Sabine Grant

I did not recommend that you sang anything in particular Ronin.. Amos did. I recommended two flavors of ice cream in reply to what flavors you asked me to suggest. The " must sing the Ave Maria" was a quote borrowed from Amos. I do not think you need to find any particular solace....... as usual you allow yourself to decide between two negative representations of two other individuals. Have you considered all the other alternatives? think positive.... or try.

Though I am already a grenouille by the nature of my citizenship.

Sabine Grant

The impact of a catholic priest in the Republic of Eire :

The scene takes place in a pub. A priest is undertaking the task of exposing the danger of drinking whiskey. In one hand he is holding a glass of water in the other a glass of good ol' whiskey.

" You see what I've here... you see this tiny wee worm all wiggly. If I put it in the water... look it is still wiggly and lively. Now look what happens to it if I put it in the glass of whiskey... all cold and dead. What does it tell ya ? you tell me..."

From the back of the room' an old Paddy gets up and says " Father.. Father... tells me that if you drink whiskey you won't get any worms".

No offense to the Irish and the beautiful land of Skibereen... I love them both.

Sabine Grant

Good evening Amos... I do not see a connection between the brilliant and ferocious mind of Voltaire and the Renaissance. He was fed up with the ridicule of the Regent . Montesquieu supported a constitutional monarchy ( bi party system) and Diderot 's intellectualism demonstrated in the Encyclopedie focused on the brilliance of the human mind.
Catholicism has its share of war and opression.

Amos

Did you think it was a coincidence that some stanger lays claim to his body and buries it in his own tomb that he had carved as if our of rock with his own hands?

Ronin

Oddly that was the first time you *used* quotation marks to indicate your intent ~ and the 'oh my poor poor ronin' bit was just a tad condescending, Sabine...you might want to consider removing the hemlock from your smile before I begin to percieve you as genuinely understanding.

I have considered all of the other alternatives and you still come up failing with your own theistic 'as usuals'.

PS ~ great bar joke, though...you've missed your calling.

Sabine Grant

Peek a Boo Ronin !
You honestly do not think that I promote singing any particular hymns for anyone to find his own solace do you ? If you do that is certainly not my thinking.

I still find that " my poor poor Ronin" is more an expression of my aknowledging your reaction to being told that you " must sing the Ave Maria" considering what I already know of your thoughts. More like petting a cat against the natural flow of its furr. Miaou.. fffff....

Now now... you call both Amos and myself " licking toads". The other alternative is that we are "despictable representatives". None of them seem to describe any decency in either of our characters.

Oh my calling.... who says I missed it? home health care is a far better field to bring smiles and giggles to many folks than other places. More needed. Much more needed.


Amos..... are we still staying afloat on the same waterlilly? I hope you realize that I separate my beliefs about catholicism from the individual you are. I would normaly capitalize the name Maria as I would for any proper noun ( nom propre) so it was purely a typo.

Ronin

Thanks for taking the time to distance yourself from Amos' apparent callous disregard for 'Tribal America'...I had the best of hopes that you were not that 'catholic', despite your undying love of the black and whites.

The rest of the quote you conveniently left off was ~ 'despicable representations of your mindsnaring institutions'.

I was not addressing any decency you may have in your character, my bonsoiring ballerina ~ even Adolf loved his Eva...and Eve her Adam.



'From our first meeting I swore to follow you anywhere - even unto death - I live only for your love.'


Keep up the good work.

Amos

Ronin should be happy to sing the Ave Maria because it is a happy song. My point was that he must learn it first.

And Yes, Sabine, I knew that soon after we met. This is no problem and I don't mind at all if you are not Catholic. I don't hold it against people to be protestant nor do I seek to convert anyone because that, too, would be "leading" them and I am not a leader of the soul nature of other people.

Thanks for the capital M but may I remind you that she is special and therefore my correction.

I don't know what a licking toad is but I guess I don't need to know.

Ronin, we love all minor mythologies and can overshadow them all. It is just the protestant theology that we do not agree with.

The Naked Mage

It's not a thing, it's an act. Certain varieties of exotic toads will secrete a hallucinogenic substance through their skins when they feel threatened, and that is why many people lick them.

Though you've always struck me as just a plain ol' schizophrenic, to tell you the truth.

Stephen T-B

“Authority” being such a powerful principle in the Roman Catholic Church, those who wield it badly - whether the Pope, the cardinals, priests or nuns - are able to cause immense, often immeasurable damage. On the other hand, those who are wise and compassionate are able to bring real comfort to those who look to them for guidance.
In the course of my job as a young reporter, I regularly visited the ministers of religion on my patch - Anglican, Free Church and Roman Catholic, and I have to say that the ones I liked least, because they were austere, dreary and narrow-minded, were the Free Church ministers. The Anglicans tended to be rather distant (in those days they were mostly Middle Class and somewhat repressed) and the RC priests were delightful. They smoked, liked a drink, were remarkably worldly (this being explained to me as due to the fact that they’d heard everything in the confessional so nothing could surprise or shock them), were disarmingly friendly and enjoyed a chat - most were Irish, and I have not yet met an Irish man or woman who was verbally reticent.
This experience contrasts with what I’ve heard about nuns (especially) and other priests - badly damaged people who badly damaged those who had the misfortune of being under their authority.
And another characteristic of the RC Church which sometimes comes to the fore is a harsh inhumanity - especially evident in its treatment of women.
Is the Roman Catholic Church a benign institution? On balance, I think not.