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brianluce

Carbonite Member
I have a scene with a priest and hooker. They're praying together for redemption of her tormented soul. Anyone know any links or able to recite a prayer a priest might use in such a situation? The only prayer I know is from my nursery school:

God is good, God is great, let us thank him for our food. Amen.

Somehow I don't think that'll work.

Anyone?

Even some latin phrases might be ok. Should be something fairly formal. And the priest may have things in mind other than her redemption.
 
The act of contrition is a prayer used during the Catholic sacrament of confession:

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]Act of Contrition (english)[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]Actus contritionis (latin)
[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, Arial]Deus meus, ex toto corde pænitet me ómnium meórum peccatórum, éaque detéstor, quia peccándo, non solum pœnas a te iuste statútas proméritus sum, sed præsértim quia offéndi te, summum bonum, ac dignum qui super ómnia diligáris. Ídeo fírmiter propóno, adiuvánte grátia tua, de cétero me non peccatúrum peccandíque occasiónes próximas fugitúrum. Amen.[/FONT]




I also came across this prayer during a google search...
I think it sounds mediocre, but it might be what you want. who knows.



Spiritual Warfare Prayer for Sexual Addiction:
Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I ask forgiveness for every involvement in sexual perversion.
I break and renounce every spirits of Masturbation, Uncleanliness, Fornication, Adultery, Pornography, Lewdness, Perversion, Incest, Pedophile, Homosexuality, Lesbianism etc…. in the name of Jesus Christ.
I renounce, break and loose myself from every satanic bondage, every evil influence that torments and defile me in Jesus name. I ask you Father to restore, heal and wash my mind, my soul and my body with the blood of Jesus Christ. I thank you Lord for setting me free. Amen!
​
 
Either Hail Mary or Our Father are common prayers.

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

 Our Father, Who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

 
LynchMob said:
It's good to see that you really researched you characters background before you started writing.
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Actually the question IS research. And thanks to those who helped out. I'd ended up fusing the contrition prayer mixed with the sexual addiction prayer plus a bit of my own.
 
You could always go to your local Catholic Church and head into a confessional box as research. Just expect the Priest to act a little funny when you tell him you are a prostitute.
 
brianluce said:
Actually the question IS research. And thanks to those who helped out. I'd ended up fusing the contrition prayer mixed with the sexual addiction prayer plus a bit of my own.
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OK, it just seemed like a very basic question for someone that had already researched the Catholic religion. Good luck with the script.
 
LynchMob said:
It's good to see that you really researched you characters background before you started writing.
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What's the use for comments such as this? People who frequently provoke arguments should be banned from this site. Whether LynchMob is a frequent offender, I can't say. But still, if you haven't any input or constructive criticism, then keep it to yourself.

I used to let these things roll off my back, but as I spend more and more time on this site I grow increasingly bothered by it. Sorry for my rant Brian. Glad to hear you were able to make an informed choice.

Eric
 
IBEJohnson said:
What's the use for comments such as this? People who frequently provoke arguments should be banned from this site. Whether LynchMob is a frequent offender, I can't say. But still, if you haven't any input or constructive criticism, then keep it to yourself.

I used to let these things roll off my back, but as I spend more and more time on this site I grow increasingly bothered by it. Sorry for my rant Brian. Glad to hear you were able to make an informed choice.

Eric
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"A Frequent Offender" <-- That's funny.

I thought it was a relevant comment based on the idea "Write what you know." If you don't know then you should research. It seemed to me that he was at the point where he was writing the script. If I was going to write a script that had a Priest, I would do a lot of research that would help me write a three dimensional character. If you're writing a character that's a Priest and you don't have a clue about basic prayers then that says to me that you don't have any idea what they character would do/say in any situation. I'm just sick of seeing stereotypes and characters that flat out wouldn't do what they do in scripts.
 
IBEJohnson said:
What's the use for comments such as this? People who frequently provoke arguments should be banned from this site. Whether LynchMob is a frequent offender, I can't say. But still, if you haven't any input or constructive criticism, then keep it to yourself.

I used to let these things roll off my back, but as I spend more and more time on this site I grow increasingly bothered by it. Sorry for my rant Brian. Glad to hear you were able to make an informed choice.

