In 2022 a band I hadn’t paid much attention to since the early 2000s, Bowling For Soup, released a new album. You may remember them for songs from the early aughts like “Girl All The Bad Guys Want” or “1985”. I really got into this new album (Pop, Drunk, Snot, Bread) after hearing the songs “Getting Old Sucks” and “I Wanna Be Brad Pitt”; both espousing sentiments I hold. The song that really sold me on the album was one making fun of ‘hardcore’ lyrics, “Killen’ ‘Em With Kindness”. The chorus hook is:
Killing motherfuckers
Killing motherfuckers
Killing motherfuckers with kindness
Killing motherfuckers
Killing motherfuckers
Killing motherfuckers with kindness
Perfection. I bought the album and listened relentlessly. The lyrics of the first verse encapsulate the horror wrought by modern media:
The television is more like a jukebox full of trends
Playing a happy song and then bringing the whole world down again
And social media, I can’t take it anymore
Haters filling up your head with no idea what they’ve said
(Oh shit, did you just get political?)
Nope, I’m just telling it like it is
Well then, what’s your big solution?
I don’t have one but I think it could be as simple as
A sentiment I can totally grok. But there was something about the lyrics of the second verse that made me think it was anathema to the first verse:
Okay, religion, don’t think that you can hide
Mom and Dad got asked to leave the church
Because she wasn’t his first wife
And the battlefields have run wet
With the smell of hate for centuries
And it’s never gonna change until we start
They wanted to belong to a church that espoused ideas that they didn’t believe in? And were asked nicely to leave? That somehow translates to holy wars? I mean, I can understand (in The West) before the reformation there wasn’t an abundance of choice. However, now I’m sure you can find a church tailored to your beliefs easier than finding porn. But still people insist that instead of following the faith they have chosen, that faith should bend to their will. That’s kind of the opposite of how this is supposed to work.
I myself, despite considering myself Catholic, have rarely gone to church in many years. Not because I don’t believe in the faith, but because I don’t believe in the church, or rather what it has become. I was an altar boy, I thought about becoming a priest, but decided I was not moral enough myself to lead a flock (no, I don’t diddle kids, and my priest never diddled me). But the more faithful I have become, the more disillusioned I became with the church. The final straw for me attending regularly at my parish was when they brought Santa Clause in to deliver the gifts at a Christmas service. Growing up, the church had Santa in the hall after the service so the kids could see him, but involving the character in the service was a step too far for me.
This is all too say, I’m a bit more conservative in my beliefs than Arch Catholic Joe Biden. Bringing us to this AP story I came across bereft of breath that there are Catholics who believe in the teachings of the Catholic church!
It was the music that changed first. Or maybe that’s just when many people at the pale brick Catholic church in the quiet Wisconsin neighborhood finally began to realize what was happening.
The choir director, a fixture at St. Maria Goretti for nearly 40 years, was suddenly gone. Contemporary hymns were replaced by music rooted in medieval Europe.
So much was changing. Sermons were focusing more on sin and confession. Priests were rarely seen without cassocks. Altar girls, for a time, were banned.
At the parish elementary school, students began hearing about abortion and hell.
“It was like a step back in time,” said one former parishioner, still so dazed by the tumultuous changes that began in 2021 with a new pastor that he only spoke on condition of anonymity.
That is how this story begins, aghast that Catholics are against abortion. I’ll skip around here to make sense of this narrative disguised as a news story. The first paragraph mentions the music changing. Later on we get a bit more detail on how:
In Cincinnati, it came when the new priest abandoned gospel music and African drumming.
African drumming? I thought it was hippy Protestant bullshit when they brought in a guitar to accompany the traditional organ. However, I myself think music is unneeded in the first place, and the people that want it are just as self absorbed as those who think their on demand abortions should be church sanctioned. I don’t remember The Sermon On The Mount having a musical accompaniment. But, this also brings me to where I diverge even from this ‘conservative’ takeover of The Church in the US.
Very often, talk here echoes the 13th-century writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, who believed God could be found in truth, goodness and beauty. Sometimes, they say, that means finding God in strict tenets about sexuality. Sometimes in the haunting beauty of Gregorian chants.
