Canada's latest and greatest political conflagration:
Stephen Harper, while attending the funeral of former Governor-General Romeo Leblanc, supposedly accepted the host from the priest, and tucked it into his pocket. The host is considered the body of Christ, and is therefore meant to be eaten immediately, not treated disrespectfully (see: Toronto Archdiocese's director of communications Neil MacCarthy: "We never throw Jesus out."), so I can understand why this would be a big deal - if it had actually happened.
Here is the sum total of the physical evidence we have that Stephen Harper doesn't know how to behave at a Catholic funeral:
a) After a moment of uncertainty, he accepted the host from the priest and held it for approximately two seconds.
b) The camera stopped filming.
So this comes down to eyewitness accounts: there are a handful of people who say Harper did put the host in his pocket, and a handful who say he did not; that he it ate like he was supposed to. Somehow, out of this, we've managed to create an enormous furore, with some members of the Catholic community calling Harper's behaviour "scandalous".
Really? This is what we're turning into a political scandal? A religious faux pas whose occurrence we cannot even verify? This may be a good example of why many people find Canadian politics boring and petty.
2 comments:
That said, Harper isn't Catholic. Because of that, his accepting communion at most Catholic churches is another possible faux pas.
This is a mark of the incompetence of his staff, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure the Prime Minister pays somebody to make sure he doesn't use the wrong fork or commit any other similar breach of etiquette.
Right, of course.
A few of the accounts I read of the whole thing suggested that Harper had been trying to shake the priest's hand, and had instead found himself with the host...at which point, though he shouldn't have had it, he did the right thing by eating it.
I agree...didn't anybody think to brief the man on how to cross your arms for a blessing if you aren't Catholic? This can't possibly be the first Catholic service he's attended.
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