Never mind Easter - show him your cross!

I am pleased to say that I did not embarrass myself this Easter, or at least not as much as I nearly did a few years back.

Whilst I am not particularly religious, I do understand the general concept of Easter, and whilst having some sympathy with the views of comedian Alan Carr, ("...a long weekend is great but I can't help thinking that if Jesus had just held on a bit longer we could have had a full week's holiday!") I do realise that this does tend to trivialise this important religious festival.

Neither was this (i.e. the trivialisation point) my intent a few years back when on this same weekend I noticed a family friend, Phillip, walking through our village.

At the time (and I should point out that I don't have 20:20 vision) I was in my car and Phillip appeared to be struggling to carry a large wooden object, and was not helped by the fact that a large group of fellow villagers who were walking behind him, were offering him no assistance whatsoever!

"Shall I stop and give him a hand?" I asked MN&D, to which she gave me a withering look and asked "Don't you know what he's doing?".

I think this may have been a rhetorical question, because as I started to reply, that "Yes, he's struggling to carry that big wooden cross..." I suddenly realised that Phillip, the village's Vicar, was staging a re-enactment of Christ's journey.

I also fully appreciate that had this modern day re-enactment concluded with with "Christ" arriving at the crucifixion site, in the front of a Mondeo estate, with his cross hanging out of the back of the said car, that some of the religious and symbolic significance may have been lost.

However, whilst my willingness to help was somewhat inappropriate, at least my heart was in the right place!

It's a sin....apparently

Whilst not wanting to annoy or upset anybody who is a devout believer of their respective religious faith, but I was somewhat perturbed by the Roman Catholic church's updating of its list of mortal sins yesterday, which now include 21st century issues such as pollution and genetic experimentation.

Whilst not technically governed by their rules, not being a "club" member, I was always reasonably comfortable with the concept of traditional mortal sins - that is, those which break the Ten Commandments and include murder and adultery.

It seems "reasonable" to me that committing such sins warrants the need for "club" members to confess such gross misdemeanours to a priest and if not absolved or forgiven, will lead (this may be a little on the harsh side) to a person's soul being condemned to hell.

The situation is no longer quite so clear as mortal sins will now include: -

• genetic experimentation,
• tampering with the order of nature,
• pollution,
• social injustice,
• causing poverty,
• excessive wealth, and drug abuse

Now - albeit not for the first time - I am a little confused.

I had thought that the Catholic Church was against contraception (their own version of a non-proliferation treaty perhaps?), and yet they now add to the list of mortal sins, a whole heap of "stuff" that is child-related, and therefore exacerbated by their previous stance.

Having kids is in fact a form of genetic experimentation, and despite my best efforts (I really was trying!) our children have some of my traits - although thankfully for them, not too many!

Also, there is a cycle which lasts for many, many years which goes something like this: -

Drugs - during birth, Ethonox - after birth, Kalpol - poverty - years of room tidying up the pollution caused by "the little ones", in the face of toddler/child/student protestations of "...tampering with the order of nature" - drugs (prescribed obviously, but usually Valium or some other anti-depressant!) - post liberation feelings of excessive wealth, only to be quickly replaced by the realisation that all things - like one's children - are relative!

So it will be that in future Roman Catholics men will have to confess to their priest, something along the lines of "Forgive me father for I have sinned...I am a Father".

The priest on the other hand should not be a father as he should have sworn an oath of celibacy!

Confusing isn't it?

How sacred is sacred?

The following picture which appeared in today's Evening Standard shows Hindu priests throwing offerings of clarified butter onto a scared fire to invole the permission of mother earth to build a cow protection centre near Watford.

The "bhumi puja" ceremony marks the start of work to create a home for cattle who would otherwise be slaughtered as they are sacred to the Hindu religion.


Fair enough I say, if you want to make the cow sacred, as long as I don't have to, then go ahead.

However, if you look closely in the picture it appears as though the priest has set fire to the head of one of the women.

What's the score here? With no beef to put on the bar-b-que, you pan fry the guests?

Jesuits to vote for 'Black Pope'

One of the challenges that I face on a daily basis is trying to avoid being "sucked into" buying a London newspaper, by the ever increasingly misleading billboard(?) headlines.

However, the above headline which appeared in today's Telegraph initially led me to think that the Roman Catholic church had decided to abandon their historical conservatism, and decide to elect a new black Pope, ignoring the minor detail of having a living white Pope in the Vatican already.

Now I'm sure that a Black Pope would go down a storm in Africa, a continent that historically will have turned a blind eye to similar inconvenient truths, and creative enough to "lose" Pope Benedict XVI, in order to create a "vacancy" for a black Pope to be elected.

But one would have thought that Plan A - e.g. to bury the current Pope under a pile of eggs, in the style of Eggs Benedict - would have been "hatched" prior to announcing news of Plan B to vote for the Black Pope.

As you can imagine, the headline was nothing more than a misleading hook to attract readers (You'll never see me doing this, in this Blog!)

Apparently, the 'Black Pope' nickname refers to the simple black vestments worn by the Jesuits and to the power the leader holds. The Society of Jesus, which was founded in the 16th century by St Ignatius Loyola to be the "Pope's cavalry.

The outgoing leader, Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, 79, has served since 1983. He is the first head to ask to retire, a request granted by Pope Benedict.