A Santa Fe newspaper is under fire for publishing a blasphemous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe clad in bikini and sunglasses with a margarita in her hand, but is refusing to pull the image.
Fox News Latino is reporting that the Santa Fe Reporter published the cartoon-like image on its Summer Guide 2013 cover. The image, which is too disgraceful to show here, depicts Our Lady in a skimpy bikini and sipping on a drink while a bare-chested cowboy looks on.
“If your intent was to in effect slap Catholics across the face, by putting forth this public depiction of Our Lady as a party girl, during the very week that we honor her as our patroness, then I can only say that from my perspective, you succeeded,” wrote the Rev. Adam Lee Ortega y Ortiz, the rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in Santa Fe, in a letter to the editor. “I must voice my outrage and disgust at the decision to depict Our Lady of Guadalupe in such a demeaning manner. I am personally and professionally insulted by the cover.”
Local Catholics agree, such as David Rodke who finds the image very offensive. “They seem to be posing her as the Virgin of Guadalupe, and that’s the biggest sham alive,” he told KOAT/CNN. “That’s blasphemous.”
The paper’s editor, Alexa Shirtzinger, sees nothing wrong with the image and published this blog post in response to the furor.
“The intent of our Summer Guide cover design was not to insult or denigrate any religion or ethnicity, but rather to incorporate an important part of Santa Fe’s culture into an image that also unites other diverse cultures that flourish in our city.”
Thus far, they have refused to remove the image from their website.
Fr. Ortega y Ortiz called them on the hypocrisy of it all: “I wonder whether the Reporter would feel free to depict Mohammed as an alcohol-guzzling, womanizing hedonist?” he wrote. “I certainly hope not, not because to do so might be seen as a [compromise]of journalistic expression or free speech, but rather because it too has respect for our diverse cultures and religious beliefs and does not use its powers of the press to insult the faith beliefs of a large segment of its community.”
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