Cardinal Sin’s Catholic Cathedral

Apollo Manga — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:00:12 +0000

Cardinal Sin has to be the most cleverly named business proprietor in Second Life! When I first visited his Basilica Cardinale Cathedral Church Supplies site, I thought it had to be a joke, or a goth enterprise. It’s not. Cardinal Sin has written, "While I often take on the appearance of a priest when in-world, I am not a priest ‘in real life’. I am just a regular person with a love for religious beauty!" He’s apparently not even Catholic – he also writes, "I create religious vestments and church supplies for various religions; currently I am focussing on Catholicism."

Falling from grace is not the only way a visitor should fear falling here. The Cathedral sits high in the sky, with only a small unfenced lawn in front, where rain was falling every time I visited. If you step over the edge, you’re likely to have a very long fall to whatever awaits you below!

When you first enter, you are in Cardinal Sin’s Cathedral. It’s not a functioning Cathedral – Cardinal Sin explicitly states that he is not a priest, and that he does not perform weddings here, though people are welcome to get married here on their own.

You’ll find this Renaissance-looking room to the left as you enter, complete with a confessional booth.

Despite the pious appearance of Cardinal Sin’s Cathedral, it is a business, with the purpose of selling Cardinal Sin’s beautifully crafted Catholic clerical garb, animations, and other goods, such as stands of votive candles.

To the right of the Cathedral, in the West Wing (Cardinal Sin has a knack for naming!) you’ll find the business end of the Cathedral, where you can buy anything you might want, whether you want to set up a complete Catholic church or simply to worship.

In this picture, a prospective customer tries one of the devotional animations sold here.

Is there really enough business outfitting Catholic churches in Second Life to support a business like this? Judging by some of the other customers I saw while here, I suspect that some customers have other motivations.

One customer I observed shopping here belonged to a bevvy of slavery & bondage, vampire, and goth groups, while another, who claimed to be a priest who wanted to set up a Catholic Church in Second Life, said something about adults and children, asked me my ag,e and when I told him, he replied "legal" and teleported away. Judging by his profile, he is no priest.

Gothic and other motivations aside, devout Catholics and Catholic priests will find an assortment of well crafted devotional items here. If you’re a Second Life member, you can teleport to it at slurl.com/secondlife/Braunworth/109/121/584.

Avatar Planet Blog » catholic

Cardinal Sin’s Catholic Cathedral