Really? This Is A Good PR Shot?

Hmmmnn...

The Pope kisses the knee of an artificial facimile of the baby Jesus.

You view it in sexual terms.

And the problem is with the Catholic Church?

"the go to joke for priests? " Pedophilia is about as funny as the Holocaust,still, not as funny as cancer - you're a friggin' idiot.

jack of hearts, I didn't say I found it funny. I said it was the go to joke, and I'm 100% correct. It's also in the news constantly. I read the news. The point of the post is that people don't think about what they're doing. Finn, you always make a remark of this sort for whatever I post because you don't like me so it's hard to give you any weight. If pedophilia wasn't connected at the hip to the perception of priests the picture would just be the pope at Christmas. Don't get on to me girls, I haven't blown any altar boys.

Then I misunderstood your use of the word "joke". As long as people as yourself keeping perpetuating the priest/pedophilia stereotype, and self-fulfilling the 'at the hip connection', that is "constantly" being called news, it will never go away. This photo gave you the opportunity to keep the scandal alive, and say it's their fault for doing so - you're just another Catholic-bashing scandal monger. Merry Christmas.

Bear.
As part of the Christmas morning mass, everyone in the church is welcomed to kiss the baby jesus. It's a tradition, just like people kiss any newborn.
So, if the news made a joke out of it, they'd be dissing every Catholic who went to church on xmas morn.

Boo hoo jackie. I'm happy to give some self righteous church lady the chance to do the superior dance. Roll up your sensible support hose and have at it.

Try some of this.

Ceili, I personally wasn't making a joke of it. I was surprised that people post pictures and make statements that open them or their institutions up to the cheap shot. It happens all the time. Far from me making a joke, I was taken aback by the PR stupidity of some people in a world of cynics where other
people immediately jump to the lowest common denominator. I can tell you though that if Jesus is truly in Heaven and saw this He understood my point and his sphincter didn't seize up like J' o' hearts and Finns. Of course Finn's seems to stay in that state constantly.

In an attempt to bring understanding to the point I was trying to make before the 2 offended girls posted, (not like I care much about their posts and I don't refer to Ceili) this is a picture taken directly from the now closed McDonald's employee help site. People just DO NOT think about what they're doing

I always thought the go-to joke about priests was the "a priest, a ____, and a____..." walk into a bar joke.

Too many people kissing it then. The best way to get cooties!

Bear, no offense taken.
I know you think it's a bad photo, a joke waiting to happen.
However, I'm sure you can go back through the history and find the same picture of every single Pope kissing the baby jesus since the advent of photography.
Or, the local cardinal, archbishop, bishop, priest...
My point is, this is not an original or creative photograph,
any catholic would recognize this picture for what it is.
Comparing a Mcdonald's screw-up to a two-thousand-ish year old tradition is not really a fair or an accurate comparison.
All that being said...
I'm sure a lot of people see it the way you do, especially if they're not familiar with the religious practices. We all make judgement calls and I can see where this picture can be taken in many different directions.
Priests and their flocks will have to live with the stigma for a very long time. Comedians and low humour didn't cause the problems. Abuse was/is a huge problem. A lot of people were complicit in the activities, in many nations, over many years and until the church deals with it, people will continue to see irony in pictures like the one you posted. It is what it is.

Yeah, in many churches it's not practiced whole scale anymore. And if is, you might kiss a tissue draped over the statue or it is wiped with antibacterial stuff between kissers..

First off Ceili, and we're just having a friendly discussion here... I attended parochial schools and I'm completely familiar with religious practices. Secondly, certainly nothing wrong with kissing baby Jesus. However, the church is a business like any other in addition to being a religious organization and I'm sure they employ PR experts that look at everything that goes forward from the Vatican. Wouldn't you think someone would advise a pope or priest, no matter how pure their intentions, that given today's climate he might be better advised to kiss the baby on the forehead or somewhere besides above the knee? Yes, it's shitty to make a pedophilia connection to this (what I'm sure is an) innocent act of love and respect, but Jeez, shouldn't whoever's in charge of protecting the Pope and the Churches image have enough brains not to open them up to ANOTHER joke?

Cool, didn't know you went to catholic school. I didn't take the conversation as anything but..
Regardless, I doubt this picture was taken by the holy see. The pope is a public figure, anyone can take his picture.
Again, I doubt the church is going to change tradition based on a photo or a few jokes. Then again, I don't find pictures of anyone kissing a statue of a baby sexual. Unless the intent was sexual in nature and this clearly wasn't.

for the record, I find nothing sexual about the pope kissing a ceramic figure of baby Jesus either. I do however, think you can't go wrong betting on the prurient interests and love of the cheap shot of a great deal of the public and should be wary at all times. That's all I'm saying.

Got ya. It's all good. I don't think you're a perv.
Or at least, yours seem to be within normal realms.

Now, if first, you had just said, 'Pedophilia is the go-to cheap shot at priests.' I wouldn't have gotten upset. Sorry.

I can't take the time to check my semantics with everyone who might take issue with the point I'm making. Having said that, don't worry about it and have a Happy New Year.