Re: Recognizing Druids
Beirdd

Mon Oct 26 18:09:55 1998
After reading this I dug out my 137 graduate credit seminary transcript and now I'm scared. ;-)*p*One of the things I wondered about when I was preparing to enter the seminary was how I would react, on that day in the distant future, when someone would call me "Father" for the first time.  I didn't realize that the seminary's dress code would turn that far off day into tomorrow.*p*The very first time I visited a prayer group with clerical clothing, a including the Roman collar as was expected of even a new seminarian, I was addressed as "Father." The people who addressed me in this way were my friends, strangers, children, old people, the sick, the questioning, the hostile and the faithful. In one way, I never got over it, although I believe that what is lacking in the man may be made up from elsewhere should he be so inclined to allow it. In another way, I became used to it, and responded as well as I could according to the title, no matter who was using it. All around, it was awesome, in the true sense of the word...humbling to the point of wonderful agony.*p*I left the priestly ministry because I was overcome with the fear that I could not live up to that title. After three years, I had to acknowledge to myself that I could not love all of these strangers the way they and God asked me to. Or rather, I felt all of them becoming more familiar, and me becoming more the stranger. I did not want to be that "Father So-and-So who was mean to me because he woke up on the wrong side of the bed and so I left the Church." I could not bear that responsibility, even though so many seemed to pass me on the way back in. My pride brought about the fear of losing my 1.000 batting average. There's no regret; I still have the sense it was all meant to be and not some sort of cruel mistake. Although the Catholic Church will soon grant me permission to live as a layperson, in exchange for my promise not to function as a priest, our mutual understanding is that the priesthood is forever within the soul of the man and I am comfortable with that part of me.*p*In all, it was far more than the clothes that made, or make, the father (even one of his own flesh and blood, as I have also come to learn!). It rests completely in the acknowledgement of the people, and in the support of the powers that guard them with, or despite, you.*p*I imagine the same to have been true for the druids.*p*--Beirdd*p**br*Searles wrote,*p*<snip>*br*: What is lacking froma basic university education are *br*: holistic practices of health and herbalism, astrology, a *br*: study of Celtic lore and tradition, the three forms of *br*: illumination: Imbas Forosna, Teinm Laegda, and Dichetal Do *br*: Chennnaibh, musical and poetical training, public speaking *br*: and presentation. psychological counseling, etc.  Now some *br*: undergraduate degrees allow for a specialization in these *br*: areas, so some overlap will occur, but I forsee that most *br*: people will benefit from retracing their educational steps *br*: with a Druidic emphasis, so there is no time wasted in *br*: gaining knowledge from other perspectives.*br*<snip>
Re: Recognizing Druids
Searles
235
Mon Oct 26 14:00:27 1998