Priestly Celibacy

Sunday, August 28, 2005

To:     The Detroit News
Re:     “Priestly celibacy a joy”, Letter, August 28.


In the August 28th letter, “Priestly celibacy a joy”, the letter writer states that Jesus was celibate and priests accept celibacy in imitation of Jesus.

Religious scholars admit that there is no proof that Jesus was celibate. Some even admit that Jesus could have been married, as was the custom in those days.

Celibacy was imposed on priests as a way to stop Church property from being bequeathed to the priest’s children. I suppose the Church could have stopped the practice by less drastic means.

MY FIRST WEDDING

I have been to many wedding in my time but this is the first one involving one of my children.

My daughter married a gentleman from Scotland this Friday in a beautiful ceremony and reception at the Belle Isle Yacht Club.

It was a colorful wedding with the groom and his men all attired in traditional Scottish kilts. My son and I were the only ones in tuxedos.

The ceremony was conducted by an official of the humanist group. As the name of the group suggests, members believe in the best of our human nature and what that nature can achieve. Their philosophy relies on facts or knowledge that can be substantiated. In other words they are not religious and do not invoke supernatural beings.

I thought the ceremony was quite touching with all the right words and sentiments expressed.

Marriages bring together families and in this case one family with basically Polish / Ukrainian roots and the other Scottish. We will celebrate the union once again in October but this time in Scotland - which I am really looking forward to.

The wedding was not a traditional Polish wedding but then again the couple was not exactly young. Both in their early 30s, the couple planned their own wedding according to their own wishes and it was quite impressive.

They are off to Hawaii for the honeymoon. When they get back - married life begins in earnest.

Janusz

PETER JENNINGS

Just a quick note on the passing of Peter Jennings, the long time anchor of ABC World News Tonight.

I basically grew up listening to the man every evening and continued till the day he had to leave because of lung cancer. I really thought he would come back and was surprised when they announced his death.

He really went fast after announcing he will begin chemotherapy in April 2005. I should have known it would be fast because usually they perform surgery first to remove affected nodules. Chemotherapy meant that they could no longer localize the cancer and had to use a shotgun method that never really works.

Peter Jennings was cool, calm and collective in his reporting even when a glimmer of emotion broke through the cracks. I respected his knowledge (highschool dropout), caring and his oh so professional delivery.

I guess at my age (58), I start noticing the passing of people I knew for a long time. People I became accustomed to and people that became a part of my daily life.

Oh well, time marches on and after all we are just players on a stage ...

Janusz

BACK IN TOWN

I have spent the last two weeks in Florida. First, attending the annual AACC (American Association of Clinical Chemists) Convention in Orlando and then taking my dealer from Poland (two couples) to visit the Florida Keys.

It was hotter than hell but I had a good time and learned some things along the way - some topics to discuss on this blog.

I visited the Keys many years ago when my kids were young but many things remained the same and I had no trouble finding my way.

It never ceases to amaze me how large and beautiful our country is. My European business partners were definitely amazed.

The Florida Everglades are a sight to behold. Taking an airboat ride through them is quite amazing even though I was totally soaked. My friends could not get enough of the alligators.

The glass-bottom boat ride to the reef was great but the women got sick when they did not pay attention to me when I said keep your eyes on the horizon every so often and not only at the glass bottom - oh well.

Key West is a great little town even though very commercial. You should experience the town and its history and myths at least once.

Janusz