Mary Queen of Angels 2018

Feature

A Fire-Stained Cathedral Gargoyle: Leon Bloy and the Catholic Literary Tradition Joshua Hren

Fiction

The Light James Winter
The Bridal Price Em Liu

Poetry

Angel of the Spandrel Michael Bradburn-Ruster
Because They Have Forsaken Michael Bradburn-Ruster
A Garden Regained Michael Bradburn-Ruster
La Prière Michael Bradburn-Ruster
Monastery Michael Bradburn-Ruster
In Mourning Andrew Calis
In Blinding Light Andrew Calis
The splash of rain came first Andrew Calis
Again, Mother Caroline Holme
At the Sink Caroline Holme
Peter Troy Reeves
Alchemy Hannah Marshall
Orpah, Running Free Hannah Marshall
Siberian Squill Hannah Marshall
Sokugo Tolu Oloruntoba
Shadow Government Tolu Oloruntoba
Graffiti Paradise Tolu Oloruntoba
Sparrow.eye.storm Tolu Oloruntoba

Nonfiction

Introducing a Modern Master (Updated) Bernardo Aparicio García
Advent, Suffering, and Sandy Hook Jessica Cusato

Book Reviews

Praise the Lord from the Earth: A Review of Kingdom review by Michael Cadnum J.B. Toner
The Sacred and the Profane: A Review of The Hanging God by James Matthew Wilson by Mike Aquilina
How the Spirits Tell Their Stories: A Review of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders by C.J. Karnas-Haines
A Review of Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion by Abigail Rine Favale Joshua Hren

Visual Art

UPDATE 3/27/20: I was saddened and distressed to learn today that Giovanni Gasparro has turned his considerable talents toward an evil purpose. The ugly, disgustingly antisemitic painting he recently unveiled, in which he reproduces dangerous lies against the Jewish people, left me in disbelief. Such lies have quite directly contributed to the murder of innocent people both in the past and recently, and learning that an artist whose work I have highly praised in the past has used his gifts for such a purpose makes me sick. There is nothing Catholic about such a work, and the fact that Gasparro dresses his lies in religious trappings (alongside gross stereotypes of Jews, well-worthy of Nazi propaganda), is not just a betrayal of the Church, but really an act that I would not hesitate to call satanic. In dehumanizing Jews, he has debased and dehumanized himself.

Mr. Gasparro, as is clear in the article below, once seemed to me a great hope for the revival of Catholic art. While the paintings we selected for publication in Dappled Things, and which I lavished praise upon in the article below, cannot in themselves lose their qualities, a pall is inevitably cast over all of Gasparro’s work. Let it be further evidence that great art is not, as we often romantically hope, evidence of great (or even decent) moral perception. Then again, it is also evidence of how a twisted vision does have the power to destroy great talent, as the painting in question is an artistic embarrassment—an exercise in applying technical proficiency to the most mindless propaganda. Those of us who have admired Mr. Gasparro’s work in the past should pray for his repentance. As for Mr. Gasparro, he should remember that the ultimate judge of his art is one Jewish carpenter who once said of a worthless servant who wasted his talents that he would be cast “into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

After seeing the painting, I considered with the editors of Dappled Things whether we should remove his art from our website and my accompanying essay. At present, we have chosen not to do so. I do not like to rewrite the past, and the fact remains that the paintings we selected share none of the ugliness of this latest work and are rather betrayed by what he has done now. I can no longer look at his old work in the same light, but let it stand as a testament to what might have been.