Although this was initially aimed at members of La Cosa Nostra, it does apply to many others as well churches, fraternal organizations, the Armed Forces, and the like. A way of treating others:
*No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
*Never look at the wives of friends.
*Never be seen with cops.
*Don't go to bars and clubs.
*Always be available for Cosa Nostra, even if your wife's about to give birth.
*Appointments must be respected.
*Wives must be treated with respect.
*When asked for any information, the answer MUST be the truth.
*Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
*People who can't be a part of Cosa Nostra are anyone with a close relative in the police, with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.
"No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it."
ReplyDelete???
Quite apart from the fact that I don't see the purpose this requirement is intended to serve, there's a numerical problem:
Wouldn't this require there to a FOURTH person to introduce the third, the intermediary, and so a fifth to introduce the fourth, and so on ad infinitum? So that, in the end, no one ever gets introduced to anyone else because they're all waiting for the next mediate emissary required by protocol?
John A. Hollister+
And so, Fr. Hart, are you recommending that we adopt, or not adopt, the last rule? This could be interesting either way!
ReplyDeleteFr.Hollister wrote:
ReplyDelete"No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it."...Quite apart from the fact that I don't see the purpose this requirement is intended to serve, there's a numerical problem...
Well, from the wording of this rule I assume it is meant only for Quakers. That's good, because we can't use it.
Dr. D wrote:
And so, Fr. Hart, are you recommending that we adopt, or not adopt, the last rule?
Nah, just the part about cops in the family. Who needs the rest?
All of this presents a picture of a group trying to convince itself (and others) that it has a "code of honor" when its purpose is only and entirely evil. That becomes an excellent parable of the silliness and futility of a fallen humanity deciding it is :"good enough" for heaven. Without deep repentance, the admission of helplessness, and the crying out for mercy, there is no remedy for the self-serving anti-God direction on which Adam's race has enbarked.
ReplyDeleteLiberal and revisionist religion tries vainly to say otherwise, but, from the Cross He cries, "Come to Me."
ed
Or, for another take on Christians and mafiosi ....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.kencollins.com/disc-40.htm