Today’s young priests are far more likely to believe that the church changed too much after Vatican II, tangling itself up in America’s rapidly shifting views on everything from women’s roles to LGBTQ people.
13th Century!? The Church lost its way with the council of Nicea in 325! I would dare say even before with Saul Paul becoming a church leader. These namby pamby ‘conservatives’ are not so different than those who want the faith to bend to their will for vanity rather than to bend to the will of the faith. Fuck, I hate everyone.
(I don’t want to go so far back that we end up with cults that believed one should be celibate forever, I hope to get laid at some point! (Once I find a nice woman to settle down with who accepts that I don’t believe in sex before marriage. That is the one thing too perverted for most modern women to accept.)
My Methodist pastor* thought I would be a good candidate for seminary school. I was considering it for a while. Then I lost my faith.
*Pastor Rick’s daughter was wild! I remember seeing pictures of her half naked at bonfires.
I was married by Pastor Rick, his daughter was not wild, hideous, but not wild
There must be a million stories of the pastor’s daughter who was a hellion.
LOL that whole article is peak AP.
Thanks for highlighting that.
That’s great.
It’s also where I had to tap out.
Yep, that was my college girlfriend. A 7DA PK. Drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney, swore like a sailor.
That was meant as a reply to Chafed up above.
” I thought it was hippy Protestant bullshit when they brought in a guitar to accompany the traditional organ.”
Amen. Organ alone or GTFO.
I know Liberace was a hell of a piano player.
I heard he sucked on the organ.
What is better than roses on your piano?
.
.
.
Tulips (two lips) on your organ.
(don’t explain the joke)
He wasn’t that good of a piano player.
If Tres knows a thing or two about a thing or two, it’s sucking on an organ.
A Cappella Chior is also acceptable.
*choir
Sure. And choir plus organ is OK. My anger at guitarists and drummers in church services is most severe and I was triggered.
JS BACH – JESU, JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING BWV 147 – ORGAN OF ST. PANKRATIUS-KIRCHE, GÜTERSLOH, GERMANY
As a religious schooled non believer with a RC devout wife this is one of things that could change my mind.
Since it’s Bach I suppose I should be investigating Lutheranism. But as Catholic educated baptized in Henry the VIII’s religious creation to get annulments and church property I feel like that rewards vandalism on a church.
Although he was an Augustinian. And that’s who educated me…
This is a tough decision.
+1
All about the organ.
Organ music alone, eh? HELL. YES.
See also: Baseball.
Great article.
I second this! Thanks CPRM!
You have way more knowledge of Church history than I have, CPRM. ‘Course most everyone does.
I’ll be on the lookout for a lady friend for you but the gene pool here is rather small and quality may be lacking.
I do find it interesting how different folks arrive at their own conclusions regarding their beliefs.
Thanks for your info and experiences.
I’m slightly odd re: religion. I was baptized and raised Catholic, in Mom’s tradition. I never “got” religion. Father Steve was great, though. His sermons were well-thought, written and delivered. Were I an adult, his service alone was well-worth a day’s entry, though perhaps not a soul’s. St. Mary’s in Evansville was lovely, especially for downtown in a city of ~125k. I still don’t ‘get’ it. It is a part of being human, always has/will be, and I value that along with history and social connections, trends. I just don’t see a need for it, though I was certainly raised w a Christian morality, tho Dad isn’t religious at all. If Church/similar is necessary for that, I’ll take it. Also true that human shows ‘religious morality’ frequently involves genocide for plunder. Religion/State, inherently intertwined through Money & Power. Goddamn the Founders were smart to separate the two as best as they could. Better for The People when there are too many divergent religions for one to hold much sway, so good on us.
St. Mary’s was a chore I did w bro (religion never ‘hit’ him either). Mom was and is in choirs so she was often busy. I’d sneak off to read The Hobbit or baseball cards, etc. He found a way through the kitchen up to a basketball court to mess about. (I knew about playing ball. I’d like to think he was up to more. Knowing him, he coulda and woulda kept it secret.)
