it?

Maybe yes. We continue to write pieces that further highlight the harm of Rupniks art. Perhaps we support more loudly Cardinal OMalley (editor: Cardinal Sean OMalley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors), who called on the Vatican to be aware of the harm caused by the use of Rupniks art, in order to repeatedly, online and in print. . Maybe we stand with victims of abuse, telling them we value them more than the mosaics on the wall and that we will fight for justice on their behalf and healing in their hearts.

And maybe we can throw away the medals with his art that we accidentally bought while in Rome. It's a small start, but more than those who can do something about it seem to be doing it themselves.

Katie Prejean McGrady is an author, speaker and host of The Katie McGrady Show IN Sirius XMS ' The Catholic Channel and a regular contributor to La Croix International with her column'From pews to tweets'. She lives, works and writes from Lake Charles, Louisiana.