A Matrix-style poster depicting a Catholic priest as Neo isn't a spoof. The Catholic Church really is distributing these things. It's part of their
new recruitment campaign:
The poster's creator, the Rev. Jonathan Meyer, 28, associate director of youth ministries for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, says pop culture is the key to attracting young men to an occupation that has gotten bad press.
"If we can get high-school youth to hang a picture of a priest in their room, that's huge in helping young men to answer the call to the priesthood," the cleric said. "Anyone who is a 'Matrix' guru looks at the picture and automatically gets it."
Crucifix in hand, Father Meyer posed for the poster, rated R for "restricted to those radically in love with Jesus Christ." Running time is "all eternity," and its title reads, "The Catholic priesthood: The answer is out there ... and it's calling you."
I'm wondering how far the Neo as Catholic priest analogy can be extended. In the second Matrix movie, Neo has sex with Trinity. So how are we supposed to interpret that? In one sense it seems appropriate (priests are dedicating themselves to God, or the Holy Trinity), but in another way it doesn't seem to be the message the Church intended. (via
Notes From the Lounge)
A Matrix-style poster depicting a Catholic priest as Neo isn't a spoof. The Catholic Church really is distributing these things. It's part of their new recruitment campaign:
Comments
This is the same ploy the Bush administration keeps trying to pull. "You never hear about the soldiers who DON'T get their arms and legs blown off." Stop doing evil, ugly shit and just maybe the "bad press" will cease.
The Christian groups had viewings and discussions of Christian imagery in the movie. Then the world religions group responded by having the same event but to discuss the Buddhist imagery.
I went to both meetings, and in both, the parallels worked for a while and then fell apart. It's just a movie... and in this case, its just marketing.
Although, I still think it would be little wierd to expect highschool boys to hang pictures of priests on their bedroom walls. Isn't that what the Catholic church is trying to get away from...
Anyway, I noticed a big color poster on the door when we went in. "The League of Ordinary Gentlemen". It had the font from the movie, and head-shots of three old-fashioned looking guys in Victorian clothing. It was some kind of series of sermons based on something from Judges.
And this was one of those Southern Baptist suburban mega-churches. We all call it Six Flags Over Jesus around here.
So no, Christian churches ripping off ideas from popular movies for their ad campaigns is nothing new. That's what happens when you train people from birth not to think for themselves--you drain all the imagination, creativity, and originality out of them. Then there's nothing left to do but plagiarize, right?
But I agree--if the Catholic Church wants to counteract their 'bad press', they should start by not putting their dicks in little boys and then using their phenomenal wealth and influence to cover it up anymore, that would be much more effective than slick posters.
I sort of hope they don't. I sort of hope they keep rearranging deck chairs until the public loses all trust in them, and then the entire stupid, corrupt church collapses into well-earned extinction. It would only leave the world a better place if the whole organizaiton petered out. Next we could watch the Mormons, the Baptists, and the Scientologists fade into oblivion. Makes me happy just thinking about it.
I would also suggest that some enterprising graphic arts major print up his own satirical 'recruitment' posters for the Catholic Church, based on Peter Pan. "Hey guys! Do you like little boys? All it takes is faith and trust and a little bit of pixie dust!" Hang one of those next to every Matrix poster and see which one gets more attention....
Let's not get all worked up b/c 'big bad' churches are doing it too. Calm yourselves.
Hey, know what? I bet you wouldn't be telling people to 'calm down' if YOU had had a clergyman's dick shoved up your ass when you were twelve, like so many other children have.
(Yeah, they rape little girls too. The Chosen of God think they can get away with anything.)
Posted by Craig on Fri Aug 26, 2005 at 07:45 AM"
Not entising. Just a "cool" way to get to the young people and show that priesthood is acalling and a great thing to do if you are called to do so. Every religion is gonna get a bad rap here and there. I am just saying that everyone is taking this way to seriously!!!
