Tiber tale ahead of its time

As a newly-arrived Roman theology student in the fall of 1953, I spent a lot of time with my American confreres paying ritual obeisance to the dazzling splendors of St. Peter's, along with other must-sees in the Vatican

However, other basic needs soon clamored for satisfaction--the best pizzerias, German beer cellars and top-quality and cheap 'pasticcerias.' By sheer chance, my hunt for the prize bakery was one day rewarded in a non-descript hole-in-the-wall, on the ground floor of one of those immense, ghastly tenements lining the bank of the Tiber north of Piazza Navona.

However, more pedestrian needs soon surfaced. Our cassocks, pants and coats needed repairing. The signora who ran the pastry shop referred me to a woman friend who lived in a makeshift, but perfectly habitable "penthouse" that her clever husband had managed to erect atop the tenement.

The seamstress and her husband had two children--a girl, 16-years-old or so, and a boy, 14. The boy was a chunky, peasant while the girl, Maria, was a ravishing beauty crowned with tumbledown black hair--a Renaissance artist's dream fulfilled.

One day, while dropping off some clothing to be mended, the signora offered me tea and biscuits. As we sat chatting on the living room sofa she turned up the conversation with, "Oh, American priests have it fine--really fine!"

Immediately, I thought of the post-Second World War mania for thinking that all Americans were rich and our streets were paved with gold. Here we go again, stuck in the money myth. Still, I thought it only polite to ask the signora what she meant. "Oh, American priests can get married," she triumphantly replied. Big smile. A bolt out of the blue! I could only assume that she had noticed American priests dressed in suits, unlike the Italian clergy who wore cassocks and were accompanied by women, surely bevies of pilgrims.

So, I patiently launched out into the tedious correction that no, American priests do not get married--and they never would. They have the same law of celibacy as the Italians. She seemed disappointed.

All of a sudden, daughter Maria broke into the room from a door on our right, resplendent in a beautiful party dress. Missing not a beat, she rapidly pirouetted all around the room, and--swish--she bolted out. The signora and I sat in silence. A minute later, once again, Maria burst into the room, now rigged out in some sort of skimpy, gypsy getup, repeated the round-the-room pirouette and was out in a flash. Without a word, the Signora and I completed our mending business and I was on my way.

Back home I related the puzzling incident to my fellow seminarians who broke out laughing and scorned me for my stupidity. "Don't you realize, they were setting you up with Maria?" You get married, as they thought American priests could, settle comfortably in America and--lo and behold--the enterprising family follows to live the good life US style, happy forever!"

Skip from this ignominy to 2003 and some lessons have been learned along the way. We, at long last, recognize that the eastern rites of the Catholic Church have always married. Also, we now have married Roman Catholic priests who have converted from Protestant and Anglican Churches. They work as priests in our dioceses (two in the Archdiocese of Vancouver), but because of Episcopal butterflies in the tummy, they are limited to the non-parish works of military and hospital chaplaincies. Does that mean they are relegated to the closet?

At any rate, the scriptural basis for welcoming a married clergy is now firmly established. In a 1993 audience, Pope John Paul II, himself, recognized that priestly celibacy does not "belong to the essence of the priesthood.... Jesus didn't make a law, but proposed an ideal of celibacy for the new priesthood that he was establishing." The wheels, they are a-turning.

The next time that I'm in Rome, I'll stop by that Tiber pastry shop and attempt a catch-up on the penthouse family with the current proprietor. Just for old times sake.

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