My favorite church memory involves when I’d get lost in my mind with Calvin & Hobbes mental fun, with head down and action-noises and finger/hand fighting. Older lady turned back from the pew ahead and gently petted me like a wounded animal. “There, there,” she said as Mom sat by. (I thankfully don’t do it much anymore, and it’s certainly not as cartoonist, but odd vocalizations get made and mind wanders. I am aware to never get in that state when in public. I’ve never been caught so far, though lovers have. (Humorous) Embarrassment, She Wrote!
I used to consider myself an atheist but coming to understand this ↑ has certainly complicated my views.
One of mom’s asshole boyfriends got her four sons baptized as Catholics; I was around six years old. He asked me point blank if I “believed” and I told him no.
Funny thing was, Sunday school was great. Mass was mostly boring but I used to have fun roaming around the church at random hours and the community was lovely.
That church went Pentecostal sometime during the last 40 years since I was last there. Sigh.
I only know Catholic mass. I have done other church services in the past, but don’t really remember them.
Anyway, I watched an online service for the Church of the Nazarene and whatever the Community Christian Church is one day while avoiding work. Both services were basically the same, almost 30 minutes of lame Christian acoustic guitar music, a 20 minute sermon, and then 10 more minutes of music. And then everyone left. I was truly befuddled.
Did you eat a cookie?
That seems like what Catholic services were for me. (Well, then I wrote it out and there are things we both likely consider massive differences into Reality.) However, at least Communion is a legit ceremony. Afterwards there was sometimes/always(?) a buffet type thing, pretty much just for old folk, I recall. Just hymns, with some repeated to signify parts of service. Sermon; Communion (an actual ceremony!) ..see above); hymns; exit, and then that food. We also had Sunday School, but I didn’t have to go that much. Methinky difficult, was I.
St. Mary’s was absolutely a strong community. The choir was also legit good. Mom’s a soprano and they had maybe 15-20(?) singers. She left The Church after the sex scandals. She’s kinda sorta a unitarian now, a ‘universalist’ or close. Never any nastiness with Dad never going to church. I come from quite a couple of opposites-attract. It worked quite well for our family. In human history, mileage and year *will* vary.
Not having Real Life contact with people, losing it all online, is an obvious disaster currently only beginning to softly bubble over. My generation loves it.
I was listening to a podcast of an interview of a Catholic author by a practicing Catholic just the other day. And, lo and behold, it turns out he is a very serious Catholic, and prefers the Latin mass, does not like this pope, hates hippy pastors, or whatever the C’s call them, and it shows up in his writing! He includes Catholic things, makes use of Catholic imagery, and so on. Of course, he mentions bad reviews he has gotten due to this strong sense of belief, even by friends. It seems that the left hates these traditional messages. I wonder why?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tim-powers/id1584838118?i=1000554078096
I enjoyed it, even though I am not a Catholic, much to my grandmothers horror.
Good post, CPRM.
And who will build the froot sushi bars?
Or change a car tire?
How about we deport all zoning people and those that love ’em?
So, apparently they decided to allow you to play as the title character of The Legend of Zelda series.
I don’t think it was motivated by Current Day nonsense though.
I like these 2D games better than the last 3D game I played; I put 15 hours or so into that and never across a proper dungeon.
I should finish my review of four Zelda Games I have mostly written.
Hrmm… It’s releasing just after my road trip ends.
Nintendo just released Zelda: Four Swords on Switch today.
Ooo, I wanted to try that one.
🙁
That’s not releasing it for the switch.
It’s Switch. I have the membership and will be playing it.
Four Swords is multi-player IIRC? Is why I never bothered.
I do not do subscription nostalgia.
OT… Did I hear Floridians booing “O Canada”? Classy.
Go Oilers!
I’m only rooting for FL to have this fucking season over.
I am getting a little bored with the jingoistic sports fan stuff. If you watched the US Open last weekend you were treated to an inexplicable chant of “USA USA!” It’s golf, not a political rally dumbfucks.
I know less than zero about golf – but I thought golf was always individuals.
