October 4: Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

From last year's Blessing of the Animals at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Princeton, NJ.

I've captioned this picture,
"Our outfits match!"

A bold move during Year of the Priest cheers me up!

The headline grabbed my attention the moment I clicked open this morning's weekly digest from Tikkun Daily.

In case you don't already know, tikkun is the Hebrew word for the commitment of every Jew* to "mend, repair, and transform the world." Tikkun, the magazine, and now the daily multimedia blog has longstanding cred among spiritually progressive Jews. Heck, they're so spiritually progressive and open to interfaith rants they even cite my work. My naches, for sure.

The headline? Say Hello to the World First Female Orthodox Rabbi!

Pretty darn exciting, even after reading the fine print revealing that Rabbi Avi Weiss, founder of the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School ("where open orthodoxy begins") may, in fact, have bestowed the title "Maharat" rather than "Rabbah" on 32-year old Sara Hurwitz.

That's okay with her because even though she cannot be part of a minyan (prayer quorum) or serve as a rabbinic witness, she can do just about everything else. She says she "functions in the same capacity as a rabbi."

In other words, she's like what the Roman Catholic church calls a deacon. And you know where I'm going with this, right? Does the Catechism of the Catholic Church's reference to Jews as "elder brethren" (CCC 63) ring a bell?

I'm sure Rabbi Weiss is getting some major flack for his bold move, which has cheered me up during this Year of the Priest. Oh that there might ever be a pope courageous enough to risk the same by welcoming women into the Roman Catholic diaconate.

*Note: A commitment I never ditched after getting baptized.

One month into Year of the Priest and I'm thinking "deacons."

If I didn't know any better, I'd credit Pope Benedict XVI with an exquisite sense of irony. But after watching this pontiff stumble through one public relations gaffe after another, I'm thinking the Year of the Priest was declared without much regard for timing. What's that? How was B16 supposed to know back in March that Ireland's version of everyone else's child abuse scandal would explode in May? My WAG at an answer: that investigation had been going on for nine years.

And what's up with calling Roman Catholics to pray for "spiritual perfection in priests"? Rather ambitious, don't you think?

I think we should start with more modest goals. Praying for priests' willingness to work well with lay leadership comes to my mind. Let's pray this for six months and then review our progress. Finding evidence of willingness, we could then devote the remaining six months to praying for their ability to work well with lay leadership -- or with deacons.

Deacons! Why didn't I think of them two paragraphs ago? (Make my own point.)

Why don't we spend what's left of the year praying that priests treat deacons with more gratitude and respect. This should certainly be easier to accomplish than "spiritual perfection."

While it's true deacons may resemble lay leadership, in that some have private sector experience, deacons are ordained. And, they're men. (We could work on the gratitude and respect thing for religious and lay women later. The Roman Catholic church has been ambling along like this for over 2,000 years, so what's the rush?)

Speaking of irony, I must note that I'm writing this within hours of suggesting (via Twitter) that everyone in Christendom read the editorial, "Community of Disciples" in America magazine. In that fine piece, we are called to stop all rhetoric that is "harsh and often lacking in respect or courtesy."

LordJesusChristHaveMercyonMeaSinnerAmenHailMaryFullofGrace... That ought to do it.