Sunday, March 25, 2012

"Ale Mary" Dive Bar Uses Monstrance and Chalices for Drunken Revelries

Edit: A definition from Wikipedia is useful here: Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things.[1] Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy,[2] while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy. 


[Fell's Point, Baltimore, MD] There was a show called "Cheers" on television years ago.  It was bawdy and vulgar yet there were some borders it was not safe to pass in the early 80s when the show first aired.  It depicted a homey place, reminiscent of an unpretentious neighborhood bar with a hint of old world ambiance and Boston charm.  The heavy wooden furniture and the bar spoke of permanence, elegance,  and  that favorite piety of secular artists, human dignity. It was not always clear who the show's buffoons were, but you knew them when you saw them, and sometimes, it was a comedic mailman who could be the most noble in the simplicity of his fears.  Some other writer said something about irony being lost on a society which had no shame.  That's why we'd like to wield a metaphorical hammer.  Perhaps there are others who can put a better finish on the details of what we will tell.

Satirical painting: priest displeased with Nun?
All we can say is that sometimes evil is really mundane and some of us don't realize that we're not only bufoons needlessly offending  people's religious sensibilities, but far worse than that, we're offending God.  Even the name of the bar, a pun on the Blessed Mother's name seems calculated to be offensive.

Would you like some candy?
 We're not talking about this place, but it's not far from Boston, but it boasts a similar unmistakable charm you'd expect in New England with friendly folks. One of the features of the bar, and there are many, is its unmistakable Catholic ambiance. It's called, Ale Mary's and is located in Fell's point Maryland. One can just smell the faint aroma of the ocean as you think about it. The food is inexpensive, but if you're Catholic you might find it too expensive for the peace of your conscience to see the sacramental elements of your religion appear for the sake of decoration in peculiarly deliberate ways.
Chalices Used for Holy Sacrifice Being Abused by Patrons

It's not surprising, but it's not acceptable either that chalices which are used in Catholic Mass for the consecration of wine which becomes the blood of Christ, are used by patrons to drink (and get drunk from). They're made of precious metals, sometimes jewels, but their use in such a secular setting is strange and unsettling. No less than the inexplicable painting of a priest with a stole, looking aghast or in surprise at a nun who has her back to him. The most disturbing thing in the restaurant is the monstrance which is behind the bar used as decoration. The monstrance is large ornate disk, often resembling the sun, which is surmounted in a long stand with a heavy base. It contains a crystal compartment at the center of the disk where a consecrated communion Host can be placed inside and it allows the priest to elevate the entire object by the stand for the veneration of the Sacrament it contains. Seeing this monstrance here in this bar, covered with mardigras beads and a mustached smiley face where the Host would normally be is a little bit like finding family heirlooms in the hands of people who not only use them for purposes for which they were never intended, but use them in disrespectful ways.
Mustached Smiley Face Seems Particularly Malevolent
We found out about this recently and the individual who sent this to us wrote an e-mail complaining about the display of these religious items and even offered to purchase them. Far from being treated with the respect she deserved, her concerns were met with derision. 

Despite the bar owner claiming that no one cared about this clearly blasphemous display of religious artifacts, he asked her to remove an entry she made under the bar at a public site allowing comment on establishments. As he berated our friend, the proprietor insisted as an argument to justify his sacrilege and disrespect for Catholic sacramentals, that there were even Bishops and priests who thought that his blasphemous inclusion of religious articles was comical and that there was nothing wrong with this display.

Apparently, there's some truth to what he says, because Catholic clergy, including senior, does frequent this place.

We'll be praying a Rosary in reparation for having seen this blasphemy.  Hopefully, the proprietor can be persuaded to part with these items before word of this affects his business either spiritually or financially.


Give them a call:

Corner of Fleet & Washington Sts.
Fell's Point
Baltimore, MD.
21231
410-276-2044
 



Other Sites Linking

Angelqueen, Catholic Forum [Excellent Commentary]





219 comments:

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Anonymous said...

1 Kings (1 Samuel) 24:13
The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord revenge me of thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee.

