Catholic Chruch won't let me leave.

[Animavore]

Can you fast-track your way into the clergy?

I guess I could show them my NAMBLA membership at the door and tell them that Jack sent me.

[Sean Hayden]

We could start a campaign to have him declared a saint, and then slowly leak some of his better Ratz posts...

remember when Ani was almost a saint?

[klr]

Can you fast-track your way into the clergy?

I guess I could show them my NAMBLA membership at the door and tell them that Jack sent me.

They'll let anyone into the priesthood these days ...

[Svartalf]

Can he pass the pedophilia test?

[Scott1328]

Would you be willing to get a priest to blow you (you may have to disguise yourself as 12 year old boy) and then blackmail the church to excommunicate you?

[Cormac]

Excommunication doesn't matter. Even when excommunicated, the church still considers you to be Catholic. You're just, temporarily out of God's grace, and so not allowed to take part in the sacraments.

But you'll still be in the numbers.

What would be appropriate is a mechanism to publicly refute any suggestion that you had been baptised - as baptism involves an oath taken on behalf of a third party, and apart from the fact thdat the law does not recognise contracts imposed on vulnerable people, no baby is capable of consent anyway.

This is important because church records often find their way into historical records, and I don't want history to record that I was a willing Catholic at ANY stage of my life.

I want an official apology from the Church for putting me through this charade, and an official letter stating that they accept that I am not now, and never have been a Catholic.

Of course, this will never happen.

Pricks.

[Cormac]

And is the OP Freudian, in an oddly spelled way?

[Seth]

Oh for fuck's sake, just stand up on your hind legs and walk out of the church. If you're all that obsessed, send your priest a letter telling him you are no longer a Catholic and then forget about it.

Are you afraid the Inquisition is going to come looking for you or something?

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

You might as well ask the Mormons to "unbaptize" you.

Sheesh.

[JimC]

Oh for fuck's sake, just stand up on your hind legs and walk out of the church. If you're all that obsessed, send your priest a letter telling him you are no longer a Catholic and then forget about it.

Are you afraid the Inquisition is going to come looking for you or something?

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

You might as well ask the Mormons to "unbaptize" you.

Sheesh.

You missed his main point, which is the church counts still him and others in a similar position amongst the numbers of their flock, thus falsely claiming a higher membership than is the case.

[PsychoSerenity]

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

Actually, that's a point - don't they have some sort of legal requirement to keep their records of you accurate under the Data Protection Act? You might have to do some digging for information and write a few letters to the Data Protection Commissioner, but I would have thought it would cover it.

[JimC]

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

Actually, that's a point - don't they have some sort of legal requirement to keep their records of you accurate under the Data Protection Act? You might have to do some digging for information and write a few letters to the Data Protection Commissioner, but I would have thought it would cover it.

And using those private, incorrect figures for public statements that deliberately inflate the church's numbers is a form of fraud, surely...

[Seth]

Oh for fuck's sake, just stand up on your hind legs and walk out of the church. If you're all that obsessed, send your priest a letter telling him you are no longer a Catholic and then forget about it.

Are you afraid the Inquisition is going to come looking for you or something?

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

You might as well ask the Mormons to "unbaptize" you.

Sheesh.

You missed his main point, which is the church counts still him and others in a similar position amongst the numbers of their flock, thus falsely claiming a higher membership than is the case.

So what? Who cares? Big deal! Get over it....

[Cormac]

Oh for fuck's sake, just stand up on your hind legs and walk out of the church. If you're all that obsessed, send your priest a letter telling him you are no longer a Catholic and then forget about it.

Are you afraid the Inquisition is going to come looking for you or something?

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

You might as well ask the Mormons to "unbaptize" you.

Sheesh.

Simply that they use those documents as grounding for their claims as to numbers of believers. I don't want to be included in that number. Otherwise, apart from indignation that they and my parents performed those charades, I wouldn't give a toss.

[Cormac]

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

Actually, that's a point - don't they have some sort of legal requirement to keep their records of you accurate under the Data Protection Act? You might have to do some digging for information and write a few letters to the Data Protection Commissioner, but I would have thought it would cover it.

Unfortunately, our data protection commissioner is an arse, and for some reason, doesn't feel that the role involves actually protecting citizen rights.

[Cormac]

Oh for fuck's sake, just stand up on your hind legs and walk out of the church. If you're all that obsessed, send your priest a letter telling him you are no longer a Catholic and then forget about it.

Are you afraid the Inquisition is going to come looking for you or something?

Where did anyone get the silly idea that the Catholic church is under any obligation whatsoever to amend their private internal documents?

You might as well ask the Mormons to "unbaptize" you.

Sheesh.

You missed his main point, which is the church counts still him and others in a similar position amongst the numbers of their flock, thus falsely claiming a higher membership than is the case.

So what? Who cares? Big deal! Get over it....

It has a material impact.

Over 95% of schools in Ireland are run by the Catholic Church.

These are 100% state funded, which means that my taxes are handed over to that church.

Those schools are permitted to deny my children entrance, on the basis that I am an atheist.

This position is shored up in a number of ways, but largely by reference to a spurious number of Catholics in this country.

It is changing, and changing quickly, but not quickly enough.