By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Madonna is causing an uproar in Poland by scheduling a controversial performance in Warsaw on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
According to a report by LifeSiteNews.com, Madonna, a lapsed Catholic, is bringing her “Sticky & Sweet” tour to Warsaw’s Bemowo Airport on August 15, a holy day and the same day that thousands of Poles traditionally make a pilgrimage to a Marian shrine known as the “Black Madonna” sanctuary in Jasna Gora.
Madonna is known for her anti-Catholic antics during her shows, such as when she opened her act in Rome in 2006 by descending from a mirrored cross. The performance caused such outrage members of the Catholic hierarchy called for her excommunication. She also inflamed Poles the same year for allowing her face to appear on the cover of a Polish magazine in mockery of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa.
Her Warsaw performance is being taken as a direct affront to Poland’s cultural and religious identity.
“The concert of a highly perverse singer who calls herself ‘Madonna’ is deeply humiliating to Warsaw residents and Poles in general,” said parliamentarian Marian Budzynski, a member of the Law and Justice party who wrote a letter to the mayor of Warsaw, Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, asking for her intervention.
“August 15 is a symbolic date. It’s not a coincidence that Madonna booked that day for her concert in Poland. It’s a provocation,” said Budzynski. “She was aware we were not going to just sit and pretend nothing happened, she knew very well how offensive this would be to us.”
Polish External Radio Service reported the remarks of two young persons, Agnieszka and Mariuz, both under 30, who speculated that the pop-star is engaging in a deliberate religious provocation to shore up a flagging career.
“She’s just an old, pitiful lady, desperately looking for attention. Artistically, she has nothing original to offer. She should really make space for some young, talented artists,” said Agnieszka. “And if she’s so brave and provocative, why doesn’t she go to some Muslim country and try to offend their religion?”
Mariuz added, “She made a career offending Christians and getting naked in front of other people, which is easy when you are young. But over decades, she hasn’t come up with any new ideas. My advice to this pathetic lady is: get out of our country, go back where you belong.”
Polish Radio reports that various Catholic groups have launched protests and are organizing a boycott against Madonna’s Warsaw performance.
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