I like friendly jingoism for lack of a better term… but it only makes sense at contest where folks are playing for their country.
Yeah, I’m more Catholic than that guy. I certainly have beliefs that align with them more than his do.
You and Muslims both have more in line with Catholicism than amScraynton Joe.
Na’ive ‘Merican, Sniffs Alter Boys’ Hair, 80, was unavailable for comment. Author viewed the moniker as too wordy, didn’t male it in.
The Church lost it’s way with the cult of Mary, or even Trinitarian doctrine. Pick your heresy.
The interesting thing to me about the Church is that it reached an optimum level of bureaucracy, and really never exceeded it (as almost all other bureaucracies are inclined to do – growing until they tip over into killing the organization).
The Church lost it’s way with the cult of Mary, or even Trinitarian doctrine. Pick your heresy.
Both Mary and the Trinity have been around for awhile. Are you talking about the schism or something even earlier? In your mind, is there a true Church?
Not to speak for JI, but I read that as the Council of Nicaea.
Wiki says 325 and for grins I’ll add CE. I always chuckle when that’s used in scholarly research about religion.
I’m pretty sure the Trinity was well accepted prior to the CofN, but I’m not sure it matters.
Trying to tailor it to your particular bent seems to be a long and glorious tradition.
The first schism – long before the Great Schism, broke the Eastern Catholic Churches off (Chaldean), and Oriental Orthodox (Coptic, and the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church). Although this was not Nicea that caused the breach, but the Council of Chalcedon (about a century later).
[[[We]]] aren’t trinitarians. That’s a problem with the protestant community.
Yep, that’s why [[[you]]] is heretics!
The Church, much like The United States, or the British Empire, or, really, any human endeavor, was falling apart as soon as it became an entity. People are people, and time is entropy. Nothing lasts longer than the people who created it.
Terrific article.
I grew up Catholic in an Italian Catholic family. I had nothing but good experiences. My kids (24 and 22 now) were both baptized in the Church. When the scandals hit, it was ridiculously difficult and my wife and I bailed. We tried an Episcopalian church since my (Scottish) paternal family worshipped there. Nightmare. It was stupidly woke even back in the early aughts. We ended up at a Lutheran church that a lot of of our friends attended. Eventually we stopped going.
I’m coming back around to the more traditional church. I completely understand the move back to the Latin Mass and especially the ancient Church. I don’t need guitars.
Reared Presbyterian (AKA The Frozen Chosen,) but fell away late in high school, as much for familial as for philosophical reasons. (Mom stopped going as my parents’ marriage crumbled, church was Dad’s thing and he & I weren’t close, plus both older sisters were off at college.) Married the would-be (UU – too obscure to have its own unique brackets) Rev. GT in my mid-20s, but stopped attending church after our amicable split 9ish years later.
This probably betrays my personal priorities, but what I miss most about church is traditional church music. My preferences run from medieval – each weekend I listen to Millennium of Music on SiriusXM, which is all pre-Bach and thus largely religious – to mainly 19th-century “mainline” Protestant hymns, plus a smattering of Appalachian and African-American gospel. On Christmas Eve, I listened online to the big downtown Presby church’s traditional service…but couldn’t bring myself to go in person, afraid that it wouldn’t be as good as I remembered.
I made a habit of watching the Midnight Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral the last ten years or so but since I moved upstate last fall I don’t get the channel it’s on anymore. I think there was some broadcast out of Syracuse but I didn’t try it.
Was also reared in the Presbyterian church.
Funny secondhand memory: Once on a family trip down south (I forget where,) on Sunday morning my parents and one sister attended a local Baptist church. (Older sister and I stayed behind at our motel, I assume.) Sis was sitting between Mom and Dad, and at one point the preacher, who was almost certainly on a roll, shouted, “That’s enough to make a Presbyterian stand up and holler!” My sister almost did because both our parents immediately elbowed her in the ribs. 😄
That ‘save’ w 18 secs left? Damn. And the follow-up was… *mwah*
In other news, the Cubs actually did well today. We will not discuss the events of yesterday.