"the Vatican is getting on the warpath to prick the free will out of all the youth! Posted by Ka~Os on Fri Aug 26, 2005 at 09:39 AM"
Come on!! Warpath...I think not. You think anyone who is getting a calling from God to become a priest is gonna see this poster and all of the sudden his calling becomes clear? No!! Lighten up people!!! The Vatican didnt make this poster. A youth leader who happens to be a priest was told by a 8th grader about the idea and it snowballed from there. Religion (catholic or any) is fullfilling and rewarding and can also be fun and entertaining. Everyone needs to calm down about the Matrix movie part of it and just take it for what it is worth. A "cool" way to possibly get some Catholics to get into the church a little more.
One analysis is that the Piper is a pedophile that sexually abused and butchered the children, placing their severed limbs on tree branches and disappearing into a mountain. The remaining children follow the Piper into the mountain never to be heard from again.
The seductive pin-up of Father Meyer seems to be the production of a media savvy photographer and an enthusiastic young priest in the prime of his life, 28-year-old ego intact and perhaps unaware of the implied violence in his work of art? It
Contact: Father Jonathan Meyer
Requirements:
. Anytime hours
. Angel face & no body hair
. Tickle tickle & kissy kissy
. Caca pi pi & YUM YUM
. Pamper change and potty
. Sniff sniff & licky licky
. Healing prayers with Father Meyer
Benefits
. Copper-plated straw crucifix!
. Toys R Us shopping spree!
. Hot T-shirts!
. Free cell phone!
. Free movie passes!
. Free drinks, candy & PIZZA PARTY
. Free puppy or kitty!
NOTA BENE: Mature kids between the ages of 1 and 8 are encouraged to apply. Privacy assured! No snitches, crybabies, or bad children PLEASE!
HURRY HURRY boys! IF THIS JOB WORKS OUT FOR YOU, WHO KNOWS WHERE IT WILL LEAD? SECRECY & PRIVACY ASSURED. WHITE, BLACK, BROWN, YELLOW, RED & LAVENDER ENCOURAGED TO APPLY! No snitches PLEASE!
The Vatican didnt make this poster. A youth leader who happens to be a priest was told by a 8th grader about the idea.
Get real! Your in the last age's of all man-made religion's fighting for altermate dominating controle over the entire planet, as if they never had enough of shagging all the boy's in the world for century's, promising them eternal life for bendin over, and yet they still die like dog's of Alhzeimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer, and a whole African continant infected with Freemasonry dieing of Aids!!! Do not you have any logical awarness to the fact that the Vatican just a cover up for a world peadophile industry full of monkey's who havn't the brain capacity to stop pocking hole's with their stick's, and you gota bend to recieve it too!
Well, i'm sorry, but i have my own free will, and a hell of a lot higher moralistic virtue's, principle's and standard's than the whole of the RC, put together, to let some half brained interpretation's that the scripture's say, 'to fuck ya kid's, and deny the truth for century's'! Sorry mate, but if your brain can surely except this system of abuse's wearing the white dress of the Virgin Mary to the public's face as a deliberate white wash, then your brain's, or should i say half of one, must have already had your Papal Monkey Stick calling too then!
So where does it say in the scripture's to fuck your kid's up the arse?
Where's it say in the scripture's that fucking your kid's give's them eternal life?
Where's it say in the scripture's that God's into SKAT?
Where's it say in the scripture's that boy's become men when they honour their father's by giving them sexual favour's?
NOWHERE! So what type of man-made religion are you talking about when you talk about the Roman Catholic's? The man-made Vatican Peadophile Video Film Club religion? The man-made Vatican Shit Stabber's Keep Ya Gob Shut religion? The man-made Vatican World Banking Money Laundering Religion? The Vatican Freemason Get Out Of Jail Any Where In The World For Free religion? HOW OLD IS YOUR LIVING CONSCIENCE???????
You must be falling asleep to yourselve's if you condone their behaviour in an adult body! This has nothing to do with God, and nothing to do with Satan, this is the state of the human world today, REPROBATE, and that's a fact!
Honestly, yes, thousands of people have been raped by people working for the Catholic church, but it's not THE organization doing it, it is individuals that are doing it, just like tons of Pastors and Preachers and Reverends have probably raped people as well.
Raping and child molestation is NOT a requirement or endorsed by the Catholic church, is a mental problem that is in an individual that is in individuals of all races, nationalities, religions, and sexes.
All of your spouting of unintelligible hatespeech is just making you look stupid because you can't even form a logical argument against the Church beyond, "THEY'RE BAD!"
The Vatican actively covers up molestation incidents.
http://www.dallasnews.com//cgi-bin/bi/dallas/2002/priests.cgi
Thats all. Like most of todays pop culture references, its not a complete analogy. Its just a picture.
Also, some people apparently have a lot of anger aimed at Catholics or organized religion in general, hard to tell. In reality, the priests who molested kids were a small minority, a tiny minority of priests. It was a horrible tragedy, an abuse of power. Its been exposed and those people are being punished. In no way is that behavior typical of, and certainly not endorsed by, the Catholic church or any other Christian religion.
Its a poster. Recruiting priests, not children. Chill out!
The poster is not about teachers MS., it's about recruiting meat for pedophiles. Chill. Check out what pedophile priests have done to indians.
http://www.libarts.ucok.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/readings/Native American Schools.htm
I know the priest in this poster. In fact I know him quite well. He is an excellent priest and his whole plow with this poster was that he thought it would be something to get high school boys to step back and discern if they are called to the priesthood. He was simply taking a pagan thing and turning into a holy thing. The Church has been doing this forever. Take for example December 25th, it was the pagan holiday for their sun god. So Catholics use it for the celebration of Christ's birth. Taking something pagan and making it holy.
Also some information for all of the childish remarks about molestation in the priesthood. less than 2% of all priests were charged with sexual abuse cases (you could find that in any job, especially in the United States.) Interestingly enough, of that less than 2%, 95% were homosexual priests who had never dealt with their problem of being a homosexual. And, to think that some people are out their campaigning for "gay rights" when we can clearly see that effects of the psychological disorder of having homosexual tendancies.
Thank you for reading this and understanding. May God bless you and I'll pray for you.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20040506.html
"Also some information for all of the childish remarks about molestation in the priesthood. less than 2% of all priests were charged with sexual abuse cases (you could find that in any job, especially in the United States.) Interestingly enough, of that less than 2%, 95% were homosexual priests who had never dealt with their problem of being a homosexual. And, to think that some people are out their campaigning for "gay rights" when we can clearly see that effects of the psychological disorder of having homosexual tendancies."
This is what happenes when statistics fall into the hands of those who don't understand them.
Let's see, 95% of 2% of priests were homosexual pederasts (if we assume your stats are accurate, that is) and that somehow "proves" something about the population at large? Um, just for starters, what percent of the public do priests represent? Less than 1%, right? Are you now beginning to see how small your "sample" is (and, of course, as mentioned, that assumes that your stats are accurate in the first place).
Unfortunately for your theory, the fact is that, in society at large, the majority of people involved in sexually molesting a minor are heterosexual men. The typical scenario is a father who molests his daughter, an uncle who molests a niece or a family friend molesting one of the children.
Even if your stats are accurate, they aren't taken from a small subset of society, so they prove exactly NOTHING about the general population. Nice try at gay bashing, though.
Pagan - A person not subscribing to any major or recognized religion, esp. the dominant religion of a particular society.
Holy - Kept or regarded as inviolate from ordinary use, and appropriated or set apart for religious use or observance; consecrated, dedicated, sacred.
"Splain" - Not a word but you still used it.
