married priests, veils, pants, pews, kneelers, precious puppies, cute kittens

what do all of these things have in common?

really?....you don't know?

They are CLICK BAIT!

...did I make you click on this post?

What OTHER topics are click-bait in the Catholic blogosphere?

(ending a post with a question is a 'weird trick' to get more comments...)

just kidding- I'm working on a real post

"Christ tolerated married priests, wanted the Church to move to a celibate priestly clergy"

This comment was left yesterday on my post entitled "Unbookmarking Fr Barron," a post which was a response to a guest post on Fr Barron's blog detailing why married priests are not a good idea in the Roman rite (if interested, please read my entire post- I have been accused of "condemning" Fr Barron when that was not my intention at all. In any case, here is the comment: 

AnonymousApril 21, 2014 at 12:01 AM

I am Byzantine Catholic and I appreciate your love of your husband and your calling as a part of his ministry. I have know a couple of very, very wonderful married priests. However, I am a byzantine that does not support the tradition of married clergy. I have several reasons why, many listed above [read comments at original post, many of which do not support married clergy]. 

But the most simple answer is that I believe God wills it. I believe this because of the above reasons and also because of revelations of St Brigitta, that Jesus wanted the Church to move to a celibate priestly clergy. Deacons are not subject to this, as they are not priests. There is organic growth in the Church as the Holy Spirit guides us and the Church to fulfillment. I am one person, but I do believe as Catholics we are called to follow this. I think holding onto a tradition and not being willing to do God's will is selfish. We are still in union with the Catholic church, but it is because of the charity shown us in this respect. 

As things were different in the early church, Christ tolerated married priests. Though tradition holds that St Peter and his wife lived as brother and sister after his calling. Eastern Europe has been a bit like the early Latin church....small villages, simplicity, agrarian. Today, our churches struggle terrible financial woes, and could not possibly take on supporting families. God bless you for your service. I do not intend for this to hurt you. I just think you should know that MANY Byzantines do not support married priesthood and many byzantine priests and bishops also do not support it.

Well, this does hurt. I am accustomed to Catholics of both Roman and Byzantine rites being hesitant about or against married clergy for a variety of reasons. Believers worry that a married priest won't have time to minister to them because of family concerns. They are worried that married clergy would be impossible to financially support. They're concerned that a married man ordained to the priesthood would cause scandal if his family situation is less than ideal. And then there are theological reasons to give preference to celibate clergy.

The reasons go on and on. Perhaps I was naive, but this is the first time that someone has said that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church to reject married clergy. If this is true, then how can my husband be validly ordained? My response may seem extreme, but I hope the commenter (and I suppose the 'many' Byzantines who do not support our tradition of married clergy) will think about where her beliefs logically end. It is fine to prefer celibate clergy for all the good they do, but to state that the Holy Spirit wills an exclusively celibate clergy- that is going too far.

quick takes from spring break & beyond

This Great Fast has been really, really strange. We had two different sets of family visiting for over a week apiece.This was awesome, but I'm not sure that we prayed and fasted well during all the fun. We finally learned of the specifics of my husband's transfer out of his first parish assignment and have been dealing with that loss. We are looking forward to building our micro-mission and not driving three hours every Sunday, but it is very bittersweet. We have been helping a parishioner with the illness and death of her beloved husband, an active church member. He will be missed. 

If I were poetic like Elizabeth Foss (yes- that is the address for this super-wonderful 'restore' workshop that I was so excited about- and then failed to sign up for...) or Ann Voskamp, I would rhapsodize that life is like the Roman mosaic above with little bits of joy and darkness, a vast tapestry, a puzzle that pieces sometimes don't fit together well....but I'm not poetic.

Daughter #2 takes a guitar class at this very, very bohemian arts studio. There are barrels of trash available to re-purpose as art. Here's Boy posing as Frida Khalo while his sister figures out the G chord.

It was lovely having one of my sisters come for our Spring break. She brought her husband and six children. Her husband worked on lots of projects (closet, storage, more storage, tool closet, etc, etc), and we got to run around with the kids and play. My kids were in cousin heaven! Their ages and temperaments correspond rather well, though their son who is six months older than Boy is reading The Hobbit with no problem. We are nowhere near that with Boy! Ah well, comparing is not a good idea, is it?

Sometimes it takes a sister to reveal the truth to you. We were busy during Spring break with touristy things, but almost all of our outside activities were on pause for the week (except Lego & Tae Kwan Do for Boy). And my sister said that our life is crazy. And it is crazy. I have got to simplify, but then I get ideas. I want to start a women's book group with The Little Oratory as our first book.

We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for some of our activities...Merry Wives will be performed in early may, the girls have their ballet/jazz/etc dance around then, too, Choir is be winding down....but really- Boy has to test for his yellow belt on Holy Saturday morning? I hope we can fit egg coloring somewhere in the schedule...

Here's a question out of nowhere (and it is not a fake question that blogger's do to try and get comments for the sake of comments...)

Does it bother you, dear reader, that I write semi-anonymously? Does it cause me to seem inauthentic? I do skirt around the ugly truth a lot for charity's sake, but everything I write, I believe to be true. I personally don't like random internet-surfers to know who I am, but I am thinking of revealing ALL (silly) to readers- except I think the readers who care or who were curious already know who I am...In any case, I will still be using the name 'priest's wife' in on-line usage because it is memorable (some people would say 'provocative,' but I am the least provocative person on the planet...) In any case, what do you think? 

go to conversion diary for more quick takes!

Pretty Happy Funny Real Bittersweet Goodbyes

After more than 11.5 years, Fr C is being transferred from _________ mission that has seen our children grow from just 2 girls at 3 and 2 years old to 4 children at 14, 13, 7 and 4. Many thanks for God's tremendous blessings through the years!

Father has worked hard to get a priest who will live locally (not 50 miles away) for our beloved community. Although we are still at mission status, in his 11.5 years, Fr has grown the community from 1 mission to three.

Fr  will continue to minister at St ______ Romanian Byzantine Catholic Mission close to home and serve as a supply priest for St ______ Roman-rite Catholic Church as well as work as a volunteer as chaplain for 2 Knights of Columbus councils and _____ Police Department. His full-time job is director of spiritual care/chaplaincy at St John's Regional Medical Center.