From King Aardvark’s Kick in the Nuts via the ever reliable Pharyngula (did you know Karl Rove’s stepdad was a model for a genital piercings mag? No, neither did I):
Breaking New: Dutch Priest is a Contemptible Jerk
From CBC.ca, a catholic priest in the Netherlands by the name of Harm Schilder is being a assheaded jerkwad to his neighbours. Schilder’s church holds services every weekday morning. Much to the dismay of the townsfolk around him, at the ungodly hour of 7:15am, he rings the church bells loudly and proudly (well, 7:15am is ungodly for me, though everything is ungodly for me, but anything taking place at 7:15am is more ungodly than most things). And the townsfolk want him to stop, or at least turn down the volume a bit. Municipal officials have been urging Schilder to stop ringing the bells for months (Update: according to www.katholieknederland.nl, since March 16th)and recently told him that, starting Aug 16, if he didn’t stop he would be fined a whopping 5000 euros each morning.
Says municipal spokesman Thomas Heesters, “The council does not want to get involved in this – it’s a house of prayer – but we have to take into account the feelings of local residents.” That actually bothers me a bit. Just because Schilder runs a church instead of any other establishment, the council isn’t keen to get involved. Thankfully, they are putting aside their misplaced respect for the church and are proceding with the fines. The church rang its bells on Thursday and Friday, incurring fines worth 10000 euros.
That Schilder fellow sure seems like a nice accomodating person.
What’s Schilder’s reply? “People who are bothered by the bell should know that we pray for them in the mass.” Seriously, this is what he said on the church website. What a dillhole. That’s basically a giant “screw you” to everyone who is pissed off at loud noises in the morning. He’s saying that, because he’s on the side of God, he can be as inconsiderate as he wants.
If I had to pick one national trait to ascribe to the Dutch nation above any other it would be just this kind of mule-headed bloody obstinacy – yes, I’m looking at YOU, the neighbours who’ve been leisurely banging away and drilling* for the past 6 weeks from sunup till sunset and beyond.
*That’s not a double entendre, they really are banging and drilling. Ecstatic moans I can handle, hammer-drills not so much.
