[Magdalen] Ginny Wilder called to St. Anne's, Winston Salem

[Roger Stokes]

As I join in the good wishes for Ginny in her new call I want to respond 
to Mike in his wondering about different professions. Off the top of my 
head I can think of two inter-related big differences. One is the 
unreasonable expectations people can have of a priest, and the 
associated assumption of as freedom to criticise when the priest does 
something they personally do not like. The other is that other 
occupations generally have set hours of being on duty or on call. 
Priests are expected to be able to respond to an emergency or other call 
24/7 and to do so cheerfully and willingly.

The other occupations Mike lists are things that people do rather than 
things they are. Priesthood is not an occupation you can put down and 
hand over responsibility to someone else (or in the case of an artist 
something to set aside for a while or tear up if it isn't going right). 
It is about personal relationships with other people and with God.

In case you're wondering while I'm writing before dawn over here it's 
because I'm about to shut down the computer and head for the airport on 
the way to Norway. The driving will be rather different from what I have 
experienced before, and especially from the USA. I will have my notebook 
computer with me but I won't be using it as much as I do at home.

Roger

On 07/08/2017 03:08, Mahoney, W. Michael wrote:
> Congratulations.
>
> It's odd, you know.  I am not sure why one should be any more proud of a
> family member of friend becoming a priest than one becoming something else,
> say an artist, doctor, mechanic, or whatever.  But I am guilty.  A great
> niece of mine is soon to be ordained a priest in the Anglican Church of
> Canada..............and I think that is very special, indeed.