Although many people have their own form of God, there are very few that actually build a Temple to them in the basement of their house which then goes on to be the HQ of an international sect. That is exactly what Francis Cassidy did when he came back home to Montreal after visiting San Francisco in 1979.
Cassidy worships cocks. His Temple is named after Priapus a God of fertility, protector of horticulture and viticulture. His statue, holding a wooden sickle in his hand, was used in the Roman gardens as a scarecrow, and his enormous penis as a threat against thieves.
Cassidy who had a strict Catholic upbringing in Quebec was unsure of how to connect with other same-sex loving men who felt a spiritual devotion to their sexuality. When he visited the San Francisco temple, he saw that in addition to loving the male phallus, the temple was also doing good social work to benefit homeless gay youth. The SF temple has long since disappeared, but Cassidy’s survives with its non-denominational religious ceremonies that incorporate rituals from western and eastern faith
It also houses an extensive collection of phallocentric art and decorations, from ancient pre-Columbian sculptures and penis-shaped candles to modern pornographic drawings and paintings.
Cassidy has also helped other cities establish their own chapters. and he is now the high priest of the international Temple, which he claims has hundreds of members worldwide. He takes it all very serious too and In order to join, one has to go through a screening process. “It’s important for us that members feel safe, and that people are joining for spiritual reasons, not just sexual ones,” says Cassidy. “We are about connecting our spiritual selves, our meaning as people, to our phalluses.”
Temple Priapus’s motto is very simple: There is no greater peace than being on your knees.
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