This article is from the Wall Street Journal and can be found here:
I did not write or do not own it.
Tales From the Crypt: To Attract New Blood, Church Joins Club Scene
ROME—The crypt of the Basilica di San Carlo al Corso near St. Peter's Square has boasted tombs of cardinals for centuries. Today it is taking on a livelier vibe.
The Catholic church in Rome is trying to win back young people with a nightclub in the crypt of the Basilica di San Carlo al Corso, complete with a beer and wine bar.
Rev. Maurizio Mirilli, head of youth ministry in Rome's Catholic Church, has converted a section of the crypt into a nightclub with a live-music stage and a bar stocked with beer, Prosecco and other wine. Father Mirilli has christened the new watering hole GP2, short for "Giovanni Paolo II," as the late Polish pope was known in Italian.
A Club in a Crypt
Nadia Shira Cohen for The Wall Street Journal For Rome's young and restless, GP2 is the prime destination for mingling, dancing or having "a drink with a bishop," Father Mirilli said Saturday night. He he leaned against the club's mirrored bar and nursed a glass of pineapple juice as a phalanx of young men with gelled hair bobbed their heads to the Black Eyed Peas. Scrawled across the bar was a biblical passage from the Gospel of St. John, quoting Jesus Christ: "Give me a drink." (Actually, he was referring to water).
"There should be more places like this," said Annalisa Gennaro, a 21-year-old theology student, as she and a friend made their way into the club. "It's about time the church woke up."
Father Mirilli sees the club as a bridge to carry young Italians back into the Catholic fold. Like most dioceses across Europe, the Vicariate of Rome—as the city's local church is formally known—is looking for new blood. As it is, the pews at Basilica di San Carlo al Corso and other Roman churches have increasingly become the domain of the elderly as fewer young people turn up for Mass.
The Vicariate doesn't keep statistics on practicing members of its flock. A recent nationwide poll by the Italian think tank Instituto IARD, however, found that only 15% of Italian Catholics between the ages of 18 and 29 consider themselves "practicing Catholics," compared with 18% in 2004.
Father Mirilli joined the priesthood at the age of 29, when the late Pope John Paul II was gearing up for the church's Jubilee celebration in Rome. Among the highlights of the Jubilee was the Vatican's World Youth Day, which brought two million young Catholics from around the world to Rome in droves—an event that became known as the "Catholic Woodstock."
In the years that followed, the priest took over the Vicariate's youth ministry and began hunting for ways to revive the Jubilee's youthful spirit. The crypt of Basilica di San Carlo al Corso, located along the city's main shopping strip, had long been a popular daytime hangout for young Catholics. Father Mirilli decided to raise a few thousand euros to remodel the crypt's vaulted interior into a nighttime hangout.
Two years ago, the priest found financial backing from ACLI, a lay group of Italian Catholics. "Christian young people need to find a way to own the night again," says Gianluigi De Palo, an ACLI organizer who frequents GP2. "Being Christian doesn't necessarily mean sad, serious or old."
Father Mirilli also got the nod from his boss, Bishop Ernest Mandara, who oversees the churches in Rome's historical center and reports to Pope Benedict XVI. So far, there have been no complaints from on high, Father Mirilli says. "This place wouldn't exist if [the pope] weren't OK with it."
Many of GP2's features are typical of the Roman bar scene. Speakers pump pop music and disco anthems. Bartenders in black T-shirts serve up drinks from 7 p.m. until midnight, Sundays included.
Not all the rules of running a successful club apply, however. There is no cover charge to get past the club's dimly lit entrance. And there's no two-drink minimum. In fact, clients are expected to observe a two-drink maximum, and GP2 doesn't serve hard spirits, like vodka and gin.
"We don't keep a list of what every customer orders, but we want people to drink, not to get drunk," Father Mirilli says.
A big crucifix hangs on one wall, and footage of John Paul II is projected onto another. The music pulsing through GP2 should be of "Christian inspiration," the priest says, though the club is "sometimes" willing to bend its guidelines to popular demand.
On Saturday, a group of young women thrust their hands and hips to the beat of a dance classic, "YMCA" by the Village People. "There's nothing wrong with listening to a bit of secular music…right?" the priest grinned.
And then there's the club confessional. At the back of the club, a narrow tunnel opens onto an underground chapel where a marble sarcophagus encases the remains of Federico Borromeo, the 17th-century cardinal immortalized by Alessandro Manzoni's novel "The Betrothed." There, Father Mirilli recalled how he recently took a late-night confession from a clubber.
"It was beautiful. Here's a kid that never goes to church, and he's here discussing the Gospel with me," the priest said, adding that he now plans to open a small counseling center adjacent to the bar.
Although word of GP2 has begun to spread around town, the club is facing cutthroat competition—mainly from a dark, leather-upholstered club next door. One of the city's posh clubs, it regularly throbs with techno beats and scantily clad customers who overflow onto the sidewalk. GP2 can hold more than 100 people, but turnout recently has been far lower. Father Mirilli is working hard to increase the numbers.
The priest is "keeping a lid" on prices, charging €2.50 (about $3.50) for a beer—about a third of what his rivals charge. Crimson fliers have been distributed throughout the city's churches emblazoned with the club's catch phrase: "Come and you will see!" The priest says he is also working his contacts to get Italian celebrities to show up and talk about their faith with clubbers.
David Mahawili, a 31-year-old luggage handler, has become a regular at GP2. He says most other clubs attract people who are "trying to act like someone they're not." His friend Flaviano Tacchone, a 29-year-old optometrist, agrees. GP2 is the spot to "get to know" a girl, he says, rather than "pick her up."
By STACY MEICHTRY And NATHANIA ZEVI
If this article doesn't prove to you that Ratzinger and his followers are sending people to hell then I don't know what will. This sacrilege was done with his seal of approval as stated in the article. What more proof do you need?
Please pray for a true Pope.
Holy Father St. Dominic, pray for us.
St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us.
St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
Our Lady of La Salette, pray for us.
St. Joseph, Most Chaste Spouse, pray for us.
St. Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
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