Great Adam Carolla rant against Hate Birds: https://youtu.be/L48entxaDa0?si=zABDFXElfWSn2Pjt&t=3094
I’ll link back to this for church discussion.
https://www.glibertarians.us/community/religion/church-recommendations-list/#post-2818
Not sure about the hate re: guitars, etc. for music. A lot of churches don’t have organs. My current church meets in an elementary school gym every week. I need to check with my Dad, but I recall that his Dad used to play an accordion because it was very portable between mission churches in the Andes back in the 50s. (guitars are similar – extremely convenient, easy to learn, etc). I like a lot of the classic hymns, but I don’t mind a mix of older and newer stuff. The teaching is most important to me. Gotta be doctrinally solid and Christ-focused.
I don’t hate them in services, per se. Certainly serves the same exact purpose as hymns. I suppose I’m Old School only cuz religion seems just as wishy-washy as politics if its always changing. There is ‘supposed’ to be closure, solace and salvation in religion, otherwise why have it? If one thing gets changed, and like the Constitution, many should occur, then what *can’t* be changed?
As non-religious and as out-of-the-fray as I am, I can certainly see how the Trinity and its ‘inherent’ schism caused war within(?) its Believers. Big Groups are inherently political, such are humans. The Money and Power wielded by Popes, and Kings ‘under’ its banner, is always time for conquest. Such also, is inherently human. Folk like to rag on the West, but it’s remarkable how far we’ve come. As always, we’ve got a long way to fall. Happily, to date, we’ve always built on our ashes with more peace and prosperity than ever before.
Many here said it first: The Left is a religion that offers neither solace nor salvation. Nothing but nits left to pick, folk proudly scour every pore for bits to harp and wail upon. We do it as well, make no/little difference. I suppose we take solace in knowing how much smarter we are for *seeing* it, but Cassandra weeps the same as us, so proudly drowning in our own smugnificence.
I do hope I’m not around for our post-war balloon to fully burst. I can say the same for every generation in humanity, I ‘spose. *kicks rock, stubs toe* I suppose it’d be a massive victory to be proven wrong. Like sports, always bet AGAINST your favorite team. That way, if they lose, ya win! And if they win, well ya won! Just bought a little extra excitement! Comes free with a lien on your home! Fantabulous!
The pessimist’s recipe! If I think we are going to lose, and we don’t, then that’s really worth celebrating. If we do lose, well I expected it and aren’t so crestfallen. The optimist doesn’t enjoy the victory so much – after all, he knew they would win – but is devastated by an unexpected loss.
Yep! Certainly written tongue-in-cheek, but a realish thought. (Slightly) more optimistic way of putting it: ‘Set realistically low expectations. Aim to excel.’
Better yet, a personal, Iron ev Rule: “Never underestimate the Power of being underestimated.” –> People often make the wrong first impression. Plenty of chances to prove ’em wrong. If they think less of you, you surprise ’em upward. If they somehow over-inflate you, you get to ride that while you can, hopefully at least proving them right(ish). Columbo certainly played this to trick folk into complacency. A dramatic version for effect, but the idea runs through.
I think I wrote this before the Chiefs kicker got othered for his
religious beliefsHATE SPEECH. Otherwise I probably would have touched on that.Catholicism seems to punch above its weight among Glibs. Like military service and a couple of other oddly over representative traits that I’m forgetting now.
Haven’t been a regular church goer since basic training, but find myself more comforted by and drawn to the familiar. Not going to sign up with RCIA at this time though.
Do you wanna see peak secular humanism masquerading as religion? Peep this:
https://www.thefp.com/p/sheryl-sandberg-i-was-wrong-about
Babies getting cooked in ovens, parents getting burned alive in front of their children, all that is no bueno, but the rape is just a bridge too far (not that it isn’t horrific, just the way she frames it is ridiculous). Further:
“BW: There has been silence or—and I don’t know which is worse—this weasel word salad in which they cannot say who has done the bad, evil thing, from so many organizations that, I think pre–October 7, many people like us would have supported. You are a very powerful woman. How does it change your calculation about whether or not to support organizations like this going forward? SS: It’s changed me immeasurably. None of that is acceptable.[…]BW: Will you be donating to Biden this cycle and supporting Biden? SS: I did donate and I do support.”
