A Catholic group is asking out Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner and Apple TV+ in a letter demanding an apology and removing of a “Eucharistic desecration” scene in certainly one of its reveals.
“As the nation’s largest lay Catholic advocacy organization, we write to express our concern about a blasphemous anti-Catholic scene in the Apple TV+ show, Your Friends and Neighbors,” CatholicVote stated in a Monday letter obtained solely by Fox Information Digital.
“Episode 6 of the series depicts two characters breaking into a Catholic church,” the letter, signed by Josh Mercer, vice chairman of CatholicVote, reads. “The male character steals Eucharistic hosts from the tabernacle, which they eat as a snack. The man flippantly remarks about how they are eating the Body of Christ. The man feeds a host to the female character and feigns blessing her. Then they begin engaging in romantic activity in the pews before the pastor walks in, and they flee the church.”
Mercer, who can also be requesting a gathering with Prepare dinner to debate how the corporate can promote “true diversity and tolerance,” known as the scene “sacrilegious,” and requested Prepare dinner if he could be tolerant of comparable content material mocking the Islamic or Jewish faith. CatholicVote’s web site known as it a “shocking depiction of Eucharistic desecration.”
“As Catholics, we have believed for 2,000 years that the Eucharist is not simply a piece of bread,” Mercer wrote. “It is the body, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The practice of taking communion was instituted by Christ himself at the Last Supper. Receiving the Eucharist at Mass is, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’”
He additionally highlighted a assertion on Apple’s web site, which seems to worth supporting these from numerous walks of life, stating, “At Apple, we create a culture … with a North Star of dignity, respect, and opportunity for everyone. Because we’re not all the same. And that remains one of our greatest strengths.”
Mercer additionally pointed to a 2015 op-ed from Prepare dinner the place he opposed discrimination in opposition to those that present marriage licenses to same-sex {couples}.
Prepare dinner wrote that, “I have great reverence for religious freedom… Apple is open. Open to everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love.”
CatholicVote has additionally launched a petition with 169,596 signatures and counting asking signers to inform Apple management that they “won’t stand for blasphemy.”
“Apple’s shameless depiction of blatant sacrilege inside a Catholic Church is a direct attack on what Catholics hold most dear,” Mercer advised Fox Information Digital in a press release.
“We solemnly believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ; this fundamental truth is the source and summit of our Catholic Faith,” he added. “We cannot stand by while Christ and His Church are casually mocked in the name of ‘entertainment.’ We call on Catholics to join us in demanding that Apple take down the blasphemous episode and issue an apology. We await Apple’s response to our letter and hope it makes amends for its offensive actions.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Prepare dinner and Apple for remark, however didn’t instantly obtain a response.
