Future Priests of the Third Millennium

It is time for a short rant from your friendly neighborhood pre-theologian.

I am currently working on a presentation on the principles of Catholic art. The big problem I am having is coming up with a definition of art better than "Whatever I point to and say 'That is art.'" Has art become so badly relativized that it cannot even be defined any more? Who could possibly qualify as a competent judge of contemporary art? Roger Ebert? Paris Hilton?

It seems to me that prior to the twentieth century art had defining characteristics. I can look at a painting and say "that is an example of cubist portraiture," but I can not do the same with the infamous urinal pictured in a previous edition of this blog. Are there no longer any standards by which to judge art?

Will the real twenty-first century art critic please stand up?