Morrissey: "I'm a Traditionalist"

'And now I know how Joan of Arc felt/Now I know how Joan of Arc felt/As the flames rose/to her roman nose and her hearing aid started to melt' ~ Morrissey

I'm not sure he meant it quite how some of us would understand that statement, but somehow, I can't imagine Morrissey, who is Catholic, being taken with a Novus Ordo Mass celebrated with the kind of cheesy music for which it has sadly become so widely associated. I can't see him being taken by the charismatic movement either, but there we go. He is fiercely individual.

Never one to shy away from 'controversy', I can't help thinking that this song speaks for many of those who, deemed to hold 'eccentric views', and who find themselves outside of the mainstream, have the plug pulled on them - like a certain ex-Anglican minister who has joined the Ordinariate, for example.

There are, of course, others who share in the Lord's suffering from being misunderstood and become outcasts in their own community. For me, Morrissey has, lyrically, at least, been someone who manages to communicate the feelings of those who find themselves rejected, misunderstood or who don't quite 'fit in'. He would be a fine person to communicate the Catholic faith were he to return to it publicly and not be so guarded, but that is between him and God. I'm shocked to find out that he no longer has a record deal. I would imagine if he reformed with The Smiths a record deal would suddenly appear rather quickly in the post, but that is between him and Johnny Marr, who is not God, but is what I believe they call a 'guitar god'.

It must be so awful to be a celebrity and have the level of adulation that Morrissey and Marr receive from their fans. The worse thing for celebrities must be that vanity that leads them to walk around thinking, 'Don't you know who I am?' only to die and meet Christ and be told, "No." All of our celebrities must be awfully humble people since their souls are at such risk.