Fifty-Eight year old Viktor Orbán is the Prime Minister of Hungary. In a recent interview he said: "We must defend Hungary as it is now. We must state that we do not want to be diverse and do not want to be mixed. We do not want our own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed with others." This man leads a country that is 62% Roman Catholic. He says "we" — who is he speaking for?
Of course these thoughts echo those of not a few people in our own country. Some U.S. senators went public in agreeing with the Prime Minister. This week the 2020 Census report came out in the United States and for the first time ever the white population has decreased to below 60%. The numbers of black, brown, Asian, Pacific Islander and even indigenous peoples are increasing and there are people who are not happy about that. One commentator said, "Perhaps they are afraid these minority peoples will become powerful and influential enough that they will start to treat the white people the way their own people have been treated by whites."
George Harrison's 1970's song, Isn't it a Pity, comes to mind. It is said the song is a masterful and timeless lament for the deterioration of relationships. Perhaps George is lamenting the break up of The Beatles themselves? But George was a deeply spiritual man — we may well imagine he was thinking about the world. Perhaps he was giving voice to God's heart, broken over the way we are on this planet?
Isn't it a pity?
Now isn't it a shame?
How we break each other's hearts and cause each other pain
How we take each other's love without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn't is a pity?
Some things take so long, but how do I explain
When not too many people can see we're all the same
And because of all their tears
Their eyes can't hope to see the beauty that surrounds them
Isn't it a pity?
What a pity
What a pity, pity, pity...
The word pity is sung fifty-one times in the seven-minute song. Synonyms for pity might be: shame, crime, misfortune, sadness, distress, sorrow. Isn't it a shame? Isn't it a sin? Isn't it a sorrow?
Today is the Feast of the Queenship of Mary — the 8th day of what used to be an Assumption Octave. This year the feast falls on a Sunday and does not take precedent over the Sunday. But here, at the top of the post, is an Ethiopian Mother of God being crowned Queen-Mother by the Father and the Son with Holy Spirit hovering above. We see angel celebrators below. All black, exuberant, smiling, wearing brilliant clothes and golden haloes. They'd find no welcome in Catholic Hungary (at least officially). And here? "Isn't it a pity."
Anyway, the new 2020 Census Report reminds us we're a changing country — always. It seems to me, these "patriots" (they like to think of themselves that way) better get over it fast or get a new religion which makes a home for the likes of Viktor Orbán et al.
