In the style of Cathy_of_Alex from The Recovering Dissident Catholic blog, I will proceed to insert my various responses within the text of an email I received recently from a University of Minnesota alumnus.  The person did not reveal their identity or gender, in which case it must have taken an incredible amount of courage for this person to send off the following email to me.  But, in light of the fact that Anonymous is a UofM grad, I must congratulate him/her for at least attempting to make a reasoned, intelligent argument, even if the effort was a miserable failure.  Most of the following email is disjointed and incoherent, which makes an honest and sincere response difficult.  But, keep trying, Anonymous!  All you need to do is connect some of your points in a way that actually makes sense and then we may have a real dialogue on our hands.  In the meantime, I shall dignify your very un-dignified email with the following responses...

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"As a U of M Student-alumni, I find your anti-intellectual stance [notice the emailer never qualifies this baseless statement with any examples] against the play at Minnesota to be quite funny [I'm glad I could humor you. Thanks for the compliment]. You complain about our university [that statement is true], yet in milwaukee your schools [huh? "My" schools?] are on the public dole without so much as oversight - and you don't even have to take LD kids [I don't? First of all, I wasn't aware that I owned and operated any schools in Milwaukee, or anywhere for that matter. If you have problems with the schools in your area then you're complaining to the wrong person. Do something about it. That's a matter for the local Church, school district or government to handle.]  If I wanted to bitch about that I really could [correction, you really ARE] - it violates federal law [alright, then report them. Why are you "b-------" to me?]. Your complaint is merely one of taste [you haven't even cited what complaints of mine you are referring to...I have several] - and like my choice not to goto a certain mass ["Mass," when referring to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, is supposed to be capitalized] because I like one parish better, you also have the choice not to goto a certain play [Wow! Really? Such a powerful argument! You're right, if everyone just turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to prejudice everywhere, then the world would be a much better place. Kumbaya].

Who is oppressing who? [What!? Where did that come from? I have never made any claims of "oppression"].  This oppression chic is kinda funny coming from artists, it's the weakest artistic stance if you know anything about acting [Please, if anyone knows where this guy/gal is going with this point, PLEASE email me and help me out. I get lost at this point] - after a while the audience will get sick of you [kinda like how I'm feeling at this point in your email?], especially if the person pleading oppression has actually been oppressing others as has been documented when Siegfried F. Widera fled to Mexico with the full knowlege and support of the church having been a known molester in california and wisconsin [huh?]. I have no sympathy for your artistic position [you clearly have no idea what my "artistic position" really is], it is without artistic merit [what!?] and so much as you quetion the validity of others [other's] art your statements call into question your own artisitic credibility [how so? Is it because I don't subscribe to your own "religion" of moral relativism? Or because I don't believe that art is purely subjective? Or because I don't believe that artists are above everyone else, beholden as you seem to think artists are to some sort of special "right" to spew all kinds of riduculous prejudice and hatred simply because they call it "art?"], not because you are catholic [uh huh], or conservative [uh huh], but because you have no respect for your audience [what a completely inane statement! Once again, not backed up by any substantial reasoning]. Whereas I have read your materials [oh yeah? which materials?] and examined your history [well, how very scholarly of you. So, you read my brief bio on this website, huh?] you cast blame and accustation without so much a clue [please elaborate! Without so much a clue about what?]. What kind of dramaturgy is that? [Well, I'm not quite sure because I have no idea what in the world you are talking about]

Examine your own faults before finding yourself above reproach [how do you gather that I find myself above reproach? You're shooting from the hip here, Anonymous, and thus rendering yourself useless to your cause], beyond criticism and beyond critique. Either choose to be a part of the culture or become irrelevent [and which culture is that, exactly? The "culture of death" that John Paul II spoke of?  No thanks.  In case you haven't noticed, the motto and mission of my theater company is to help RENEW our troubled secular culture, not assimilate to it. And I thought you read my materials! You weren't pulling my leg, were you, Anonymous?]. The church is no longer the sacred source of all information [so you admit that it once was? Now we're getting somewhere]. That ended when the sacred became profane [which is exactly what "The Pope & the Witch" serves to accomplish], children became objects of priestly desires [even priests are human and can fail us - Christ founded his Church for sinners and on sinners, which is not to excuse the sins of priests but is simply my effort to insert some reality and proper context into your comments. Here's another small taste of reality for you: the single largest % group of child molesters are married men, and the small % of priest abusers is no greater than that of any other religion or segment of the population, except of course married men, who have a much higher % of child abuse cases than priests. Most of the priest abuse cases also come from the '60s & '70s, when your liberal buddies were pushing the "sexual revolution" and thought that homosexual men should be admitted to the priesthood. We are now reaping the rotten rewards of this so-called "sexual revolution." But please don't bother yourself with such useless facts. Just keep blaming the Catholic Church for every single problem in the world - that seems to be the popular thing to do these days. It's sure a lot easier than actually having to think] and the church schools became just another place where kids with disabilities were excluded [you apparently are not aware that the Catholic Church engages in more social justice outreach than any other institution in the world. Have you ever heard of Mother Teresa? If the schools in your area are doing something wrong and are violating federal law then report them for goodness sake]. I may not be perfect but then again, I'm not the one writing a harpy column [nope, just a harpy email] asking for a stupid play to be banned [YES! You agree that it's a stupid play! Good job, Anonymous!]. Next time find a less Mel Gibson-esque publicity stunt. [let's see...wasn't Mel Gibson the one that was relentlessly attacked by the media months and months before his historically accurate movie about the Passion of Christ was ever released? Many Orthodox Jews came to Mel Gibson's defense after actually having seen the film first, emphatically stating that it was NOT anti-Semitic. And how exactly have I pulled a "Mel Gibson-esque" stunt? You never explain yourself very well, Anonymous. I would recommend working on that.]