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slaughter in the vatican.

  • Aug. 30th, 2009 at 12:55 PM
m is displeased
So the question is, realistically, where does an excommunicated Carthrusian go? He has no family and - outside of a potentially damning handful of charity from Burakgazi - no money. He has precisely no experience with secular life and an awful lot of existentialist dread building up over his circumstances: he hasn't lost his faith, only his confidence in the absolution and as such continues to equate Vatican ruling with the will of God. Invitandus excommunication = this newly realized version of God is very, very unhappy. Where does this leave Serafeim, the holy fool, the man in the sacred bubble? In a very bad way, naturally. Two days and one damage-control-desperate cardinal later and abruptly his sense of comprehension is shattered: how does the holy fool go from the silent, incensed dark of high religion to the barren everyday? Not well, clearly. Especially not when he perceives himself to have sinned beyond hope of redemption. Cue the self-hatred and preoccupation with penance. He uses Burakgazi's feeble charity to rent a room in Rome, lingering about the outskirts of this most holy of elections, going slowly insane and attempting appeal after appeal to the See. Unfortunately for our dear protagonist, the cardinal [Venanzi] for whom he acted as confessor is elected to the Papal Office. With Venanzi in control of the Holy Office, there is now no chance whatsoever for the excommunication to be reversed - we recall that Venanzi has his own dread to keep quiet and his own enemies to keep out. Enter BURAKGAZI, who again risks excommunication to lend a hand: Well you can't spend the rest of your life in Rome, sitting in the square... He sets him up with some friends in Dubrovnik, literature translators who have done some work on commission from the See and once, in fact, translated Burakgazi's own book of contemplations from Bulgarian. Croatia's the perfect locale, says Burakgazi, for translating. Right between East and West, so they do a lot of the liturgies that go back and forth between the Roman and Greek churches. If nothing else, it gets you  away from this place while still keeping you close enough to Church affairs to beg for some leniency...


:... Wanna Guess Who's Living in Dubrovnik?...:

[Oh hush, of course you do.]

. . .


 
ornate prayers
I spoke with Dr. Shaw in class on Thursday, and he made some truly intriguing - if Nietzschian - points regarding faith. Catholicism, he suggested, is a religion founded by slaves for slaves... designed to make them feel better about being slaves. Because they could not realistically expect their lot to improve in this life, they dwelt on the afterlife. It's a fundamentally unhealthy religion, he told us in lecture, one founded upon the most repugnant principals of masochism: it idolizes the image of a man nailed to a cross, nailed through the hands and feet. (Consider Drakulić - J., akimbo, says "You look like a whore": but S. knows that by accepting the pain with open arms, one can fool oneself into ceasing to feel it.) There is a decided emphasis on denial and mortification - it makes the suffering worthwhile. It makes the suffering mean something.
. . .
:.. To Find Patience in Grace (And End Up Nothing) ...:


cuivus dolori remedium est patrentia
[patience is the cure for all suffering]
 

:... Miroslav Satan ...:
 

. . .
:.. In Darkness Let Me Dwell ...:
 
The Code of Canon Law establishes that, "Those upon whom the penalty of excommunication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion" (can. 915).

Excommunication may result from:
  • apostasy
  • heresy
  • schism
  • desecration of the eucharist
  • violence against the pope
  • ordination of bishops sans papal mandate
  • violation of the seal of confession
Something possibly useful for later:
  • Interdict may result from attempting to marry while having a perpetual vow of chastity
In other news, I wrote to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to ask about the alteration of canon law after Vatican II. Why, you ask? Because I enjoy making men of the cloth uncomfortable. I worry that I shall get some hopelessly bureaucratic form letter in return, thanking me for my correspondence and wishing me joy and contentment in the Lord's blessed light and so forth. NPR gave me a helpful snippet, either way: The Vatican defines heresy as "the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine or catholic faith, or it is likewise and obstinate doubt concerning the same." ... The drowning may hold up after all.
. . .
 
[I propose a new bout in the word war, Imp. An additional 5,000 words by next Saturday at midnight, certo? Say yes. Voglio il tramezzo, and I won't have the motivation to write otherwise. ;)]

On the topic of religion - we were on the topic of religion? - I watched Constantine tonight. It was a bit of a blast.