Today I’m going to my first Catholic wedding. It’s over 3 hours away and so it will be a LONG drive (the farthest I’ve ever driven… or is it furthest?).
I haven’t been able to get to confession for a month, but reading Graham Greene has been helpful in reminding me that the Church bears sinners within her midst.
I was thinking the other day that while I reverence people like St. Francis, and Papa JP II and Benny 16, I’m more likely to be one of the other type of Catholics.
Oscar Wilde was a deathbed convert to Catholicism, and he wrote that ‘the Catholic Church is only for saints and sinners, for respectable people the Established Church (CofE) will do’.
I think of Oscar Wilde, the Stuart Monarchs (James II and Bonnie Prince Charlie/Charles James Stuart), celebrity Catholics, and others. I will probably end up with these folks, the notorious Catholics.
It’s funny though because once time passes enough the sinful Catholics – like Augustine of Hippo- become saints. I guess that’s what we call the miracle of Purgatory.
In any case, I’m free on Monday so I should be able to get to reconciliation then. I have to leave for the long journey now.