The Testament of Mary: secular liberals' timely confession

By Gabriel Garnica


As I sit here writing about the vile rubbish that is The Testament of Mary, a stunning irony has occurred to me. This blasphemous play starts previews the day after The Feast of The Annunciation, when many Christians celebrate The Virgin Mary's exemplary display of obedience, humility, and faith, at the start of Holy Week, when Christians recall Christ's false trial supported by the lies and hate-filled fables of cowards and hypocrites with an axe to grind. In case you missed it, nothing has changed.

Briefly stated, The Testament of Mary is a blasphemous play drawn from an equally blasphemous book written by an angry, vindictive Irish homosexual named Colm Toibin, who basically depicts the Virgin Mary as an angry, cynical, resentful, pagan feminist hag who denies everything we have ever learned about Christ. Not surprisingly, this vile trash has been praised far and wide by liberal rags like The Washington Post and The New York Times as well as repeatedly glorified by likewise liberal bastion NPR as some transcendental masterpiece of literature which will finally expose the "truth" about Mary. These flattering reviews by a mainstream media ever-thirsty to tear down Catholicism dismiss the offensive character of this garbage because its lies play into their own biases regarding Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. They typically hide their disdain and attacks under the thin pretense of scholarly review and artistic freedom which only seems to apply when bashing Catholicism or Christianity unlike Islam, which not only do they never dare to bash but, on the contrary, openly protect, quickly and passionately protesting any disrespect.

I will not waste our time with a long discussion I already posted a few months ago demonstrating the utter hatred, hypocrisy, cowardice and arrogance with which secular liberals bash Christianity and, in particular, Catholicism. Suffice it to say that the evidence which drips from the trash they call Christian-themed art speaks for itself. Whether it be dipping crucifixes in urine; depicting The Blessed Virgin Mary in dung; portraying Christ and/or His followers as half-naked homosexual sadomasochists; or presenting Jesus as a violent, mass-murderer out for revenge, the secular liberal entertainment establishment relishes any opportunity to mock, desecrate, and blaspheme Christian and particularly Catholic beliefs and Sacred Figures

Now, in typical, predictable fashion, the blasphemous on paper has been transformed into staged blasphemy coincidentally in time for Holy Week. Enter the hypocrisy and cowardice of this farce. Imagine a book and play mocking the Muslim faith or Muhammad opening on Ramadan based on a book written by a homosexual, directed by and starring two lesbians, namely, Deborah Warner and Fiona Shaw, which is then praised by the media as "breathtaking," "thought-provoking," "creative" and the like. Toibin has assertively insisted on his right to present and publish how his perception of what Mary might have felt and believed two decades after the crucifixion, based on living in a free society. I wonder if Toibin, Warner, and Shaw would so energetically defend and pursue their vision if their "art" offended Muslims rather than The Virgin Mary. You would be well-advised to steer clear of any press conferences starring these three artists openly and defiantly defending their artistic right to defame Muhammad or any Islamic doctrine.

For millions of devout believers, Holy Week began with the celebration of Mary's virtues framed in love, respect, humility, and obedience. It shall end with the recollection of Her Son's ultimate Sacrifice and Triumph, of which She will always be a powerful participant. Many of us love the Virgin Mary as our Heavenly Mother, whose Sorrows mirrored Her Son's unjust condemnation, ridicule, torture, and murder at the hands of hate-filled liars and cynics eager to inflict as much pain as they could.

We find ourselves witnesses to continued attacks on Our Lord, and Our Blessed Mother, inflicted by parties who combine the Blasphemy of disrespect toward the sacred with the Heresy of mocking and denying truths we likewise hold sacred. The Testament of Mary presents a caricature of the Blessed Virgin Mary which heretically blasphemes and denies many of our sacred dogmas with regard to Christ, the Church, and our Blessed Mother Herself. What is worse, its cowardice hides behind the very same artistic freedom it would never dare apply to similar attacks on the Muslim faith, hence the utter hypocrisy, arrogance, bias, and cowardice of both the vile play and the despicable book on which it is based, as well as all involved in the creation of these works.

At the end of the day, The Testament of Mary is nothing but a testament of the secular left's hypocrisy, lies, cowardice, and venom toward Christ and His Sacred Mother, all pathetically hidden behind a patronizing veil of artistic expression and freedom which could only be admired by minds and hearts already filled with the very disrespect and bias it expresses and evokes. Sadly, it is neither the first, nor the last, but only the latest of what will surely be many more affronts on Our Lord and His Mother inflicted by a hateful society that cries hate only when those cries fit their script.

© Gabriel Garnica