Stringfellows is a well-known London strip club ... sorry, did I say that? I meant "high-class entertainment venue" which, in addition to "a mouth watering range of dishes from our A La Carte menu", offers:Hundreds of beautiful Angels - fully nude, dancing alongside your table, and at the various stages dotted around the club.Actually, I just checked the mouth watering range of dishes - the range of main courses under "meat" is: Lamb, rib-eye steak, sirloin steak, fillet steak, butterfly steak or ribeye steak with lobster (that's for if yer goin' real posh.)
Now you might perfectly well ask why I should be writing about a strip club. Primarily it is in order to answer the assertion of Fr David Gilmore, Anglican priest in Soho who recently got up on stage "(next to the "pole") and told the punters:
"if Jesus was alive today he would be at Stingfellows bar having a drink and chatting to the girls"It all sounds like a vintage sketch from Not the Nine O'Clock News but sadly I jest not. On the other side of the "pole" was Fr Michael Seed, pictured on Peter Stringfellow's blog together with a bevy of the "Angels" (See "Saints and Sinners"). Fr Seed was there to launch his new book "Sinners and Saints", memoirs of his meetings with prominent political and public figures.
So OK, am I being an old prude here, a pharisee in the mould of those who criticised Jesus because he ate with tax collectors and sinners. Isn't it a jolly good thing for a priest to go down to the strip club and preach the gospel? I don't think so: our Lord's ministry was marked by the fact that He was God, and therefore sinless, and incapable of sinning. For the rest of us, the Church has always observed a certain sensible prudence in such areas of life, and ministry to prostitutes has historically been carried out by women. Today, in Rome, just such a ministry is undertaken by the Missionaries of Charity; but I don't think that they go to strip clubs as part of their work.
Nor did Jesus for that matter: his ministry was focussed on repentance and forgiveness. In the gospels, this is almost taken for granted: first century Jews would not imagine that a religious leader might actually approve of strip clubs. Today, we do need to make this explicit. Nevertheless, Our Lord does make it clear on occasions:
Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him. (Matt 21.31-32)Key words here are "repent" and "believe". Our Lord railed against his opponents among the Pharisees because they did not think that they also had to repent of their own sins. Our attitude to prostitutes, pole-dancers and strippers should not be one of personal judgement, certainly: but neither should it be one of celebrating their contribution to the entertainment industry. We need to repent of our own sins and humbly pray for other sinners, understanding that we may have been given much greater opportunities to respond to God's grace and that he may well judge us more harshly than he judges them.
My purpose in writing this post is not to attack Fr Seed. I believe that his decision to launch his new book at Stringfellows is misguided but he has gone on record to say that he is not too bothered by the reactions of fellow clergy so I hope he won't mind me expressing an opinion on a public act and the way in which the gospel has, in my view, been distorted to the advantage of Mr Stringfellow's empire.
As a postscript, here is a link to an RTE News report on the closure of Stringfellows in Dublin. an email correspondent tells me that the "protests" included ladies from Dublin praying the Rosary outside every night until closing time.
18 comments:
I wonder how many of Fr Seed's converts will feel slightly let down? Perhaps he is "not too bothered".
I think that you are very circumspect in your description of Fr Seed's decision as misguided. As a layman I see it as a scandal - a cause for offence, a stumbling block, a temptation.
Does Seed ever do anything worthwhile or is he just a groupie who now wants to be a celebrity?
Mary Robinson needs to speak to these Dublin catholic women who know how to get things done!! She's obviously out of touch with how oppressed (not) Irish catholic women are!
Man, next time I'm in England, I'll go to Stringfellows... in the hope of meeting the Friar, of course! Or Jesus, for that matter. I'll go there every night if need be.
On a serious note, have these vice-peddlers ever examined WHERE Jesus met these infamous sinners? Jesus had DINNER with tax collectors, he didn't go extorting with them. He didn't go pimping.
These people have NO Biblical (or, dare I say, Christian) perspective.
I think those Irish ladies with their rosaries have got it exactly right.
I heard a numerary once tell about how a prostitute in Spain lay near death, and some of her co-workers asked St. Josemaria to come give her the last rites in a house of ill repute. As I understand, the Saint thought about some time, and then said he would do so, on one condition: that for 24 hours, no business would be conducted in the house. The women agreed, the sacraments were provided, and (as far as I know) all bargains were kept.
Yes, the sacraments need to be available to even the worst of sinners, who face eternal death without them. But that doesn't mean there is no room for prudence!
This is a good example of the kind of lapse in common sense and basic virtue that led me to desert the flighty and morally windswept Anglican Communion for Catholicism. And I bet I'm far from the first, or last, person to do so.
That then reminds me of how God can turn our sins, evils and errors of judgement to good.
[Source]
"...Franciscan friar Father Michael Seed as one of the Roman Catholic priests in whom the Blairs confide..."
"His recreations listed [in Who's Who] are politicians, pizza and Zwinglianism."
