This has reference to the various news reports involving Catholic priests in USA and Europe in sex scandals and child abuse cases. There is nothing new in it. The history of the Church reveals that it has been going on for the last two thousand years. A priest’s sexuality is not private, but a public issue. Catholics have been taught to honour and support priests because they profess to have forgone a traditional family to lead sexually chaste lives in prayer and service to the people of the church. Many priests have betrayed this promise/vow, yet they have been allowed to continue as priests. It can be therefore presumed that Vatican does not see celibacy as essential to the priesthood. Married people therefore have every right to be ordained as priests.

Majority of Indian Catholics are under the wrong impression that the tradition of Catholic priests remaining unmarried has been in practice since the times of Jesus Christ. It is not true. In fact, eleven out twelve disciples of Christ were happily married men. And, if you look at the history of the Church, available on the Internet, it will be seen that earlier not only priests, but bishops and popes were also married. Some of them even had more than one wife and mistresses, too. It was at the general ecumenical council held at Lateran (Rome) in 1139 AD during the tenure of Pope Innocent II that the law was enacted for priests to remain unmarried for life. Actually, celibacy is glorious only when it comes from within oneself as a result of meditation and self-realization. It should never be imposed as a pre-condition to priesthood. But the Catholic Church has thrust it upon candidates desirous of becoming priests. Since priestly training begins at the young age and the candidates have to make decision too early in life, many priests have strayed at later stage in their life all over the world. Many have also left priesthood and got married.

According to former American Catholic priest, Fr John Shuster, today’s priesthood/hierarchy is over 50% gay. Gay persons have found a safe and respectable heaven in the priesthood. In Indian tradition, married life is never considered as a hindrance or against spiritual progress. No other religion in the world requires its priests to be unmarried. Even Christian denominations other than Catholics have married priests. The arguments put forth in support of celibate priesthood are not convincing. Married people therefore have every right to be ordained as priests.

You already have the gift of being able to write so well
Start on your book right now. Stress of care giving and the joyous anticipation of a wedding are both great stimuli for creative writing
There is no better time than the present. Shall send you my phone number by Email and talk to you

Thanks
George

Thank you for your kind words. I do not recall having had the privilege of meeting you up close and personal, but I have been present at events where you presided or were the guest of honor and so, admired you from a far!

My parents are from Saligao and so we faithfully attended both the May and the November Saligao events here in Bombay, in fact, it was a ritual, which we grew to love. Thanks to our parents who gave us those roots, we now have wings!

Presently I am in Bombay caring for both my parents, while my kind husband and daughter hold down the fort in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. This is going to be a long transition considering the demands of my parents’ health. I joke that this is my sabbatical to write my book — something that I really, really want to do at some point and have been very much encouraged by family and friends. Yes, your writings have been my inspiration too! Our daughter who graduated as an Electrical Engineer last year is getting married this year and then may be after that I can take that leap of faith and chart the course of my book….or may be I should start with a smaller game plan! I welcome any advice or suggestions from you.

Thank you once again,

God Bless,

Astrid

I need to place you in the context of your days in India. Have we met ?

The internet is God’s gift to us. To bring us to love one another across the oceans and time zones when the local Parish fails. At the age of 80 I can only praise the the Lord and use his instrument to touch precious people who are open to a moment of grace.

I have tears in my eyes thinking that some silly words of mine can bring light and laughter to an 89 year old father because a loving daughter makes time to read to him.

God bless you and your loved ones. Stay connected. My wife and I stay connected through a celestial wi-fi system

Muchlove
George

Thanks to the kind courtesy of a friend and her friend, my sister, your web site and your beautiful and humorous writings have once again come my way — that is, 20 years after we moved to the US. I revelled in reading your writings in my pre-US days, incidentally never missed them, and reading this article reminded me of how it made my day then. But the person who introduced me to your writings was my dear dad, who is presently 89 years old and has failing memory and limited communication. But I am going to read each of your articles to him and I bet it will light a spark and add a special touch to his day as well as that of my mum. I can picture him reading your articles and laughing heartily, which then drew all of us to the object or subject of his laughter — a natural way to get us all hooked on something good! Mr. Menezes, my prayer is that God bless you with many more years of good health and happiness. I just read too that you lost your wife and I loved that ode to your wife that you wrote. My sympathies to you. The world is a better place because of you and your late wife. Astrid

How nice to find you visiting my website
I will be 81 n the 19th of April 2010, God willing

Imiss seeingyou and your family in Bandra. Our famous project, “The CarterRoad Promenade” is a great blessing to the Community.

The Celebrate Bandra Festival starts next month.

In case you do not get the Souvenir I shall post the piece I have written for it “Conversations with the Sea” on my website

Your frienship is priceless to me

George

George

Here’s Wishing you a long and virile life !

Suren KAUSHIK, Pune

This was hilarious. I also agree with your response to your daughter Anjali and I quote…. ”All my life, a great deal spent on satirical writing, has been spent in laughing at myself and trying to deflate the pompousness that surround us. Can I deny myself in my winter years?”

Absolutely not. Laughter is the best medicine and laughing at yourself will perhaps keep death at bay.
Also by planning your funeral you are inevitably postponing it. Nature or God if you prefer to call it has an uncanny way of running awry a lot of our plans.

Take the case of my Uncle Wilfred for example who died a couple of years ago at the age of 87. In 1989 when he was not quite 70 years he suffered a heart attack and while he recovered from it, a very reputable cardiac surgeon from a very reputable hospital in Bombay told him he needed immediate surgery or he would die within 6 months. Now Uncle Wilfy was a man of limited resources and the total cost of the surgery estimated at around 10-15 lakhs (in 1989) was beyond his means. He would need to take a loan or sell his wife’s jewelry in order to come up with the necessary funds. So he decided that he had lived long enough, he had retired from his modest job, his children were settled, he had met his first grandchild and it was time to move on. The financial & physical strain of major surgery were absolutely not worth a few more unproductive years. So he asked to be released from the hospital and be sent home to die in peace where he started preparing for the inevitable.

Now at that time, I was working in the Persian Gulf and heard about the diagnosis. He was very fond of me and the feeling was mutual so I was hoping I would get to meet him before he passed on and I was not disappointed. When I visited him on vacation, I expected to find him depressed, but he was actually in fine spirits and full of life, joking about his own funeral.

Well Mr. Menezes, let me tell you he lived for over 15 years after that and the cause of death when it finally arrived was not his heart but lung failure, he was 87 years, what do you expect? And the irony of it is that he attended the funerals of a host of relations (including my father) who were all younger than him and were expected to attend his funeral.

I also wish to state that he did not spend those extra 15 years in bed or confined to the house, but he enjoyed them playing with his grand children and was also able to attend all the family parties including my wedding.

Do you think he could attribute those bonus years (mandatory overs as my father a cricket fan would call them) to your philosophy in ‘Watching my passing away’ or was it just a corrupt doctor trying to make a quick buck with utter disregard for human life????