Luce is an animated mascot clad in a raincoat and muddy boots and only days after she was announced, has already weathered her first storms in online forums and social media feeds. Source: The Catholic Leader.
The mascot was launched by Church officials on Monday as the face of the Church’s upcoming Year of Jubilee 2025.
Almost immediately, Luce became an online hit.
Memes and fan-art, some encouraging and some disparaging, have since spread to every corner of the Internet.
Quickly, two camps formed.
The first appreciated the Holy See’s attempt to speak into the culture of children and young people; the second broadly saw the art style as infantilising the faith or problematic by association with other strains of pop art.
A big draw for the detractors was the art style simply ran counter to their personal tastes. Others contrasted the childish image against the struggles of martyrs and early saints. Other comments shared their fears about the Church straying too far into the modern culture and might risk losing its message.
Other comments online seemed to show the artwork was doing its job, with some saying, “I’m not Catholic but I love Luce”, accompanying their own artworks of Luce cuddling the Virgin Mary or even comically battling demons.
Evangelisation Brisbane’s Chantale Wilson said the Church’s mission was to evangelise and to “bear witness to Christ Jesus and to create opportunities for all people to encounter God and come to know the transforming power of God’s love in their life”.
“This timeless message doesn’t change, but the messengers and the methods can and do,” Ms Wilson said.
She said she was inspired by a quote from Pope Benedict XVI: “You have before you the task of seeking new ways to announce Christ in situations of rapid and often profound transformation, and of emphasising the missionary character of all pastoral activity.”
it was a reminder, she said, “that our job is to make Jesus as accessible as possible to a world that desperately needs to know God’s love, especially our young people.
“It doesn’t matter whether Luce is your taste or mine, what matters is seeking new ways to announce Christ to those who need to encounter God’s love.”
FULL STORY
Church’s cartoon mascot Luce welcomed into pop culture, but faces some online critics (By Joe Higgins, The Catholic Leader)
