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back to article Archbishop says Catholics confusing confessionals with couches

A top Catholic Bishop has taken a pop at the not-quite-faithful-enough, who are treating the confessional as little more than a cheaper, albeit darker, version of the psychologist's couch. Archbishop Mauro Piacenza went on Vatican radio to bemoan the "deep crisis" that has overtaken the sacrament of penance, aka the sacrament …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    nicknames

    Why is Mauro known as Archi?

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Pennies from heaven

    They could solve this with a call centre, and make some money too.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    even briefer list of sins

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRYaMiP4K8

    amirite?

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  4. Anonymous John
    Happy

    Title

    Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife,

    his ox thou shalt not slaughter,

    but thank the Lord it is not a sin

    to covet thy neighbour’s daughter."

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    FFS

    "A top Catholic Bishop has taken a pop at the not-quite-faithful-enough, who are treating the confessional as little more than a cheaper, albeit darker, version of the psychologist's couch."

    Well, when the pope is chosen as the only one candidate formerly in the Hitlerjungend, when he gets back in Catholic church the ultra-right former Levebvre followers, including Williamson who is still refuting the Holocaust, when each nominated bishop across the Catholic church is 70 years old minimum and from the most conservative mindset, and finally when the priests are still refused any sex with consenting adults while it's apparently ok to impose it to children, I'm just asking,

    WHAT DOES THAT DARN BISHOP THINK HIS CUSTOMERS BASE IS GONNA CONSIST OF, FFS ?

    Surely it's gonna be more lost souls off their shoes since day 1, rather than balanced people, no ?

    </atheist rant>

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  6. Mike

    You can just imagine the conversation now......

    I've had sex with young boys, I've told people that using condoms spreads aids, I repress womens rights all over the world, I prevent vaxcines being used that would save lives.....

    OK, you've got the job, when can you start taking confession?

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  7. Seán

    Kiddie fiddlers

    As an atheist who grew up as a Catholic (post Vatican II) we never had all the really crazy shit they had back in the wacky 50's like learning off huge swathes of nonsense and Latin and all that (I believe they retain a lot of that guff in the US but they have always been a bit slow).

    Of all the various mind tricks the confession device is probably a good one. Freud said the Irish are the only people not susceptible to psychoanalysis. I'd say it's because they've been examining their thoughts and behaviour since they were six years old. The unexamined life is not worth living according to Socrates.

    Still it obviously doesn't work with everyone which is why so many of the dumb fucks wear dresses and rape children and, even worse, a lot more dress wearing imbeciles cover up those crimes.

    Gahhh, right. It's a nice sunny day, I'm off to punch a priest in the face.

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  8. Marvin the Martian
    Stop

    Call center is a good idea, AC.

    The 10-item and 7-item lists with no room for real-world developments from the last, oh, 2000years are anyway in line with call centre scripts.

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  9. Martin Lyne
    Flame

    It must be the church.

    Catholic Churches (the buildings) seem to blur the individual's ideas of right and wrong.

    Architecture?

    Lack of light?

    Acoustics?

    Chosen the wrong imaginary friend?

    Who's to say?

    But also: nice to see that priests are willing to help their flock. What else do they have to do? Build houses for the poor? Ha, yeah, right.

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  10. ian
    Flame

    Religion

    Good people will do good, whilst bad people will do evil, but for good people to do evil, why that requires religion.

    Burn in hell, the lot of 'em.

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  11. Aaron

    You'd think he complains less.

    Granted, it may not be in the spirit of the thing, but at least it might serve to keep the Roman Catholic Church *relevant* -- something which it desperately needs.

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  12. Paul
    Boffin

    Pedantry scandal hits article on church

    Weren't the 10 commandments from God (via Moses), not the Church? Though I guess the Church can still claim credit for the 7 deadly sins.

    @ac: just saying "...Williamson who is still refuting the Holocaust" - he's not REFUTING it, he's DENYING it. He'd need a lot of actual evidence to refute it.

    Now back to our regularly scheduled debate...

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  13. Flugal

    Ath Reg

    And a quick survey of which Reg readers have Special Pretend Friends reveals a disturbing attachment to reality. Let's get fill the pulpits with Sys Admins this Sunday.

    They'll have had a few dodgy confessions to deal with already too.

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  14. Stewart Haywood
    Joke

    I know what they need

    They need electric monks.

    From "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams ."The Electric Monk was a labour-saving device, like a dishwasher or a video recorder. Dishwashers washed tedious dishes for you, thus saving you the bother of washing them yourself, video recorders watched tedious television for you, thus saving you the bother of looking at it yourself; Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe. "

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  15. Ascylto

    Yeah, yeah, yeah ...

    There's a crisis in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka Confession) because there's a crisis of CONTROL. The Catholic Church, along with other religions is all about CONTROL. Priests, Bishops, Mullahs, Elders, Pastors are all about CONTROL over sex, sexuality, money, more money, women, children etc.,

    Confession is all about priests dispensing forgiveness for wrongdoings. By going to confession you can get absolved from theft, abuse, well ... practically anything really, just so long as you agree to the CONTROL of going to confession.

    I used to be a Catholic but I'm gradually freeing myself. It's a long process and doesn't rely on having an imaginary friend who'll rescue me from eternal damnation.

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  16. Brennan Young
    IT Angle

    Backwards?

    I thought it was the psychiatrists that got the idea from the Catholics.

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