Finding Catholic Ritual Comical

[Keith&Co.]

View attachment 1517
The General's uniform is flamboyant, but most of it has nothing to do with his place in the hierarchy.
Most are his personal accomplishments, or unit awards he shares with other soldiers. Others just designate that he is or was attached to a particular command, with no indication if he was CO, XO or the guy that made the coffee.
He can shoot, he's jumped out of planes, and he was in the service when the nation went to war. Guys in bootcamp wear the National Defense Service Medal, too, and they're lower than whale puke.
The only thing about his hierarchy position is on the shoulders.

Which is not to say that the amount of jewelry on his costume isn't impressive as all get out, esp. the numbers of foreign awards, but those aren't on his uniform because of his rank.

So i have to wonder how much of the flamboyance of the other examples is actually designating their place in the hierarchy and how much is more of a reflection of personal history, or personal taste?

In regards to the thread, just what is the most basic bishop or cardinal uniform that one can wear and still be recognized, how much is... Well, how much is flair, to quote Office Space?

 

[Underseer]

View attachment 1517
The General's uniform is flamboyant, but most of it has nothing to do with his place in the hierarchy.
Most are his personal accomplishments, or unit awards he shares with other soldiers. Others just designate that he is or was attached to a particular command, with no indication if he was CO, XO or the guy that made the coffee.
He can shoot, he's jumped out of planes, and he was in the service when the nation went to war. Guys in bootcamp wear the National Defense Service Medal, too, and they're lower than whale puke.
The only thing about his hierarchy position is on the shoulders.

Which is not to say that the amount of jewelry on his costume isn't impressive as all get out, esp. the numbers of foreign awards, but those aren't on his uniform because of his rank.

So i have to wonder how much of the flamboyance of the other examples is actually designating their place in the hierarchy and how much is more of a reflection of personal history, or personal taste?

In regards to the thread, just what is the most basic bishop or cardinal uniform that one can wear and still be recognized, how much is... Well, how much is flair, to quote Office Space?

I was always told that a big chunk of the fruit salad is just from being in the military a long time and not getting into trouble. My dad never wore the fruit salad unless he absolutely had to. He hated wearing it because he felt most of it just wasn't worth showing off.

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

I recently attended some Catholic services, for the first time in at least 30 years, memorial services and funeral of my mother. Apart from all the bells and whistles, what struck me most was how mind0numbingly dull it all was. I realise it wasn't meant to be exciting, what with it being a funeral and all, but still ... So there's the priest in his garish robes, and looking down we see he's wearing sandals, probably because he has bad feet (they looked like feet with problems) which is fair enough, but how incongruous. The services themselves were filled with call and response type moments, and it was all call and monotone response, like noboody meant what they were saying; it was all for the form. And then there were the hymns ... dreadful. I happen to be quite an accomplished singer myself, so the tuneless dirges belted out by what I can only describe as a bunch of karaoke rejects was a punishment for my musical ears.

All in all, it was an experience I wouldn't want to go through in another million years (although I'll have to when my father pops his clogs) and a reminder of why I gave up going to church in the first place. Not really comical, though, more saddening that people I know would do this every week when they could be doing something more interesting instead.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I was always told that a big chunk of the fruit salad is just from being in the military a long time and not getting into trouble.

That's pretty much the definition of the Good Conduct medal. Four years of not getting caught. Or for one of my shipmates, he got caught but was able to blackmail his way out of it...

 

[Bronzeage]

[....
So i have to wonder how much of the flamboyance of the other examples is actually designating their place in the hierarchy and how much is more of a reflection of personal history, or personal taste?

In regards to the thread, just what is the most basic bishop or cardinal uniform that one can wear and still be recognized, how much is... Well, how much is flair, to quote Office Space?

Personal status and the flair which demonstrates that status is a very important element distinguishing one's place in the hierarchy and loss of it can have devastating consequences. In 1996, Admiral Jeremy Boorda committed suicide after he learned a reporter had photographs of him wearing a medal with a bronze V for valor attachment. The V indicates bravery under enemy fire. The problem was Boorda had never actually heard a shot fired in anger. It was probably a small bit if flair among a lot of other flair, but the thought of being exposed for appropriating undeserved flair and the ensuing loss of status was more than he could bear.

 

[Perspicuo]

Aesthetically pleasing.

