I've heard of Murder in the Cathedral.....
.... but not sex.
I read this article on CNN this morning about a couple caught in flagrante delicto:
A man and a woman have been charged by police in Italy after they were found having sex in a confession box, it was reported Wednesday.
The Italian ANSA news agency said the young man and woman were taken into custody by police in the northern city of Cesena following a telephone complaint from a man attending morning Mass in the city's cathedral.
Authorities were alerted after a parishoner heard "rustling and groaning" coming from inside the confession box and pulled back the curtains to reveal a goth-rock couple engaged in oral sex, ANSA said.
The agency said the pair -- a 31-year-old laborer and a 32-year-old teacher -- defended their conduct saying: "We are atheists and for us, having sex in church is like doing it any other place." However, Bishop Antonio Lanfranchi of Cesena-Sarsina took said the couple's behavior was "an outrage of notable proportions which bespeaks unutterable squalor."
For some reason this reminded me of something I saw at Andrew Sullivan's blog a couple of weeks ago, from Drexel University. A faculty member has researched medieval punishments for coital sins.
The distinguished faculty members research has discovered the penance for all varieties of sexual acts including: Dorsal sex (woman on top): three years Lateral, seated, standing: 40 daysCoitus retro — rear entry: 40 daysMutual masturbation: 30 daysInter-femural sex — ejaculation between the legs: 40 daysCoitus in terga — anal sex: three years (with an adult); two years (with a boy); seven years (habitual); 10 years (with a cleric).
I wasn't able to locate any specific penance for having sex in a cathedral though. Perhaps being atheists they'll consider Baptism and forgo the whole Punishment.
The rector added that a special ceremony would be held to purify the confession box, which I'm sure will involve a lot of soap. 
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1 comment:
Oh geez. Where does one start?
Sure, you're atheist. But would you walk into someone else's home and have sex in their closet?
Or would you have sex in a public place?
I mean is there such a thing as civility any more?
The medieval penitentials seem quite amusing from our perspective. For many it confirms the suspicion that the Church is unhealthily obsessed with pelvic matters. [Often it is folks who are themselves obsessed with pelvic matters who make this charge. Sullivan comes to mind.]
I suppose we're at the other extreme now, where the sexual sins are considered at best peccadilloes, or, basically, harmless. "After all, my heart is in the right place." [Even if other parts of me ... um ... might not be? :)]
But, I suppose, that's the peculiarity of our age.
Anyway, perhaps they might be motived by a miraculous inspiration from the Holy Spirit to pursue Baptism. I doubt that they'd submit to any canonical penalty though ... :)
What a world!
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