{"id":21360,"date":"2017-08-03T21:12:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T21:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/why-this-giant-spider-was-hanging-out-at-an-ottawa-cathedral-82255\/"},"modified":"2017-08-03T21:12:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T21:12:00","slug":"canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA<\/a>).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario.<\/p>\n

But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country\u2019s 150th anniversary that night. The spider\u2019s name is Kumo.<\/p>\n

All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,\u201d the archbishop said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event \u201can opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital\u2019s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.\u201d He also notes the chance \u201cto foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named \u201cMama,\u201d in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo \u201cwaking up\u201d to organ music from within the church.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events.<\/p>\n

Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe.<\/p>\n

I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA<\/a>).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario.<\/p>\n

But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo.<\/p>\n

All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community.<\/p>\n

“This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada’s Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.”<\/p>\n

The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.”<\/p>\n

Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event.<\/p>\n

“To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.”<\/p>\n

Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events.<\/p>\n

Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5<\/a><\/p>\n

— Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe.<\/p>\n

I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.<\/p>\n

— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americas"],"yoast_head":"\nCanadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017\" \/>\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.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Mechanical_spider_outside_of_Ottawas_Notre_Dame_Cathedral_Credit_Ottawa_2017__Patrick_Haag_CNA.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/\",\"name\":\"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame","description":"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame","og_description":"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/images\/Mechanical_spider_outside_of_Ottawas_Notre_Dame_Cathedral_Credit_Ottawa_2017__Patrick_Haag_CNA.jpg"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/","name":"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-03T21:12:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Ottawa, Canada, Aug 3, 2017 \/ 03:12 pm (CNA).- On July 27, an enormous spider was seen descending from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario. But rather than the stuff of horror movies, the robotic spider was part of an event for the French street theater company La Machine, which was opening their Canadian show in celebration of the country’s 150th anniversary that night. The spider’s name is Kumo. All necessary permissions were secured from Archbishop Terrence Prendergast for the show, who saw it as an opportunity to give back to the local Ottawa community. “This once in a lifetime event celebrates the 150th Anniversary celebration of Canada's Confederation,” the archbishop said in a statement. “It offers an opportunity for the archdiocese, the Catholic community and Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica to cooperate with the city and the organizers to foster a positive relationship with the community at large.” The statement from Archbishop Prendergast website calls the event “an opportunity for a positive civic relationship by joining in the Capital’s celebrations of our 150th, Ottawa 2017.” He also notes the chance “to foster a positive relationship with the community at large as well as with many tourists.” Some, however, derided the event as sacrilegious and even blasphemous or demonic, complaining to the archdiocese. Archbishop Terrence dismissed such concerns, but did see some symbolic value in the event. “To the extent that we did see symbolism, it was that, afterward, Our Lady would continue to reign, something I mentioned in a tweet right after the Thursday performance, as people I respect began to make their objections known.” Planning for the event began last year. Organizers hoped to give the impression that Kumo was approaching another large spider sculpture, named “Mama,” in front of the National Art Gallery across from the cathedral. The performance began with Kumo “waking up” to organ music from within the church. It is worth noting that in medieval times, performances in front of churches were common, often depicting biblical events. Our Lady who in Revelation defeats Dragon (& fulfills Genesis promise of crushing serpent) reigns again undisturbed pic.twitter.com\/7hXaJbEzQ5 — Terrence Prendergast (@archterentius) July 28, 2017 The giant robot spider garnered quite a lot of attention on Twitter, where it spawned a parody account at the suggestion of Catholic Twitter user Tommy Tighe. I came out to have a good time and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now.— Kumo the RoboSpider (@CathRoboSpider) August 2, 2017","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2017\/08\/canadian-robot-spider-on-cathedral-spawns-twitter-fame\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Canadian robot spider on cathedral spawns Twitter fame"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}