Married Priests?

Should Roman Catholic Priests be allowed to marry?

Rome says “No” because a priest can’t serve two masters. This statement is both complimentary and degrading, based upon perspective. It is complimentary in that it places the status of women equal to that of God. It is degrading because it lessens the male of the species to one of servitude to God and his wife.

Do you know that there are no theological grounds preventing priests from getting married? None. So what’s the hold up? The Catholic Church argues that it cannot afford to support a priest, his wife and his children. How do the Protestant Churches do it? They’ve been doing it for years. If a priest’s wife doesn’t mind doing the house chores and serving as the parish secretary and gets paid for it, Catholic Churches could dismiss their parish secretaries and the women that prepare the meals for the priests and clean their houses. Stop paying for these two services and give the money to the priest’s wife. After all, isn’t the Roman Catholic Church the wealthiest corporation in the world? True, each parish is a mini-corporation, but all are part of the whole.

What is the rationale behind allowing Anglican priests who are married and have families being accepted into the Catholic Church and are allowed to bring their families with them, but Roman Catholics training for the priesthood aren’t allowed to get married? How does that work?

In the Eastern Orthodox Church a few years ago, if a man was a deacon, he was allowed to marry and become a priest, but could not become a bishop. If he didn’t marry before becoming a priest, he wasn’t allowed to get married while a priest, but he could become a bishop. I don’t know if this is still the case. Perhaps this could be a first step for the Catholic Church.

What do you think?

(Note: When I use Catholic Church, I am referring to the Roman Catholic Church. Many Anglicans consider themselves to be just as Catholic as Roman Catholics).

They Keep Me Young

Jessica, Jakob, Nickolas

Jake and Nick were born April 2, 1998 about a minute apart. They are fraternal twins. When  they were little, I’d read them a story every day. We watched Cayou, anything to do with animals for Nick and anything to do with machines for Jake on TV.  As an educator approaching retirement, I stopped looking at my students as little adults and saw them in a different light: Children. The twins afforded me this perspective.

I taught Jake how to shoot a ball using a wrist-shot with his hockey stick. I’d play goal, like I did many years before in college, and Jake would pepper me with shots. Nick and I spent many hours shooting hoops. The twins kept me young.

When the boys were 8 years of age, my daughter gave birth to a girl, Jessica.  I would do the daily book-thing and watch Tree House on TV with her. I’ve been retired from teaching for awhile now, but I am still in classrooms  doing science workshops with children. My time spent with my grandchildren allows me to keep my perspective of children in tune.

I do not really know if I would enjoy the success I now have by teaching so many children about the wonders of science if it hadn’t been for my grandchildren. There is no doubt in my mind that they keep me young.

New Adventure – Old Problem

During this past week, I joined the Writers Circle of Durham Region (WCDR) and paid in advance for the monthly breakfast held this month on March 12th at the Ajax Community Centre. I looked forward to this new adventure of meeting new and talented writers. There was, however, my old problem. I have a benign essential tremor—my hands shake. I don’t usually attend meals with strangers because I never know if my tremors are going to be worse being with new people or not. I certainly wouldn’t want to have my fork slip off my plate and spread food everywhere, not to mention the danger of holding a knife in a mixed crowd.

I periodically have to go back to Toronto Western Hospital to have my stimulator adjusted to reduce the tremors. I had a deep brain implant two years ago. I really must find the time to get back to the hospital and have an adjustment done.

I chose to go to the breakfast because it was my chance to better myself as a writer. I was not disappointed.  Breakfast brought about its own challenges, as it usually does. The announcements were interesting; The award recipients were grateful; and the eight ladies sitting at my table were most gracious and supportive.

I can't wait until next month's breakfast.

To find out more about controlling tremors, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYDoHmg9ECI&feature=related

To listen to a world leader and my neurosurgeon about deep brain stimulation, log onto http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/703