By BERNADETTE HAN
Today, I have shit on my face.
Yes, shit.
Well, ash, if we want to be specific and I’m not the only one.
Today is Ash Wednesday, a feast day in the Catholic Church – and most other Christian churches – to celebrate the start of Lent. It’s a day on which Catholics gather in a liturgy to receive a small cross of ash on their forehead.
In theory, also bearing a sizeable portion of shit on their face today, are 5.7 million Australians, and 1 billion people worldwide.
Realistically, you won’t be able to see all of these people with shit on their face out and about today. Most won’t celebrate Ash Wednesday. Of those recognising the feast day, only a few will celebrate by visiting a church. Most (85% in Australia) haven’t been regularly going to church for a while. Of those who do decide to visit a church today, many will rub off their cross as soon as they leave.
The ashes are made from the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) celebrations. They are an ancient symbol of loss and repentance, but also new beginnings.
Loss. Repentance. New Beginnings. They are a symbol of the Catholic Church right now.
I am an Australian Catholic with shit on my face.
And I want a Pope who sees this.
I want a Pope who knows that thousands of kids across the world (myself many years ago included) have spent years acting as altar servers with our friends, and that we had a genuinely good time.
Top Comments
1) There's no more sex abuse in catholicism than in any other place.
The police don't share most sex abuse crimes with the public. But they happen all the time. Sickos are sickos and the only thing they seem to have in common is they target places / people / relationships where they can be around children.
2) Covering up sex abuse is the WORST thing you can do. Not only because it prevents future crimes. As a survivor of child abuse, I know there's NOTHING worse than the shame that comes from other people wanting you to keep it quiet. People saying "Oh, we don't talk about that", or "I don't want to know... it makes me uncomfortable", or that look they give you, like you're damaged or dirty.
Covering it up protects the perpetrator, not the victim. We need to be able to talk about it, for the sake of the kids.
Here is another viewpoint from a Catholic. Criticising the catholic church for whatever it was about their systems that allowed evil crimes to flourish = ok. Criticising the catholic church for covering up evil crimes = ok. Angrily demanding that perpetrators of evil crimes are brought to justice - legally and within the church = ok. Expressing anger about these evil crimes = ok. Providing a forum for people to express anger about these evil crimes = ok. These things are more than ok; I fully support all of them. I join in all of them. However, writing about the sacred symbols of any religion and describing them, and the materials used, as "shit", even when it's to clumsily link to any of the above = not ok. I am disappointed that the editors of this site can't see this distinction. P.S. arguments about whether God exists = pointless waste of time.