Are priests highly regarded in Italy? (country, dangerous, people, Greek)

[homenj]

I know Italy is a mostly Catholic country but once I was in a mass in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, and I saw the Italians showed a lot of respect towards the priest.

Do people in Italy, even secular people that don't go to church, or are atheists, still a hold a high reverence for priests?

I wonder if they are more respected in Italy than in the United States.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by homenj

I know Italy is a mostly Catholic country but once I was in a mass in an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn, and I saw the Italians showed a lot of respect towards the priest.

Do people in Italy, even secular people that don't go to church, or are atheists, still a hold a high reverence for priests?

I wonder if they are more respected in Italy than in the United States.

Priests are individual human beings, like doctors and police officers and everyone else, there are good ones, there are bad ones, there are mediocre ones.

In each case, one by one, it really depends on the individual and what qualities and skills he offers to others, how the local community interacts with those qualities and skills, and how that dynamic develops and changes over time, day by day, year by year.

Good Luck!

[CHESTER MANIFOLD]

In Italy most people are secular and don't attend church except for burials, etc. But Rome is in Italy, and Rome is a tremendous temporal power.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by CHESTER MANIFOLD

In Italy most people are secular and don't attend church except for burials, etc. But Rome is in Italy, and Rome is a tremendous temporal power.

Like CVS or McDonald's or self-storage and other real estate investment trusts (REITs), the Catholic Church is a multi-national real estate management firm that happens to provide ancillary services on its various properties. Main difference being that it is also a legal political sovereign by which it also provides certain other services, including banking.

Sleeps with the fishes.

[forgotten username]

I spot them near politicians a bit too often.


Or maybe it's the reverse that bugs me...

[MarisaMay]

Originally Posted by CHESTER MANIFOLD

In Italy most people are secular and don't attend church except for burials, etc. But Rome is in Italy, and Rome is a tremendous temporal power.

I observed that some of the Italians I know in Italy are more aggressively secular than people are here in Australia. If they identified as a non-believer they avoid, as much as possible, going to a church and seem to have a real contempt for the church and priests. Here in Australia many people who are agnostic and atheist are happy to accompany their family members to church, even get married in churches and many send their kids to religious schools.

[bale002]

Originally Posted by MarisaMay

I observed that some of the Italians I know in Italy are more aggressively secular than people are here in Australia. If they identified as a non-believer they avoid, as much as possible, going to a church and seem to have a real contempt for the church and priests. Here in Australia many people who are agnostic and atheist are happy to accompany their family members to church, even get married in churches and many send their kids to religious schools.

It's not a question of secular, believer, non-believer, those are cheap throwaway terms.

Each generation of humans tends to rebel against whomever or whatever group of other humans it perceives is oppressing them, often the oppressor is simply their parents and if an oppressor is not in obvious sight they fabricate one if they have to.

It is a natural motivation mechanism. The name or perceived ideology of the oppressor doesn't really matter.

Without such built-in motivation mechanisms, we would all vanish into oblivion at some static point or another.

In fact, many of us do.

[Monasterio]

Church in Italy is mostly about heritage, culture and festivities and the political and economic power of the Vatican, but the religious mumble jumbo is considered archaic, irrelevant

[Dangerous-Boy]

need to bring back roman paganism

[Milky Way Resident]

Originally Posted by Dangerous-Boy

need to bring back roman paganism

Or paganism in general

Greek and Norse mythology is too awesome to ignore.