The anti-contraception and gender-backwardness is not directly related. Priests of all political persuasion celebrate Mass roughly the same way.

As a history buff who is deeply sad he cannot behold ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian rituals, it is a minor compensation to watch the pomp of a High Mass (missa solemnis).

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

I recently attended some Catholic services, for the first time in at least 30 years, memorial services and funeral of my mother. Apart from all the bells and whistles, what struck me most was how mind0numbingly dull it all was. I realise it wasn't meant to be exciting, what with it being a funeral and all, but still ... So there's the priest in his garish robes, and looking down we see he's wearing sandals, probably because he has bad feet (they looked like feet with problems) which is fair enough, but how incongruous. The services themselves were filled with call and response type moments, and it was all call and monotone response, like noboody meant what they were saying; it was all for the form. And then there were the hymns ... dreadful. I happen to be quite an accomplished singer myself, so the tuneless dirges belted out by what I can only describe as a bunch of karaoke rejects was a punishment for my musical ears.

All in all, it was an experience I wouldn't want to go through in another million years (although I'll have to when my father pops his clogs) and a reminder of why I gave up going to church in the first place. Not really comical, though, more saddening that people I know would do this every week when they could be doing something more interesting instead.

I can still remember the first time I opted out of services. We decided to take the kids to a local park instead, get into canoes, enjoy the beach. The kids ended up being part of a shoot a lady was doing for a cookbook. To this day there they are playing in the sand in the background.

When I go into a catholic service I feel invisible, like I've gone back in time to some primitive ritual for initiates. It's a wonderful anthropological observation.

Services have only been to maintain family bonds. But some months ago i decided to opt out completely. It doesn't matter who dies or gets married, I won't be in church. People will just have to understand. If they really insist I'll only go if everyone puts on a diaper, including the costume guy. Them's my terms.

 

[funinspace]

View attachment 1517
The General's uniform is flamboyant, but most of it has nothing to do with his place in the hierarchy.
Most are his personal accomplishments, or unit awards he shares with other soldiers. Others just designate that he is or was attached to a particular command, with no indication if he was CO, XO or the guy that made the coffee.
He can shoot, he's jumped out of planes, and he was in the service when the nation went to war. Guys in bootcamp wear the National Defense Service Medal, too, and they're lower than whale puke.
The only thing about his hierarchy position is on the shoulders.

Which is not to say that the amount of jewelry on his costume isn't impressive as all get out, esp. the numbers of foreign awards, but those aren't on his uniform because of his rank.

So i have to wonder how much of the flamboyance of the other examples is actually designating their place in the hierarchy and how much is more of a reflection of personal history, or personal taste?

In regards to the thread, just what is the most basic bishop or cardinal uniform that one can wear and still be recognized, how much is... Well, how much is flair, to quote Office Space?

Wow, Gen. Petraeus after graduating from West Point, did tough duty in Italy and then Georgia before his climb up the imperial ladder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeus

He was shot in 1991, but not in Desert Storm, but in Kentucky by a US solder tripping up during an exercise.

Ohh, so many cool badges:



The current Pope, seems to get the idea of humility better than most:

 

[Jolly_Penguin]

I only attended a Catholic mass once, and I'll never forget it for how funny it was. I watched a man stand in front of over 100 people as we all watched him sing passionately to a cracker, and then eat it. The crowd then went up to him one by one, went down on their knees, and he fed them all crackers, even though they did not sing.

 

[Keith&Co.]

I only attended a Catholic mass once, and I'll never forget it for how funny it was.

My wedding was Catholic, for my wife's sake.
Most of my family is Mormon, a few Protestants, a handful of Methodists, and my mother, who was trying to decide between buddhist and Episcopalean.

With us, there are points where the guy up front shouts something and we all shout it back.
Catholics have responsorials, where the guy up front shouts something and we're supposed to shout something different back. Never heard of that before.
So there's the guy, shouting "God be with you!"
45 out of fifty people shout "God be with you!" right back.
5 shout 'And also with you.'

Wait, what?
For the rest of the ceremony, He'd shout, five would respond, 45 would mumble 'yeah, whatever, what she said.'

 

[thebeave]

What's with the swinging of that bucket that's spewing out smoke. What is that supposed to symbolize?

