St. Joseph’s Ass Prig For Children
Prig: - noun - a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, esp. in a self-righteous or irritating manner. …
As the product of four years of Jesuit education and five years of stand-up comedy (sentences which were not served concurrently), I feel uniquely qualified to comment on news items that relate to both experiences.
Which is to say pretty much everything that involves the Catholic Church.
I don’t know that Catholics are any wackier than any other religion, but they do seem to have a propensity for winding up in the headlines.
If you had to guess how the Church would manage to get embroiled in controversy in Massachusetts, your first thought might be over the topic of gay marriage.
However, Reverend Ron Barker (no relation to game show host Bob), who is the pastor at St. Joseph’s Elementary School in Wakefield, has bigger fish to fry. And not just on Friday.
Reverend Ron decided to reach back into the Church’s storied tradition and resurrect an old favorite activity from the past: book banning.
But that’s only because they don’t allow you to burn witches any more in Massachusetts.
The books in question? The Harry Potter series, of course.
Holy irony, Batman. Banning a book in which a young man with special powers goes around battling evil and suspending the laws of nature?!
Father Ron’s hardest job might be making sure the librarian takes the right book off the shelves.
The reverend is concerned that the books promote witchcraft and disrespect for adults. In making the decision to blacklist one of the most popular literature series of all time, the padre said he thought “most children were strong enough to resist the temptation.”
Because you never know when your kid will succumb to the temptation to read a book.
Get thee behind me, Hemingway!
If you’re going to ban Harry Potter because it might influence kids to become involved in the occult, you should also ban the works of Erle Stanley Gardner so that kids don’t read Perry Mason and give in to the urge to become a lawyer.
Every time I turn on the TV there are at least 10 commercials for personal injury lawyers trying to stir up trouble. I’ve yet to see a commercial with a wizard causing problems by casting a spell … unless you count the Travelocity Roaming Gnome.
Talk about witchcraft, that little dude always finds the lowest hotel rates — which is a lot more than the Catholic Church ever did for me.
humor, Harry Potter, Catholic Church, book ban, wizards, Perry Mason, roaming gnome
October 30th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
This is the third blog I’ve read over the span of 24 hours which references Hemingway. And you’re the only one who spelled it right.
October 31st, 2007 at 9:38 am
hehe! I was more concerned with spelling “ass” right.
ET readers — Don’t miss Suzy’s earnest, literate and funny blog over at:
http://wherehotcomestodie.blogspot.com/
October 31st, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I had to quit the Catholic Church because of this nonsense when I took up astrology. Seems I was trying to subvert God in some fashion. My sister even told my children I was going to go to hell for praticing astrology.
There are all kinds of people promoting fear to sell their religion. Some of them are even politicians.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:22 am
“There are all kinds of people promoting fear to sell their religion. Some of them are even politicians.
Amen to that, Beth!