From the MWBH Mailbag

We got several responses yesterday. I try to answer all my letters, some of them here. (My profuse apologies to any I ever miss. It can happen.)

Most letters concern my remarks on the married couple who were recently canonized. While I am well aware that celibacy is a higher state of perfection as a matter of Catholic dogma (inasmuch as a GOOD thing is sacrificed for a higher purpose), I am not aware that the celibate life is prerequisite to entering the Kingdom.

That wasn't enough to stop E.H., who writes in part:

"Just remember, it was the last 26 years of their married life. Not the first 26."

True, but how much you wanna bet which half got them on the fast track to sainthood?

J.C.K. writes:

"'Two of their sons became priests and a daughter became a nun.' Did you kinda forget to mention the above when commenting below??? (Oh, our macho blogsters!!)"

Leaving aside what my sense of manhood has to do with the matter at hand, I didn't kinda forget to mention anything. I kinda assumed that if everyone's children became priests or nuns (and thus chose the celibate life), none of us would be here.

Face it, kids. Sooner or later, somebody's gotta do the Deed. Thankfully, it is one of the bona, or goods, of the married state -- a point generally lost amidst a neo-Jansenist mentality.

Perhaps the most thoughtful comment on the subject came from S.M.:

"Married saints who never consummated the union or vowed continence at an early age were held up as the ultimate ideal in the Late Antique and medieval Church up to about 1400. Dyan Elliott has an excellent book on the subject, SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE."

Actually, it was "held up" in the Gospel by Christ himself. Anyone know the Scriptural reference? The mail box is still open...

On to weightier matters, this one came from J.H.:

"If you where a dog, what kind of dog would you want to be? I'd be a black lab - I think that they're cool!"

Personally, I'm torn between a golden Lab, an Irish setter, and a Cavelier King Charles Spaniel. (arf! arf!)