quote:

The Marijuana Priest

On January 21, 2004, Fr. Richard Arko, 40, above, and accomplice Jensen Powell, 24, were arrested by the police for growing marijuana in a closet in the rectory of Prince of Peace church.

Fr. Arko was pastor of the church, which is on the border of the cities of Norton and Barbarton, Ohio, and belongs to the Diocese of Cleveland. In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Anthony Pilla declared the case "confused" him. On April 6, Fr. Arko pleaded guilty before the court judge. In a spare bedroom of the rectory, 35 marijuana plants (from 6 inches to 4-feet) were discovered, along with grow lights, eletric transformers, air purifiers and various how-to drug volumes, including
The Marijuana Grower's Guide and Opium for the Masses.

Jensen Powell was living in the rectory and police alleged he sold marijuana from that residence. In fact, two small plastic bags of marijuana and $1,100 in cash were confiscated from Powell.

The priest, pictured above in the Summit County Jail photo, is also facing criminal probation into allegations of sexual abuse of a 15-year-old youth.To see a photo of Fr. Arko teaching a yoga class at St. Mary's Parish Hall and a picture of the pots of marijuana found in the rectory, click here.

Zippy the Bummer posted:

I never got the complaint about Catholicism being all guilt-trippy. Sure there is a long list of Bad Things Not to Do but there is also the afforded option of confession, which amounts to "spend two minutes in an anonymous box telling your bad deeds to a dude who has heard the world's most horrible poo poo a thousand times and doesnt give a gently caress what you're saying and your sin-o-meter can be reset to zero with a few mumbled words"

do practicing Catholics anywhere really wring their hands about this poo poo? Any priest who has been acting for more than a year has heard the worst poo poo imaginable so much that they aren't even phased, they won't even remember your loving confession two minutes later

Nathilus posted:

kaschei posted:

Other guilt trippy things catholics do:
- use the occasion of a funeral to reproach the children of the deceased for their lax church attendance

Moridin920 posted:

My gf's

Nocheez posted:

I grew up Catholic and didn't leave the church until I was around 19. A couple years afterwards, the priest who had made the biggest impression in my life was busted for growing pot in the rectory. His image was even featured in Maxim magazine for that stunt.

Here's an article about it (and click the link below for a pic):

http://www.traditioninaction.org/RevolutionPhotos/A073rcMarijuanaPriest.htm

kaschei posted:

Other guilt trippy things catholics do:
- use the occasion of a funeral to reproach the children of the deceased for their lax church attendance

Moridin920 posted:

My gf's psycho aunt showed up to a family funeral for the sole purpose of telling everyone (in the middle of the service) that the deceased was a sinner and was going to hell and yada yada. People had to physically lead crazy aunt away while the grandma was bawling.

Aunt is just some nutter Protestant who thinks the world will end soon though, not a Catholic

religious nuts are just fuckstains in general

Celluloid Sam posted:

my friend who died had schozoaffective disorder and believed he had the soul of a wolf but he wasn't always like howling or acting like a weird wolf guy he just found that spiritually satisfying is he in heaven

8 track betamax posted:

Et à tout vase, je vais excommuniquer tout les catholiques qui se trouvent dans ce fil

Jerry Mumphrey posted:

is this the final boss of the matrix??!

Nathilus posted:

WELCOME TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH!

I love the original caption on this btw. "Just the pope hanging out in front of a statue of Jesus."

Gatekeeper posted:

"The Catholic Church is bad, and as proof I submit to you this: the coolest fuckin picture"
- the OP

Zippy the Bummer posted:

The Vatican harbored hundreds of Jews within its walls during the war, and hid thousands more in various safehouses scattered in and around Rome, I wouldn't call that "doing nothing" or whatever

Zippy the Bummer posted:

The Vatican harbored hundreds of Jews within its walls during the war, and hid thousands more in various safehouses scattered in and around Rome, I wouldn't call that "doing nothing" or whatever

Nathilus posted:

Gatekeeper posted:

"The Catholic Church is bad, and as proof I submit to you this: the coolest fuckin picture"
- the OP

VectorSigma posted:

seriously what videogame is this from

kaschei posted:

Nearly the whole family ostracized my great uncle. He went to China as a missionary priest, had a crisis of faith after a flood that killed thousands, married a Chinese woman, who I believe died on a death march after the Japanese invasion. He survived but didn't want to face his family and hid in the Philippines. In '49 he returned home with a Filipino wife & three daughters by her. For reasons never explained to me the pope took his confession and assigned the penance of renewing his vow of chastity. I assume leaving the priesthood without dispensation is a mortal sin. Anyway that's the story of a man being told by the pope to stop loving his wife.

Family still kept him at arm's length even after he was forgiven by the pope. Apparently it's hard to go back from Father to cousin.

achillesforever6 posted:

You'd think at this point the church would get rid of their dumb priest chasity and marriage laws seeing how priests are dying off and the reason those laws were put into place was so the church could hold the estate of the places where the priests lived.

CaptainSarcastic posted:

But you see sex is MAGIC and these superholy dudes are extra magic because they don't have the sex and can be all "YOU ARE HAVING THE SEX WRONG!" and "YOU HAD THE SEX AND NOW CAN'T HAVE AN ABORTION" and stuff. The superholy dudes would be less magic if they had the sex too, you see, and wouldn't be able to be properly authoritative and disapproving like they are now.