{"id":1478,"date":"2010-01-25T18:31:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-25T18:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not\/"},"modified":"2017-01-24T19:13:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T00:13:02","slug":"because-of-a-priest-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html","title":{"rendered":"Because of a Priest . . . or Not"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S14pm37ydyI\/AAAAAAAAA8U\/CYP2ajA-Oys\/s1600-h\/CrossSilhouette\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S14pm37ydyI\/AAAAAAAAA8U\/CYP2ajA-Oys\/s320\/CrossSilhouette\"><\/a>A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with a capsule autobiography of her own spiritual life. Then it closes with a kicker. It\u2019s worth a look and a comment. <br><a name=\"more\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a>Mujerlatina writes:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s a brief synopsis of my convoluted journey in the Catholic Church: born Catholic, raised Catholic, receieved the sacraments, product of horrible CCD program, grandmother was an influential person of popular piety (illiterate), Newman Center at Duke University and daily Mass with many Catholic friends, silent retreats yearly with Duke friends tagging along, devotion to the Rosary, devotion to St. Martin de Porres, participation in all-black Roman Catholic Gospel choir for eight years, missionary doctor in the Carribbean and Latin America, desert years angry at the Catholic Hierarchy and its political \u2018mafia,\u2019 more desert years, children and home devotions and Catholic schools, weekly mass, Eucharistic Devotion, prayer, study alone, solo spiritual journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve tried to \u2018leave\u2019 the church many times, but have found that it is in the \u2018fabric of my being.\u2019 The mysticism, the Real Presence, the devotions and popular piety all continue to call me \u2018home.\u2019 Honestly, I must say that my on-going formation as a Catholic has <b><i>nothing to do with any clergy person!<\/i><\/b> No priest, sister, nun or other consecrated layperson has had ANY impact on my spiritual journey. Is that a problem?? Is that ironic?? We are constantly being called to \u2018pray for vocations,\u2019 but while I do comply, I am often in wonderment that the clergy\/consecrated laypersons I actually have met are \u2018zero\u2019 in my walk as a Catholic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s my question: What role do these \u2018people of the cloth\u2019 play for most of the YIMC readers out there? I read that \u2018Fr. Barnes\u2019 and others are so impactful on some folks\u2014but I suspect that there are a lot of people like me who, by the grace of God, cling onto the Catholic \u2018ship\u2019 without any spiritual advisor\/priest, etc.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat say you all?\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/6738513599344023043-8157540588642445988?l=yimcatholic.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with a capsule autobiography of her own spiritual life. Then it closes with a kicker. It\u2019s worth a look and a comment. Mujerlatina writes: \u201cHere\u2019s a brief synopsis of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":143,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Because of a Priest . . . or Not<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Because of a Priest . . . or Not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Why I Am Catholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-25T18:31:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-25T00:13:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S14pm37ydyI\/AAAAAAAAA8U\/CYP2ajA-Oys\/s320\/CrossSilhouette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webster Bull\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html\",\"name\":\"Because of a Priest . . . or Not\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-25T18:31:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-25T00:13:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\"},\"description\":\"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Because of a Priest . . . or Not\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/\",\"name\":\"Why I Am Catholic\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79\",\"name\":\"Webster Bull\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Webster Bull\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Because of a Priest . . . or Not","description":"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Because of a Priest . . . or Not","og_description":"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html","og_site_name":"Why I Am Catholic","article_published_time":"2010-01-25T18:31:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-25T00:13:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_dmDaLWNETzg\/S14pm37ydyI\/AAAAAAAAA8U\/CYP2ajA-Oys\/s320\/CrossSilhouette"}],"author":"Webster Bull","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Webster Bull","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html","name":"Because of a Priest . . . or Not","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-01-25T18:31:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-25T00:13:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79"},"description":"A regular reader of YIM Catholic goes by the handle of Mujerlatina. Today she sent us an e-mail that I found pretty challenging. It begins generously with","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/2010\/01\/because-of-a-priest-or-not.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Because of a Priest . . . or Not"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/","name":"Why I Am Catholic","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/b9e15b90318657f7448facc9529d0f79","name":"Webster Bull","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3fb246bff84598a72f076cdc78c3c22b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Webster Bull"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/author\/websterbull"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/143"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/yimcatholic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}