The Deacon's Bench

Really good show. Winfrey teased but was never disrespectful, and the whole discussion -from leaving parents, to leaving relationships, to giving up what is thought of as "normal," was a healthy back-and-forth. Winfrey was so much better than I had anticipated, that I must admit to having been more cynical about this show than was probably healthy!

The vow that most nonclergy are curious about is the vow of chastity. Instead of giving their sexuality to another person, nuns instead give it to Jesus. "He's a hard husband to be married to because if something goes wrong in the relationship, I know it's me," Sister Mary Judith jokes.

"A lot of times people will think that we're repressed because we don't have sex or we're not indulging in the same kind of things that most people our age are indulging in," Sister Mary Judith says. "I feel like I've reclaimed my sexuality from an oversaturated, sexualized world and that I don't want to be an object. I view my sexuality as a precious thing."

Sister Mary Judith says sexual urgings don't go away once a woman becomes a nun--sisters just have a different way of approaching them. "I think that there's a common concept that sexuality or sexual urges or sexual feelings are bad and dark," she says. "It's an integrated part of who we are and expresses a part of who we are. It is not all that we are."
Sexual feelings are kind of like chocolate, she says. "Just because I have this desire for chocolate all the time doesn't mean I'm going to have to eat chocolate every time," she says. "It's using the desires, the same desires I have for a greater calling and for a greater cause."

This past Saturday Archbishop Gregory ordained fifteen Deacons here in Atlanta.

The back row of the picture L-R are: (me, Bishop Joseph Madera -visiting from California, Auxiliary Bishop Luis Zarama, Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Archbishop Emeritus John Donaghue, a new Deacon Wayne Nacey and then on the far right, Deacon Dennis Dorner - Chancellor and Director of Permanent Diaconate)

Wayne and the other guys are the new Deacons. You can tell by the smiles!

These guys will serve throughout the Archdiocese, from way north in Blairsville to the far south in Lagrange.

Oh Happy Day for Atlanta!

A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures.

The report, "Stand and Deliver," charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education.

"Young people's sexuality is still contentious for many religious institutions. Fundamentalist and other religious groups -- the Catholic Church and madrasas (Islamic Schools) for example -- have imposed tremendous barriers that prevent young people, particularly, from obtaining information and services related to sex and reproduction. Currently, many religious teachings deny the pleasurable and positive aspects of sex." the report states.

The report demands that children 10 and older be given a "comprehensive sexuality education" by governments, aid organizations and other groups, and that young people should be seen as "sexual beings."