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Letters
God Bless You, Dennis... You Asshole!

Dear Alibi,

Dennis Domrzalski's insulting presentation of Catholics who oppose Alma Lopez's image of Our Lady is completely lacking in any credibility ["Domrzalski," July 5-11]. Where is the citation to prove that Catholic Spaniards "threw 'em off the roof?" during the conquest of Mexico? I received my M.A. in Latin American History from UNM and never once did I encounter a description of this event in the primary documentary sources. There are plenty of documents to prove that the Aztecs butchered thousands of Indians on their pyramid temples to appease their "gods" but, like most uninformed anti-Catholics, you don't want to go there, do you? If that is what a religion does, then no one has to respect it, not even Catholics. Do you?

Alma Lopez is no practicing Catholic, at least not in her presentation of Catholicism. Does she have gender issues and a persecution complex? You bet. But don't blame it on Catholicism. She and people like you don't have the cojones to take the image of Our Lady she created and display it in the Zocalo in Mexico City, or at the shrine if Our Lady of Guadalupe just outside the city. No, as usual, gutless folk of that ilk always put their work out in the U.S.A. and run and hide behind the Consititution, whining about "free speech" and "censorship." Furthermore, I have never seen a lower-income Chicana running around in a flower bikini. The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that appears on the tilma in Mexico City is of an indigenous woman. Granted, she is dressed modestly and with a humble disposition and that obviously insults you. Too bad. Get a clue, Dennis, and do some reading and a little research. Mary appeared to the Indian Juan Diego to embrace the Indians and include them in the Catholicism of the Spaniards.

I am a Catholic who thinks that Lopez is a terrible artist, and I also happen to give money to charity and do what I can do to "cloth (sic) the naked" and "feed the poor." What do you do, Dennis? I'll bet you do nothing, and run around comforting yourself by thinking that at least you're not a hypocrite, so instead you just write bad columns in the Alibi and insult Catholics for not agreeing with you. I have some news for you. You are a hypocrite, and a coward, for I bet you don't have the guts to write an insulting piece about Muslims, or about Mohammed, or his daughter Fatima, or about Jews. There are hypocrites in all groups, Dennis, even in left-wing, liberal fantasizing sects like your own.

Remember this Dennis: We can all do more, but even the honor of God, and his mother, need to be defended in this world.

God bless you.
Robert D. Martinez
Albuquerque