Feeneys Saw ‘Sister Mary’ as Challenge : Arts funding: Costa Mesa couple, perhaps the play’s most vociferous foes, say they’re only defending their beliefs.

“We’re not activists at all,” says Ernie Feeney. “We’re just concerned citizens.”

Despite that humble claim, the Feeneys--Ernie and husband John--have single-handedly pushed Costa Mesa into the national debate over censorship and public funding of the arts.

The Feeneys have lived in Costa Mesa for 25 years, and say they have been active in city matters for about seven years. It is the arts issue, however, that suddenly has boosted them to prominence. The Feeneys, who are Catholic, say they are acting in defense of their beliefs.

“Our whole thing with the arts has not been the obscenity issue. It has been the religious issue,” Ernie Feeney said. “I will defend my faith.”

That pledge is what provoked the Feeneys in June to protest a flyer distributed by South Coast Repertory urging support of the besieged National Endowment for the Arts.

“I got a copy of the flyer and they give a full-fledged, unconditional endorsement to the NEA,” John Feeney said at the time. “In doing so, they gave an endorsement to things like submerging an image of Jesus Christ in vats of urine,” a reference to the now-famous Andres Serrano photograph “Piss Christ,” which helped set off the NEA controversy.

The events the Feeneys set in motion culminated in the adoption of an addendum to the city’s cultural arts grants agreements, requiring recipients to pledge not to use city money for “obscene matters” or “religious or political activities.”

John and Ernie Feeney are nothing if not organized, a fact demonstrated by Ernie’s campaign against the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse production of Christopher Durang’s satire, “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You.” The Feeneys have branded the play as “anti-religious bigotry.”

They are tenacious city watchdogs who--for people who represent no certifiable constituency--have developed an uncanny knack for pushing buttons and getting their view across at City Hall.

The Feeneys knew all about Durang’s satire of parochial education well before they first got wind of the Costa Mesa production in a Sept. 6 newspaper listing, one day ahead of the play’s opening. “Sister Mary,” which debuted in 1979, has outraged a number of Catholic activists, which resulted in a well-publicized 1982 controversy in St. Louis.

Ernie Feeney wasted little time before swinging into action.

She got tickets for the play’s opening night and invited along Jo Ellen Allen, a Corona del Mar resident and, more important, president of the California chapter of Eagle Forum, conservative columnist Phyllis Schlafly’s “pro-family” organization. Feeney is a member of the group, which has been active in arguing against reauthorization of the NEA.

Feeney obtained from the city a copy of the playhouse’s cultural arts grant application, along with a copy of the charter agreement between the city and playhouse and a copy of the company’s 1990 season announcement--which listed the comedy “Born Yesterday” as the season opener.

By the following Monday, she had aired her views on the play in the press and had contacted two members of the City Council, Sandra L. Genis and Mayor Peter F. Buffa, who were sympathetic when the Feeneys had earlier pushed for new restrictions on city arts grants.

As TV cameras rolled at Tuesday’s council study session, Feeney addressed the council and the city arts commission, piggybacking on a scheduled report that, ironically, called for increased city arts spending. Feeney, flanked by Allen and husband John, was armed with information packets for the press and even brought a visual aid, a doll of “Sesame Street” character Ernie that she said was used to represent the Christ child in “Sister Mary.”

The Feeneys, who first became active in city matters when they joined in complaints over noise from the Pacific Amphitheatre, attend all of the council meetings or watch them on cable TV. Ernie Feeney also attends each study session. (John Feeney is a salesman, Ernie does not work outside their home).

Their objection to the production of “Sister Mary” stems from the fact that the playhouse receives city tax dollars, and they reject the argument that no city funds were spent directly on this production.

“I think they need to remember that our tax money is still subsidizing them,” Ernie Feeney said. “In essence what they’re doing is making us buy a ticket to their production.”

The bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange added his voice to the Feeneys, in response to a Times editorial critical of the city’s stance, by lambasting the play as an “unremitting travesty of Catholic ritual, tradition and values, with its particularly cruel caricature of Catholic sisters.” Bishop Norman F. McFarland continued, “ . . . a serious injustice is added to the insult when such religious bigotry is supported with tax dollars.”

While “Sister Mary” co-producer David Sharp has said that the play’s controversial nature was not discussed during its selection, Ernie Feeney said she believes the play was chosen expressly to challenge the city’s new arts grant restrictions.

“I rather take it as a slap in the face. I take their whole intent as a challenge,” she said. “They’re making their statement, and they left us no choice but to respond to their statement.”