Anyone up for a chat thread?

[The Liturgist]

I can't see why we can't just have a ball, without all the patriarchal, marriage-market nonsense, myself. They can dress up and dance and have fun. But no....

Anyway. At least ministry is never boring!

Right, a ball would make a lot of sense, especially since its not likely these girls will get married any time soon (unless the age of marriage is dramatically lower in Australia than in the US, the UK and Canada).

 

[Paidiske]

The classism is not such a strong element of it here (almost everyone can do it, and there's a strong market in borrowed and second-hand gowns and such, so it doesn't have to be a big expense). But the sexism... it's hard to swallow.

The priest who was here before me was an army chaplain, so she used to go in her dress uniform, which I guess is one way to make a statement about the place of women in modern life, but I don't even have that option!

 

[The Liturgist]

The classism is not such a strong element of it here (almost everyone can do it, and there's a strong market in borrowed and second-hand gowns and such, so it doesn't have to be a big expense). But the sexism... it's hard to swallow.

The priest who was here before me was an army chaplain, so she used to go in her dress uniform, which I guess is one way to make a statement about the place of women in modern life, but I don't even have that option!

I take it you don’t have police chaplains in Australia? In the US pretty much any clergyman who wants to wear a uniform and has a clean criminal record, and who is comfortable with the idea of spending some time helping the police inform relatives that their loved one was killed in a car accident or other tragic circumstance, can be a police chaplain. One recently got in trouble for illegally affixing a blue light and other emergency equipment reserved for police cars to his personal vehicle (which I think was a Ford Crown Vic or Police Interceptor or some other model favored by “the PoPo”, American slang for “the Old Bill”, and driving around code 3 (lights and sirens).

 

[Paidiske]

I take it you don’t have police chaplains in Australia? In the US pretty much any clergyman who wants to wear a uniform and has a clean criminal record, and who is comfortable with the idea of spending some time helping the police inform relatives that their loved one was killed in a car accident or other tragic circumstance, can be a police chaplain.

They do exist but there are few roles here, and I don't know whether they are generally uniformed or more considered as chaplains to the police force. I don't think they tend to be there for the public in the way you describe.

And I doubt they would have the same impact as a brigadier in her dress uniform! At any rate I will be much more conventionally frocked up, and will have to try to find other ways to communicate an alternative set of values to one which treats young women as property to be traded.

 

[Shane R]

My brother, Fr. David, got sick a while back and died yesterday. Fr. David and I were ordained at the same time and he maintained a close link with me and my children. Fr. David was a mental health professional and our clergy support guy. I am grieving his departure. We are a month away from Convention and Fr. David was a wise voice that will surely be missed. 1,000 thoughts but he was so kind to my children.

 

[Paidiske]

May he rest in peace, and rise in glory.

 

[Shane R]

I didn't realize it when it happened, but the Archbishop knew how sickly Fr. David was and made me the new clergy support guy a month or so ago. He wasn't explicit at the time but looking back on it I realize the charge. And I have been commissioned to talk to all of the clergy within the next 2 months. Which is difficult when some of these guys won't give me their phone #.

 

[Paidiske]

Isn't there something like a diocesan directory?

 

[Shane R]

Yes. But the guy who maintains it is very old fashioned and only does a print copy. I won't get it until next month.

This thoroughly annoys me. I have to shedule a phone conversation with the guy about 2 days out to get a solid 20 minutes with him.

 

[Paidiske]

Oh wow. And I thought my lot were struggling with technology!

 

[Shane R]

When I can get through to some dudes in Africa more easily than our domestic guys, there is some kind of incompetence going on.

 

[Paidiske]

I seem to have been having a lot of conversations about generational shift...

 

[Shane R]

I might be an FBI or CIA agent or a Communist or something. So there a couple of guys who don't trust me and won't share with me.

 

[Shane R]

Frankly, the uber political guys are not a loss. Every one of them can take a hike somewhere deep into New England, or Montana, or whatever as long as they stop messing with me.

 

[Paidiske]

Lol. I may be guilty of occasionally having similar thoughts about some of my colleagues.

I just won't tell which ones.

 

[Shane R]

Lol. I may be guilty of occasionally having similar thoughts about some of my colleagues.

I just won't tell which ones.

You want some of them to hike deep into New England or Montana or Utah or something?

 

[Paidiske]

Diocese of North West Australia seems far enough away...

 

[Deegie]

Shane, I am so very sorry.

 

[The Liturgist]

Diocese of North West Australia seems far enough away...

I suppose in the US the great equivalent threat to that is Alaska, another nominally habitable region.

 

[Philip_B]

I quite often consider people as acceptable candidates for the Diocese of the Antarctic!