Confession time: Paddy Power holds the door as jockey Frankie Dettori kneels inside the sponsored 'sin bin' at Our Lady & St Etheldreda church, Newmarket (Click on the image for a larger version and check out the "Sin Bin" plaque over the confessional door)
The DailyMailOnline reports:
A Catholic church confession box has been sponsored by a bookie.
Paddy Power, the Irish betting firm, has paid £10,000 in the deal with Our Lady & St Etheldreda Church in Newmarket, Suffolk, after being approached by its fundraising committee.
Newmarket is widely regarded as the home of British horse-racing.
Paddy Power spokesman Ken Robertson told Mail Online: 'It was just before Christmas when we got an unsolicited call from a man on the fundraising committee at the church.
'He said Newmarket was the home of flat-racing in Britain and he asked would we sponsor an event to help pay for a new confession box .
'I half-jokingly floated the idea that if we paid for the confession box could we put our name to it - and he spoke to the priest, who was well up for it.'
The box, which has green curtains branded with Paddy Power's logo and the words 'Sin Bin' on the outside, was officially opened yesterday by jockey Frankie Dettori.
The Italian rider was married in the church, and was the first to say confession there yesterday.
Mr Robertson said he saw no issue with a betting firm sponsoring a Catholic confession box.
'There has been a temporary confession box there since the church was built in the 1960s,' he said.
'The church approached us - and at the end of the day, Newmarket church now has a confession box, which they wouldn't have had.'
(Read the complete report here)
Deal: Mr Dettori pulls back the Paddy Power-sponsored curtains of the confession box. The Italian jockey was married at the church
One wonders if the green "Sin Bin" curtains came down for good after the Grand Opening - or if their color will change with the liturgical seasons...
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Is this a joke?!!
ReplyDeleteThrough the Sacrament of Reconciliation we encounter Christ in a special way. Often, these are life changing moments. I'm all for being creative and progressive but this is just over the top for me. How is this forming holy people? Where is the integrity and respect?
anne
I wonder if the RCAB's Advent "The Light is on for You" initiative would want to add sin bins and portofesses to its publicity efforts! I realize I am being irreverent, but somehow this does strike me as funny. And with all that has been going on, I think we all could use a laugh. Who knows... someone might even return to the sacrament, because he appreciates that the Church can have a sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteRosemary
P.S. I like your idea of the change in liturgical colors for the curtains. Or they could use the different colors of the racing silks! Tomorrow is Derby Day in Louisville, KY. Perhaps, Churchill Downs could start a new tradition to go along with mint juleps, roses and wide-brimmed straw hats... a sin bin with its racing silks as curtains!
I agree with anonymous' comments above...I got a great laugh out of this, and I think it's healthy for the church to show a bit of a sense of humor. I also like the thought that this little notoriety might inspire a return to (or a discovery of) the sacrament for some folks.
ReplyDeleteOn a related note, there's an episode of the 90's British comedy "Ballykissangel" that deals with the delivery of a luxury confessional to a church...this reminded me of that.