3608 Thought for the day

Speaking as an Estate Agent, its not often that one gets to take the moral high-ground over the church, but I will say this; at least we work on a 'no-sale, no-fee' basis.

...are there any exclusion clauses at the end of the phone call?

"The value of this prayer is for a limited time off; the benefits of this prayer can go up as well as down....any event secured on this prayer is at risk if you fail to keep up Hail Marys"

I also wondered if it was a freephone or premium rate number:rolleyes:

Sorry my child all lines are busy.

Press three for (Sing Back)

No VISA, no exit visa.

:p Amen. :p

Given the fact that churches are immensely rich, that's very sad!! If the idea behind this was to provide help for people who are alone and can't leave the house, then it just adds insult to injury!

I suppose, though, that the person at the other end of the line has to get paid... can't remember seeing any adverts for church call centre staff though! ;)

How would you know there's a priest at the other end of the line & not just an admin person???

Naaahhhh.....

[QUOTE=Markcarter]....I have always assumed that the church was there for you in your hour of need? Now it seems to be the case that it is.....But only as long as you have a good credit history. I wonder how long before the collection plate is replaced by the checkout.......[/QUOTE]

Before we bought our holiday place in Italy, we used to visit friends near Bergamo every Easter. At Easter masses, the priest would tell the congregation which roads he would be visiting to bless the houses in the next week.

Apparently he did every road in the village once a year. My friend tells how she would hide when the doorbell rang, because there was no way she was going to pay him about £30 [minimum] every year for a blessing. There wasn't a set fee - you paid what you could afford - but that seemed to be expected amount]

In a village of 500 houses - "a nice little earner" I think!

Apparently the Church of England are now teaming up with estate agents to provide blessings for your new house...:)

Seems fair if the Vatican is offering the same service! How do the prices compare? Would it be cheaper to fly a man of the cloth out to Italy on a penny Ryanair flight or should we only shop locally?

Free enterprise on the Monopoly board at last! :D :D

[quote=tuscanhills]...are there any exclusion clauses at the end of the phone call?

"The value of this prayer is for a limited time off; the benefits of this prayer can go up as well as down....any event secured on this prayer is at risk if you fail to keep up Hail Marys"[/quote]

The exclusion clause always stipluates that there are no absolute guarantees and that the operator giving out the prayer over the telephone is not to be held liable in the event it all goes pear shaped.

LOL...

Well, if someone's so insistent on getting their house blessed ... all it takes is sprinkling some holy water around the house! Have heard of this being done some years back...

Don't know if this is still the case but you used to be able to take a bottle of spring water and have it blessed by a priest in your local church...

Many years ago, my gran made me drink water she brought back from Lourdes... I wonder if it contained good or bad bacteria?? ;)

[QUOTE=Charles Joseph]The exclusion clause always stipluates that there are no absolute guarantees and that the operator giving out the prayer over the telephone is not to be held liable in the event it all goes pear shaped.[/QUOTE]

Ahhh do you think that's enough to save them from future law suits when things didn't go as 'expected'... :D

[quote=Iona]Ahhh do you think that's enough to save them from future law suits when things didn't go as 'expected'... :D[/quote]

The exclusion clause always works a treat, but every now and then, HQ sends out the area manager to have a discreet word just in case the recipient has misunderstood anything:D

LOL, "Is that a pistol or are you just annoyed to see me ??"

Hehehe nice one... he looks scary!!!

And that's just the guy who's being told off... :D

Loved the photo, even the dog looks as if its worried its going to a victim of internal combustion and is trying to hide behind its owners legs...:rolleyes:

[QUOTE=Iona]Many years ago, my gran made me drink water she brought back from Lourdes... I wonder if it contained good or bad bacteria?? ;)[/QUOTE]

Don't know about the bacteria - but when I visited Lourdes about 15 years ago, I noticed that the taps that 'dispense' the holy water are on the outside wall of the gents loos - [on the inside of the wall were the urinals]

[QUOTE=alan haynes]Don't know about the bacteria - but when I visited Lourdes about 15 years ago, I noticed that the taps that 'dispense' the holy water are on the outside wall of the gents loos - [on the inside of the wall were the urinals][/QUOTE]

My old local had more or less the same system. Did you hear that last month there was a pub in Germany I think, where they accidently connected the beer barrels to the water system of the flat above. I was going to make a wise-crack about making the tea, but who would want tea!! Talk about died and gone to heaven.:)

LOL Alan... 'holy water' indeed... :D

But this has long been the case. In Catholic Churches in many parts of the world (though not in Italy oddly) there is a book at the back in which you write down the names of people you want to pray for with an adjacent box for donations. And although you have always been able to have a mass said for a specific reason (death, sickness, in thanks), it's been regarded as good form to make an offering at the same time. Same with the contribution tin for candles in churches, I'm always fascinated by how much the amount requested varies from church to church in Italy. It's not just to cover the cost of the candle itself.

But I've never known a priest specifically ask for money to come and bless a home, though he always welcomes a refreshment of some sort and a small envelope afterwards.

Perhaps I should post this elsewhere but I've always felt that the local priest was the most important person to get to know in Italy after the mayor. They're amazing when it comes to gossip and finding useful contacts... V

When you consider the Church, anybody is business cannot fail to be impressed with the 'customer proposition'. Be good, support our guys on the ground and you will get your reward after you die !

Even if there was a contract, which there isn't, there's no customer service contact centre to ring to complain that heaven falls below your reasonable expectations as a valued customer.

Isn't it amazing what people will buy........ :D ??

Ciaran

I am not sure that you can be so certain that there isn't a customer complaints line in Heaven.......they have probably brought themselves into the 21st Century........but I don't know anyone who has been there :) :)