I am enlightened
Back when we were students at the University of Wisconsin—Madison,
my wife had a very strange experience. She was a grad student working toward a
Ph.D. in English, and one of her fellow students was a nun who worked for a
small Catholic college near Madison. One day the nun invited Kathy to a special
education conference on “The Vocation of Women.” Having been raised Catholic,
Kathy thought this might be interesting and so she went.
As you might expect, the speakers at the conference were
mainly nuns and priests who taught at various Catholic colleges. What you might not expect (but should have)
was that the main vocation promoted by these catholic academics was that women
should become nuns, or at least devote most (if not all) of their spare time on
volunteering to help the Catholic Church with its various missions. Donating money to the Catholic Church was also
strongly encouraged (imagine that!).
As Kathy described her experience, she saved the best for
last. The final speaker of the day was a priest who delivered his message of
why becoming a nun was so important, and that the Church needed many more “Brides
of Christ” (ie. nuns) to carry out the goals of The Church. He ended the
message by saying that, of course, priests should also be recognized as Brides
of Christ, too.
Kathy said this without batting an eye, and when I quizzed
her about this last claim (that priests are Brides of Christ, too) she said this
was commonly understood by Catholics and not an odd innovation in theology put
forth by a rogue scholar. Once they get to Heaven, priests—just like the nuns—will
be brides of Christ.
I guess this whole “Brides of Christ” thing is a “Mystery of
the Church” that you’re not supposed to think about, much less dwell on. I know
I can’t think about it without breaking out in laughter.
