By Joe Bukuras
Boston, Mass., May 18, 2023 / 14:51 pm
Following concerns expressed by the Archdiocese of New York, a Manhattan Catholic church has changed the name of an art display from “God Is Trans: A Queer Spiritual Journey” to “A Queer Spiritual Journey.”
The alteration of the display at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle comes following a firestorm online reacting to photos shared on social media in early May, with many critics calling the display “blasphemous.”
The artwork is still on display at the 19th-century mother church of the Paulist Fathers in a side chapel dedicated to St. Agnes.
The description has also changed slightly. The words “God Is Trans” have been removed from the first sentence.
The placard accompanying the display says the artwork “maps the queer spiritual journey” and says “there is no devil.”
The name and description were revised by the artist, Adah Unachukwu — a student at Fordham University — and the Paulists Fathers’ New York City “artist-in-residence” Father Frank Sabatté.
When CNA reached out to Sabatté for comment, he referred questions on the new title and description to the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, a sponsor of the art exhibition at the church, “Vessel: A Spiritual Art Experience.”
“A Queer Spiritual Journey” is one of eight artworks included in the church’s exhibition, which runs until June 14.
When asked if he thinks the display’s description of the devil’s nonexistence contradicts Church teaching, David Gibson, Fordham’s director of its Center on Religion and Culture, told CNA Thursday that “I think people are taking this very literally.”
“You have to remember, this is an art installation, and this is a very literary and poetic meditation, and this is not a statement of a theological position,” he said.
Gibson said he wouldn’t try to “interpret” what the artist’s intended meaning was, but added: “This is not an effort to revise the catechism.”
Unachukwu could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
CNA asked Gibson if the display’s new title promotes gender ideology, to which he responded he didn’t know what gender ideology is.
“I don’t know. That’s one of those kinds of buzzword phrases. I don’t know. Some people are going to read it that way, I suppose. I don’t even know what gender ideology is, frankly,” he said.
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“All of these terms people will define in their own way, kind of depending on where they’re coming at an issue from. I don’t think there’s any intention to do that, whatever gender ideology is,” he added.
Pope Francis has denounced gender ideology and said in a recent interview that it is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” today because “it blurs differences and the value of men and women.”
Gibson informed CNA that the placard with the new title and description, and an iPad accompanying the display were stolen on Tuesday. The sign has since been replaced.
Paul Snatchko, the spokesperson for the Paulist Fathers, told CNA he didn’t think that the display promoted gender ideology.
“It is one artist’s entitling of her display as part of an eight-person art exhibit,” he said. “It’s just the artist describing their art.”
Snatchko said the mission of the Paulist Fathers is to “go beyond the church walls and encounter people who are not currently hearing about God and Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and faith.”
The art exhibit in the church is a way to bring people in who may not otherwise enter and for the church to “have a conversation with the larger culture,” he said.
CNA reached out to the Archdiocese of New York for comment but received no response.
When CNA asked Snatchko on Monday if the Paulist Fathers believe it is acceptable to say that God is transgender, he answered “no.”
Father Rick Walsh, the pastor of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, is shown preaching in the church in an online video dated June 28, 2020, saying that “Christ is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.”
In the video, he says: “We hear voices from time to time that speak to us female members of our shared body of Christ. And they say we are the weaker sex and that we cannot serve in positions of leadership anywhere including the church. Are they not aware that we who are women are now living in Christ; that we are Christ? Christ is a woman. In Christ, I am also a woman. Once you belong to Christ, you belong to all others who belong to Christ as well.”
“Some say that those of us who are LGBTQ members of Christ’s body do not belong to the body of Christ, totally denying our baptism. Are they not aware that we who are LGBTQ are also living now in Christ; that we are Christ? Christ is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.”
“In Christ, I am lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. Once you belong to Christ, you belong to all others who belong to Christ as well.”
CNA reached out to Walsh for comment but did not receive a response. According to a letter Walsh sent to parishioners on April 27, he announced that he is being reassigned and will no longer be at the parish after June 11. He did not say where he was being reassigned.
