Happy Families

‘THE ROMAN Catholic church has seen better days in this country, even if most of them were before the Reformation. Now the Times reports that a senior priest has outlined a ”malaise of demoralisation and depression afflicting the priesthood in England and Wales”.

Elderly male seeks single spirited woman for very good times. Sunday service a must.

The problem, as Father Timothy Radcliffe sees it, is that priests can only preach good news if they are fundamentally joyful. ”You can be a good and depressed banker and taxi driver, a gloomy but effective accountant or lawyer,” he argues. ”But one cannot be a preacher of the Gospel and be plunged in gloom.”

OK, we take your point. But what’s his solution. ”I am not referring to a happy-clappy jollity, going around slapping people on the back and telling them to be happy because Jesus loves them,” he insists. Rather, he is referring to the joy inherent in the priestly vocation. He urges priests to develop a passion for the lives of others, with all their ups and downs.

His most radical suggestion is that priests should be allowed to marry, and he thinks the case is pretty much ”overwhelming”. After all, you never see an unhappily married banker, taxi driver, accountant or lawyer, do you? ‘

Posted: 4th, September 2002 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink