Posted on 05/13/2012 10:36:40 PM PDT by Steelfish
Hilary Mantel: Catholic Church Is Not For Respectable People The Catholic Church “is not an institution for respectable people”, according to Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author.
Hilary Mantel, the Booker Prize-winning author Photo: Martin Pope By Anita Singh 13 May 2012
Mantel was raised a Roman Catholic and educated at convent school. However, the 59-year-old writer said child abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests demonstrated the “cruelty” and “hypocrisy” of the church.
Asked if she would call for a priest on her deathbed, Mantel replied: “No. I might very well call for a Church of England vicar, but I would not call for a Catholic priest.
“I’m one of nature’s Protestants. I should never have been brought up as a Catholic. I think that nowadays the Catholic Church is not an institution for respectable people.”
She said of the paedophilia scandals: “The fact that it could happen, the extent of the denial, the cover-up, the hypocrisy, the cruelty... When I was a child I wondered why priests and nuns were not nicer people. I thought that they were amongst the worst people I knew.
“But in a cold-blooded way, as a writer I’ve had full value from Catholicism - I can say that.
“It’s a great training in doubleness - this looks like bread but it is actually a man’s body, this looks like wine but it’s actually blood. And that’s very much a writer’s way of thinking - she comes in and says good morning, but she means damn you to hell.”
Mantel’s latest historical novel, Bring Up The Bodies, is published this month. It is a sequel to Wolf Hall, an account of the early life of Thomas Cromwell which won the Man Booker Prize in 2009.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Never heard of Hilary Mantel or the Booker Prize.
Maybe it’s not really meant for respectable people or Pharisees. But sinners are welcome.
Oscar Wilde
She lost her religious faith at age 12 and says that this left a permanent mark on her: the “real cliche, the sense of guilt. You grow up believing that you’re wrong and bad. And for me, because I took what I was told really seriously, it bred a very intense habit of introspection and self-examination and a terrible severity with myself. So that nothing was ever good enough. It’s like installing a policeman, and one moreover who keeps changing the law
During her twenties, she suffered from a debilitating and painful illness. This was initially diagnosed as a psychiatric illness, for which she was hospitalised and treated with anti-psychotic drugs. These paradoxically produced psychotic symptoms; as a consequence, for some years she refrained from seeking help from doctors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary_Mantel
Hilary Mental
In a way she is correct.
The Catholic Church is for sinners, the poor, the lost, the downtrodden and all those who are not “respectable.”
English teeth. Ouch.
There are about 400,000 current Catholic priests and there have been 4,000 molestation cases in the past 50 years. That works out to less than 1% when you consider that we are dealing with a population over time, one that probably includes over 800,000 priests. You know liberals are dishonest when you compare their shock over this scandal with their indifference to the universal abuses from socialist governments, from Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany through today. Liberals disgust me. As for priests, more than 99% of them deserve our respect, which makes them a whole lot better than leftists.
“The Catholic Church is for saints and sinners alone. For respectable people, the Anglican Church will do.”
Still true 120 years later.
The Booker prize is the top literary prize in Great Britain. They broadcast it as if it was the Oscars! She wrote a book called “Wolf Hall” about Cromwell. Personally, I couldn’t get through it.
I looked her up. She writes wacky books against faith. What do we expect.
“I think that nowadays the Catholic Church is not an institution for respectable people.”
No, just saints.
Yep: Braces might have helped a little.
I am very grateful to finally be entering a stage in my life in which idiots amuse me. Ms. Mantel certainly qualifies. It is much better than being bothered by it all. Also, I have read that abuse in public schools is much higher than in the religious community, but they, like liberal pols, rely on media as protecters.
Shouldn’t Christians be praying for this woman?
What IS it about us that elicits contempt, derision and scorn as automatic responses? (I am including ME in this question.)
Does God love her any less than he loves me?
What am I doing when I vilify an object of his love?
There is a line between refuting ideas that distort the truth and attacks and judgements upon persons. I believe the former is God pleasing; the latter pleases the evil one.
Color me “unrespectable”.
Personally, I periodically pray for all the people in the world. So I have this crazy woman covered with my prayers - repeatedly and for many years.
I will point out to you that FR is a forum for comments not prayer. No one will stop you from posting a prayer but if your primary concern is prayer from others then you would do better by visiting a church.
This woman’s statement is crazy and she seems to have a long history in that regard. I don’t think it is wrong to post an observation of her mental state, especially since she is putting herself out there. Unless you hate all crazy people then I don’t see the big deal, but even if so then that would be your problem not mine.
Finally, if you care to take your hypersensitivity full circle, shouldn’t you be praying here for us rather than the comment that you made?
Well.
OK, I'll defend don-o here, even though he IS my husband (!!)
Don-o was asking us (together with himself) why we respond with "contempt, derision and scorn" when reacting to an emotionally troubled woman who has chosen an erroneous path away from the Church.
His own comments did not express "contempt, derision and scorn," but only a tone of correction and an appeal to call us back to love.
You may want to keep in mind that "correcting the sinner, instructing the ignorant, counseling the doubtful, comforting the afflicted" are all Works of Mercy, and as such they are compatible with prayer, and are a form of prayer in themselves, since they implicitly call upon Him who is the source of all Mercy.
I myself have a a little of the itch and more than a little of the bitch in me. I benefit from being reminded to respond instead in a way more worthy of my Christian calling.
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