Assessing Gober’s Mary

While I totally agree with Doug las Drenkow’s assessment that Robert Gober’s depiction of the Blessed Virgin is an offensive abomination (Calendar Letters, Sept. 13), I must point out one error in his letter:

Catholics do not “worship” the Mother of God--we revere her as the holiest of created beings.

Worship is reserved for the Lord. Nevertheless, Mary represents the highest goal that a created human being may attain. She acts as a mediatrix--an intercessor on our part with God. People like Gober bastardize their artistic freedom to licentiousness and sacrilege.

GERTRUDE SMITH

Los Angeles

Could it be that the interpretation of Gober’s concrete Mary is in the eye of the beholder? My perception of the culvert was decidedly less than phallic. I felt the effect was rather one of great weight and vast emptiness.

KAREN MADDEN

Long Beach