free to be me (re-posting)

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jul 31, 2006

(This comment originally appeared in OTR just over a year ago, but in light of the ceremony scheduled in Pittsburgh today, it seems equally relevant. - Ed.)

A Boston-area innkeeper has declared her intention to be ordained a Catholic priest today in a privately arranged service conducted by apostate women. She is unembarrassed by the act of claiming for herself the authority that the Church invests in the Sacrament of Holy Orders, while denying the Church's authority to teach what is and is not valid matter for the same Sacrament.

Marie David, who opposes mandatory celibacy for priests and is married to a former priest, shrugs off the possibility of being excommunicated by the church, saying 'there would be a sadness, but I refuse to recognize their authority to tell me that."

Outstanding.

Your Uncle Diogenes, coincidentally, begs to announce that he will shortly accede to the title of the Duke of Devonshire. It's true, I confess, that neither my father nor any other male antecedent ever held the title, but it's always been my deeply held personal belief that real nobility has less to do with parentage than with attitude.

I fully expect the House of Lords to throw me out on my ear when I attempt to take my seat among other members of the peerage. There will be a sadness, but I refuse to recognize their authority to tell me who I am.

It must be understood that I reject the whole idea of hereditary succession on which the traditional peerage is based. Consider: who gave these people the titles in the first place, and by what right do they decide who may and may not inherit them?

Some of my more conservative acquaintances have tried to dissuade me from my purpose. Kind hearts are more than coronets, my mother says, and ermine can be hell in the hot weather. But I pay her no attention. She's just a commoner, poor thing.