as you probably already know, i have a big,
honkin' vendetta against the catholic church and organised religion in general,
mainly cos they're all a pack of hypocrites and exist solely to fatten their
own wallets. while i've ranted about it fairly extensively on this here site,
and even MORE before this site was even a twinkle in my eye, there is one point
i have left unranted (okay...well at least unWRITTEN) about, and figure if i AM
going to commit it to print, i may's well bounce it off the church officials
themselves and see what THEY have to say about it.
now, before i tell you what IT is, let me explain
why i wrote to who i wrote to. i decided to write to the archdiocese of new
york, not cos i'm so stupid as to think new york is the centre of the universe,
but rather because i LIVE in new york, and as i figured the pope and his
various vatican underlings likely do not answer emails from enquiring
catholics, and all i really want is a simple explanation, cardinal egan and HIS
minions would suffice.
RE : an age-old question boys oh, yeah, and one more thing...how many masses =
a ticket to heaven? or does it depend on the person? hmm...just wondering.
anyway, thanks for your time, and thankyou in advance for your answer. regards,
and now for the issue : SALE OF
INDULGENCES (click it for the specifics if you ain't too
sure what i mean by this)...and why it still exists, legally, to this very day.
this issue has been annoying me for years and someone is now going to put it to
rest for me, or at least attempt to and amuse the hell out of/piss me off even
more. honestly, i'm not even sure they're going to answer this letter, but if
they do, you'll be the first to know. till then, this is what the archdiocese
found in THEIR inbox...
i have only been living within the confines of the archdiocese for a short time, but i would like to ask a favour of you if you
don't mind. unlike many letters i'm sure you receive every day, this one's not
requesting money or physical aid of any kind...all i ask of you is to answer a
question that's been bugging me for about as long as i've been catholic (pretty
much forever) – WHY is the practice of selling indulgences still in existence?
at one time, it was strictly prohibited under penalty of excommunication, but
now it seems every catholic church in the world does it. we're told we need to
pray for the souls of our loved ones if we ever want them to get out of
purgatory and into heaven, but in order to have a mass said in their name, we
need to shell out anywhere from $10 to $20 PER MASS. AND while this is referred
to as an "offering", it looks a whole heckuva lot more like a FEE to
me, as they always make it pretty clear if you insinuate you haven't the
cash...no money, no mass. not to point fingers, but my parish makes quitea
pretty penny selling masses to old shawlies under the pretense of granting
admission to the garden of paradise to their late husbands, parents, and
children by way of mass offerings. while i'm not aware of any way you can buy
your OWN guaranteed spot in heaven, even doing it for others seems just the
slightest bit dodgy to me.i just have to ask, if the sale of masses ISN'T
actually the veiled sale of indulgences, then what is it? and if it IS, this is
where my confusion comes in. i just don't understand. is this practice only
wrong when INDIVIDUALS do it, but perfectly acceptable on an institutional
level? or is it okay now for EVERYONE to do it? cos if it is, i wouldn't mind
doing it myself...i could always use a few extra bucks.
cain the magnificent