Rome calling: Punk drummer returns to pew

Terry Chimes, original member of The Clash, goes back to Catholicism

(Terry Chimes, who drummed with The Clash and Black Sabbath, wrote about his struggles with faith in his autobiography.
Photo credit: PA.)

According to the British newspaper, The Catholic Herald, the original drummer from punk pioneers The Clash has specifically mentioned his return to Catholicism in a new book.

In his autobiography, The Strange Case of Doctor Terry and Mr. Chimes, lapsed Catholic Terry Chimes, who drummed and toured with the band in the early 1980s, explains his relationship with Confession.

As a child, he recalls an incident when he stole a sword with his friend Tommy.

"I went to bed that night thinking that what I had actually done was stealing. My Catholic upbringing told me that stealing was a sin and an offence to God. I felt very bad about it and wasn’t sure what to do. I felt that I should give it back, but Tommy had no such qualms of conscience. 

I was quite upset at the time and my parents asked me several times what was wrong but I never told them. In the end I took the problem to the priest at Confession. He told me off, made me promise not to do it again and gave me some homework to do. After doing my homework, I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I never wanted to have that feeling of a bad conscience again. So despite the criticisms you hear about a Catholic upbringing and the concept of Confession, in my particular case, at the time, it worked well.”

Read the full article here.