Brides of Christ?

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.