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Everyone loves political cartoons. They can be funny, poignant or tragic. Sometimes they're all that and more.
Editorial cartoonists point out the absurdity of a president renaming a lake, gulf or building in order to troll his perceived enemies.
They poke fun at a political party in danger of losing its identity to interlopers using its brand as a Trojan horse, such as the Democratic Party and the increasingly high-profile Democratic Socialists of America.
They highlight shifting norms and societal changes that seem to be happening all around us, including America becoming less a nation of faith than a country turning to the "religion" of secularism more and more.
The last example has been clear to anyone who has spent even a bit of time in any house of worship over the last 25 years or so.
Businesses, churches, newspapers and restaurants all face challenges and some sadly do not survive.
But it's different when a church that has been a major part of our lives closes its doors and people of faith must venture elsewhere. You'll eventually find a new dry cleaner, lawn care service or sub shop. But if the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown determines -- through a largely arbitrary process -- that it can no longer support the parish you've attended for decades, things can get complicated.
Catholics in the Mahoning Valley and beyond -- given that the Youngstown Diocese includes the counties of Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark and Trumbull -- have come to understand that in recent years.
Shrinking congregations across the diocese have resulted in the difficult decisions to close some churches, merge congregations and change decades-old worship sites.
But how dare we notice that and weigh in on what it means to some of our readers? In doing so, we apparently went after the wrong sacred cow.
Two weeks ago on these pages, editorial cartoonist Rick Muccio -- himself a lifelong Catholic and member of a Warren church targeted for closure by the diocese -- depicted the sad reality that these closures mean for Mahoning Valley Catholics.
Muccio's cartoon included several churches in the region that have either closed in recent years -- or soon will -- represented by tombstones in a cemetery.
Muccio's work was a poignant and sad reminder of what is happening to many Catholic churches across the nation and what many who grew up in the church must now confront -- a sudden and drastic change in the way they worship.
As with just about anything that appears in print these days, some readers were not happy with the cartoon. Among them was a woman from Lowellville who said -- among other things -- that Rick's work was in poor taste and an example of our historical bias against Catholics.
Never mind that our cartoonist's Catholic credentials are at least equal to her own, or that the editor who approved the cartoon -- yours truly -- also is Catholic.
Admittedly, my credentials might be sketchy compared to others, but Saint Rose of Lima -- in Brooklyn Park, Maryland -- can confirm I was baptized there in 1967 and Saint Mary in Orwell can confirm I was married there. Our daughter was baptized at the former Blessed Sacrament and confirmed there.
Our reader from Lowellville didn't care. In fact, she was one of those folks who won't entertain a different opinion until and unless she gets her say first.
After listening to her for a bit, I tried to make what I felt was a salient point.
"I'm TALKING!" was her response.
Fair enough. But then she added that we routinely go out of our way to display misdeeds by Catholics on the front page while those committed by representatives of other denominations are not to be found.
Complete bunk, for the record, and I told her so before she assured me that she had "already spoken to the diocese" and that someone there would also be "kvetching" at me soon. Well, kvetching wasn't exactly the word she used, but I cleaned it up a bit.
So her complaint was not the only one prompted by the cartoon. The other came in the form of a letter from Bishop David J. Bonnar, of the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown in his letter to the editor in the Sept. 5-6 weekend edition.
The bishop was polite, to the point and even complimentary of the newspaper at times. But he also didn't care for the depiction of the former -- or soon-to-be retired -- churches' names on gravestones and, like the caller, didn't care for the reference to the American Pope.
Receiving that letter was a bit like being called down to the principal's office. I've been there and done that, so I know the drill and I understand and welcome Bishop Bonnar's thoughts on the subject.
But we'll just have to agree to disagree on the impact and the intent behind the cartoon. We can't ignore the reality of the church's shrinking place in the Valley and elsewhere in Ohio and the nation. And, no, it's not just happening to Catholic churches. The numbers across the board indicate that faith has become less central to the lives of many Americans.
And we won't ignore the sense of loss that many lifelong Catholics have experienced as the churches and congregations that were such huge and important parts of their lives became memories.
It is a lot like losing a family member, which is why Muccio memorialized those lost churches on gravestones. It is what we do when we lose someone near and dear to us -- someone we cherish and love.
It certainly was not intended as an affront to Catholics and we stand by that image, which told a sad and very real story about life in the Mahoning Valley.
Reach Ed Puskas, editor of the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator, at epuskas@tribtoday.com or 330-841-1786.