CUTAWAYS

Yes, I’m still working day and night, so yes, you all get more filler for the next couple of weeks. Still, heavy workload or not, I couldn’t help but pass along the happy news (for the two or three who still might not know) that The Sci-Fi Catholic’s own D. G. D. Davidson has heard the calling and will soon be entering the seminary. Sounds like the Year of the Priest is off to a rollicking start.

But you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and there was one Anonymous voice who expressed concerns that Mr. Davidson’s (clearly satirical) stated reasons for joining the priesthood was perhaps too jocular for so serious a decision. It made me wonder just what kind of problems this unnamed seminary instructor was seeing in his candidates. Are there seminarians out there who might not be approaching their calling in the right spirit? Hmmm…

Maybe I’m wrong, but if I had to guess I’d say this good father-to-be from 1976’s Drive-In must have fallen asleep during the lecture on the “preferential option for the poor” because I don’t think this is exactly what it means. (Of course, figuring out just what it does mean can be pretty hard.)

Kidding aside (as best as I can manage that, anyway), there have been problems in our seminaries. The sobering final report from the Apostolic Visitation of Seminaries in the United States released in December 2008 notes difficulties in individual seminaries ranging from a laxity of moral discipline among staff and candidates to (unbelievably) an incomplete grasp by both faculty and students on what being a priest actually means. What the…!?!

Be that as it may, I’m still pretty confident about the class of 2009 and beyond, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a little help here and there. I urge everyone to remember to pray for Deej and all our other incoming seminarians as they continue their process of discernment. And if you hear they’re a little short, well, it’s okay to treat them to a meal or slip them a few bucks on the side so we can avoid scenes like the one above. Do what you can.

Oh, and also don’t forget to pray for their teachers as well. We can always use more good instructors like, say, Father Leslie Nielsen…

What? I stayed serious for as long as I could.