Catholic Twitter is using juxtaposed images of two Olympics shooters to humorously draw distinctions between everything from priests and seminarians to the styles of different Gospel authors.
A meme juxtaposing the contrasting styles of two Olympic marksmen is circulating the internet, and Catholics are giving it a shot.
Catholics on X (formerly known as Twitter) have used the viral concept, which plays off the dramatically different approaches of two sharpshooters, to humorously take aim at distinctions between everything from the outlooks of priests and seminarians to the writing styles of different Gospel authors.
The meme in question usually features South Korea rifle shooter Choe Dae-han, wearing specialized eyewear and contorting his body, on the left. Immediately to the right is Yusuf Dikeç, the Turkish pistol shooter who has become an overnight sensation for his nonchalant, hand-in-his-pocket approach, which led to a silver medal win in Paris.
Users then caption the respective competitors with contrasting people or ideas. Concepts are placed above Dae-han to indicate that they are relatively more complex or sophisticated, while users caption Dikeç with an idea to express that it is relatively more simple and straightforward.
The fact that Dikeç medaled while Dae-han did not adds another wrinkle of meaning to the meme, usually suggesting, though not always, that whatever the Turkish pistol shooter is tagged with is relatively more effective or realistic, despite its no-frills approach.
In one bull’s-eye use of the meme, Father Joseph Krupp, a priest of the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, poked fun at the idealistic outlook of seminarians, drawing a comparison to the perspective of seasoned pastors.
“Seminary theologian,” he wrote above Dae-han. “Parish priest with eight priests,” he wrote above Dikeç.
Others (namely, the author of this article) have used the meme to playfully highlight differences between seminarians who attend the somewhat grandiose North American College in Rome versus those who received their formation at stateside seminaries.
Another user, a priest, employed the meme to suggest that the Rituale Romanum, a liturgical guide to services a priest or deacon can offer, was more useful than the Book of Blessings.
The meme has also provided a lot of ammunition to Catholics wanting to humorously draw distinctions between various theological approaches and texts.
“John’s Gospel; Mark’s Gospel,” memed Nick Senz, contrasting the highly theological account of the beloved disciple with the more action-focused narrative of St. Mark.
Meanwhile, Catholic journalist JD Flynn used the meme to contrast the different writing styles of St. Pope John Paul II, known for his verbosity, with the relatively more succinct Pope Benedict XVI, tagging the convoluted South Korean shooter with “A Wojtyla encyclical,” while writing “A Ratzinger encyclical” over the comparatively nonplussed Turkish marksman.
Others used the meme to draw out the difference between Nouvelle Théologie, a 20th-century theological movement known for its aesthetic style and emphasis on history, and Thomism, the theological approach associated with St. Thomas Aquinas and characterized by clarity and logical rigor.
But in another usage, St. Thomas was associated with the more “complex” side of the meme, his answer to the problem of evil contrasted with St. Augustine’s.
Even the so-called debate about “integralism,” a Catholic theory that holds that earthly governance must be directed toward man’s supernatural end, was placed in the crosshairs: Jacques Maritain, the French philosopher who emphasized religious freedom, was juxtaposed with Charles De Koninck, a Belgian-Canadian Thomist who underscored the preeminence of the common good.
Outside of Catholic Twitter, the meme and variations of it have been used to contrast types of Greek columns, computer designers at different points in their careers, and even the way Poland and Ukraine are respectively responding to Russian aggression.
The sharpshooter meme is the latest entry in a long line of online Catholic cultural bits. Others include the usage of an image of Tiger Woods standing next to a florally panted, cigar-smoking John Daly to make funny comparisons between religious orders and theological schools of thought.
And the meme featuring Dae-han and Dikeç isn’t the only Paris Olympics image being used humorously by Catholics.
A photo of the American, Irish and Italian flags displayed together at an Olympic medal ceremony has also been captioned by users to highlight the unique cultural heritage of Catholicism in the Eastern United States.
“Average Catholic school on the East Coast,” wrote one user above the image of the three flags. “The wall in the Knights of Columbus meeting room in a parish annex in New Jersey,” wrote another.
The Paris Olympics have certainly not been an entirely light-hearted affair for Catholics, with outrage over the Eucharistic blasphemy displayed at the Opening Ceremony still circulating.
But creative, Catholic uses of the marksmen meme have brought some comic relief amidst the consternation. The humorous usage of the images has been yet another demonstration of the age-old Catholic practice of taking gold out of Egypt — or in this case, funny memes out of the Paris Olympics.
