Sinéad O'Connor told the truth

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Sinéad O'Connor, RIP

Tributes are flowing for Irish musician Sinéad O'Connor (who changed her name to Shuhada Sadaqat after converting to Islam in 2018) after her death on Wednesday.

Despite her long and successful music career, O’Connor was probably best known for tearing apart a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992 in protest of the continued cover-up of child abuse in the Catholic Church — nine years before the Pope acknowledged it.

Fr Jim McDermott’s essay about it is very good:

The truth is, O’Connor was ten years too early. Americans were not clued into the violence that was being done to their children and children throughout the world by Catholic priests and brothers, let alone able to consider the idea that the Pope of the Catholic Church might somehow be involved. Even today, few Catholics seem willing to confront the possibility that the abuse crisis involves lies, cover ups or just horrific mismanagement from as high up as the popes, no matter what information is presented.

O’Connor is such an interesting figure and her spiritual and creative life is extremely Modern Relics. But as is often the case when someone dies unexpectedly, I realise I’m not as familiar with her work as I assumed and don’t actually know that much about her (I was four years old when O’Connor tore up that picture.)

This episode of You’re Wrong About on Sinéad O'Connor with Allyson McCabe has been recommended to me as a good introduction. I’m going to listen this week.

Also shoutout to Tyler Huckabee for tweeting about O’Connor’s song “Take Me To Church”, saying although it was “overshadowed by the Hozier song, [it] is its superior in every way”. It’s going straight on the Modern Relics Spotify playlist.

Jonah posting

Told you there would be more Barbie

I saw the Barbie movie last weekend in a cinema full of giddy people dressed in pink and I had a blast. Director Greta Gerwig has made no secret of the religious themes in the film and yeah, they’re absolutely there plain as day.

If you’ve seen the movie, I recommend Alissa Wilkinson’s review in Vox that unpacks some of them, including how Barbie interrogates the Genesis story from the Bible.

From Vox:

Would it be better, after all, for Barbie and Ken to have continued living naively in a paradise where Ken is just “and Ken” and everyone seems happy all the time? Or did gaining knowledge of the outside world actually make them aware of their free will and equip them to live better, more fulfilled lives? It’s a question some theologians have approached throughout history, and one that recurs when we think about history: Golden ages often appear that way because we were naive to what was “really” going on back then, not because they were actually better.

Bonus, Catherine Woodiwiss’ keen ears caught a biblical reference I may have missed:

I also want to commend Joseph Joyce’s review in Angelus which, in addition to exploring some of the religious themes, also covers the film’s commentary on feminism and patriarchy.

From Angelus:

Some cultural commentators have charged that “Barbie” is “anti-men,” but this misses the wider message. The masculinity adopted by the Kens isn’t authentic, but rather a game of telephone from what Ken glimpsed during his brief sojourn. It’s a parody of masculinity, all brewskis and butt slaps, one formed into reaction to women rather than a wellspring of their own desires. It’s the philosophy of internet influencer Andrew Tate, where your self-worth only comes from the diminishment of the feminine. The Kens are still basing their sense of self around women, this time by dragging them down instead of building them up.

I’m going to see it again tomorrow night. Can’t wait.

“Why do you have a pole in your room?”

New Catholic Lofi alert

I’m late to this but there’s a new Catholic Lofi album on YouTube and Spotify called This Sacred Heart. It was made for June, which is dedicated to Sacred Heart.

The song names are real cute. “This Scapular Is Purple”? “Wax In The Carpet”? “Nan’s Prayer Book”? Gorgeous.

Goals

Lastly, whatever this is