LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Posted October 28, 2024
Dear Editor:
In the early 80s, I was married at Our Savior Catholic Church in Jacksonville Il.
My uncle, Father John Spreen, officiated the ceremony.
During a Catholic wedding, the bride kneels at an altar for Mary and places a rose at the feet of her statue. While I did this the vocalist sang Ave Maria. I sincerely asked Mary to bless our marriage. To guide me to be a good wife and mother.
During my 12 years of Catholic education, I was also in the chorus. Ave Maria was always a favorite song for the chorus to sing. I recall feeling reverence towards Mary as I sang it.
I am aware that other Christian religions do not understand why we venerate Mary.
For me it is respect for a woman, the mother of Jesus. She birthed him, fed him, clothed him and loved him. Then she watched him tortured, crucified and die.
Imagine how I felt when I saw the Donald Trump rally, where Ave Maria was playing over the loudspeakers.
I was unnerved. To me, it was an abomination of something I sincerely believe to be true.
Standing on the stage was an elderly man, an adulterous, convicted sexual predator. A man with 34 felonies awaiting his sentence, a proven fact-checked liar, a grifter and con man.
Donald Trump claims to be a Christian and that confuses me, because I cannot see anything remotely Christian about his words and deeds.
Ave Maria is about a woman, Mary. The mother of Jesus. It’s the Catholic prayer, Hail Mary, put to music. One of the verses is “blessed are thou among women.”
Trump does not respect women. He cheated on his wives. The mothers of his children. He fat shames women, calls them stupid. He feels superior to them, denigrates them.
Being a “cradle Catholic,” to me this incident was a sickening gut punch.
Now my Catholic memories are stained by a man who probably doesn’t know the words to Ave Maria, let alone the message it conveys.
Karen Wade
Girard Il.
