Interesting segment on an Inquisition series on PBS> TURQ -- did you happen to see it (do you get PBS there? -- if not its probably downloadable).
A major theme of the Cathatr story that I was not aware of was priests making "sacred love" to fair young maidens. Perhaps not a new phenomenon, but the "rap" these guys had would make turq, curtis and others jealous -- and taking copious notes. http://www.pbs.org/inquisition/cathars.html Premieres May 2007 Check your local listings By Dr. Stephen Haliczer Northern Illinois University (edited from an interview by David Rabinovitch) [The Church and The Meterial World] The Cathar heresy was a major challenge to the Roman Catholic Church. It combined a tradition of itinerate preachers in the forests of France with a very aesthetic quality. The Cathars rejected the Roman Catholic, the entire church structure. They said they were the only true Christians. They developed an alternative religion, an alternative hierarchy, an alternative priesthood that attracted many adherents in that period, which is why the Cathar heresy above all occasioned the founding of the inquisition.
