Of Church and Priests and such.

An old school mate of my husband’s came to visit the other day. They/we hadn’t seen each other in at least 20 years. He lives in Mexico and as he “graduated” from their school he is a priest and has been moved a couple of times. So he no longer has his parish close to my husband’s home town. Yes my husband also attended the seminary for many years until one day he decided to try and cross the border to earn some money for books and tuition to continue going to school. He was about 20 years old and once he got over here, he enjoyed the freedom and ease with which one could earn money, how easily he found a job earning minimum wage but living a good life with that small amount. As we have been married over 27 years needless to say he did not return to the Seminary. One other schoolmate (among others I’m sure) also did not finish and is now married with a family and living in Houston. They did not have the commitment and desire of a priestly life and it was well they realized early on. I wonder though if my husband’s family had been able to pay for all his schooling, he wouldn’t have left to earn money, would have he continued and eventually become a priest? And thus have ended up like Father Cutie?
As all the escandalo unfolds with Padre Alberto Cutie [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOcsa9XzcSU] – I wonder again why there is not a better system in place in regards to the education and formation of priests. The Catholic Church can be so strict and has so many guidelines, yet just because someone goes through the studies and agrees to all the rules, it seems these are the main things encouraged for them. I do not necessarily agree that they must be celibate but can certainly see how hard it would be to be married and have a family when you want/agreed to dedicate your life to the church and God’s teachings so for that reason alone it makes sense. Would a wife be able to handle her husband spending all his time at church, visiting hospitals, sick people, etc. I mean they have no other life but the church. Of the priests I’ve known, that is what they do – and out of those very few seem to have that speaking ability that I think is also very essential. And the couple I have ended up finding and loved to listening to - end up leaving the church because they are not able to be celibate anymore. And it is so unfortunate because these are the priests that were encouraging and motivating people to come to church and would use everyday happenings and teach how they relate to God and the bible and how we in turn can become better people. Mass was always super packed when these priests were around.
Just this Sunday I became so frustrated with all the crying and whining of all the children (and so sorry to say it was our raza who once again do not make their kids behave and are rude). The priest did not appear to be in a good mood as he was very somber and did not like how the little altar server girl was helping him (poor thing probably won’t be doing that service anymore). Plus he rushed through the prayers and spoke very monotone and his accent was hard to understand at times. With all the distractions going on the Mass might as well have been in Latin for all the good I got out of it. Surely speech classes are given in the Seminary, this one must have skipped out on a few. I think a passion for the Lord’s work and gospel should definitely be a requirement, plus a love of people and desire to help humanity. I know I’m not the only one whose opinion is to get rid of the celibacy rule and let’s get some priests who love what they do and can inspire our young people (all of us really) to go to church and learn about the bible. I get so sad when my desire to learn and hear God’s word ends up taking me to another church and events because I’m not getting what I need from my own religion/church.

God works.....

in mysterious ways. I was running late getting off work so i knew i wouldn't be making it to the Mass for Ash Wednesday. Had just enough time to get dinner made and take my daughter to to help out at the Wednesday night CCD. The place was super packed - people standing out the door not able to fit into the church that's how crowded it was. It might have helped if they had scheduled a second Spanish Mass but since this was the only one the whole world seemed to be there. So after dropping my daughter off I drive back home - as usual I'm going a bit fast and almost missed seeing a little old lady sitting on the edge almost of her driveway and waving frantically. I quickly stopped and rolled down my window to ask if she needed help and turns out she had fallen while taking out the trash into that sitting position and couldn't get herself up. Lord only knows how long she had been sitting out there hoping someone would come by and help her. I kept picturing my own mother who also lives alone and although there are many helpful neighbors around, if none of them happen to go outside she could be stuck for hours in a bad situation. I helped her up and got her standing and she mentioned she still had another trash bag to take to the curb. Once I knew she was steady on her feet I left her in the driveway and went and got her other trash bag and took it to the curb. She appeared to be living all alone as well. Her little pomeranian dog came to the garage door and yapped at me but wouldn't go any farther - some help he would have been. Couldn't bark loud enough for even the neighbors to hear. I knew God had directed me down that street to help her as I usually go home a different way. I know many people have helped my mom out when she was in a bind and I was glad I could pay it forward to someone else and this lady was not seriously hurt thank goodness. If I couldn't be in Mass tonight I'm glad I was able to be in his service by helping out a neighbor.

Ash Wednesday

Not having had a very good Catholic upbringing I’m not sure what we should be doing on this day other than going to Mass, getting ashes on our forehead and not eating beef or chicken. The reason I say I didn’t have a good Catholic upbringing was because yes we went through all the obligatory motions of going to Mass every Sunday, participating in the various events at Church and attending CCD (Sunday school) but I never knew the why of a lot of our rituals and traditions and I never asked. This is what my parents said we did and we obeyed without question – didn’t question anything back in those days. I didn’t pay attention to what the priests said because frankly they were boring and I couldn’t relate to anything that they said to my life and how to apply it. As I followed the same pattern with my family, the cycle continues of this is what we do because it’s always been done, end of story. I think it’s sad that most of us do not have the knowledge that we should about our Catholic faith. And I find more fulfillment and knowledge when I attend other faith sponsored events instead of at ours. Don’t get me wrong ours leave you feeling good and can restore the spirit but I don’t always feel that I know the why behind things and how can I do this on a regular basis at home, must everything always take place at church only to “count.” I have found some great resources at Women of Faith (not for catholic) and the Magnificat Breakfast and Dr. Italy’s Web site. Now I just need to discipline myself and get back into regularly practicing my faith. I haven’t even decided what I’ll give up/sacrifice this year. And if we should not go about with sad faces demonstrating our “suffering” of having to give up chocolate or whatever and meat on Fridays why is it ok to go around with the ashes on our forehead all day long for the world to notice. I know that’s the ritual but it seems contradicting. So it is we shall get Ashes on our forehead and another season of lent begins.