1st Holy Communion : a rite of passage too far?
national |
gender and sexuality |
opinion/analysis 
Wednesday May 20, 2009 20:12
by ipsiphi
at link the Irish commission into inquire into Child Abuse Executive Summary May 2009
This story comes without a summary. It is indeed such a lengthy story that it could deserve the soundtrack of the popular movie "never ending story".
& So are you invited to read the main text or simply skip an opinion with what might pass for analysis and simply peruse at the Irish commission into inquire into Child Abuse Executive Summary of May 2009 the gist of which is being read more than U2 lyrics throughout the catholic speaking world.
http://www.irishtimes.com/focus/2009/childabusecommissi...x.pdf
Irish as well as many international people who aren't Irish can't help but notice how the not unsizeable Roman Catholic community are in the new again for their treatment of the little kiddies. As any concerned parent who is plugged into the twitter, bebo, flickr, facebook, indeed as any parent who is clued-in & does not even have to mention or peek at that legion of websites of Bylerussian hosting & no doubt Belgian entrepreneurship, will have noticed -
That rite of passage from being "a generally irrational being full of innocence, wonder & learning experiences so intense that generally only the most traumatic or exciting are remembered" to being a kid who can tell the difference between dating & rape, which is the 1st Holy Communion gig -
is getting very expensive.
Kids who show no common age ( for unlike their franchise or escape from the restrictions of the child labour and chimneysweeping acts the first holy communioners are selected by nothing other than a tiny kind of naive cuteness ) are yearly expected to go through the rigours of not only their first confession.
(c/f "the light is on for you - Confess" http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81155 ) but also their first taste of the host or wafer as the communicant non-conforming & protestant churches of the eucharistic tradition would winsomely term the thing that sticks to any seven year old's mouth and leaves an unpleasant taste .
& then we expect them to parade around their extended families with no regard for modern habits of marital breakdown, estrangement, prison visiting hours, divorce or that awkard relative who can't afford to lodge money into the bank account.
Yes indeed, the first holy communion age is one complete with the worst lessons in class conscience and the pivotal awareness of the difference between right & wrong or if you must make it all infantile : "a good touch and a bad touch".
roll out the little dollies.
It is my opinion that the RC church in Europe and north America ought move forthwith to inculcate in their faithful and membership the idea that the first holy communion is not really like the sacrament of marriage & so doesn't merit the whole wad There are many parents (chuffed no doubt at their childrens' innocence as well as appeal in little white dresses or sailor suitsand keen roman catholic practicants) who may resent such an inteference.
Inteference let us make no mistake in the rite of passage which they & we really know is all about ensuring a non-traumatic memory : of being the centre of attention, spoilt with sweeties and money, sitting on many a friendly lap for a photo, eating a nice dinner, getting a medal, experiencing in that immature way the cerebral emotions which many confuse for mystic ectasy & getting that damned (sorry) sticky mess off your hard pallate without anyone seeing you and making you all guilty like as you think about going to hell.
But it's about time we had the debate.
That's my opinion & I'm not changing it. I only wish I knew how to write letters to people and complain.
all expense justified by the church's commitment to the 3rd world
Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3"A survey, commissioned by EBS Building Society surveyed last March 1,000 parents in Ireland and, while 80% believed the downturn would have a negative effect on their children, only 27% thoughtit would reduce the amount of communion money received by children.
Nearly four-fifths of parents said it was appropriate to give €50 or less to a child making their communion. Some 14% said between €51 and €100 was appropriate with the remaining 7 per cent suggesting that over €100 was an appropriate amount of money."....."The average cash receipt for Irish children making their first communion was €463 last year"......"In Marion Gale’s Donnybrook communion outfitters & innocence chandling shop, the little white dresses range in price from €200 to €600 (taking into account factors such as lycra, child obesity & spangles), gloves cost €10, the tights another €8. Veils start at €25, although one with added sparkles costs €50! ( ask Michael Jackson if you don't believe how much the added sparkles and spangles puts you back , while handbags are €70. Gale’s prices are in line with other communion outfitters across the country and she does not accept Pricewatch’s suggestion that they are ridiculous sums to be spending on an outfit which will get a single wear – two or three at a stretch. She admits it is a “total extravagance” but says the money is well spent because it is “a day of light and hope amid all the gloom” and is one which brings families together..........
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2009/051....html
Meanwhile in similarly economically striken & despite its best intentions folkoristically catholic Spain, the Consumers Union estimate the average cost of a Holy Communion stands at 3,600euros.
http://www.levante-emv.com/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2...risis
I recently turned down an invitation to such a travesty of hypocrisy in the conservatively Roman Catholic region of Valencia in Spain upon learning that I was expected to lodge 500euros into the bank account of the little brat to cheer him up, naturally because the good catholic parents who spawned him have since divorced and they had hoped to celebrate the communion on two seperate days in two seperate venues & you know the cost mounts up......... oh well the poor bugger had to deal without my contribution & I hope he turns out well nonetheless and gets over the shame of subquality canapés quickly enough.
If the * Christ had really died (and stayed dead) and thereafter not gone to heaven as we all mark solemnly on this Ascension weekend, I am pretty sure he'd be turning in his grave.
But He's+ in space just itching to come back & judge us. I know I shouldn't be pointing a finger when that happens but for the moment I'm feeling like the cats away & I really just want to read the list of the abusers' names.
let us congratulate ourselves as post-catholic societies that we have suceeded in making systematic child abuse and indentured servitude of unmarried mothers unfashionable!
let us now move on and make the first Holy Communion similarly uncool & maybe encourage these Catholics to give the money to orphanages in the third world so that people with darker skin can afford to hire non-paedophile staff.
Interesting article. My son made his communion recently. He told me between all of the relatives he got 1100 euro approx. From talking to his mother this is an average sum to get. His mother spent roughly twice that buying his suit and other communion related stuff. Not to mention the cost of the dinner afterwards. I got around £200 for my communion, it all went on paying the household bills in the 80's. Things have changed indeed. I didn't like the ceremony itself, lots of crap about God & the Church which i found highly ironic considering the report on the Industrial Schools last week. Along with the teachers & principal licking the arses of the parents. Fake would be my summation of the whole event.
Little children are told to believe that the wine and the piece of wafer on the altar are turned into the actual flesh and blood of a 1st century carpenter.
It is pathetic that in the year 2009 that people still believe in such primitive bronze age nonsense.
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.