Posted on 09/05/2008 9:45:49 AM PDT by NYer
.- An Italian priest has been ordered to pay more than eighty thousand dollars to a woman living near his church because she claims the bells were rung too loud and too long at “unsocial hours.”
The judgment was handed down by a court in the town of Chiavari after retired university teacher Flora Leuzzi and others claimed the ringing of church bells created a form of noise pollution, the Guardian reports.
Professor Leuzzi lives close to the Carmine church in Lavagna, which is near Genoa. She first voiced complaints about the bell ringing 13 years ago.
The judge ruled that the bells emitted sound louder than average and agreed Leuzzi’s hearing had been marginally impaired.
He awarded about $13,000 for “biological damage” but more than $66,000 for the disruption of the professor’s social life.
Witnesses testified that they had stopped visiting Leuzzi because of the noise.
Under the decision, Father Stefano Queirolo may only ring the bells for Sunday Mass and at Christmas and Easter. The bells may be rung no longer than 20 seconds.
Father Queirolo reportedly said he expected the diocese to appeal the decision, explaining that the belfry had been soundproofed.
“We haven't been ringing the bells for at least four years now," he said, according to the Guardian.
Italy has among the highest density of churches in Europe.
Just imagine her complaint when loudspeakers are installed on the growing number of mosques.
Would she have dared to file this suit if it was a mosque?
Or, maybe this is a good thing: Now that there’s Italian law precedent on religious noise pollution, the precedent can be used to shut up the 5 times daily call to prayer. Maybe the Detroit courts can refer to “international law.”
That was my first thought. Will the Euroweenie courts back up her complaints then?
To paraphrase Luke, “No one places bells in a church belfry and hides the sound with soundproofing. Instead, they put it high and clear, so that all may hear and answer the call.”
Alaaaaaaahhhhhh FU-BAR!
The plaintiff should have thought about the church bells before he moved near them. I have a train track in my back yard, and I will NEVER complain about the noise of the trains. They were there first.
:-) Many years ago, my parents had a house built on an empty lot. Over the span of several months, each weekend we would drive out to follow the progress of the construction. Moving day finally arrived and we excitedly unpacked our belongings in a house that was now quite familiar from all those visits. Not more than 1/2 hour after we arrived, a loud siren went off. The dog dashed under a table and we covered our ears. The siren was soon followed by a deep horn then other sirens. My father dashed to the door, probably expecting it was an air raid. Only then did he notice through the large shrubs, that there was a volunteer fire house diagnolly across our back yard. We still laugh about that day. It never occured to anyone in the family, that we should sue the real estate company or builder. That would be utterly ludicrous.
Never have I heard any complaints from any of 40,000 inhabitants of the city. What's more, its really beautiful and graceful tone made we truly got used to it and now can't imagine our town without it.
Not too long ago a “friend” of the church would visit this judge. See what I’m sayin’?
What a beautiful way to begin and end your day!!
The tradition of church bells is very old and quite beautiful. One finds them in the older churches in the US - the ones built by Italian, Spanish, Irish and Polish immigrants. They brought their 'culture' with them. In the more contemporary churches, the bells have been replaced with an electronic device that mimics the sounds but at a greatly reduced decibel level. It doesn't even come close to the beauty of hearing real bells.
But of course they do.
Odds are this lady is a secularist or lapsed Christian . . . .
Even still.
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