UB40 welcome

[UB40]

I love going to Mass, because it gets me out of bed to make the most of a Sunday, even with a raging hangover - I like the smell of incense, I like to flirt with the girls, and then I like to talk GAA with the boys over a smoke outside after communion - I'm not a strong, strong Catholic - I stand at the back of the chapel and leave straight after receiving the sacrament, and then I grab a few pints while my ma is making a roast.

So Mass is a part of the Sunday routine, a wee bit of classic Irish life IMO.

Fuck that. I'm usually in the pub with the rest of the church avoiding crowd at that time.

Ah, but Mass is a lovely quiet, reflective interlude in between the debauchery of drunken scuttery - it breaks things up nicely and forces you to acknowledge those in the community who don't drink or enjoy the same temptations.

Do they still try and force people to sing at mass?

Or shake hands with people you despise ...

Singing at Mass is great - although I don't like the fuckin' folk choir - bunch of culchees warbling modern shite with banjos and fiddles. I prefer the old classics - who else is having a good sing on a Sunday morning. It clears the cobwebs.

As for shaking hands, what's wrong with that - it's good for the soul. Say there is someone you despise, and you end up sitting beside them because you've been ushered there because there's a lack of seats - a handshake, a bit of eye contact, perhaps a glimmer of a smile....it can lead to a chat, forgiveness, redemption... it's not all bad, religion.

[Animavore]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Pretty good at turning a blind eye to the transgressions of the clergy too

[FBM]

...
(sorry if that's incoherent. I'm in an altered state of consciousness at the moment)

Ignore FBM, he lives in Korea ... the normal part, not the basket-case part.

Wut? You mean this is the normal part? Then...

[UB40]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Pretty good at turning a blind eye to the transgressions of the clergy too

Me?

[Geoff]

Welcome UB40 - have you been offered a drink yet? The bar's over here....

[UB40]

Welcome UB40 - have you been offered a drink yet? The bar's over here....

It's a bit early, but seeing as it's a Saturday...

[FBM]

(sorry if that's incoherent. I'm in an altered state of consciousness at the moment)

Making the most of it before the weekend retreat

Huh? Wait, what?

[Animavore]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Pretty good at turning a blind eye to the transgressions of the clergy too

Me?

Irish people.

[klr]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Industrial homes ... industrial homes

... Holy Catholic Ireland, sure wasn't it great.

...
Singing at Mass is great - although I don't like the fuckin' folk choir - bunch of culchees warbling modern shite with banjos and fiddles. I prefer the old classics - who else is having a good sing on a Sunday morning. It clears the cobwebs.

Yup, the old fire and brimstone had something going for it alright. You knew where you stood, and you knew if you ever had so much as one impure thought ....

As for shaking hands, what's wrong with that - it's good for the soul. Say there is someone you despise, and you end up sitting beside them because you've been ushered there because there's a lack of seats - a handshake, a bit of eye contact, perhaps a glimmer of a smile....it can lead to a chat, forgiveness, redemption... it's not all bad, religion.

Lack of seats? Which church do you go to?

[UB40]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Pretty good at turning a blind eye to the transgressions of the clergy too

Me?

Irish people.

I'm an Irish person, and I didn't turn a blind eye to it.

[Animavore]

I'm an Irish person, and I didn't turn a blind eye to it.

I was speaking more of the past. Same rules don't apply today.

[UB40]

I'm an Irish person, and I didn't turn a blind eye to it.

I was speaking more of the past. Same rules don't apply today.

And I was speaking of the present...

[UB40]

Flirting with girls at mass? How very Irish all right.

I'm very proud of how we do religion here - it's a very Irish thing - even in the middle of worship we are distracted and profane, we think of God as "himself" (like a drinking partner rather than our father who craeted the universe).

We're good at sensible religion.

Industrial homes ... industrial homes

... Holy Catholic Ireland, sure wasn't it great.

There was a better sense of community and people were happier when it less secular. All people want today is a big fuckin' house and a big fuckin' car. At least we all knew where we stood when we had fuck all - and the only ones who could help those with less than fuck all were the clergy. And during the famine the state and private enterprise looked after everyone well, didn't they?

...
Singing at Mass is great - although I don't like the fuckin' folk choir - bunch of culchees warbling modern shite with banjos and fiddles. I prefer the old classics - who else is having a good sing on a Sunday morning. It clears the cobwebs.

Yup, the old fire and brimstone had something going for it alright. You knew where you stood, and you knew if you ever had so much as one impure thought ....

My da wants the latin mass brought back, with the priest facing away from the congregation - apparently that type of Mass is a thing of extraordinary beauty.

As for shaking hands, what's wrong with that - it's good for the soul. Say there is someone you despise, and you end up sitting beside them because you've been ushered there because there's a lack of seats - a handshake, a bit of eye contact, perhaps a glimmer of a smile....it can lead to a chat, forgiveness, redemption... it's not all bad, religion.

Lack of seats? Which church do you go to?

Sure how would you know when you don't go near mass you heathen!

[FBM]

I'm in an Irish prison, and I didn't turn a brown eye to it.

I'm sorry. Really, I am. This is just one of the unique features of Ratz....

[klr]

...

...
Singing at Mass is great - although I don't like the fuckin' folk choir - bunch of culchees warbling modern shite with banjos and fiddles. I prefer the old classics - who else is having a good sing on a Sunday morning. It clears the cobwebs.

Yup, the old fire and brimstone had something going for it alright. You knew where you stood, and you knew if you ever had so much as one impure thought ....

My da wants the latin mass brought back, with the priest facing away from the congregation - apparently that type of Mass is a thing of extraordinary beauty.

Go right ahead, I won't stop you ...

... It'll just confuse the fuck out of most of remaining hangers-on.

As for shaking hands, what's wrong with that - it's good for the soul. Say there is someone you despise, and you end up sitting beside them because you've been ushered there because there's a lack of seats - a handshake, a bit of eye contact, perhaps a glimmer of a smile....it can lead to a chat, forgiveness, redemption... it's not all bad, religion.

Lack of seats? Which church do you go to?

Sure how would you know when you don't go near mass you heathen!

There are ways of noticing how many people are going to church without actually going into the place ... all legal too.