NOW LOOK WHAT HE'S DONE

.

Robert, Moera's only practising catholic has, for the last couple of months, become a bit of a Latinphile. He's been translating his silly little prayers into Latin via Google Translate. This would normally be OK as Latin is a dead language, no-one pays any attention to Robert and those prayers are generally the ravings of disturbed minds from previous centuries, not making much sense and done in a poetastic way. It seems though that his little stand - heresy if you will has had major repercussions in the Vatican. See: 

POPE REVERSES OLD NAZIS DECREE

"ROME (AP) — Pope Francis cracked down Friday on the spread of the old Latin Mass, reversing one of Pope Benedict XVI’s signature decisions in a major challenge to traditionalist Catholics who immediately decried it as an attack on them and the ancient liturgy.
Critics said they had never before witnessed a pope so thoroughly reversing his predecessor. That the reversal concerned something so fundamental as the liturgy, while Benedict is still alive and living in the Vatican as a retired pope, only amplified the extraordinary nature of Francis’ move, which will surely result in more right-wing hostility directed at him." .....
........ Under the new law, bishops must also determine if the current groups of faithful attached to the old Mass accept Vatican II, which allowed for Mass to be celebrated in the vernacular rather than Latin. These groups cannot use regular churches; instead, bishops must find alternate locations for them without creating new parishes. In addition, Francis said bishops are no longer allowed to authorize (sic) the formation of any new pro-Latin Mass groups in their dioceses."

This is bad news for Robert who sorely misses his old pal the former pope. They shared similar values - fascism, anti-socialism, anti-abortion, anti-women's rights, anti gay rights, turning a blind eye to paedophilia in the church - you know, the things from the good old days. Since Robert's American pal Donald Trump was booted out he's been feeling a bit isolated and his embrace of Latin and using it at Sunday mass was a way for him to reconnect to the old values. Unfortunately some Quisling in his church must have reported this to Pope Francis. You can see the result.

Sad.

Oh well, maybe Robert can listen to this:

WHAT LATIN SOUNDED LIKE

HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER

 I've been watching, on NEON, a British/US comedy series named BREEDERS which is excellent.

It features Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard and is created by Freeman, Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell.  It's about Freeman and Haggard as parents struggling with parenthood and their working lives.

Unlike many of these situational comedies, BREEDERS  isn't glib or twee and doesn't rely on puerile one-liners. The settings are realistic and the dialogue is terse, raw and often obscene as the pressures mount.

In one episode in the second series Ava, the pre-teen daughter is showing signs of adopting religion. The family are lapsed catholics and professed atheists so this is a surprise to the parents. After some initial scoffing and disbelief, the father (Freeman) accepts and shows support for his daughter's interest in catholicism.

One section of the dialogue interested me though. Ava, in conversation with her father said that she became interested when she noticed her grandfather praying when her brother was seriously ill in hospital. The brother recovered and she attributed this to the power of prayer. On reflection, while talking it through she suggested (she is a very bright kid) that even though it probably wasn't a miracle, the act of praying strengthened the family's resolve to support her brother and put pressure on the medical authorities to do everything they could to save the boy. They signed the right forms for induced coma and for serious medication which proved to be the saviour. I believe in this myself - religion not being something miraculous but often a necessary crutch to help people get through difficult times.

OK, so where is this going? Watching this episode made me think of Robert who has strong religious beliefs. No, I'll restate that as Robert scorns all religion except for one - the catholic church. Robert has strong catholic church beliefs and doesn't let science, history or common sense get in the way of the myths and fabrications that he believes in. But these are his beliefs right? I shouldn't make fun of these and, like the father in BREEDERS be accepting of them.

Or not.

No. I've thought about it and have decided that Robert, as a 65 year old man should know better.