Oops...

my racist, jew hating, Catholic* brother in law You don't mention whether he's bald or left or right handed or whether he's black or white, or ...

I don't like seeing the name of my religion used as a sectarian insult on the Mudcat or anywhere else. And in the context of this thread I don't think I should just shrug it off as I often do.

Yes, there are some racist Catholics, just as there are some racist Jews and Protestants and atheists, or any other category, but...

Last Sunday Father Pat our parish priest, who is Irish, went sick, and we had a stranger turn up instead to say Mass. He was a West African, and the congregation loved him. Including the Vietnamese and the Filipinos, and the Chinese and Italians and West Indians as well as the Irish and Italians. Just by chance there was a little boy making his First Communion that Mass, because he'd been sick the day the rest of the kids did a couple of weeks back. Black father, white mother, standing proudly beside him in the front pew.

Maybe we sang a bit better than we normally do - we didn't want to let Father Pat down, and we've all seen those pictures on the telly of churches in Africa where they really sing out at Mass. Anyway, the visiting priest said we sounded good. And afterwards everyone lined up to shake hands and wish him well.

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a joeclone