A Sick Joke

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Sent to me by a dear friend...Two priests are in a Vatican bathroom using the urinals. One of them looks at the other one's penis and notices there's a Nicoderm patch on it. He looks at the other priest and says, 'I believe you're supposed to put that patch on your arm or shoulder, not your dick.'The other one replies, 'It's working just fine.. I'm down to two butts a day.'

Now some of you may be offended by this joke, but it is a commentary on an issue that some just wish would go away, choose to ignore, or are in denial about -- like the abuse in the Irish Catholic culture bought to light in Frank McCourt's books and in movies such as The Magdelaine Sisters.

The Catholic church has lots of deep dark sins over the past 1,500 years or so...from the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the selling of indulgences, to the present buying out of your marriage through annulments, and many many layers in between.

On a personal note, I never knew what made my father so angry and abusive. I probably will never know, but I think that it had something to do with his Irish Catholic family, his years at Fordham studying to be a Jesuit priest. That never came to be obviously, as he married, and had four children, but something snapped in that man, and he spent his life torturing others in a way of retribution for something that happened in his own past...one clouded with the mystery of the church. I wonder if he was abused as a child, or if he bore the guilt of something that happened within the church...as an altar boy, or while in the seminary.

It has been a long time since I have been to church, the rare visits usually reserved for weddings and funerals. It has taken many years to no longer bear the fear and guilt bestowed upon me thanks to my family and nuns and priests from my previous lifetime. I can cast off the judgmental edicts of fanatic religious zealots, and believe in a God that is kind, understanding, and forgiving. What a wonderful place to finally be in....if only those who judge could also see religion in this manner, instead of bending it to their own needs and visions....

Patti O Ranter

Photo of my son Will, taken by Larry...

Comments

Unknown said…
great photo!!! yeah, the sins of the catholic church run dark and deep. it's a shame, really, because i think there's a side of it that does a lot of good in the world, too. certainly my catholic education gave me something quite concrete upon which to shape my own faith. however, my mother's running off and marrying a parish priest after he left the priesthood for her (talk about peyton place) certainly broke me free from any hidebound convictions of what was right or wrong.
7:10 AM
Anonymous said…
OMG, I'm sure Will - will be thrilled he's the poster boy on your blog for this entry - you should photoshop some rosary beads around his neck, maybe put a priest's collar on him.... ;P

xo,
"Crash Test" Ross...
8:35 AM
Judy Vars said…
I'm a wanna Be Catholic..
Hummm maby that is why I love Icons and Saints and Witches and Angels.
4:36 PM
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