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

What's with the swinging of that bucket that's spewing out smoke. What is that supposed to symbolize?

The bucket's called a censer and there's incense burning inside it. The incense smoke (or holy smoke) makes god go spooge in his little panties or something, I don't know.

 

[Eldarion Lathria]

What's with the swinging of that bucket that's spewing out smoke. What is that supposed to symbolize?

The bucket's called a censer and there's incense burning inside it. The incense smoke (or holy smoke) makes god go spooge in his little panties or something, I don't know.

Originally it was used to fumigate the catacombs, IIRC from H.L. Mencken's Treatise on the Gods.


Eldarion Lathria

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Whether it's swinging incense around or eating magic cookies always remember Dawkins' advice. Ask them if they really believe that they're eating their god. His point is to get them to understand that religious beliefs are just as ridiculous as non religious beliefs.

The man has a point.

 

[thebeave]

Also, I guess the censer would be handy to have if the priest has a case of the toots during the service. So there's that.

 

[cornbread_r2]

It's during the Easter vigil, celebrated on the night before Easter Sunday, that (ostensibly) all of the holy water that will be used in the upcoming year is blessed. To accomplish this, blessed oil is poured into a large vessel of water (on the order of the size of a wash tub) as the large Paschal candle (symbolizing the risen Christ) is plunged repeatedly into the vessel. The sexual symbolism of the ceremony is not accidental.

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

The bucket's called a censer and there's incense burning inside it. The incense smoke (or holy smoke) makes god go spooge in his little panties or something, I don't know.

Originally it was used to fumigate the catacombs, IIRC from H.L. Mencken's Treatise on the Gods.


Eldarion Lathria

Maybe it was used for that, but not "originally". Incense has been used across many cultures for thousands of years. The Catholics prbably carried it over from Roman rituals, and the Romans, as well as the Greeks, picked it up from the Egyptians, who had used it in their ceremonies since at least the 5th dynasty (mid-3rd millenium BCE).

Its original use was probably to drive away "evil spirits".

 

[dx713]

I always thought it was part of the "please the senses" ritual, along with the elaborate architecture and the music.
Nowadays, getting the smoke in the eyes is an inconvenience, but before modern hygiene, it must have been a nicer smell than the gathering's.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/

Pew reports that in South America, Catholicism is losing out to protestantism. Apparently many people there are finding Catholicism to be to ritualistic, and empty ritual at that.

“Evangélicos” – as Protestants in the region often are called – include many Christians who belong to Pentecostal churches. While practices vary, Pentecostal worship services often involve experiences that believers consider “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” such as divine healing, speaking in tongues and receiving direct revelations from God. Across all 18 countries and Puerto Rico, a median of nearly two-thirds of Protestants (65%) identify as Pentecostal Christians, either because they belong to a Pentecostal denomination (median of 47%) or because they personally identify as Pentecostal regardless of their denomination (median of 52%). Some Protestants identify as Pentecostal in both ways.

Although many Catholics in Latin America also say they have witnessed divine healing or other gifts of the Holy Spirit, these experiences are much less common in Catholic churches than in Protestant congregations. (For more details, see Chapter 4.)

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/religion-in-latin-america/

Pew reports that in South America, Catholicism is losing out to protestantism. Apparently many people there are finding Catholicism to be to ritualistic, and empty ritual at that.

“Evangélicos” – as Protestants in the region often are called – include many Christians who belong to Pentecostal churches. While practices vary, Pentecostal worship services often involve experiences that believers consider “gifts of the Holy Spirit,” such as divine healing, speaking in tongues and receiving direct revelations from God. Across all 18 countries and Puerto Rico, a median of nearly two-thirds of Protestants (65%) identify as Pentecostal Christians, either because they belong to a Pentecostal denomination (median of 47%) or because they personally identify as Pentecostal regardless of their denomination (median of 52%). Some Protestants identify as Pentecostal in both ways.

Although many Catholics in Latin America also say they have witnessed divine healing or other gifts of the Holy Spirit, these experiences are much less common in Catholic churches than in Protestant congregations. (For more details, see Chapter 4.)

South and central america are shaping up to be the last bastion of this stupidity, whether it's using incense to ward off evil spirits or talking in tongues or eating magic cookies that you've turned into an invisible space creature. Supply and demand I suppose.