Ah, action in the streets. Such fun. It's the Nuns on the Bus come to town, to have a friendly meeting.
And what a greeting! Lots of religious pageantry here. It's prayer in the streets. It's hymn-singing on the streets. People saying their rosaries out loud to show that they fear and despise heresy.
A good show, all in all, but if they're staging this to bring tourist dollars to Marietta, I think that they're making a mistake. And that mistake is keeping the conflict in the 21st Century.
This conflict needs dramatizing with period costumes and customs. Let's see. What fits best with the idea of a heresy hunt? What is a perfect fit? Why, it's Medieval times, of course. And the perfect fit within Medieval times? That's the Inquisition. The Big "I." Shall we go back to the Big "I" in Marietta?
Local leaders are always on the lookout for ways to attract tourist dollars, and bringing this conflict to the streets of Marietta in pageant form and in costume seems like a good way to accomplish this.
Is it time for Marietta to present the hunt for heresy on the streets in the here and now, just as those hunts played out back in Medieval times in Europe? Imagine the drama. What other small town could boast of public pageantry like this?
I can see piles of kindling, huge bonfires at night, and weekly (fake) burnings at the stake. Auto de Fe, I believe it's called.
I see those playing the church officials in long rich robes. I see dark-hooded monks, drifting through the crowd. I see torch-carrying citizens adding to the clamor. If the actual nuns of the Nuns on the Bus are not available, their parts could be played by locals. (In fact, this might be preferable.)
Think of the crowds that would regularly come to see this drama. Come on, Marietta; let's get behind this and bring back the Inquisition. Let's go back to the Inquisition for fun and profit. This spectacle would help bring tourist dollars to our area.
L. P. McGovern
Williamstown
