{"id":33548,"date":"2024-03-19T15:06:26","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T19:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=33548"},"modified":"2024-03-19T15:06:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T19:06:26","slug":"funny-or-sacrilegious-social-media-debates-blessing-of-acc-mascots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/03\/funny-or-sacrilegious-social-media-debates-blessing-of-acc-mascots.html","title":{"rendered":"Funny or Sacrilegious? Social Media Debates Blessing of ACC Mascots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WUSA9 \/ YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March Madness was in full swing at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men\u2019s tournament March 12-16 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. The Episcopalian clergy at the Washington National Cathedral were included in the event, after the ACC reached out about having the mascots visit the cathedral. \u201cThe ACC reached out about coming to the cathedral, and we immediately said yes,\u201d said<\/a> Kevin Eckstrom, the cathedral\u2019s chief public affairs officer. The mascots of the schools typically visit well-known sites and the ACC chose the National Cathedral for one of its stops. Two clergy from the cathedral, Provost Jan Naylor Cope and Vicar Dana Corsello, offered blessings to the mascots, with 7 of the 15 taking them up on the offer. Eckstrom said the clergy, \u201cprayed for safety, good sportsmanship and fun at the tournament.\u201d On the Cathedral\u2019s blog<\/a>, Eckstrom joked about the disparate mascot attendees. \u201cWe\u2019re happy to report that the (Baptist) Demon Deacon from Wake Forest, the (Roman Catholic) Fighting Irish Leprechaun from Notre Dame and even the Blue Devil from Duke all felt right at home inside this Episcopal Cathedral,\u201d he wrote. Mascots that visited the cathedral were representing Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.<\/p>\n

Video<\/a> of the event shows the mascots playfully roaming the cathedral and a group being splashed with holy water by the clergy. News reporters joked about the cathedral being \u201cinclusive\u201d with whom it invited in. Responses on social media to the video were somewhat mixed. \u201c\u2018America has no culture\u2019 explain this,\u201d wrote <\/a>Katherine Jeanes of the Democrat Youth Council. Some users requested extra blessings for their teams, while others joked about the devils and demons being blessed. \u201cNo amount of blessings can help that clemson tiger lord,\u201d joked another user.<\/a> One user was less than impressed. \u201cPriestesses blessing devil mascots in the \u2018National Cathedral\u2019 is a sign of the times,\u201d he wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March Madness was in full swing at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) men\u2019s tournament March 12-16 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. The Episcopalian clergy at the Washington National Cathedral were included in the event, after the ACC reached out about having the mascots visit the cathedral. \u201cThe ACC reached out about coming…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":33551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nFunny or Sacrilegious? Social Media Debates Blessing of ACC Mascots<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two clergy from the cathedral offered blessings to the mascots.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/03\/funny-or-sacrilegious-social-media-debates-blessing-of-acc-mascots.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Funny or Sacrilegious? 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