...you know...

the older i get, the more i realize that i'd never give money to the catholic church, whether at a mass, or to a school, even one i supported at the time (you'd never know how the church would swing in the future, and to what use they'd put your money).

midnight mass in the city where my one dutch friend lives was pretty shocking - i'd never been to a mass like that in my life.

first of all, they started it off with this corpse-fucking traditionalism where they read a section out of the roman marthorology corelating the year of the birth of christ to all the other shit that happened before that in the world, and they had during the creed this part where they said 'kneel!' in the visitors guide book though no one attending seemed to know what was up with that (people were confused; several attempted to kneel, half-heartedly), and during communion they had this spooked-looking altar boy hold a gold plate on a stick out underneath where the priest was holding out the host, and following the host to your mouth, I guess in case you dropped any.

plus, there were like 3 masters-of-ceremony listed in the program, above and beyond the bishop and other priests listed.

then, the petition was all about abortion, and one prayer was about the power of evil (e.g. the devil), and 3 times (including during the very 1st petition) the bishop had himself prayer for by name (including once he said it himself!), and they always made sure to name all the ranks of the clerical hierarchy, and like 8-9 saints, but no mention of relevant things, like they poor, or abuse victims (in past masses i've been to, the clerical hierarchy is always prayed for, but in very general terms except for the pope).

i left feeling very disgusted, and realizing that the catholic church has become very nutty.

i also realized i hadn't been to mass for 4-5 years - and then i remembered that i had been to a few masses in that time said by very liberal priests, only somehow in my head i hadn't counted those as masses.