CNA asked the university if they will hang up another replica at the law school, but received no response by time of publication. Maura Schlee, a student senator at the university, told CNA that she had not heard of any artwork being hung up as a replacement.
Schlee believes that the painting is “wrong” and used her influence as a student senator to draft a resolution in opposition to the display after hearing the first stolen painting was replaced with a smaller replica in November.
“There are other paintings and icons that do a much better job at making a genuine, good faith effort to reflect the universality of the Catholic Church that also do not divide and confuse the university and larger Catholic community,” the resolution says.
The resolution’s title says its aim is to “unify the community by replacing controversial icons.” The text asks for the university to remove the paintings from university buildings and to work to replace them with “other forms of art that represent diversity and bring forth representation of the African American community in a non-political and uncontroversial way.”
Schlee told CNA Dec. 17 that she knew she was going to get pushback from members of the community, but was pleasantly surprised at the amount of support for her resolution on campus.
Schlee said during the student government debate on her resolution, she and others were defending her position for over two hours. Some of that debate focused on whether the painting was “sacreligious,” she said.
After the night, the bill finally passed 15-9 resolving that no forms of art titled “Mama” by Kelly Latimore be hung or put on display in any university buildings.
That resolution had originally been drafted before the second painting was stolen, Schlee said. The resolution originally called for the removal and replacement of the paintings with other forms of art “that represent diversity” and the African American community.
After the second painting was stolen, Schlee amended the legislation to request that the paintings would not be hung back up, while maintaining the same call for replacement.
CNA asked the university for a comment on the resolution, but received no response by time of publication.
Joseph Bukuras is a journalist at the Catholic News Agency. Joe has prior experience working in state and federal government, in non-profits, and Catholic education. He has contributed to an array of publications and his reporting has been cited by leading news sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America. He is based out of the Boston area.