Catholic Father's Suggestion For Easter Celebration: Have Sex And Eat Chocolate

This could be one religious commandment that a congregation might find very easy to follow.

Father Phil Ritchie from All Saints Church in Hove, East Sussex, has said Easter Sunday is the perfect time for staying in bed, eating chocolate and having sex.

The vicar gave the alternative suggestion for a way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ after admitting that church just isn’t ‘cool and funky’.

Father Ritchie said: ‘The problem with the church is that we stay inside our building and occasionally come out and say “Why don’t you come to our church, it’s cool and funky”.

‘To be honest, it’s not.

‘I would love more people to come at 10am on Sunday and I would welcome them to All Saints.

‘For Christians this is the most important day of the year.All life and all hope flows from it.

‘But there are plenty of ways to celebrate without coming to a draughty Victorian building.So why not stay at home, have a lie in, have sex and eat some chocolate.’

The dad-of-three’s take on the Easter holiday comes as congregations in across the country continue to fall.

Annual figures for Sunday worship in Sussex show a steady decline of about two per cent.

For the Church of England’s Diocese of Chichester, which includes Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Arundel, Bognor and Chichester, an average of 39,100 attended each Sunday in 2008.

In 2009 that went down to 38,100 before falling again to 37,300 in 2010.The Church of England statistics also reveal that nearly twice as many people in the diocese go to their local church to celebrate Christmas than go at Easter.

In 2010, 113,600 turned up on Christmas Day compared to just 61,100 on Easter Sunday.
 
Average weekly attendance in the rest of the UK has fallen year on year with 1,160,000 attending in 2007 and 923,700 in 2010 according to latest figures.

In the past 40 years, the number of adult churchgoers has halved, while the number of children attending regular worship has declined by four fifths.

Bill Mcllroy, from the Brighton and Hove Humanist Society, added: ‘It’s just another opportunity to break the routine and enjoy yourself.

‘For Christians it’s a glorious celebration but I think it’s terrible that they mark what is essentially a festival of blood and gore.

‘I also think it is disgraceful that churches hold these mock crucifixions in front of children. They had one on the beach last year and it’s not something that children should have to see.’

Akosua Puni And Michael Essien

Nigerian Prophet TB Joshua Banned In Ghana