The old definition of being a Catholic is that one feels guilty.
Italian men are in joint pole position with their French cousins, with 55 per cent of males from both countries saying that they have had sexual relations with a woman other than the person they were in a relationship with.
British men scored far lower, but were shown to be no angels, with 42 per cent of them saying they had had an affair, according to the survey of nearly 5,000 people in six countries.
Sure, it’s a survey by a married dating site. And the results seem to show that the Catholic countries have more straying than the Protestant. The usual reasoning given here is that in the Catholic countries there’s less divorce but much the same amount of shagging about. It just gets expressed differently: serial monogamy in Protestant countries and affairs in Catholic.
But wait!
About half of British respondents who admitted infidelity said they regretted it, while only 28 per cent of French did.
This shows the opposite. That guilt thing: Britain is a much more Catholic country than France. We Recusants should obviously celebrate even thought this isn’t quite what Cardinal Hume was hoping for hen he prayed for the Conversion of England.
I don’t believe 42% of British men have had affairs.
I’m told (I emphasise I’m told!) that certain Catholic men use little instruments to punish themselves for their sin of adultery and, they hope, to ease their guilt.
But then I’m told (and again I emphasise I’m told) that other non-Catholic men pay a lot of money to certain women who will undertake pretty much the same activity with the same instruments, but this time they call it fun.
I suppose my point is we’re all hypocrites in the bedroom. So I don’t want to know what other men do with their bodies or with instruments. Don’t tell me and don’t tell weirdos conducting surveys.
The old definition of being a Catholic is that one feels guilty.
Interesting to see that Auberon Waugh’s oft stated wish has come true and all Jews have become Catholics.
This simply proves something else. Protestants used to believe that one was saved or one was damned. For various schools of Protestant thought. While Catholics thought that a few of the right words and a couple of prayers and a bit of adultery didn’t have any long term consequences.
So it seems religion does have a lasting cultural impact.
“The old definition of being a Catholic” was destroyed when the Roman Catholics flounced out of the old church in 1054. As a schoolboy I was appalled when we were told about it: I’d only just mastered the differences between Catholics and Arians.
It may be an old but it’s not a very good definition. Every Western religion thinks it has the monopoly on guilt; Jews go on about it, as do the various flavors of Protestant.
I was always under the impression England was a Catholic (capital letter) country. In the sense that the severance with Rome under Henry was just that. A severance of the English Church with the Roman Church. Protestantism was a German heresy & Anglicanism isn’t technically Protestant.
And, of course, dearieme’s quite correct. The Roman Church stopped being catholic (small letter) in 1054. Catholic (small letter) meaning the “whole” of Christianity in the original sense of the word. And it most definitely wasn’t the whole of Christianity.
But what do us worshipers at the shrine of Urban of Langres know about anything?.
Oh & guilt/ What’s that?
“British men scored far lower…”
Yes. Well. There is British women to consider (shudders)
Maybe things’ll improve when all those tasty little Romanianas arrive. Does the country actually stock munters? Never seen one..
dearieme,
Okay. We know you’re older than the rest of us put together but does that justify rubbing it in quite so overtly?
I believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic church? Still standard Anglican practice and doctrine?
Okay, there’s “Catholic” and there’s “Papist idolatry”, but who are we to get all Paisley about it ; )
bloke in spain – “I was always under the impression England was a Catholic (capital letter) country. In the sense that the severance with Rome under Henry was just that. A severance of the English Church with the Roman Church. Protestantism was a German heresy & Anglicanism isn’t technically Protestant.”
Well that might have applied to Henry VIII who just wanted to get his leg over and had no religious principles as such. But it did not apply to his son. The Anglicans rediscovered their Catholicness in the late Victorian period but it is a farce and always has been. They are a Protestant Church.
“The Roman Church stopped being catholic (small letter) in 1054. Catholic (small letter) meaning the “whole” of Christianity in the original sense of the word. And it most definitely wasn’t the whole of Christianity.”
The World Council of Churches allocates voting based on the size of a congregation. They do not allow the Catholic Church to join. Mostly because of its firm anti-Communist stance back in the day – which meant the WCC funded the terrorist campaign of Robert Mugabe for instance. But also because it has more members than all the other Churches in the world put together.
That is pretty Catholic in both senses.
bloke in spain – “Maybe things’ll improve when all those tasty little Romanianas arrive. Does the country actually stock munters? Never seen one..”
How much time have you spent in Romania? Some of them have arrived already. You remember the Cheeky Girls?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxoKZldsFxg
Munters? I would take a younger Angela Gheorghiu if you don’t mind.
@SMfS
I was of course being extremely technical on the exact meanings of words from a profoundly, couldn’t give a toss, viewpoint. From which same viewpoint would observe the CoE, by definition, cannot be protestant (either big or small P) It has nobody to who it could protest,
And the answer to your question. Unfortunately not long enough. it is a country of magnificent, outstanding & beautiful features. Many, I’m assured, natural..
And to be equally nitpicking, I believe christian doctrine has it that we are all christians, divided between those who have found the light & those who have not yet seen it. Their acrobat* having come to “save” all of mankind. Many have been stretched in an attempt to prove this point. (Although burning’s also been fashionable). Personally, I find this presumptuous but if the Highest Authority would like to e-mail, I’ve no objection to a discussion.
*Derived from my partner in crime in the jewelry business’s tendency to ask prospective purchasers of crucifixes if they wished “with or without acrobat?”