This is what it means to be Catholic

E F pastor emeritus has an intriguing tale from everyday life over on his blog. Please take the time to go visit and see how you can help/support, but meanwhile here is an extract...

It all started about a year ago, when I was enrolled in a “Communication: Access to Power” course. When the facilitator asked us what we were hoping to get out of this weekend, people stood up and shared things like how they wanted to have richer communications with loved ones, and hoped to discover how to minimize the conflicts with co-workers in the office.

We were all dying to know why the small Irish American nun in the back of the room was here, and a hush came over the nondescript conference room as she approached the podium.

“My name is Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd; call me Sister Mary Beth,” she said in a tone that barely registered above a whisper.

This was a person clearly uneasy in the spotlight, her pale blue eyes darting nervously around the room without looking at any one person. “I am a Filippini nun and I’m trying to improve my negotiation skills.”

The comment cocked many an eyebrow in the room. Was this really some boardroom brawler in disguise, a titan of industry who would redden the knuckles of Donald Trump with a ruler until he begged for mercy?

The instructor, sharing our amusement, used a slightly patronizing inflection to ask, “Sister, what do you negotiate?”

“I negotiate for the welfare of children,” she replied, a small, content smile escaping her lips. “My mission work takes me down to the bus stations of Brazil.

“Parents bring their little children down to the terminal so that visitors can rent them for sexual purposes. Some of these poor boys and girls aren’t even 10 years old, yet working their children as prostitutes is the only means of support the family has.”

“A group of us nuns visit the bus terminal and outbid the travelers. We pay the parents what they would make for an afternoon of the little child’s time. We then take the boy or girl and play with them or buy them ice cream.

“So, I decided to take this course so that I can improve my negotiation skills and spend less money in my dealings so that I have more cash to reach more children.”

Laugh, and the world laughs with you...

Back to Oscott and thus begins the second half of our winter term, taking us through to Easter. There is much to be achieved, though now that the STB essay is out of the way, I'm hoping to be able to spend more time just being. We will see.

Reading through a HUGE back log of blog posts, I came across this hilarious comment on lolsaints. If you have not looked at the site, I heartily recommend it to you. This one of Jesus handing on the keys to Peter was, I thought, particularly funny. Go and enjoy.

Also, reading Damian Thompson's blog, I came across this tale of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, a new order of nuns who have set up shop in Cornwall. What struck me, particularly, was the dress of the order, that is, they are in habit. Throughout our time in Poland we were ever, it seemed, in the presence of habit wearing nuns. Now, without wanting to get into the debate of should nuns wear a habit or not, it was striking that those with the habit, and, I suppose, the veil in particular, were offering a strong visual reminder to all that it was perfectly normal to give over your life to follow Christ in the form of a religious life. As one who has already offered his life to Christ in the clerical state, I was, nonetheless, in total admiration for these fine women who give such striking witness to our faith. Well done to all you nuns who inspire so readily!