Now that, my friends, is idolatry. She’s no more a “Jew” than a is kapo at Auschwitz herding his coreligionists into the gas chamber for the promise of a slightly more comfortable cot. Reform Judaism is idol worship of progressive golden calves and is no longer legitimate to the faith at all IMO. Proggy Catholic clergy straddle this line when they start questioning key tenets of faith, but at least they stop short of publicly supporting groups that slaughter Catholics and call for their extermination.
Cultural Jews certainly exist, but I ‘spose in an odd way I also don’t “get.” Seinfeld is coming out against cultural Leftism, and damn good on him. I don’t know family history behind ’em all, nor do I really care. I’m cool w (many, not all) NYC Jews kinda being their own thing, but I ain’t no rabbi.
Knowingly silly, late-night example: Ya can enjoy baseball as much as anyone, but if ya don’t have a Team, you can’t really be a Fan. To take that inherently vital part OUT of the mix, having a distinct team to root for over the course, kinda takes away the whole point. I suppose for Jews, perhaps ya at least have to do ‘something’ for Rosh Hashanah, Passover and Yom Kippur. *shrugs in relative ignorance* How can one let ‘culture’ Trump religion? (Teehee! not gonna fix that auto-correct 🙂 )
I’m sure I don’t know, cuz I don’t get any of it. (Still…Go Cubs, go! I DO understand the community, history and come-together-ness of it all. I prefer conflicts to meaningless entertainment, not a Battle for Lost Souls. Helping my point: There are billions/ trillions spent on sports and religion, all to drive demand, increasing
spiritual salvationtickets sold. Gotta put asses in dem seats w the best product possible. Solace is the sexiest concession, with religions each promoting Their Secret to salvation. Priceless, to many.)‘ “They say they’re trying to restore what us old guys ruined,” said the Rev. John Forliti, 87, a retired Twin Cities priest who fought for civil rights and reforms in Catholic school sex education.’
Hey, Padre, I’d keep my mouth shut about Catholic school sex education if I were you.
If you’re a retired priest does that mean you can bang hookers?
Ya don’t HAVE to be, but it doesn’t hurt. I don’t think being active hurts, either, frankly. Never has, never will.
“Humans are so stubbornly human! How dare they?!” ~Every Divine figure throughout history.
So much needless turmoil,
I’m going to play Disc golf,
Cheers!
Good news- the AI company gave me more work. They claim to have paid me, but it hasn’t reached my bank account yet.
A fun video about music theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mLqpA-PMwM
I prefer choose-your-own adventure religions, like this one:
***
Yamabushi (山伏, one who prostrates oneself on the mountain) are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits.[1] They are generally part of the syncretic shugendō religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements.[2]
Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some hijiri (聖) (saints or holy persons) of the eighth and ninth centuries.[3]
According to American writer Frederik L. Schodt:
These positively medieval-looking nature worshipers carry metal staves and conch shells and wear straw sandals and sometimes a hemp cloth over-robe with the Heart Sutra written on it. They follow a mixture of esoteric or tantric Buddhism mixed with Shinto, the native animistic religion of Japan.[4]
***
You even get to wear a silly little hat.
People who place packing slip envelopes over the taped flap edge can GDIAF. There’s a special circle waiting for them.
Good morning peeps.
😄☕✌
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Soa3gO7tL-c
🎶🎶
Good morning, Sean!
I thought this was a Green Day free zone.
Next thing you know someone is slipping some Nickleback through.
Morning.
Say hey
Morning! Everyone go out and free some slaves today!
Wait, don’t we get the day off? Now you’re telling me I gotta go do stuff?
I get the day off. 😁
Happy Juneteenth GT!🎉
Thanks, ‘slinger, and good morning! Heading out for breakfast shortly, then a day enjoying the Great Indoors, ’cause it’s too damn hot to be outside!
Phrasing? A bit odd, but OK…