The people of Oberndorf found their church organ was not working on Palm Sunday, so they moved their Holy Week events into the open air as an act of wider witness and have kept the tradition ever since

The people of Oberammergau vowed that if God would halt the deaths from the Plague, they would reenact the Passion Play every tenth year forever in thanks (and they still do)

The people of Biberswald were so thankful to God for the election of a Pope from their village, that they did their own bit to maintain its place on the cultural map ~ way beyond his lifetime

There had been an Apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to a poor beggar as he arrived in the village, and She was carrying a crown of thorns, so the villagers decided that an ongoing public reenactment of Jesus' suffering for all should be organised to raise money for poor-relief

Outside the offices &/or press-plant of a newspaper that had published cartoons critical of Catholic policies, e.g. that the Church and its associated charities do not distribute condoms in AIDS-affected regions of Africa

Outside an abortion clinic

Outside a cinema where a deeply objectionable film was being shown (e.g. one strongly suggesting that Jesus was homosexual, or whatever)

Around the perimeter &/or gates of a military camp where nuclear or chemical weapons were known to be stored, handled and deployed

CAtholic Fund for Opus Dei (= the Work of God)

Catholic Agency For Overseas Development

CAtholic Foundation for Oblationary Duties

Church Action Forum to Obvert Disasters

Catholic influence was strongly evident in establishing the Hays Code, which in turn informed and controlled what could be shown in films in the heyday of Hollywood. Anything shocking, suggestive or otherwise immoral was off-limits (though ways were found of suggesting ~ without explicitly showing ~ such fairly staple plot-drivers as murder and conflicted 'triangular' love-relationships)

There was for centuries an official Index of prohibited works, including major (or not infrequently, all) books by clearly significant authors and thinkers. This was formally discontinued 50 years ago, in 1966

Coincidentally (perhaps?) with the institution of the Oberammergau Passion Play, Galileo Galilei was tried and placed under house arrest in 1634 ~ for having challenged the Catholic Church over its belief that the Earth was the centre of the universe, based on empirical measurements using his own telescope

There is an approved Catholic internet server which screens out all objectionable material (e.g. pornography). The location of this server is itself a secret, but believed to be somewhere in rural Italy, and its staff look after and update it remotely

She grew up as one of 6 children (a healthily fecund Catholic family ... ) in what is now the 'rust-belt' of Detroit and was confirmed in 1966. The loss of her beloved mother to breast cancer came as a hard blow to her but she did well in school, while joining the cheerleader troupe and at other times gleefully dressing in ways to challenge convention. Her performance career only really took off once she had dropped out of local dance school and gone to New York ~ with (so she says) just $35 in her pocket

The amount of money she has since made from her various performances and exploits is troubling, even from the viewpoint of the Catholic Church ~ which itself holds considerable funds and property (though the latter, in the form of church premises, could never be traded-in for all sorts of reasons)

She published a number of picture-books with blatantly uncompromising titles, and which could only have served (apart from fomenting controversy and earning her more money) to titillate and outrage public decency

Her birthname 'Madonna' refers directly to the Virgin Mary (you can easily ~ though carefully, please ... ! ~ find sacred pictures and sculptures under that title). To self-publicise in any way or scale so out of keeping with spirit of this very special name, represents at very least a shocking disregard for the sacred traditions of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular. (Just imagine the outcry if anyone had tried similarly around the identity of one of the great Muslim women, such as the Prophet's young wife Aisha ... )

A crucifix

A set of rosary beads

A Bible, watermarked (using holy water, of course) with their name and the sign of the Cross at the time of their Baptism

(None of the above)

'God hates the sin, but not the sinner; no true penitent can ever be beyond His redeeming love and mercy; where our own have fallen short, we must do all we can to make amends'

'It is the Church's duty to do nothing but good by all who turn to it; so for the benefit of all concerned including ourselves, we pledge to overhaul our protection procedures with deep and immediate effect'

'It is our duty to apologise and put matters right wherever, and as far as can be achieved in this world; and to admonish and dismiss those who have besmirched our cause and name in such ways'

'However deep the impulses, and however strong the temptation, priests ~ on whom the Sacrament of Holy Orders has been conferred under God ~ must remain steadfast in their calling. Any prospect of the Vatican ever reconsidering the compatibility of priestly service with marriage (for reasons of 'healthier, monogamous sexual release' or anything else) remains out of the question'

Actively to shun 'unworthy / unhelpful' behaviours such as teasing / gossip, casual sexism &/or use of pornography, even when others confidently assume you are happy to go along with this

To take a principled stand against injustice in one's workplace (victimisation, coercion, slavery, harassment etc.) even when others are colluding or turning a 'blind eye'

As a teenager, to conform to peer pressure and indulge in potentially destructive (and certainly inappropriate, selfish and therefore 'sinful') individual behaviour relating to sex and/or drugs

To honour a sincere promise even when circumstances have changed

As an MP he sat in the (Margaret) Thatcher Cabinet and was Conservative Party Chairman

When ousted as an MP he became the last Governor General of the British colony of Hong Kong, through to and including its handover back to Chinese control in 1997

He was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time of the Good Friday Agreement

He served as Chairman of the Trust (Board of Governors) of the BBC

A Catholic might yearn to help others, but have problems over dealing with their own 'fallout' from cases when they next went to Confessional

The ingrained Catholic view of Confession being integral to moving forward after a major 'life mistake', could on occasion make it hard for them to empathise with perplexed people who also seem to have a less developed sense of guilt or conscience; meanwhile as Samaritans they are not allowed to 'preach' any particular set of spiritual values, which is outside their remit in this case and could also be misread (by the enquirer) as smug and condescending

A Catholic (of either gender) might feel ill-at-ease suggesting, let alone offering, even the most gentle counselling on such personal issues as sexuality, contraception and abortion

Catholics are supposed to reach out to 'sinners' and the needy, but not on an anonymous basis through any other organisation