"Catherine Pepinster, editor of the Catholic weekly the Tablet, said it was easy to understand why he was so popular with the rich and famous. 'He is affable, charming ... and accepts people for what they are'..."
Ah, yes, now I can guess the rest about the Fr. Strin... Seed's ministry.
I know the Dublin lady who led the Stringfellows protest over here; she did successfully drum up a fair amount of publicity for Stringfellows with the protests. However, in the end it was the terrible location that did for it - no-one would use on-street parking in such a dangerous part of Dublin. Stringfellow picked a high-crime area well outside the comfort zone of the well-heeled clientèle he sought to attract. Thus he failed. However I'm sure the protesters' prayers didn't go to waste.
Great to hear about the Power of the Rosary! Mary has really started getting my crooked life into shape since I started praying it daily. I am so grateful to God,for her intercession's for myself and my family etc.
I wonder what Padre Pio would say to the Priest,had he asked him to accompany him that evening? Now that would be a tale worth putting in a book!
If I had met the Priest there,during my low times,and seen him 'fitting in' with everyone,I think I might have lost any small hope of my own redemption.Clergy condoning sin works about as long as an alcoholic drink does,to salve a conscience.Condemnation kills the soul too,a Holy Spirit led Priest convicts the sinner,and conviction includes hope. I don't think there is any feeling so good on earth,apart from absolution.
Here is another post from the Stringfellow's blog featuring Fr Seed. Also, John Smeaton's reflections on a recent interview by Fr Seed In the interview itself, Fr Seed makes some interesting comments about Alastair Campbell and about what he doesn't mind other people to do.
[comment received and slightly edited]
No way would Jesus have gone into Stringfellows, why would He need to. In fact why does anyone have to go in. The devil is a dog on a leash why would you cross the barrier of temptation. I would understand if the priests stood outside the club to offer counselling but to go in??
Archbishop Chaput said Pornography is never “innocent entertainment,” no matter how private it might seem. It turns human beings into objects. It coarsens our appetites. It darkens our ability to see real human beauty. It creates impossible expectations about sexual intimacy. It kills enduring romance and friendship between the sexes. And ultimately it’s a lie and a cheat. Pornography is a cheap, quick, empty copy of the real thing — the real joy of sexual intimacy shared by a man and woman who have joined their lives in a loving marriage.
How would visitors who frequent these places react to their daughters, sisters, wives being used as sexual stimulants??? Yet, this is exactly who these girls are to someone.
For we are the temple of the Living God,
as God said, 'I will live in them and move among them,
and I will be their God,and they shall be My people.
Therefore, come out from them, and be separate from them,
says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you,
and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.'
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God." (2 Cor 6:16-7:1)
Holy Michael the Archangel protect us.
Bring back the Leonine prayers.
For anyone struggling with sins against the flesh,you may find the Pieta prayer very helpful.I try to say it at night last thing,it improves sleep fantastically,and also the mood you wake up in.
The prayer causes such deep reflecting on the sufferings of Christ's Body,it seems to produce a fruit of respect for all mankind's vulnerability in their own flesh.At least that is how I find it useful.The stations of the Cross(especially said in a Church) are good for balancing the emotions as well,for some reason,eg jealousy,insecurity,doubting God's Love for you etc.Worth a try anyway.
shadowlands could you tell me what the Pieta prayer you mention is?
I looked it up on google and could only find Pieta Prayer book
Fr Seed is crossing that line into very dangerous territory. Oh yes, easy to laugh off wry comments and come up with silly one liners, but mixing in such company and maintaining such a high profile will surely end in tears for the good Priest.
A wise Bishop might see that Fr Seed could do with a couple of years 'sabbatical' somewhere well away from 'the world', where his spiritual batteries could be recharged and his undoubtable 'good intentions' be put into the right context.
No doubt Mr Stringfellow is well on the way to full communion with the Catholic Church and perhaps to continue his journey in the absence of Fr Seed, he could take some spiritual direction from the likes of Fr John Corapi (link here for some You Tube samples: http://catholicipod.stblogs.com/category/fr-john-corapi/ ) or Fr Benedict Groeschel.
Mr Stringfellow might like to take his 'angels' with him, they all look like they are in desperate need of that 'True Love' for which the soul thirsts, to be found only in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
They are ALL victims, of our fallen nature, of the absence of God in their lives, of the pervasive secular, humanist, values free culture that we live in, of that 'spirit of the times'.
Holy Michael the Archangel.... Prince of the Heavenly Armies, cast into hell, satan and all his demons, and please help these souls find true happiness and peace, through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Hi Elizabeth,
Try this link,
http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/rafaelmarie/ThePieta/bstbridgetprayers.html
I find it difficult to see the words on the web page.Perhaps you can print it off. I have the booklet,someone bought it for me.Maybe you can order it from your Church Piety? Much easier to follow.God bless.
PS Is this why these places are termed seedy joints...?
One. Two.
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