Fake bishop attempts to infilitrate gathering of sociopaths:

Prankster Nearly Sneaks Into Meeting of Cardinals. Thing is, the imposter sounds like a bit of a nut--he wasn't even a really good comedian/actiivist/protester--yet he got past the first level before being nabbed. What this guy highlights is how all of this pomp and protocol is all bullshit--high priced bullshit--but just bullshit in the end. And has anyone else noticed that people are openly mocking the church now, which can only signal its eventual demise. Not in my lifetime, sadly, but not long after. Good fucking riddance.

Comments

[antoniomo]

Years and years ago in an undergraduate sociology class (Complex Organizations) I wrote my required paper analyzing a complex organization, focusing on the Catholic Church. My conclusion, using the methodology required in the class, was that the Catholic Church was already a dead institution but was so enormously large and complex that it would take a long time before this became apparent. Turns out maybe this is correct!

I gotta add that my instructor, though a Catholic, gave me an A on the paper. She even urged me to consider pursuing a graduate degree in sociology. I was impressed by her open-mindedness and focus on sociological method.

[gmb]

Hope you got an A, because you sir were right. Thing is, the church has/had a lot of money. I recall seeing the Vatican museum as a kid and it was impressive. The priest who led us through the tour (the nuns sold crosses and shit in the gift shop...I kid you not) bragged that as much as we saw, there was more rotting away in warehouses (my take). I was 9 years old and I remember thinking that it made no sense that they always asked us to give money to the Brazilian missionaries while they had so much pricelss artwork and relics. Hell, they could just bring the artwork on tour and make money--didn't have to sell it. That was the beginning of the end for me. Right around that time I realized I was an atheist and that I had an inherent distaste for organized religion. Thanks tour priest! GMB