Eric
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Hey thanks for the support IBE. The problem is I'm one of the rudest jerks in this forum and am forever pissing people off. Right Charli? So it's kind of hard for me to get bent about a comment like that when I've said a lot worse though never with the intent to provoke--just being a loudmouth.

Lynch, it's actually not a script about a priest or about religion. It's a very small scene and a minor character. It's true that there's no such thing as too much research or knowing too much about a character but I got the idea for the scene and wanted to write it while it was fresh. I needed some quick info and luckily got it here. The scene may get thrown out--who knows, but my ideas are like butterflies, if I don't catch them while they're perched on my nose they flutter away and are gone forever.
 
If you want it to be realistic, you need to dig a little deeper.

Honestly, if a priest is praying with a hooker (by the way, this screams of cliche to me, but that's not to say you can't pull it off) it won't be very formal at all.

It's not as if the priest opens up his leatherbound book of Rites, Rituals and Blessings and thumbs to the page on how to pray for hookers.

Priests are not prayer dispensers either - you don't stop by the parish office so they say a magic prayer over you.

Yes, it is the job of a priest to give spiritual direction to anyone who needs it, but it's probably going to be pretty informal and it's going to be spiritual direction, or a two way conversation about the person's problems and spiritual life.

Depending on the priest, it could probably start out with an opening prayer, asking God for a blessing on the conversation, then they'd talk, he'd give her some advice or direct her to other forms of support, and probably end with a prayer/blessing for her spiritual well-being and that she continues to try to grow closer to God.

A very important question - moreso than about the priest's character - is about the hooker. Is she Catholic? Is she religious at all? Why is she seeing a priest? What need does she think it's going to fill? Obviously you don't have to be Catholic to meet with a priest, but it begs the question why. This would also affect how the priest dealt with her, in a huge way, and which words or prayers he chooses. He might not use any formal prayers (Our Father, Hail Mary) at all if she's not religious. (But under almost no circumstances would he use Latin nowadays, so scratch that idea.)

Two last general things that I've seen done ad infinitum:

Parish priests don't just wander around the church at every hour of the day and night lighting candles and picking up hymnals in between the pews. But of course in films, they're always there, waiting for the random, tormented non-catholic (but was of course catholic as a kid) to come in, looking to be comforted and assuaged of guilt.

And in general - characters who are not Catholic do not and technically cannot go to Confession. I kind of chuckle when I see it used as a "guilt-alleviating" device in films these days. I know you weren't necessarily talking about Confession, but just in case....
 
Capt Quirk said:
...Just expect the Priest to act a little funny when you tell him you are a prostitute....
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Prostitute: I must admit to you right up front that I am...a prostitute
Priest: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!
Prostitute: ...that's right, Father, I sell my body for money.
Priest: Oh right, right...that's fine, my child...for a moment there I thought you said you were a Protestant.


:evil::evil:
 
CallaghanFilms said:
Prostitute: I must admit to you right up front that I am...a prostitute
Priest: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!
Prostitute: ...that's right, Father, I sell my body for money.
Priest: Oh right, right...that's fine, my child...for a moment there I thought you said you were a Protestant.


:evil::evil:
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If I had been drinking, I would have sprayed the screen! :thumbsup:
 
glad those two prayers worked out for you. i wasnt going to send you the Hail Mary or Our Father... those prayers are HORRIBLY cliche... good lord...

anyway, best of luck with the script!
 
Jared Meyer said:
If you want it to be realistic, you need to dig a little deeper.

Honestly, if a priest is praying with a hooker (by the way, this screams of cliche to me, but that's not to say you can't pull it off) it won't be very formal at all.

....
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It feels cliche to me also which is wierd because off hand I can't think of a film where a hooker was praying with a priest.

This particular scene, she's not there to repent or confess, the priest runs a charity and she's applying for work. She never says she's an ex whore, but the priest suspects she might be.
 
Sounds a million times more interesting to me already, now you explain it a little more. Seriously. I can see lots of potential just with that little dynamic alone.

So good luck with it!

I would add compulsively to please try to stay away from the portrayal of every Catholic priest as a smarmy sex-starved potential rapist, but I don't know if that's more because it's been done too much and feels hackneyed or because of my loyalty to the Church. :)

Regardless, interesting setup! Hope it works well with the rest of the story.
 
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