SASKATOON – Worshippers at Christ Our Light Parish have been treated to a novel form of sermon for the past several weeks, in the form of priest Father Marcus who, feeling “burn out”, has opted to play an episode of the long-running CW-series Supernatural instead of a “typical” Mass.
“It all started pretty organically,” explained the priest. “A few weeks back, I ran into some old friends from seminary, hit up the pub, and the night ran a little late. The next morning I had a splitting headache and knew there was no way I was going to make it past the Introductory Rites”. But, he says, he found a solution. “Fortunately, I remembered some advice I got from one of my flock who happens to be a teacher: ‘The best way to handle a hangover is to play a video for the class’. They’re distracted, you get to the turn the lights out, and no one will notice if you have to skip out to the bathroom”.
“Anyway, I went through my DVD collection and found the perfect solution. Supernatural! Not only is it a good way to kill an hour, but it also covers a tonne of material from The Good Book. Angels, Demons, The Antichrist.. it’s like a crash course in Revelation”. He continued, “When I saw the reception it received I figured, ‘Why not keep it going?’. Honestly, I could use a break. It’s not easy being a Priest, not only do we council people through some truly difficult times, we also have to do a great deal of research, reconcile our own conflict with church doctrine, and answer weirdly specific, and astoundingly difficult, questions from Third-Graders”.
The pastor’s service-attendees have been effusive in their praise of the development. “It’s inspiring my family to learn more about Christianty,” said Maria Idelicato. “Honestly, it used to be a constant fight for my husband and I to get our kids to church, but now, they can’t get enough of it. It’s become a real family-event. Now, after every trip, we’re immediately on the computer browsing Wikipedia to learn more about Michael, Gabriel and the Whore of Babylon!”.
Not only is Father Marcus finding that his new approach is allowing his usual visitors to gain some intriguing insight into their faith, he’s actually found it has encouraged new followers, saying “A lot of my services lately have been flooded with young women in trench coats”. Although, he does add “I just wish more of the discussion I’ve been hearing was about the Gospels, and not obscure Fan-fiction”.
However, the new sermons are not without their critics. One example being long-time parishioner Kelly Morgan, who commented “Honestly, the first five services were fantastic but, then, it just kept going, and lately I’m just finding myself thinking ‘just end it already'”.
