Thursday, March 22, 2012

Another "Bit of Reality"- My Priest-Husband's Faults

- He hates tomato soup.
- He leaves his pistachio, sunflower seed, and pumpkin seed shells neatly in a cup. Unfailingly, two-year-old girl will find said cup and throw the shells around. Grr.
- When I buy him a 2-liter of Coke Zero, it will not live a day, especially if we have ice.
-  As a true European, he wears socks with his sandals.
- He isn't skinny, but he is always the best swimmer in the pool. Unfair.
- His spelling in English is not that great sometimes.
- He liked Eddie Murphy's 1000 Words.

But, but, but- you say, dear reader- None of these faults have anything to do with his priestly vocation! Your blog is boring! Give the scandalous scoop so that  we get "a bit of reality, rather than rank-and-file parsing of Catholic thought and teaching, which gets boring, and which is the fodder of hundreds of other Catholic blogs as it is...." 


Alright, reader, you asked for it. Here's a few of his faults as a priest. After you read it and say "Tut-tut, looks like rain" (oops- that's Christopher Robin)- no, you'll say "Pish-posh, no man can have these two vocations and succeed!" Well, I say "faithfulness, not success" (via our  dear Mother Theresa of Calcutta), and PLEASE pray for him and his family and his ministries in the churches and the hospital and the police stations.

- Sometimes he sings the litanies too slowly
- Sometimes his vibrato is too thick
- "He doesn't drink enough"- this was an actual complaint from a parishioner
- He lets servers come to the altar before they are pitch perfect (our son specifically)
- He wants every actively-practicing Catholic man to be a deacon 
- He lets a guitar into the church for the final song (this is not 'kosher' by Byzantine standards)
- We have had our second mission for almost two years and have never taken a collection (why is this a fault? We need to be organized and we aren't with this new mission. Also, for a church to grow, it needs to feel legitimate for the people and taking a collection gives it legitimacy)
- He takes too long with parish council meetings
- His default answer to a request is "Yes." 

Is that real enough? We are pretty white bread around here, trying to live a non-scandalous, non-dramatic life. Time for some Mary J.....I'll be rocking out in the family van.

12 comments:

  1. Eh, I don't think your blog is boring at all. In fact, what I like about reading it is that there aren't hundreds of comments to go through like you have to do if you read one of the more "famous" Catholic blogs.

    The nice thing about the internet is that there is limitless variety. If your commenter doesn't like your blog, he can read a different one. You're not going to be relatable to everyone, and neither is any other blog. I read because I feel like we're in similar situations, trying to balance raising kids and working part-time with a husband who has to spend a lot of time at church!

    Also, your "bit of reality" is going to be different than a lot of people's. Not that you don't fall into the same temptations and sins as the rest of us, but you are going to pray more, study scripture more, and spend more time in church than the average Catholic layperson. That's just the nature of your reality!

    Keep writing, and your devoted fans will keep reading. If I ever think of an idea for a guest post, I'll let you know...I blogged for 5 years, but I got pretty tired of keeping it up!

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  2. I love this! It's good to know your priests are still human :)

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  3. From a woman who has NOT lived a "boring" life, these so called faults, Priest's Wife, are blessings. You are blessed. Dull, boring, uneventful is a good thing. Our world needs less drama and more stability. You offer an extremely rare window into a tiny minority within the Catholic world. Do not let bitter people bring you down. If they are convinced there is ugly, it is because they cannot see the beauty around them. Someone once told me that "it takes a saint to see light amidst the darkness." It sounds so simple, but after everything I have gone through, it is true. There IS much ugliness within the Church. Anyone who studies Scripture or Theology should know that. If Satan was with Jesus pretty much every step of the way while Jesus was on Earth, should the Church be any different?

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  4. "- "He doesn't drink enough"- this was an actual complaint from a parishioner" HAHA. Oh boy. Praying for him and your family!

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  5. not a minx... yup! I guess one drink is too little- it is probably an ethnic thing...

    In need of grace- your last sentence is so important for all of us to remember!

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  6. Hilarious post! I would have laughed aloud, but I don't wanna wake the roomie! :)

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  7. Hmm. Guitar?! This should cease immediately. How did this happen? Is it at least a Byzantine hymn? This is a huge fault. Time to get forceful. Guitar? Seriously? Collections would be good too. I mean, how do you all cover the expenses of the mission? Could your girls take the collections? Wow, scandalous post. ;-) I guess you have to be Byzantine to see it.

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  8. Renee- I started to read your comment and thought NO RENEE HATES ME- lol...

    about the $- the establishes semi-big mission is organized and takes a collection, so Fr. gets a stipend from that. The new mission meets at a (very big) Roman-rite chapel that is letting us use the space for free- so there aren't really expenses- luckily, we are getting rich (haha) off of Fr's full-time job as director of spiritual care/chaplain services at the hospital. but, yes, life is crazy and it's good that I sometimes teach college-level English part-time

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    1. (I don't hate you) What about your commute to the mission? That can't be cheap. Further I think you to need have a collection for one more very important (perhaps Aristotelian) reason: It's good for the souls of those who attend to give of their means out of the goodness of their hearts. It's part of their formation to become a whole person. Maybe they can achieve this in other ways, but they need to feel as though the are giving to God as well. They need to be that poor woman who gave her last penny.

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  9. Renee- I agree with you about people benefiting from giving- right now at the new mission it is a paper work problem- but the people contribute with providing the meal afterwards and even 4 free-standing life size icons to make the Roman-rite chapel more Byzantine. We were given a Gospel and a chalice set, too- so it's pretty good.

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  10. I love this. Seriously. Came here from EE's blog. I'm bookmarking right now!

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