October
2006
Apparences deceive
A dear friend visited us yesterday evening. He’s a young priest in the northern part of the country, recently moved to a new parish and we haven’t seen him for almost a year so there were lots of stories to tell over a glass of wine.
The best one: ” In this new parish, we have a large population of Catholic gypsies. We almost never see them at the Mass, but they visit quite often to take oaths”
“Oaths?!”
“Oh yes. The come in church with one or two witnesses to swear on the Bible they won’t drink alcohol for a fixed period of time. I have to write it down on a piece of paper for them, because they find it more binding this way.”
“Why do they do that?”
“It’s usually because they are in danger of losing their job because of the drinking. Their employers know the power an oath of this kind has on them so if they present the piece of paper they are usually safe. Some of them come urged by their wives that threaten to leave them if they don’t do it. However, there was this one couple …..”
A large smile develops on his face.
“The woman was a drop dead gorgeous teen. Incredible. Even I couldn’t help but be stunned when I saw her. Her husband was a stubbly guy in his mid-forties. I went to him and asked what he wanted - they were there for an oath, he said. I told him to place his hand on the Bible and start repeating after me the oath’s text. He looked confused and stepped back. I asked him what was wrong.”
“And?”
“And then he told me: Father, it’s not me who has to vow not to drink..
….it’s the missus”
My initial speculation would be they may not attend mass because they don’t feel welcome (by the congregation).
Nah, we have a few gypsies attending at our church and no one cares about their colour - I think they are actually symphatised for showing up.
From the description of her husband, she may need to keep drinking.
I love the twist ending - stuff like this doesn’t happen nearly enough, and we can all use the reminder not to judge by appearances
I loved this–the mediaeval aspect of the oath, and the hold that it has on people, amazes me. Thanks!
ce tareeeeeee!
(how cool!)
Mist - I SHOULD have used that line.
Crankster - stuff like this pops up in the most unexpected places around here. Romania ain’t boring, that’s for sure.
Andrea, if I was a drop-dead gorgeous teen–and married to some stubbly guy in his 40s, I’d drink too! And I’d drink a LOT! LOL
BTW, my blog address has changed to Utenzi2 from Utenzi so if you’d not mind changing your blogroll to reflect that, Andrea, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!