The Jokes Never Stop

Although getting up and out the door early in the morning is not one of my favorite things to do, I never use it as an excuse to skip Bible study.  I absolutely love going to the Tuesday morning meeting and enjoy everything that is discussed even if it is not on topic.  There is also always someone with a funny story or a joke to tell that revolve around faith, religion or the church.  

This week's story was not a joke, but instead a true-life story about the Catholic Church that I had never heard.  It involved the castrati and made everyone feel a little uncomfortable. A castrato is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto.  The practice was started during St. Augustine's time as he had forbidden females from participating in the mass including the choir.  The practice was banned in the late 1700s to 1800s, but secretly still continued until the early 1900s. These men became very famous as opera singers since they could sing the female lead roles in a time when only males were allowed to be on stage.  The person who shared this information at class even had a recording on his phone from the last know castrato who died in 1923.  Even though the singer had a beautiful voice, I was glad that it finally ended in the early 20th century.

Although no one in our group made any jokes about such a serious topic, one of them did send a meme to the group later that I found funny.  I didn't have an answer to it but felt that it was thought provoking.  I decided that I would share it with my family instead of our class discussion.  I think they appreicated that.