Aesthetic Catholic

Speaking anecdotally, there's nothing quite like being brought up in the church if one day you want to really appreciate its hypocrisy. One only has to contrast, for example, the homelessness in this country with the amount of property owned by the Church of England. How does any minister stand up and cite the story of the good Samaritan without choking on their own words?

Once you have made a break with the organised church, you are free to define your own beliefs, of course, but also to decide which bits of your religious upbringing you might retain some affection for.

I can still tap into a childhood love of the story of Jesus - as you can read here - whilst believing that Reza Aslan dug out the truth of the story in his tremendous book 'Zealot'. 

That book also provides in interesting insight into the first great marketing triumph of history as Paul sells his version of Jesus to the Romans, leading to the founding of the most evil institution in history, the Catholic church.

Given all of the above, then, I find it hard to explain how much I enjoy the iconography of the Catholic church. Admittedly, there is a side that I find amusing, such as the full sized Christ reclining on a bed - although presumably dead - in one of the churches here in Ventimiglia Alta.

But what I do enjoy are the smaller statues and images to be found in the houses and on the local streets. In a similar vein, I remember last year in Greece when I was oddly tempted by the proliferation of statues of the Madonna and child on sale, but felt t would be wrong to buy any.

Anyway, that's the story behind today's Blip, a little of statue of Christ on one of the back streets. As to what we actually did, Hannah and I popped down into the new town where she helped me with a purchase for the Minx's imminent birthday, and then in the evening the three of us went for dinner in the square (as per my Extra).