Thursday, July 17, 2003

More Religious Mayhem A New Mexico family is suing the local Catholic church over a funeral in which the priest allegedly said their relative was only a middling Catholic who was going straight to hell. Court papers filed last month say Rev Scott Mansfield said at Martinez's funeral last year that the deceased was "living in sin", "lukewarm in his faith" and that "the Lord vomited people like Ben out of his mouth to hell". Not your friendly old Father O'Malley is he? The complaint also said that as Rev Mansfield walked to the grave, he laced his comments about Martinez - a former town councilman - with profanities. See, this is why we separate church and state. Nine members of the Martinez family are seeking punitive and compensatory damages for severe emotional and physical suffering. Lawyers did not say how much the family was seeking in damages. Maybe they should seek a temporary restraining order keeping Mr. Martinez in limbo until the case can be decided. Service of process on God may be a little tough. I suppose Satan will also have to be served with papers since he's an interested party. 8:22:09 PM