A cure for boring sermons

[Gob]

A Sicilian accused of murdering his parish priest allegedly told police he couldn't stand to listen to any more of his sermons.

Michele di Stefano, the padre of a small hamlet in Western Sicily, used his homilies to comment on the abundant misdeeds of his parishioners, which he knew of from their confessions.

The elderly priest reportedly barely bothered to conceal the identity of the offenders, raising heckles among villagers in Ummari, near Trapani.

He was found dead in his bed in the church rectory, after being beaten with the handle of a hoe.

Antonio Incandela, 33, allegedly told prosecutors that he had come up with the idea ‘to teach the priest a lesson’ after a sermon in which the priest described ‘bad apples’ in the community.

Incandela allegedly felt he was the target of some of these attacks.

The father-of-one insists he did not mean to kill the priest, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

He allegedly claimed he had been aiming for his legs but missed in the dark, only realising his mistake afterwards.
He then stole the priest’s bank cards to make it look like a robbery, he is alleged to have said.

Incandela, who is unemployed, was caught after he used the priest’s bank card at a cashpoint, police said.
He has been formally charged with his murder.

[dgs49]

A good preacher must occasionally make the members of his flock uneasy. Otherwise, he is not doing his job properly.

But I suspect this was just a robbery gone wrong.

[Crackpot]

It souns to me that his demons were anything but boring considering the guy seemed to be constantly violating the confidentiality of the confessional.

[RayThom]

That's revolting. He sounds like a dim bulb to me. That's watt I think.

[MajGenl.Meade]

raising heckles among villagers

Jeckle: "I say, we're safe! It's the end of the thread!"
BULLDOG PETROSINO: "Not yet it ain't!"
Both: "Ow! Ouch! It hurts! I give up!"

[dales]

I wouldn't take it this far.......

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Police say a man stabbed four people at a Catholic church in Albuquerque as a Sunday mass was nearing its end.

Police spokesman Robert Gibbs says a man in his 20s jumped over several pews at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church around noon Sunday and walked up to the choir area where he began his attack.

The injuries to the four church-goers weren't life-threatening. All four were being treated at hospitals.

Numerous parishioners subdued the attacker and held him down until police arrived.

Gibbs says the attacker is in custody but that police don't yet know his identity, the motive for the stabbings, whether he had any ties to the victims or whether he regularly attended the church.

The stabbings occurred as the choir had just begun its closing hymns.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/articl ... z2RnOHIUG3

[Lord Jim]

a man in his 20s jumped over several pews at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church around noon Sunday and walked up to the choir area where he began his attack.

Man, that must have been one really bad choir....

Police spokesman Robert Gibbs

Gee, from press secretary for the POTUS to spokesman for the Albuquerque police department....

I guess that gig at MSNBC didn't work out well....

[Andrew D]

A good preacher must occasionally make the members of his flock uneasy. Otherwise, he is not doing his job properly.

Probably.

But this guy in Sicily was apparently violating the seal of the confessional: Reportedly, he "used his homilies to comment on the abundant misdeeds of his parishioners, which he knew of from their confessions," and he "barely bothered to conceal the identity of the offenders ...."

That is, in the Roman Catholic Church, a bad thing in a very big way:

Let the priest absolutely beware that he does not by word or sign or by any manner whatever in any way betray the sinner: but if he should happen to need wiser counsel let him cautiously seek the same without any mention of person. For whoever shall dare to reveal a sin disclosed to him in the tribunal of penance we decree that he shall be not only deposed from the priestly office but that he shall also be sent into the confinement of a monastery to do perpetual penance.

(Fourth Lateran Council (1215) Canon 21.)

And that's the mild version, compared to this:

The Catechism (No. 1467) cites the Code of Canon Law (No. 1388.1) in addressing this issue, which states, "A confessor who directly violates the seal of confession incurs an automatic excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if he does so only indirectly, he is to be punished in accord with the seriousness of the offense."

What constitutes "indirectly" violating the seal of the confessional is pretty broad:

A priest cannot reveal the contents of a confession either directly, by repeating the substance of what has been said, or indirectly, by some sign, suggestion, or action.

Plus, a priest is not allowed to do anything -- even something that does not rise even to the level of "indirectly" violating the seal of the confessional -- that reveals the identity of the person who has confessed:

A Decree from the Holy Office (Nov. 18, 1682) mandated that confessors are forbidden, even where there would be no revelation direct or indirect, to make any use of the knowledge obtained in the confession that would "displease" the penitent or reveal his identity.

Maybe being murdered was a mercy for this guy ....

[dgs49]

I took that part of the story with a grain of salt. If true, however, the priest was totally lacking in both integrity and judgment.

If it had been me, words cannot describe the wrath I would feel.