Among our many blessings, we’re thankful for such awesome readers and commenters! We wish you and your loved ones a joyful and delicious Thanksgiving!

MMMM....PIE. Actual church supper pies via deadrichmond @ Flickr.

Today’s Wall Street Journal brings us an alarming article about a new scourge of government-sponsored, anti-woman repression.  

The oppressed? Pennsylvania church ladies!  

The Journal sets the scene:

On the first Friday of Lent, an elderly female parishioner of St. Cecilia Catholic Church began unwrapping pies at the church. That’s when the trouble started. A state inspector, there for an annual checkup on the church’s kitchen, spied the desserts. After it was determined that the pies were home-baked, the inspector decreed they couldn’t be sold. “Everyone was devastated,” says Josie Reed, a 69-year-old former teacher known for her pumpkin and berry pies.

I bet.  I’m devastated for them. I am Jewish, but half my family is devout Southern Methodist, and I have eaten more than my fair share of church supper pies.

The disappearance of Mary Pratte’s coconut-cream pie, Louise Humbert’s raisin pie and Marge Murtha’s “farm apple” pie from the fish-fry fund-raisers sparked an uproar that spread far beyond the small parish. The local paper dubbed it “piegate,” and…there are reports of other churches continuing to sell contraband pastries. 

Apparently the crackdown has even led to church lady-on-church lady violence.  Says the state health inspector: 

“I’ve gotten a lot of letters from churches that are tattletaling on churches down the street that aren’t licensed and don’t meet standards for food service.”

Fortunately, an end to the madness is in sight:

The ruckus at St. Cecilia’s could lead to changes in Pennsylvania state law. State Sen. Elder Vogel Jr. has drafted legislation aimed at allowing nonprofits, including churches, to serve food prepared at home.”Once again, you’ve got the heavy hand of government coming in,” he says. “These ladies bake pies, out of the goodness of their hearts.”

Sen. Vogel, who sits on the state legislature’s agriculture committee, says state officials seem willing to change the law. “They have more work on their hands than going after little old ladies baking pies.”

I’m no libertarian, but when The Man tries to come between me and a delicious home-baked pie made by the loving, age-spotted hands of a local church lady, well, that just makes me MAD.  Fight the power!