A group of anti-abortion Catholics have unveiled plans for a $100 million, 700-foot-tall gold arch to be built on the shore of Lake Erie in in Buffalo, NY.

The name of the project befits its gargantuan size, "The Arch of Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and International Shrine of the Holy Innocents." Perhaps the arch needs to be so big simply to fit the name on its side.

Even though it is a "golden arch," it does not really resemble those used by McDonald's, at least not yet. Those who wish to have a say in supersized religious/political art can vote as to which "artistic conception" of the Arch they prefer at http://www.archoftriumph.org/art.html

Buffalo attorney Laurence D. Behr, president of Western New York Lawyers for Life, said he was inspired to build the Arch during a dream, that it would rank among the man-made wonders of the world, and that it would unseat the 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis -- which inexplicably takes no stand on abortion -- as the world's tallest monument.

Elevators would carry visitors to an observation platform beneath the Chapel of Triumph beneath the Arch's peak, while The International Shrine of the Holy Innocents, centered beneath the apex of the arch, would recall Herod's slaughter of babies as described in the New Testament and link it to abortion.

"I'm hoping it could be completed in three to four years," Behr said in a local news report. "We are proceeding on faith in God to get this done." Behr noted, however, that "Bingo games are not going to put this up," and that there should be "at least a million people" who would be willing to contribute $100 or more to finance the project.

[Nov. 2008: The arch has taken longer to get started than Larry Behr originally imagined. But he's still working on it, looking for those million people....]

[07/04/2001]

February 10, 2012