God will vindicate the good deeds of this blogger and punish this bar.

Amanda said...

"We are Legion". Do I have that right Anonymous? Somewhere I've heard this story before, and I think I know how it ends...

Anonymous said...

You can't blaspheme a church, a religion or it's "tool" of earhthy service. Saying those things are equal to God might, in and of itslef, be blasphemy. Go ask someone else who understands this if you don't belive that.

Sorry, but the entire premise of this article is castle made of sand.

Lex said...

A sacrament that is sacred to -you- and a subset of the population. The time and energy being spent on trying to get this establishment to remove these items is a little ridiculous. The items they have in the bar were sold or discarded by the church. As such, it would seem the church doesn't care where they end up so why should anyone else?

The point remains that in this country we're free to choose where we'd like to spend our money. If it is offensive to -you- then don't go there, don't spend your money there and feel free to encourage your friends to do the same. That's all there is to me.

Leave the owners alone until they've broken an actual law that is applicable to all Americans not just your religious laws - which I still don't believe apply given that these items were "decommissioned."

Anonymous said...

oh, so you're your crazy...thats all everyone they are just crazy!

Anonymous said...

"Have some respect for your community…"
Ale Mary's greatly respects the community and we them. They display respect with actions and community support, not just ideology. Disrespecting us would be to cater to someone so angry, illogical, and in complete disregard for humanity. Thanks for what you do Ale Mary's. Great publicity, albeit from people who clearly wish to put energy into hating and pointing fingers, rather than energy actually helping a community.

Anonymous said...

Have any of you ever been to Baltimore or Fells Point? Have you ever been to Ale Marys? No probably not so you have no fucking idea of what you are talking about. This is a quaint little neighborhood restaurant/bar. Neighborhood as a community were people gather and hang out and enjoy good food and drinks. Most of the artifacts that you have mentioned come from the neighborhood customers who donate them to the bar. Yes some were purchased on ebay. This bar in part of our community and our neighborhood if you don't like it then stay out. Don't visit! But who gives you the fucking right to bash and try to effect the lively hood of two hard working people who made a neighborhood better and the community doesn't have a problem with. Keep your fucking opinion to yourself and leave this place alone!!! Its a bar getting a fucking clue douche bags!!!!

Anonymous said...

They are all patrons of the restaurant you losers.

Anonymous said...

Not you you fucking loser

Anonymous said...

I get pissed that these christians park in our neighborhood to go to church when they don't live here.

Anonymous said...

Christians like Tacnred don't care about the needy they like to show off their peity.

Anonymous said...

Tancred is threatening violence to a legal establishment.

Anonymous said...

Ale Marys is an awesome place. Great food, great people and great ambience. I have been there about 100 times. This catholic loves Ale Marys.

Anonymous said...

I know that area, Washington & Fleet. Back in the day, they ran Pigs and Cattle down the middle of the road to the stock yards. The area had Bars on every corner, and the drunks comming out of the 'saloons' were so offensive, peeing in the alleys and barfing on the sidewalks, that the Balmer Pole-ice picked them up into the 'Paddie Wagons' for a ride to the drunk tank in the old 'Eastern District.' Fells Point, my patochie! Seems like things haven't changed that much ,if ya read the Balmer Sun.
Calling that place a 'Dive' is an injustice to 'Dives.Nothin down there but tourists and the locals who are stuck in Balmer !!!

Glenda Devage said...

Dear Blessed Mother pray for those that defile the sacred vessels that held your Son's most precious blood. "Forgive them Father for they know not what they do"

Anonymous said...

this was tried before in History, In the Bible, Daniel Chapter 5.

The king that did it was slain.


1 King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2 While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3 So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.

5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

25 “This is the inscription that was written:

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN

26 “Here is what these words mean:

Mene[e]: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

27 Tekel[f]: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

28 Peres[g]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

29 Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians,[h] was slain, 31 and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.[i]

Anonymous said...

Fuck you, you sancyimonious douchebag.

Anonymous said...

And you Tancred, are advocating it.

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