Catholic Groups To Protest The Met's 'Heavenly Bodies' Exhibit

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group of Catholics isn't too please with the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Heavenly Bodies" exhibit and plans to protest the Upper East Side institution.

Catholic groups from eleven states will hold a rally outside The Met on Saturday to condemn the "heavily sacrilegious exhibit" curated by the museum's Costume Institute, according to a press release. The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property has organized the demonstration.

"The exhibit is a mockery of Christ, His Church and Our Blessed Mother. As Catholics, we cannot stand by idle as Our Lord is mocked and spat upon. We must make reparation like those few did at Christ’s Crucifixion," Michael Drake, the group's Catholic outreach director, said in a press release.

The group is angered by the Met's display of robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, which were donated to the museum by The Vatican. Other aspects of the exhibit deemed sacrilegious by the group include pieces such as a sexual bondage mask covered in Rosary beads and revealing clothing modeled after clerical vestments.

The Met's exhibit is on display in its main Upper East Side museum as well as the Met Cloisters in Uptown Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park.

The groups plan to hold its "Reparation Crusade" in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue and East 82nd Street at noon, according to a press release.

The Met did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

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