h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oops. You're right, I did misunderstand you - must be working all day just to catch up after the break. On the other hand, I might just be stoopid

The thing is, I read and reread the thing and couldn't see what you were getting so riled about. Then I moved the footnote from 'medicine' to 'contraception' and saw how it changed the meaning of the sentence. Eep...

Thanks -- it's a simple change, but it's MUCH better now.


Mikey

ps -- I, too, am working insane hours to try and catch up from the holidays. To make it worse, we moved to a new building last week, so have lost tons of time.... And look, here I am on h2g2 instead of getting real things done... *sigh*

... and this holiday I was supposed to be making a proper start on my next book. Bloody nuns...

(having said that, I've at least managed to get loads of research done for the book, read Peter Wright's 'Spycatcher' and Stella Rimmington's 'Open Secret'. And I'm about to start a heafty tone on MI5's involvement with the IRA - eep!)

This entry has now been recommended by a Scout, and presumably there's little danger of it being rejected by the Editors, so I guess it's headed for the Edited Guide. Before it gets there, I think one question needs to be resolved:

You say in the entry: 'Initially, Sister Teresa faced opposition from other religious leaders until they witnessed how her leadership was non-political and embraced all religions.' But then you defend her reactionary stance on contraception by saying that she was only following the teachings of her Catholic faith, and couldn't be expected to defy the Church heirarchy.

Isn't there a contradiction there?

I didn't interpret "other religious leaders" as being within the hierarchy of the Catholic church -- I saw it as leaders from other religions, or leaders from other Catholic groups (but not within Teresa's hierarchy -- i.e., another order of nuns).

mikey

Perhaps if I change this to 'leaders of other denominations' this might be clearer?

No, what puzzled me was how Mother Teresa's leadership could be said to 'embrace all religions' if her methods and attitudes were dictated by Catholic dogma.

Hey
I was just wondering if any of you were aware that in the later years of her life, an exorcism was performed on mother teresa, while she was in hospital.
I'm just wondering what you all thought of it?

firsty

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!

I took the 'embracing of other religions' to be one of those clever get-out clauses they often have - they welcome people of all religions, but they themselves only practice one. In other words, you don't have to be a Catholic to receive their treatment, but part of their treatment will be Catholic Prayers and practices. Understandable I suppose, though I admit I wondered if there was a contradiction in there or not.

'Love the sinner, hate the sin' preaching comes to mind.

As for the thing about Teresa being exorcised, this strikes me as similar to a story that (I think) came via the Fortean Times. Either that or the National Enquirer. The Catholic Church does not acknowledge the existence of exorcism, nor has it since the 1950s (despite this, we know for a fact that exorcisms have taken place - the case in the 1950s in Washington with the small boy later inspired William Peter Blatty to write The Exorcist, for example). There is one part of the Act of Renunciation, which echoes the Act of Baptism by asking the sick person 'Do you reject Satan and all his works and all his empty promises?' which has often been misinterpreted as the Rite of Exorcism.

Whatever, if she was exorcised then no right-minded Catholic would admit it without fear of excommunication, and of course she's no longer around to suggest otherwise.

Well i'm not sure exactly which church she belonged to, but senior church officials in Kolkata, previously called Calcutta, including Archbishop of Calcutta Henry D'Souza have acnowledged the exorcism, performed in the later years of her life.
You may also be interested to know, that the Roman Catholic Church has revisited its Exorcism Rites for the first time in 400 years. They include new information such as psychiatry, including a warning not to confuse diabolic possesion of the spirit with mental illness. Its also interesting that Pope John Paul 2 approves to the changes, and has freely advitted to performing an exorcism in 1982.


firsty

'The first time in 400 years'???

That's a guess, right??! Or an extra '0'.

You know this, but you don't know which church famous *Catholic* nun belonged to? Forgive me if I don't add this little gem to the entry my friend.

Congratulations Jimster

Well aren't you just a pompous a**ehole?
I was only telling you a few facts, no need to be rude and bitchy.
And thats not a guess, how ignorant of you!?
And i'm not your friend, how annoying are you!?

You are an example of the main reason why western organised religion is going down the drain.
Scum. Ignorant, ignorant scum.

firsty

You're right, I completely misjudged the tone of your posting and was unnecessarily pompous there. I honestly thought you were joking, as I've never come across this evidence before, so, many apologies.

In my defence, I'm not, nor have I ever been, a representative of organised religion, and any interest I have in the subject is predominantly as an outsider. I was educated by Catholics, largely to placate my grandparents, but was never drawn towards the Faith outside of carol concerts and the usual school masses.

If you read through this Conversation, you'll see how it's been a bit of a battle to get this entry towards completion, so when your comments came mere minutes before Sam accepted the entry I was in a rather joyous and frivolous mood. I accept, though, that the slightly arch tone in the second reply to you was perhaps uncalled for.

What I could suggest is, when this entry hits the Front Page in a month or so, you could post to the Conversation beneath it in more detail. Those kind of postings tend to get a fair bit of exposure (what with the entry being promoted on our Front Page for a day), so it might receive more of a response from other Researchers. I'm sure it will provide an interesting additional insight into a complex figure who seems to provoke a number of different reactions in people.

Regards,

Jimster

Hey, no worries.
And thank-you, I honesty didn't expect that reply.
I'd also like to apologise for jumping to conclusions about your religious outlook.
I guess I'm much like you. I was brought up as a christian, but now find myself revolted for much of what it stands for. I'm now interested in just about everything the christian church thinks is evil, which in my opinion, hasn't turned out too bad.
Anyway, i'll do somemore research, and see how much I can find out on the church's views on Exorcism, and how the story of M Teresa's exorcism came about, as I too, find it a bit hard to believe.

Firsty

Can I just belatedly say 'Well done, Jimster'? I think you did a good job of working on the entry and of dealing with all the dissenters, such as myself! The entry is certainly a useful addition to the Edited Guide.

Cheers to everyone for this - I know I've dug my heels in a bit with this, but I do think it's been for the benefit of the entry - as has all the suggestions and debate. Hopefully, once the entry hits the Front Page the debate won't end either, so thanks again to everyone who contributed to the discussion.

Jimster