A Brief Word About the Paris Opening

I’m Catholic, and Not That Offended… This is Why…

Seth Underwood
2 min readAug 4, 2024
Image- By Archivist, Sourced and Licensed by Writer through Adobe Stock

Okay, this Sunday the controversial Paris Olympic opening ceremony wiggled its way into the homily.

I will not comment on what was said, but I’ve not been following this closely, nor the Olympics as a whole.

I know the Vatican was a week late coming out with a response, and I know that an apology was issued by the group involved.

As a Catholic, I’m not offended, since the Vatican doesn’t have an Olympic team or committee, and the problem is people’s lack of critical thinking on this issue.

The show was taking on a Baroque period piece which is like Da Vinci’s Last Supper because it involves a table and people standing behind it. The Baroque artwork comes later and may have been inspired by Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

Here’ the thing, Paris is the city of art and many attending the Olympics may have recognized the Baroque artwork in the drama performed. But unless you’re an art major who knows this period well, odds are you only know Da Vinci’s Last Supper.

So, who’s at fault here?

The committee involved with approving this piece ignored the audience’s non-artistic nature. The Olympics is an international event hosted by a city, but it’s still an international event.

Something else could have been performed that could have been tied back to Ancient Greece, like a performance with Nike and Olympiads.

But this is Paris, so what are you going to do?

As a critically thinking Catholic, I can’t be offended by some trivial performance at one of many Olympics.

What about the 1932 Nazi Germany Olympics, and the fanfares given for Hitler’s arrival and Hitler’s speech? I find this more offensive, but there’s not much I can do about it since it’s in the past.

We need to stop crying over split milk. There are much larger issues in the world then some Olympic opening.

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Seth Underwood

54+ autistic, undiagnosed dyslexic, sufferer of chronic migraines, writer of dark science fiction, player of video games and Mike Pondsmith Fan. Race- Human.