Yipee, it's that time of the year again. For those of you who don't know what Lent is, it's the 40-day lead up to Easter. Supposedly Jesus went through a wander through the desert to find himself (because Europe hadn't been invented yet) and this was a long, miserable thing so Catholics celebrate this story by giving something up for 40 days. Hence the reason for Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday. The day before Lent is meant to clean all the tasty crap out of your cupboards. Shiny plastic beads and booby flashing came later but I'm fuzzy on the biblical relevance of that.
Today is known as Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of Lent. While growing up Catholic, we usually had pancakes the Tuesday before at school (when indoctrinating children, fun is part of the formula) then on Wednesday, we'd write down our horrible sins on pieces of paper (guilt and fear would be the other part of the propaganda formula) that would then be burned, the ashes used to mark our foreheads in the sign of the cross. Now that I look at the above paragraph, I realise how totally stupid it is. Not to mention abusive. It's no wonder that millions of people accept the blatant horrors perpetrated and covered up by the Catholic church without question. In the weeks to come, I'm sure the real reasons for Pope Benedict's resignation will emerge. There's something big on the horizon, I'm sure. Not that there isn't plenty of damning evidence about him already that the bleating, brainwashed sheep of his flock have chosen to ignore:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2010/03/the_pope_is_not_above_the_law.html
So Catholics, enjoy your Lent. Rub ash on your forehead and give up eating cookies for 40 days because those things are really going to help the pre-teen boy that is having the cock of a priest, forcibly shoved down his throat, or the gay kid who commits suicide because he's been told to hate himself or the woman who's been forced to carry her rapist's child.
As it's been said, if you're not part of the solution...