Thursday Entry - Catholic Guilt

Catholic guilt is the term used to identify the supposed excess guilt felt by Catholics and lapsed Catholics.

"Living in sin, with sin, by sin, for sin, every hour, every day, year in, year out. Waking up with sin in the morning, seeing the curtains drawn on sin, bathing it, dressing it, clipping diamonds to it, feeding it, showing it round, giving it a good time, putting it to sleep at night with a tablet of Dial if it's fretful. Always the same, like an idiot child carefully nursed, guarded from the world. 'Poor Julia,' they say, 'she can't go out. She's got to take care of her little sin. A pity it ever lived,' they say, 'but it's so strong. Children like that always are. Julia's so good to her little, mad sin.’" (from Brideshead Revisisted by Evelyn Waugh)

Johnson, Kevin Orlin. Why Do Catholics Do That? Ballantine Books, 1995.
Johnson defines and expatiates upon hundreds of topics, including the Mass, the rosary, the cross, the eucharist, and the pope.

My work would not exist without Catholic guilt.

Monday Entry - Antonella Arismendi

From the Info section of her website:
Passionate about film and story telling, this little lady from the mid eighties grew up with barbies, twin peaks and the ghosts of Raota, which adorn the hallways of her home to this very day.
Her influences converge in a magical fusion of technique, sensuality and mystique which have defined her artistic persona.
Captivating by nature, Antonella plans to blow up everything, at least that's what her natal chart says.


Website

Magazine featuring her work

Review

Thursday Entry - Eschatology

Eschatology is a part of theology and philosophy concerned with what are believed to be the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the end of the world.

Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal. Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life. Catholic University of America Press, 2007. Eschatology presents a balanced perspective of the doctrine at the center of Christian belief--the Church's faith in eternal life. Recognizing the task of contemporary eschatology as "to marry perspectives, so that person and community, present and future, are seen in their unity," Joseph Ratzinger brings together recent emphasis on the theology of hope for the future with the more traditional elements of the doctrine. His book has proven to be as timeless as it is timely.

"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened." - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Monday Entry - Terry Richardson

Terry Richardson (1965 - ) is an American fashion photographer. He has done editorial photo shoots for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, and Sports Illustrated, among others and has published several photography books. He most often employs the snapshot aesthetic in his photography.

Website

Interview

Thursday Entry - Sacrament of Confirmation

"A sacrament in which the Holy Ghost is given to those already baptized in order to make them strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ." (from Catholic Encyclopedia)

Amodei, Michael. "Send Out Your Spirit: A Confirmation Candidate's Handbook for Faith". Ave Maria Press, 2003. A guide for Catholic teens to study and reflect on their faith.

"Send forth upon them thy sevenfold Spirit of Holy Paraclete. I sign thee with the sign of the cross and confim thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." (from the ceremony of the Sacrament of Confirmation)

It was during the process of preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation that I really began to question my feelings on Catholicism and became especially fearful of the religion in general, so it is probably the most important ritual for me to research and draw from.

Monday Entry - Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans (1968 - ) is a German artist who lives and works in Berlin and London. He received the Turner Prize in 2000, among other awards, and runs Between Bridges, an exhibition space in London. He has created several artist's books throughout his career.

Website

Reviews

Galleries

Thursday Entry - Persistence of Vision

Retinal retention of a bright image that is followed by darkness.

Though this term is mainly used to describe Max Wertheimer's discovery and its relation to film-making, I've been thinking about it a lot recently in conceptual terms, especially in congruence with religion. This started when I first took note of the frequency of incidents in which I'd have persistence of vision in the form of a crucifix; in my room in Alexandria, I have a crucifix hanging near my lamp, and when I'd turn off the light before going to sleep the image of the crucifix would stay behind my eyes. My room in Richmond is lit with Christmas lights and I have various religious iconography on my walls, so often when I close my eyes I'll be left with the vision of a crucifix or the Virgin Mary.

The definition itself is also relevant: the rention of a bright image followed by darkness brings mind a variety of religious metaphors. When I placed myself within the metaphor, what I considered most was was the idea of bright - the aspects of Catholicism I favored, such as the Golden Rule (and it being ingrained in my family, whom I adore), followed by darkness - the realization that I vehemently disagreed with the majority of the Catholic Church's teachings and the personal struggle that created.

A video on the persistence of vision

Monday Entry - Ryan McGinley

Ryan McGinley (born October 17, 1977) is an American photographer living in New York who began making photographs in 1998. In 2003, at the age of 24, McGinley was the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was also named Photographer of the Year in 2003 by American Photo Magazine. In 2007 McGinley was awarded the Young Photographer Infinity Award by the International Center of Photography.

In 2008, the band Sigur Ros used one of his images as their album cover art and their video for the song Gobbledigook was inspired by his work.

Gallery

Website

Interview

Thursday Entry - Penance (Confession)

Repentance of Sins (Catholicism)

"Three conditions are necessary for Penance: contrition, which is sorrow for sin, together with a purpose of amendment; confession of sins without any omission; and satisfaction by means of good works." - St. Thomas Aquinas

Hahn, Scott. Lord, Have Mercy: The Healing Power of Confession. Doubleday Religion: New York, 2005. Hahn's newest book is a defense of the Catholic sacrament of reconciliation (which he always calls by its older names of confession or penance) as well as a source of practical instructions for those unaccustomed to confessing.

The ritual of confession and penance will factor heavily into my narrative.