April 14, 2008
Papal Mass Ticket Scalpers Going Straight to Hell
Via WTOP, the Archdiocese of Washington is trying to get the word out to would-be scalpers of tickets to the papal mass on April 17 that they are breaking the law.
Georgina Stark, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Washington, tells WTOP, "You cannot sell a sacrament. This is a mass, so it is a sacrament. The tickets are not for sale."Each ticket for the mass is also apparently tied to a name, and since those entering the stadium to the mass will be required to show ID, you likely won't be able to use any ticket available for sale. None of that seems to be dissuading some people from trying, though. One person has a pair of tickets for sale for $175 each, and another we found is selling a single ticket for $250. Way to put a price tag on your immortal souls, y'all!Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington, says the archdiocese has sent out several cease and desist letters to online sellers over the last week.
Photo by Ray .
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Call me a Godless heathen but this Athiest loves that rich white Catholics are paying a premium to see The Pope in our fine city.
Talk about putting a price on your immortal souls, what about the people BUYING tickets!?
I guess we'll have to add PopeTix to the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Yo!
Yea, that reminds me I've got some lawn seats for sale to the Milli Vanilli reunion tour if anyones interested. I'll sell for hard cash, or trade them straight up for some Billy Ray Cyrus tickets.
I miss the good old days when it was Catholic church policy to sell forgiveness. Martin Luther really messed things up.
If anything, the Catholic Church should be PAYING people for this whole shebang.
I'll send you straight to hell, F***! And I'll do it for free! Don't be a good neighbor to her or I'm
gonna send you a love letter. straight from my heart, f***er. You know what a love letter is? It's a bullet. straight from my gun, f***er. Once you get a love letter from me, you're f***ed forever. Understand, F***?
I'm sorry, but as a strict legal matter I don't think the resale of these tickets is "illegal". If indeed the tickets are non-transferable, then they're non-transferable. All that means is that the sale is invalid, i.e. the church can sue you for trying to sell them and anyone who buys them could probably sue you for their money back, but nobody's getting fined or going to jail for this.
There's just something a bit grating about some churchmarm scolding people about what's "illegal" or not. Particularly when she's wrong.
the whole amount of attention that's being dropped on this whole thing is quite confusing to me. i mean, hasn't interest in the church waned in recent years? i'm not the only lapsed catholic, am i?
Yer Pope looks creeepy.
Now that it's officially a sin, I kind of want to pick up some scalped tickets and go. Especially if I can get them from the "casual encounters" section of CL.
Since when did Mass become a sacrament? Someone needs to "enlighten" the Archdiocese. Holy Communion is a sacrament. Mass is not.
I love the delicious irony of a church that used to sell "indulgences" getting outraged over scalped tickets to Mass.
Reading the original article, I think the issue is Ms. Gibbs saying the tickets are for a sacrament and therefore not for sale. Ms. Gibbs simply says the tickets are non-transferable and the name on the ticket will have to match the name of the person with the ticket. No issues there.
But, I do wonder if it's logistically feasible for the ticket-takers to check every single ticket against the ticket-holder's ID. The lines to get into the stadium will already be massive with all the metal detectors. Checking IDs - and listening to the inevitable explanations of why the name on the ticket doesn't match the ticket-holder's name - will cause even more delays. I just don't see this as being done for each and every person.
Mobycat, mass is the celebration of the Eucharist. It's kind of a big deal, as sacraments go.
I know the kind of people that would buy scalped tickets to go see the Pope, unfortunately they're related to me. They gotta buy their way into heaven somehow.
Just can't get behind the idea of going to see a guy who says it's not okay for consenting adults to engage in sexual activity unless they're married and straight but seems to have no problem when men of the cloth engage in disgusting sex acts with non-consenting way underage children...
(There's several other reasons I don't like this guy but that one just bothers me more than then rest)
This whole thing bothers me.
If the Pope wants to reach out and spread the word of Jesus Christ the son of God do it in a open Mass on the Mall.
Having it be only for people that are hand selected by the Diocese stikes me as something Christ would not do.
Esmeralda...Yes, Mass is a celebration of the Eucharist...but anyone can go to a Mass. Only Catholics without sin may partake in the Eucharist. We make a big deal out of First Communion...not First Mass.
But hey...that's just my opinion.