St. Priapus Church  St. Priapus Church (), also known as Temple of Priapus, is a North American pagan religion founded in the 1980s that centres on the worship of the phallus. Priapus Church was founded in Montreal, Quebec, by D. F. Cassidy and has found a following mainly among homosexual men in Canada and the United States. The church, which is named after the Greek god Priapus, teaches that the phallus is the source of life, beauty, joy, and pleasure. The phallus is to be worshipped, which can be accomplished by a variety of sexual acts, including group masturbation. Semen is also treated with reverence and its consumption is an act of worship. Similarly, fellatio is strongly encouraged; St. Priapus Church sees it as a commandment, a good deed which has positive effects not just for the recipient but for society in general, a practice facilitating world peace. (Well-fellated men, the church teaches, are less likely to make war.) There are nine centres of the church in Canada and eight in the United States. The largest membership of the church resides in San Francisco, California, and it has its headquarters in Montreal. The Mystical Geography of Quebec Catholic Schisms and New Religious Movements Editors: Palmer, Susan J., Geoffroy, Martin, Gareau, Paul L. (Eds.) This study of new religious movements in Quebec focuses on nine groups—including the notoriously violent Solar Temple; the iconoclastic Temple of Priapus; and the various “Catholic” schisms, such as those led by a mystical pope; the Holy Spirit incarnate; or the reappearance of the Virgin Mary. Eleven contributing authors offer rich ethnographies and sociological insights on new spiritual groups that highlight the quintessential features of Quebec's new religions (“sectes” in the francophone media). The editors argue that Quebec provides a favorable “ecology” for alternative spirituality, and explore the influences behind this situation: the rapid decline of the Catholic Church after Vatican Il; the “Quiet Revolution,” a utopian faith in Science; the 1975 Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms; and an open immigration that welcomes diverse faiths. The themes of Quebec nationalism found in prophetic writings that fuel apocalyptic ferment are explored by the editors who find in these sectarian communities echoes of Quebec’s larger Sovereignty movement. Publisher Palgrave Macmillan 2020 https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030330613