One of the reasons why Martin Luther split from the Catholic Church, as I understand it, was this abominable practice of Blackmail practiced by the Church of Rome upon its downtrodden believers: For payment of sums of money it was possible to buy your way out of the fires of purgatory. The number of years "out of purgatory" was in direct relationship with the amount of money you gave. Some poor sods gave all they posessed, including the farm and lands in order to leave purgatory 100,000 years earlier. And the church, knowing full well that this was nonsense blackmailed its believers mercilessly.
It is common knowledge that many, if not most Catholic Priests break the law of celibacy on a daily basis.
The women with whom they share their beds are referred to as their "housekeeper".
Bishop Egon Kapellari of Graz now has come up with a truly Catholic solution to this problem:
Priests who break the law of celibacy should make a voluntary financial contribution, "maybe to the starving population of this world". Such a "voluntary contribution" should be of an amount which is "painful" to the individual Priest. The Bishop does not define the concept of "painful" since, I suppose, he understands that it is different for different Priests. A Priest who has five children to support needs more money than one who has only one child. Therefore the level of "pain" is reached sooner in one case than the other.
Egon expresses his belief that after such a voluntary contribution, the sinning Priest will be able "to breath freely again"... He does not say, however, how long such "freely breathing" may last. When the guilty conscience again weighs heavily upon the soul of the sinner, another "almost painful contribution" may become neccessary. Should this, maybe, become an annual payment, or should it be left to the individual Priest and his feeling of guilt? Probably, for simplicity's sake the payment could be made directly to the church who then may decide which of the world's starving population should be supported.
At the outset I said that Kapellari has come up with a truly Catholic solution.
Because since day One, the Catholic Church has played the game of "the guilty sinner". And a person who feels guilty can be easily controlled and blackmailed. And it truly was never an issue of "Souls and Forgiveness" but it was always an issue of "Control" and "Money"...
Our good Bishop assures us that he will not issue a table of "tariffs" and that he will not want to check into the amount an individual Priest has in fact paid. If, however, a promise is broken, there is one's own conscience to be dealt with.
Then, in true double speak fashion, he assures us that this payment has nothing to do with "indulgence", with paying your way out of Purgatory, but is only one step for the sinning Priest to be able to "breath freely" again.
What, dear Bishop, exactly is the difference between "Paying your way out of Purgatory" and "Breathing Freely Again" ?
If you would like to explain this to me, you may reach me under
bertstravels.
P.S. I have a better suggestion for the sinning Priest, than Bishop Kapellari.
Go to Confession.... it works and it's a lot cheaper...
1 comment:
I see we have much in common. But I believe you fell short of addressing the Catholic Church's multiple other problems. Perhaps at Heaven's door, it will all become painfully clear. Hello again, Bert.
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