Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Heat and the Catholic Church

We recently had the occasion to spend 90 minutes in a Catholic Church for a baptism. We were warned ahead of time to dress warmly, but after about 45 minutes the fact that I had failed to put on ski socks became chillingly clear, and all I could think about was being stuck in this church for the night and how long it would take for my feet to fall off from frostbite. I've been in a few Catholic churches here in Germany (and I'm not Catholic) and all of them have been freezing cold. Now I really believe (though I'm not going to do the research to prove it one way or the other) that the Catholic church is rich rich rich, and especially super rich here in Germany where everyone pays right out of their paycheck to be Catholic ...unless you specifically became un-Catholic (like here at my house) or if you really are something other than Catholic. So my question is, WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE TURN ON JUST A SMIDGEN OF HEAT IN YOUR CHURCHES?? I am not young and I'm not quite old, but I have nothing but PITY for the very young and very old who have to sit in these churches and freeze their Catholic butts off. And then there are the uncomfortable pews and don't ge me started on kneelers. Dear Mr. Pope...you are German, can't you do something to help up here? This is a COLD country and there is something wrong when the graveyard is warmer in the winter than the inside of your churches!

While I was waiting for the baptism to start I snapped a few photos from the church graveyard. Families have to pay for these graves on an ongoing basis. More money that is not being used for heat. You know what I'm thinking about how these people died.........