Using simple logic you can understand that Holy things can be apart of a "major or recognized religion"
As for calling my statistics minuscule compared to the entire population I would agree. Just as 2% of the population of priests is minuscule when compared to the entire population of the priesthood. Therefore applying the same thought process you used it would be wrong for you to stereotype all priests as child molesters, so please stop.
In regards to the "gay-bashing" as you so put it. Logically sex between a man and a goat is the same as sex between a man and a man. Sex between a man and a woman has to distinct parts that make it natural. 1) It's unitive, and 2)The possibility of reproducing offspring. Sex between a man and a goat and sex between a man and a man may offer the initial part. However, offspring will never come from this, thus beastiality is just as natural as sex between two men. If you believe it is right for homosexuals to have sex you agree that it is natural for man and beast to have sex.
That marci is my kind of gal, she says charge the Vatican like you would the Mafia.....to real or what?
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20030619.html
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/priestdb/#NV
Listing
BAD PRIEST, NO DONUT!
Educate yourselves and support SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests: BUY A BOOK FROM SNAP.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/books_section/books_to_read_.htm
All about the scandal, guaranteed to put some lies in perspective and help you understand why Jonathan's pin-up is so offensive!
Hug a pagan today! Blessings and peace upon your soul.
Here is an article that you may find informative with regard Priest abuse of indian children:
http://www.libarts.ucok.edu/history/faculty/roberson/course/1493/readings/Native American Schools.htm
I was not raised as a Christian. For that, i am grateful!
MOST OF YOU PROBABLY WATCH DIRTY MOVIES...OWN COP KILLER GAMES...SMOKE THAT CRAZY STUFF...AND DON'T
ATTEND CHURCH ON SUNDAYS. CONGRATULATIONS.
"As for calling my statistics minuscule compared to the entire population I would agree. Just as 2% of the population of priests is minuscule when compared to the entire population of the priesthood. Therefore applying the same thought process you used it would be wrong for you to stereotype all priests as child molesters, so please stop."
Please show me when I've said that all priests were child molesters. I haven't, therefore your complaint about my "thought process" is invalid.
"In regards to the "gay-bashing" as you so put it. Logically sex between a man and a goat is the same as sex between a man and a man."
You have now gone WAY off the rail, logic-wise.
"Sex between a man and a woman has to distinct parts that make it natural. 1) It's unitive,"
I don't know what "unitive" means. Please explain.
"2)The possibility of reproducing offspring. Sex between a man and a goat and sex between a man and a man may offer the initial part. However, offspring will never come from this, thus beastiality is just as natural as sex between two men. If you believe it is right for homosexuals to have sex you agree that it is natural for man and beast to have sex."
This is also false logic. First, it implies that any sex between any two humans which is not intended to produce a child is sinful or wrong or whatever it is you're trying to say. Are you truly that anti-sex?
Second, the "logical" basis you're using here just makes no sense.
Watch:
A cat has a face. A human has a face.
A cat has feet. A human has feet.
Some cats have names. Most humans have names.
Therefore, humans are the same as cats. I just used the same kind of "logic" as you did; you cannot possibly argue with what I just said.
I'm sorry to have to say this, but sane people simply do not see sex between two consenting adults and sex between a human and an animal as equivalent. In your zeal to push your religious agenda, I fear you have left your reason on the side of the road somewhere.
I said you were gay bashing and I stand by that. If you can't make a case for your beliefs without equating sex between humans and sex with an animal, I think you should re-evaluate what you believe. Most people you tell this to are going to think you're nuts.
I am not anti-sex at all. Sex is a wonderful gift in marriage. Thus my logic is not false because it proves exactly what is true. Children come from sex and that should never be forgotten.
Unitive - Having the property or effect of uniting; serving to unite or cause union; characterized by or involving union. (use a dictionary when you don't know what words mean)
http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50267820?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=unitive&first=1&max_to_show=10
A damn fine reason to not be a Christian.
-Charybdis in Hell
May God have mercy on your soul, I'll pray for you.