A&U is touted as the nation’s first AIDS magazine. In its August edition, “The Mary Play” was published, a piece described by the Catholic League as “despicable.” The league registered its outrage at a play that depicted “a virgin Mary who, though male, is pregnant with child.”
Here is the core of our complaint as conveyed to the magazine: “The Biblical references make it clear who the character is based on, and the content of the story, replete with obscenities, makes it clear that the play was meant to offend. The idea of Mary carrying an HIV baby may strike your readers as humorous, but if so it says something about their sense of humor. Even worse is the fact that A&U gets public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts.”
It is sad commentary on those who purport to be concerned about AIDS that they should seek to trash Catholicism. After all, the Catholic Church has done more to service AIDS patients than virtually any other institution in society. But thanklessness—even insult—should not deter Catholics from doing what is right.
