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Inside
NCR Many
faces of Jesus, changing face of church
When NCR launched its search
for a contemporary Jesus, two dimensions of the project were uppermost in our
minds.
The first was a journalistic question: Considering the resounding
lack of emphasis, outside official church circles, on the relevance of Jesus
Christ to the upcoming millennium, does this Jesus matter any more?
The short, unscientific answer to that is yes. The reaction in the
media, for starters, was as favorable as it was extensive, as if some chord had
been struck, some unfamiliar chord, a recognition that many people had been
overlooking the essential significance of the millennium.
It is interesting that this outpouring -- approximately 100
newspapers carried the story in a matter of a couple of days -- was
overwhelmingly in the secular media, with scarcely a mention in the
nations Catholic press. This was a surprise.
So the art contest became a topic of conversation, often in what
might be described as off our beaten track, from art schools, to prisons, to
the homeless on some streets. There are anecdotes to be told but they must wait
for another day.
The most important reaction to our challenge, however, took place
where artists paint and shoot and sculpt and otherwise imagine and manipulate
new concepts into reality.
I confess that at press time I have seen only a fraction of the
entries. And even if I had seen them all, I would not be so foolhardy as to
comment on their quality.
That takes us to the second dimension of the project: If there
still remains interest in the person, the concept of Jesus, what can artists do
about it at this pivotal moment in our history?
It may sound easy enough, but to create an artistic image of Jesus
2000 is an immense undertaking. Precisely because Jesus has been, by a
landslide, the most popular art subject in history, its that much more
demanding to reconceive him and give new visual life that can survive and
eventually transcend all the usual expectations and win acceptance from a new
generation.
Anticipation is already growing. Artists and others have been
e-mailing and nudging us at least to disclose the number of entries. They are
still being sorted and processed at press time. My own best guess is 1,200 to
1,500 art works from approximately 900 artists.
The entries came from 17 foreign countries as well as the United
States, so this truly has been a worldwide search.
At the end of October our preliminary panel of three judges, Patti
Wigand Sporrong from Chicago, Cory Stafford from Boulder, Colo., and Sherry
Lynn Best from Kansas City, Mo., will meet to select the 10 best works. A week
later, Sr. Wendy Beckett, renowned art critic of BBC-TV fame, will pick the
winner and three runners-up.
We do not intend to announce the top 10 until everything is
revealed on the occasion of our Christmas issue. A supplement will display the
winners and as many others of the judges favorites as we can manage.
And if I may inject a little commercial here: The Jesus 2000
Christmas art supplement will eventually be available separately at a cost of
$5. For those who order it by Dec. 1, however, it will be on sale at the
special price of $3.50, which includes handling and postage. But these must be
ordered by check or money order only (therefore, no credit cards and no phone
calls). The orders should be mailed to NCR, 115 E. Armour Blvd., Kansas
City MO 64111.
What is a church? What is a Catholic
church? Did Jesus have this particular institution, which we now take for
granted, in mind when he walked among us? Presumably he intended the church to
evolve with time. If not, we have been unfaithful to his wishes as we changed
from the year 50 to 100 to 1900 to 2000 -- all A.D., in his name.
The change has been sometimes smooth, sometimes turbulent, it has
been gradual or abrupt, but it has been irreversible. Sometimes, when
Peters barque seems becalmed, as it does, a bit, at the end of this long
pontificate, one has to stand back for a fuller perspective.
Thats what the NCR-Gallup survey sets out to do: For
the third time, at six-year intervals, a team of scholars has focused its
scientific acumen on the U.S. Catholic church. Their findings begin on page
11.
This has been a huge undertaking, and American Catholics owe a
great debt of gratitude to those who conceived the project and brought it to
completion:
- William V. DAntonio, professor emeritus, University of
Connecticut, author of many books and articles and lecturer at dozens of
colleges and universities around the nation.
- Katherine Meyer, professor in the department of sociology at
Ohio State University, also a widely published author and lecturer.
- James D. Davidson, professor of sociology at Purdue
University, an author who has held many administrative positions in the
academic world.
- Dean R. Hoge, professor of sociology at Catholic University in
Washington, author of 10 books and about 80 articles.
-- Michael Farrell
National Catholic Reporter, October 29,
1999
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