We are down at my mom's for a wedding. I didn't realize there would be a church service. The wedding was for my sister's in-laws 50th anniversary. We had to travel to the neighboring town about 10 miles away and find their Catholic Church, which I have to say strongly resembles the church in our hometown. Even including the ceramic/stone statues of angels and the myriad images of Jesus Christ. Do all Catholic Churches need to have the walking of Jesus as he drags along his own cross on his way to his crucifixion? The story is a downer, at least he looks dark and realistic, some Jesus Christ's are blond and blue eyed, and from where he would have come from, I can't believe that would be a true representation.
I was sitting there counting the things they could do to improve the whole church routine. First of all, I hate all the stand, sit, stand, kneel, stand, form a line, eat this piece of paper. I was whispering to my mom, enjoy the mono or the herpes you all are fixing to get from the goblet of wine. It has been a couple years since last I attended a church ceremony. According to my mom, they did away with the offering of the wine because of the thought of disease spreading so easily this way. Wow, is all I could think. The wine used to represent the blood of Jesus, yet it looks like it wasn't that important, as it was removed pretty quick.
How about adding some women priests? Come on Roman Catholic Church, open it up for the lady priests, they can be as holy as a man, can't they? It might help clean up that bad image of priests wanting to touch little boys, but what do I know? I had read a story on Discover or Time about a very high percentage of priests are gay, and this is a good place for them to hide in plain sight. They aren't allowed to marry, so that is an excellent excuse for a gay man, and yet, one can function and be the center of attention and respect in a societal group.
I don't know what the persuasion of the priest today, maybe he was one of the good ones, but his accent was horrible. I was thinking "I know I'm not paying attention, but I can barely understand this guy, then when we got out, my mom and Wife both said the same thing. He was able to minister in both English and Spanish, so that was cool, for the audience, but the ceremony was already long enough without him repeating everything in two languages, but barely understandable in either. He made a joke, but had to tell us to laugh, the verbal cues were not enough. It was about the husband in a successful marriage will make all the big decisions and the wife will make all the little decisions, but in fifty years of marriage they had all been little decisions.
I'm not sure what one gains by doubling up on the "I do's" with the same spouse, but it is a nice testament that after fifty years, they are still together and in love enough to repeat the effort. For all we know, maybe only the ones who stay together fifty plus years get to go to heaven and sit with the Big Guy upstairs. Everybody else gets a certificate, thanks for playing, but you still go to hell. None of us can profess to know exactly what the rules are for going through the pearly gates.
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