Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

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astura says ..."Catholic teachings (they both went to Catholic school) very heavily discouraged individuals from reading the Bible. My parents also grew up going to mass in Latin, a language they don't understand. Things are different nowadays.

" Almost completely wrong (ask your parents, astura).

It is true that the Catholic Church did not emphasize the Old Testament (OT). They instead emphasized the New Testament (NT) (both NT and OT are parts of the Bible). We were educated about the Protestant Reformation and the differences in faiths. I think the problem is that the Catholic Church has generated so much structure and associated doctrine that they barely have time for OT! In any case, much of this fell into one or more of my Church History classes, hardly my favorite subject.

FWIW I had a completely Catholic education from grade school thru university and nobody ever refrained from referencing the Bible. I've long since left the faith but I kept my sense of humor. Here's my favorite OT joke:

Q: Who's the strongest man man in the Bible (hint: it isn't Samson)?

A: Abraham. He tied his ass to a tree and walked up a mountain!

As for the Latin mass, yes it was there, and if you wanted to know what was said then you could always find out - nobody was hiding anything. I was an "altar boy" (assisted the priest in the rituals) so I learned the Latin mass and, since I went to Catholic schools, I later studied Latin. Latin is a useful language to know as an English speaker and it helps in understanding the so-called "romance languages" (it even aids in understanding English - many word roots are from Latin).

FWIW the traditional Latin mass is still celebrated! Some have stuck to the old Latin rites b/c of their love of the old rituals, the music is better in Latin (got to agree on this one!), etc.

> As for the Latin mass, yes it was there, and if you wanted to know what was said then you could always find out

Latin prayer books usually have the translation side by side. Attendants of the traditional Mass find value in it - it's truly Catholic since you take part into it like anybody else worldwide, praying the same prayers, regardless of your native language, that have been prayed over the last ~5 centuries, some of which are 10, 15 or almost 20 centuries old.

<conspiracy_theory> The Vatican Council II's original purpose wasn't in fact to abolish the traditional Mass, but to help with increasingly difficult evangelization. What happened was instead largely due to the worldwide infiltration of the Church by the freemasons. </conspiracy_theory>

<reality_check> Pope John Paul I publicly declared upon being elected, that he'd expose and get rid of them - freemasons weren't in fact allowed as members the Church - priests, bishops, cardinals - and have never been, since they are obviously against the Church, but he knew they were there still.

On the evening before he died, the Pope received Pecorelli, a journalist that was a member of the masonic P2 lodge, who famously gave him a list of Catholic bishops and cardinals that were members of the freemasonry.

The Pope died a few hours after reading his list, his death never really investigated. The list disappeared; Pecorelli died a few months later in a car accident.

The P2 lodge was involved in other scandals, and as a consequence, some of its then members' names were exposed, and are now public - including some of the most powerful Italian politicians, entrepreneurs etc. of the time; now, after four decades, most of them are dead anyway - everything else is history.

Freemasonry in Italy came well before they entered the Vatican though - it's not even too far fetched to think that Italy itself was created by them - Garibaldi was the founder of the main Italian FM branch, of which he became the Grand Master (with the "33th degree") - the Grande Oriente d'Italia. Mazzini and other famous "fathers of the country" were also freemasons as well.

Ironically, Freemasonry - probably the most powerful, concealed, deceiving cult in the world - has not even a minor mention in this list. <sad /> </reality_check>

You can read about all of this on Wikipedia and elsewhere.

>Almost completely wrong (ask your parents, astura)

Dude, My parents are in their 70s and haven't been practicing Catholics in 50+ years, they don't know the current teachings. It's a fact that at the time they went to Catholic school they very heavily discouraged individuals from reading the Bible. That's a fact.

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