Reactions to the statue of Our Lady of the Angels outside the newly dedicated Los Angeles Cathedral: (from an Internet message board run by an intensely conservative Catholic group, the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property)

This is not Mother Mary!
Mother Mary is modest in dress and loving in posture. Her face is gentle and kind. The lady in the picture has a hard looking face, the neck line is too low and the sleeves are big enough to put 5 arms through them. No this is not a statue of Our Lords Mother.

Ugly! Not in keeping with tradition. She never wore her hair short! The expression on her face can be read as one of boredom, certainly not loving or caring.

It's horrendous, if not demonic. No one could possibly think Our Lady looks like that. No one could be inspired by that, to pray to Our Lady. It must have been a homosexual who designed it, as it portrays neither man nor woman.

I asked two of my children, who they thought the statue represented. At first they had no idea. Then I asked if they thought it was a girl or a boy, they both said a boy. I asked if it looked like Our Lady at all, a resounding "no way" was their reply. Out of the mouths of babes.

I always try my best never to judge anyone. Yet after seeing the statue, all I could think of was the saying of Pope Paul VI "The smoke of Satan has entered the Church."

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Messages the same people might leave in art gallery guest books:

Da Vinci, The Last Supper
This is not the Last Supper of Our Lord! Our Lord would never have been such an ungracious host as to make all of His guests crowd together on one side of the table. An affront to the Holy person of Jesus Christ.

Leutze, George Washington Crossing the Delaware
George Washington would certainly have known better than to stand up in a boat! This is not the Father of our Country!

Degas, Dancers Practicing at the Barre
That little girl's arabesque is obviously crooked! She could never have been trained in France. Outrageous.

Warhol, Marilyn Monroe
The great star, Marilyn Monroe, would never have appeared in public with her face colored pink and green! Unless it was after she died, but her funeral probably had a closed casket. Actually I bet she was cremated. But this painting is seriously an insult to her dignity.

Rodin, The Thinker
Why is he NAKED? Shouldn't he at least have some CLOTHES on?!

Van Dyck, Charles I of England
I showed this painting to my 11-year-old daughter, and asked her who it represented. She said she had no idea. Out of the mouths of babes…

J.M.W. Turner, Peace-Burial at Sea
Is there really a boat in this painting? I can hardly see it!! Did this painter ever SEE a boat before? It looks like he painted this in about five minutes. Atrocious!

Van Gogh, The Starry Night
I have looked at the night sky many times in my life (I am 59) and I have never seen it look so "swirly." Was this artist "high" on drugs when he painted this? And who decided to hang it in a museum where decent people would have to look at it?!

Whistler, Arrangement in Gray and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother
Why is this lady just sitting around? Shouldn't she be working? Perhaps this painting represents some feminist, socialist idea of the world, but I pity any mother whose son would allow her to be viewed as idle.

C. Coolidge, A Friend in Need (Dogs Playing Poker)
I am a proud owner of three bulldogs, and I can assure you that my dogs would NEVER cheat at cards! I would expect the collie to be cheating, maybe, but to depict a distinguished breed like bulldogs as if they were no more than dishonest cardsharks is inaccurate and irresponsible.

Picasso, Guernica
Ugly! This painting does nothing to convey the majesty and glory of war! Draft-dodging activists like this one are the reason our society is such a mess today-no respect!

Norman Rockwell, The Golden Rule
I try not to judge anyone, but I would not want to be in this artist's shoes when he meets his Maker! Only a Communist would have portrayed people of all different races and creeds as if they were praying together, at the same time. This may be "politically correct," but it is NOT what Our Lord had in mind when he gave us the Golden Rule!!