The Times reports that
Pope Benedict XVI has instructed Roman Catholics to pray “in perpetuity” to cleanse the Church of paedophile clergy. All dioceses, parishes, monasteries, convents and seminaries will be expected to organise continuous daily prayers to express penitence and to purify the clergy.Well thank goodness they're organising it along scientific lines eh? It would be a real shame if god ignored their heartfelt pleas because of a technical prayer issue.
Vatican officials said that every parish or institution should designate a person or group each day to conduct continuous prayers for the Church to rid itself of the scandal of sexual abuse by clergy. Alternatively, churches in the same diocese could share the duty. Prayer would take place in one parish for 24 hours, then move to another.
I'd advise anybody who works for a large organisation that has concrete proof of colleagues breaking the law, perhaps cooking the books or exploiting employees, to wish really hard that it wasn't happening - yeah that's probably the best solution.
Whether you believe in god and the efficacy of prayer or not it's hard to think of something more horrifically patronising than this news. When it comes to prayer I'm with Emo Phillips:
When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord didn't work that way. So I just stole one and asked him to forgive me.
1 comment:
This hurts my head.
I have a family member who was teaching in a Jesuit high school and began to suspect that one of the priests was initiating sexual relationships with some of his students. Rather than report it, this family member opted to do his best to make sure the priest was never alone with any students, and to spend extra time engaged in prayer with the priest.
Needless to say, this strategy was ineffective, and the priest went right on fucking his students, and, thankfully, ended up being convicted and is currently in jail.
Also needless to say, I have as little to do with this family member as possible. In his defense, though, he lost his virginity to his Scoutmaster when he was 14, so his values system is a little fucked up. Go NAMBLA!
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