From: LASAGA@corral.uwyo.edu (LASAGA)
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Pope's Moral Authority Gone Astray (Denver Post article)
Date: 23 Jan 1993 13:50:34 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu



The following is from _The Denver Post_ (Sat, Jan 16, 1993), page B10.

Article is reprinted here without permission:                   
                                   
==========================================================================

"Pope's 'moral authority' astray, Springs T-shirt designer says"

by Virginia Culver


   A Colorado Springs woman has designed a T-shirt to protest John
Paul's visit to Colorado next August, saying the pontiff's "moral 
authority has gone astray."

   Mary Lynn Sheetz, a liberal Catholic, has designed a T-shirt showing
the pope's picture torn in pieces.  She said she took the idea from
singer Sinead O'Connor, who ripped John Paul II's photo to shreds on 
"Saturday Night Live" last fall.

   Sheetz has her own T-shirt company, Alterni-T's, and usually designs
shirts with a political message.  She sends proceeds to organizations
and people she feels have been oppressed or abused by instititutions.

   John Paul II will be in Denver Aug. 13-15, the last two days of a 
weeklong international Catholic youth meeting called World Youth Day.

   As many as 500,000 people, including 100,000 to 200,000 youths,
are expected.

   Youth Day spokeswoman Sister Mary Ann Walsh said of the shirts, "It is
unfortunate when people use such events (as World Youth Day) to promote
intolerance."

   Sheetz black T-shirt carries lettering that reads "Piece it Together."
Underneath that phrase are "Contraception Ban," "Theologians Silenced,"
"Gay Repression," "Sexist Patriarchy," "Deal with CIA" and "Peace Pastoral
Veto."  The shirt will sell for $10.

   "Sinead O'Connor had a good reason for tearing up the pope's picture,"
Sheetz said.

   Sheetz, who works with the poor at a Catholic soup kitchen called
the Bijou House, said the pope's visit here is "no cause for acclamation
or celebration," because he "often does not stand for truth, justice or
peace."

   She said his pronouncements about women, homosexuals, birth control
and authority are "filled with error, male domination and outright 
prejudice."  Catholic doctrine teaches that homosexuality is sinful
and abnormal.

   Sheetz criticized John Paul's statements on homosexuality, saying
"they are often the driving force behind religiously inspired bigotry
and injustice."

   She said the pope "decries suffering, starvation and political 
oppression, but supports the political and military structures which 
enforce this oppression because his own church structure is dependent 
on these political forces for its own economic survival."

   John Paul has said he and the church oppose nuclear weapons, but he
vetoed the U.S. Bishops' Peace Pastoral "until it was changed to meet
the objections of the U.S. government," Sheetz said.

   And the pope made "deals with (the late) CIA Chief William Casey
to involve Polish priests in the political struggle," she said.

   She and friends who work with her at Bijou House "wanted to make
our statement, because we find many things the pope does reprehensible.
I'm sure he's a nice man, but we have some real problems with his
morals."

   She said she doesn't expect the T-shirts to change the church's stand
on issues.

   "Change doesn't come from the oppressor but from the oppressed."

   She hopes the shirts will cause Catholics to understand how "oppressive"
the church can be and learn to "take charge and follow their consciences."

-end of article-
==========================================================================


NOTE:  I thought this article was interesting in and of itself, but if
       anyone is interested in the T-shirt, the figure that accompanies 
       the article shows a picture of it.  On the T-shirt, you can clearly 
       see that the photo is of the pope (the image is only cut into 6 
       pieces, that are just separated from each other a little bit, with 
       wording in between or above the pieces, as described above).


I actually bought a T-shirt (yes, 100% cotton) from this store recently, 
on Columbus Day.  It was great.  It said, "Columbus Discovered America" 
and underneath, in big red letters, "NOT."  It had little images of 
Columbus' three boats falling off the wording, which looked like rocks 
(oh well, that really made it clear!).  Anyway, they sell good stuff.

If anyone happens to be interested in actually getting the T-shirt, 
I can probably dig up the address of the store, so just send email.

-maria